Pre-Teen/Teen Tandem Team

Last summer I did some longer rides with my then 11 year old, and she
suggested that we might, in 2005, be able to do the Seattle-to-Portland
ride, which is just over 200 miles.

The rubber has hit the road now that it's February -- we've started
training. Because it's very easy to put off doing any cycling when it's cold
and wet out, I decided that I'd get us going on our training rides by
opening them up to our bike club. So, I'm leading a ride series with my bike
club with the title, "Pre-Teen/Teen Tandem Team". The concept was to get
adult/kid tandem teams, including us, in shape, so we'd be able to dovetail
into the club's regular training series that begins in mid-March.

After leading two of these rides, I have found them to be a challenge. All
last summer I led kids' rides through our bike club, but these were little
cheesy rides down the multi-use path for the most part, at a easy or
leisurely pace. These rides we're doing now are at a low moderate (~15 mph)
pace, and are on the road. I not only have to coordinate with my daughter on
the tandem, but also coordinate with the rest of the riders. As a result, my
concentration is always up there -- there's never a moment where I can let
my mind wander a bit. How's Rose doing? How are the other riders doing?
What's that gravel doing there on the shoulder?
Look at this traffic -- holy cow! etc.

Last week's ride was tough. It had been cold but sunny up until the day of
the ride. The day of the ride, it was cold and wet. Then, it became cold and
even wetter. One team turned back; my daughter's lips turned blue and we had
to bail out of the ride a few miles before the end.

I felt awful -- I was ride leader, but I had to bail; my daughter was
hypothermic. I felt like I had let just about everyone down -- my kid, the
other riders, and even myself. I began to really worry about Rose's and my
ambition to ride STP together this summer. Two hundred miles is a lot of
miles. Would we really be able to get into shape by July to be able to pull
it off? We couldn't seem to even do 20 miles on a rainy Sunday!

Today, I made sure Rose was dressed warmly enough. There was a light rain,
but it wasn't pouring. The temps were in the low 40s. I made sure we had
gotten our stuff together and were ready to ride earlier in the morning than
last week, when we had to rush it. We had a 25 mile loop planned.

This time, things went more smoothly. Rose was not in such bad straits. We
all finished the ride, and one team decided to tack on another 10 miles on
their own. We were damp but not chilled through this time. We got home in
time for lunch.Nothing like the restorative powers of tomato soup and mac
and cheese, and chocolate pudding for dessert, to put a fine gloss on the
ride of the morning.

We were driving home from the ride start point when I started to say things
like, "well, even if you didn't do the whole 200 miles of STP, it would be
OK. Even to do the first 100 miles iwould be a tremendous achievement." Rose
listened to me for a while, and then talked about how she really wanted to
ride the whole thing. She talked about how she is on the edge between being
a child and moving forward to becoming an adult. How, if she could pull this
off, she could prove that she could do adult type things.

So, maybe we will do STP this July. Even if we don't, we'll put in a lot of
miles together getting in shape for giving it a try, and that's worth
something too.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky