July 15th ride

[mimitabby]

Well, this was a funny ride. My husband is leaving town tomorrow; he'll be gone for 2 weeks; so we really wanted to get a ride in today before he left. He called my two sons (Tom, 25, super buff, super in shape and Josiah/Jo 27, not as buff and hasn't ridden 25 miles on his bike in at least 3 years) and Told them we were going to do a 35 mile ride to Flaming Geyser St Park and back. He decided that Jo would ride the tandem with me on back, not very bright since Jo has never ridden the tandem; he usually rides a fixed gear bike.. So. there we were; husband, Tom, Tom' s girlfriend on singles and Jo and I on the tandem. Josiah has amazing legs, so for 20 miles he was just doing great; although he was quite shaky on starts and stops, having never handled a tandem before (and also having forgotten how to use gears!) at about mile 20 I already knew something was wrong, becuase we were CLEARLY NOT at the park yet, and we were barely to Auburn. Husband realized that we were not doing a 35 mile ride, but a 60!! mile ride!! We got to the park, gave Jo some powerbars and a good break, and rode the next 8 miles to where there is a fantastic BBQ / butcher shop with tables in the shade and good food.
Josiah and I limped back to the butcher shop okay, but I knew there was NO way we were going to go 60+ miles. We talked about contingency plans, and came up with a good one. 10 miles from that BBQ Butcher is where my mother lives. Tom, his girlfriend & my husband can ride back to the car and Josiah and I will stop at my mother's house and WAIT for them to get the car and come back.
That's what we did. we rode 53 miles. I had to work a lot harder because once my son got tired, he quit peddling with much force. But amazingly, without complaints, he did it.
He also didn't mind laying on the couch in my mother's cool livingroom for the hour it took the rest of the gang to ride to where the car was and drive it to my mother's house!

[mtkitchn]

Sounds like a great family outing!
You guys in Seattle are progressive, but I hope it's not the 15th yet!

[mimitabby]

it's the 8th!!! eeek!!

[Trek420]

now you have to do that again on the 15th