Won't you be my stoker?

On October 20th, as the leaves began to fall, Debi and I completed the Tour de Leaves metric century on a tandem bicycle in 4 hours flat. It was my first metric century on a tandem and one of my most enjoyable rides ever. I hurt like hell, however, because I did not have my seat adjusted correctly, nose down and seat too high.....ouch! But, through the pain of leg strain in my right leg and a tender groin, we did it and I was proud of our team work together. It was a special ride for me. The ride included the climb up Green River Cove's 17 switchbacks and steep grades, in addition to Mine Gap and a few other climbs. The ride had about 4500' of climbing.

It was fun to drop riders on the descents and have them come up to us afterwards (uh, on the climbs) and indulge in sharing their experiences with us about getting dropped by the tandem. "I thought a car was passing me....but, it was you guys on a tandem." I'm sure we hit 50 mph a few times. Debi kept insisting that she wanted to be the first woman across the line....and I think we accomplished that. But, I kept reminding her of her own words that "it is a ride, not a race"......like she has reminded me so many times in the past.

If you are my stoker, then this is the view you will have. In the way that Mr. Rogers (God rest his soul.) sang "Won't you be my neighbor?", I sing to you, "Won't you be my stoker?"