Rolly Ride

I learned what a "rolly ride" was yesterday. Don't ever go on a rolly ride unless you are seeking death.

First, I should say "thanks" to the tandem rider who contacted me when I was trying to sell the tandem that Houston and I bought last summer. Houston and I rode it once, and then it sat in the back until now. I had really wanted to go riding a lot, but Houston wasn't as motivated as I was.

A few weeks ago, I decided to sell it and buy a regular bike so that I could go by myself. In fact, when I posted the ad on Craigslist, it said, "My husband prefers the exercise couch."

Tandem rider contacted me and said, "Instead of selling it, I'll go riding with you." He said he needed to get back into shape because he hadn't ridden in a while and had had bypass surgery about 6 months ago and was looking to ride with someone.

However, the next week he said that it might be better to meet at "BCI" for a group ride. The first Saturday that I showed up, he wasn't there, but I met some really nice people. I ended up riding for 5 hours, but it was a flat ride. No hills, or very few and very small.

The next week, tandem rider showed up, but he acted as if he didn't know who I was when I arrived. He acted indifferently. It was strange. (Later, Houston and I deduced that his wife must have been irritated that he was going to meet a girl to ride with so he was probably trying to blow me off so that he wouldn't get in trouble.)

Tandem rider signed up for the short ride. I had gone on the medium ride the weekend before and I wanted to go on the medium ride again, but because I had agreed to meet him there, I signed up for the short ride, too.

On the ride, he didn't act much differently. It was very strange to me. Finally, I gave up and started following this guy who was going at a pretty good pace. I thought he was on the short ride, too, but after I followed him for a while and then caught up with him, he informed me that he was on the medium ride which included hills, i.e., the "rolly ride."

Turns out that all of the rides started in the same place and went along the same route for a short time, but the medium ride split off to head up and down the hills of Mission Viejo.

Those hills were killer. I suppose if I was as in the same shape as I was 20 years ago when I used to ride all the time, they would have been challenging but do-able, but as I told the guy I ended riding up with, in my current condition this was "suicide by bike."

What a way to go. You almost want to die just to end the ride. There comes a point where you just want to get off the damned bike. And at the point that you realize that you want to get off the damned bike, you realize that you are still heading further away from the starting point, and there are more hills in front of you.

And at some point, you start whining like an 8-year old in the back of a car, "Are we there yet?" Actually, I was whining, "Is this the last hill?" with every hill we climbed. At some point, I was tempted to telephone Houston to come get me. And there was a train station really close to the route we were following. Why couldn't we just go buy a ticket and go home and have a starbucks???

Thank God that the trip back included no hills. The worst of it was over. We stopped at a Starbucks, didn't buy anything, and got back on our bikes and headed for the beginning stop.

As we got closer to the starting point, I started riding faster. I told my riding mate, "I think my bike can tell that we're getting close to home."

I still need to be better prepared for these kinds of rides. I need to bring more water. When we stopped at Starbucks, the guy that I ended up riding with gave me some of his water, which was really nice of him, but embarassing because I wasn't as prepared as I should have been.

I need holsters for my water bottles so that I don't have to carry a back pack. I need to exchange my pedals for the clip on pedals. I need to wear suntan lotion. And I need to bring some type of energy food. I also need to do a couple of rides during the week. I need to work on getting in shape for the rolly rides. Geez, I hate those rides, but I love the challenge.

I have to edit this to say why I should say "thanks" to tandem rider. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have been introduced to BCI, or the Bicycle Club of Irvine. I've had fun on both rides and I'm going to do it again this coming Saturday. Really nice people. Not just nice, but entertaining. Makes the ride very enjoyable. Thanks, tandem rider!!