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Raspberry Rendevous
Ride Report 6/11/00
Louie and I were hoping someone on the ride would get a flat so that we could get pictures of how to change one for our Urban Bicycle Survival Class that we are giving at Mt Hood Community College in July. It turned out that the someone was us! We were about 5 miles down the road when we heard the old familiar pssssssst. I took out the camera and started taking pictures of Louie executing each step of the instructions we have written up for changing a flat. This started to attract some attention with me snapping away and Louie posing. One cyclist stopped and then two more. I was explaining what was happening when a state police car also pulled up. So now we had two police troopers and three cyclists all curious as to why I was snapping away while Louie changed the tire! I handed out cards with the web page address and explained the class while our crowd continued to watch Louie work. In between all I was still snapping away at Louie's command!
Back on the road we finally arrived at Women's Forum. Four members of the group decided that the rain was too much and they were too cold so they started back from there. We pushed on trying to catch up with the rest of the group. The Old Columbia River Hwy was a beautiful as always with forest on one side and the Columbia River on the other. We rounded Crown Point and headed down to the Falls. Traffic was surprisingly light. Normally we like to take our time and enjoy riding in the forest, but we had to be at Multnomah Falls by 11:00. As it turned out, we arrived at the falls at 11:05, just in time to meet two tandem teams who were rendezvousing with us there and the rest of the group.
Two more riders were beaten back by the weather and decided to head home from the Falls instead of going on to Cascade Locks. We looked around at who was left and saw that it was all tandems. It looked to us that on a day this cold and rainy, it takes the warm company of a stoker to keep a rider from turning back. The unfortunate wheelmen who turned back were going to miss the best part of the ride.
After the short sprint on the freeway, we came upon the old highway made bike path and climbed on up to some beautiful views before coming to the the bike stairs. Louie and Jim carried down one tandem while I held onto the Raspberry at the top. Louie kept teasing me to bring the Raspberry down all by myself, but I didn't bite. I could have done it but I didn't think the entertainment factor was high enough to warrant that kind of physical labor when he was there to help. As it turns out the rest of the group was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs feeding Louie's bravado!
Soon after the bike stairs we found Jim and Anita with a bad case of chain jam. Louie had to take the chain apart to get it out. We were wishing for the crank extractor, which had been left behind in Louie's home tool kit. It would have made the job a lot easier. Persistence paid off and we were all on the road again.
We joined the rest of the crew at Char Burger for lunch. Soggy but in high spirits we all wove tales of the road for each other's entertainment. Judging from the stories being told of long rides in far away places, tandem people do rides most single bike riders only dream about. I know I never would have attempted riding from Virginia to New Orleans on my single bike! After lunch the group divided up between those wanting to take the freeway back and those wanting to ride back the way we came. Naturally we started off going down the wrong path. We can get lost anywhere. On turning around Roger and De Anna toppled over slowly, bending their derailleur hanger. When they got up and tried to get going we had our second case of chain jam for the day only this time on the back gears rather than the front.
Louie did his magic. He straightened the derailleur and made some adjustments to cables and shifters and got us all going again. It was back on the path and then up the bike stairs. We just got to the part where we had to go onto the freeway when "psssssst" happened again, only this time to Roger and De Anna. We went under a bridge to change the flat. I wandered around to check out where the roads went. Tire back on, we started out only to have a chain come off again. This time it was minor and Roger was able to get it loose. What a ride!
Back out on the freeway, the rain mixed with spray from the cars creating a such a deluge that my Burley jacket, my neoprene gloves, and my Gore-Tex socks all gave out at the same time. Louie managed to stay dry under his jacket, but I was now totally wet, inside and out. Oh well, I was only getting cold when we stopped. The last time I was this wet was when we did the 100 miles to Silver Creek Falls!
After passing Multnomah Falls, Tim and Anita pulled up beside us to ask us if we are OK. We were determined to finish out the ride so we waved them on. We don't give up that easily. Soon we hear another psssssst. We are going flat in the front but are on the climb up to Crown Point so we don't want to stop. We want to change it under some dry shelter. Louie nurses us along until we finally see the point. I was very happy to get some of their coffee and wolf down a sport bar, forgetting to share the bar with Louie. I give him Oreo cookies instead - a much tastier choice anyway.
The rest of the ride was a nice downhill coast to the car in Troutdale. We were very happy to see the Van and some dry clothes. It had been a long day. I enjoyed everyone's company and was impressed by the hearty tandem crowd that did the whole ride no matter what the weather. Not one tandem turned back!