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Blueberry Tea Ride 9/22/01
Read about Share-It SquareRide Map & Directions
It has been less than a year since we first led the Tear Ride. This year 24 riders showed up, a significant increase from last year. The weather being sunny and warm had much to do with the turnout. September appears to be an ideal time for this ride. Talina's Garden was in full bloom.
We knew it would be a technically difficult ride due to the number of left turns and a freeway off ramp we all had to negotiate. Bec brought out the StoryBoard that she had been working on. It is black felt with little cars and bikes on it so that we can demonstrate how to effectively negotiate traffic. Everyone listened and watched intently during the demonstration. We were very pleased to see that during the ride people were using the effective cycling techniques we demonstrated. It worked!
This was our last ride with Peter from Scotland. He would be heading back home later in the week. We will miss him. We were happy to see a variety of folks on the ride, tandemists, half bike riders, roadies and mountain bikers, all riding together happily. It was a Blueberry Ride just to our liking with some new riders and some experienced riders.
Even though we marked the course and handed out maps, a few people still found themselves climbing up some extra hills. somehow they all found their way and we received no calls of distress on our cell phone. It was such a lovely day that it provided them with some extra miles and training in the warm sunshine and that is not a bad thing. Everyone made it back to the TeaHouse.
We handed out the remaining Ding Dongs, raspberry tea, and bananas and told our road stories. We hope to see you all on the next ride.
Blueberry Tea Ride Report 1/09/00
The Tea House at
Share-It Square
We rolled up to Sherrett Square to be greeted by one of the neighbors. He wasn't going to ride with us but was curious what we were all about. Of course, we gave him biscuits and tea. A few moments later what turned out to be our only wheelmen rider, John, rode up to tell us that there were a few tandems in the parking lot up the street. Soon we had a group of four tandems, one single, and ourselves. Yippee! We ride! And, the rain had stopped!
All was right in the world except we were missing our star blueberry riders, the Tom & Cheryl Edwards. They have not missed a ride yet. Where were they? It just wasn't going to be the same without them. But, the show must go on.
I had been thinking the previous night about two of the more technical areas of the ride. One was a sewer grate that was dangerously placed at the corner of 9th and Washington. The other was an on ramp to the freeway when we cross over I 205 on our way back. I remembered how the illustrations in "The Urban Cyclist" helped me so I drew up a couple of flip charts making sure to label the cars since my art work is more Picasso than Leonardo Da Vince. Louie was delighted to see the look of surprise on the group's faces as I pulled out the charts and started to explain how to signal and move over to avoid the ramp. It worked because no one fell in the sewer grate and several people told me later how much the chart helped them at the ramp. "No one had ever explained it that way before," I was told. Now we were both happy, Louie because people ate his biscuits and me because I got to use my flip charts!
Jack and Robin led the group out of Share-It Square towards Milwalkie with a route they had suggested. We were able to avoid traffic for about a mile. We intend to update the ride map and directions to reflect the change.
We were about 2 miles from the Wheel Café when who should appear in their truck, but the Edwards! Yippee! They made it. "We were late so we thought we would meet you at the Café," said Cheryl out her window. We were so happy to see them. At the café everyone got hungry after they saw our giant wheelburger that was not shaped like a wheel at all. One of the advantages to being one of the "little" people is that it doesn't take as much to fill us up. Our hollow legs are not as long as everyone else's so we split it.
After the fill up the Edwards took the lead up the hill to Oregon City and then back down again. That Louie, if there is a hill anywhere he will make us go up for no better reason than to just go up. I really had to work at it because I had broken my left cleat. We were gaining altitude on one less engine! It was very difficult not to lift up with my left foot. A few times I forgot and almost had my knee stuck on my chin when my foot popped out. We stopped to watch Tim repair his fender and the group disappear on ahead. We set out to catch the group, but had a hard time riding fast on Clackamas River Drive because it was so pretty. The ivy growing up the trees reminded us of the Kudzo, ivy on steroids, that we had seen when we rode the South. I love to ride along water and watch the light play along the surface. It was over too soon as we crossed the bridge to Highway 212/213.
The rain that haunted us before the ride returned briefly before changing into a headwind. We crossed over I 205 with nary a problem. Later we found that the group had done the ramp together with stokers signaling with gusto. It must have been quite a sight for autoists to see a whole group of tandems with the riders on back all gesticulating wildly to go left. No wonder they made it across!
Soon we met up with our new friends, Vic and Kendra, who had flatted out. The rest of the group came back to find us, something you can always count on when riding with the TNT group. The Edwards had headed back home because they were on a tight schedule. So nice of them to come no matter how busy they were. Flat fixed, we all took off. Louie and I were enjoying the ride so much we forgot to keep up. But, soon, Tim and Georgia came back to see what was happening with us. "We are just messing around," I told them. Louie then proceeded to tell them about the time I "wanted" to flag down a pick up truck. Only now when he tells the story he says I did and that I pulled up one leg of my bike shorts and unzipped my jersey a little. I think if I had really done that no one would have stopped. In fact, they may even try to run me down just to get me off the side of the road!
We got back to the square to find out that we did not get out of the TNT white elephant exchange as easily as we had thought on Saturday. Bill and Anne brought our white elephant gifts with them. They proceeded to tell me about the duck lamp everyone fought over that ended up with Robin and Jack. "Oh my goodness, not the duck lamp!" I gasped. My parents had given it to me two years ago, and it was so awful that I put it in the closet and never took it out. It looked like a duck decoy only the feathers lit up. Jack was going to put it in the window of his shop. "When the duck is lit, the shop is open," he said proudly. Go figure!
We had such a good time on the ride and that is what Blueberry rides are all about - having fun going for a ride. We would like to thank everyone who came out to ride in January on a rainy morning - Jack and Robin, Bill and Anne, Tim and Georgia, Vic and Kendra, Tom and Cheryl, and the lone wheelman, John. It was great! See you in Vancouver on February 20th
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