I'm a stoker!

Several Zoka teammates are going to Eugene in July for the Co-Motion Tandem Stage Race. Zqwan called me because he was having some difficulty signing on a stoker and really wanted to do the race. I've NEVER been on a tandem before but decided, hey, what the hell? It has to be fun, right? Before I had even given it a try I pretty much signed on for the race. Yup, that's me. You want me to do what? I've never done that before...I'm in!

We met two of our teammates on Sunday for a ride and decided to give this tandem thing a try. Sunday morning I started getting a little flakey about the whole thing and called Z trying to weasel out of it. I argued that maybe doing our first tandem ride with teammates wasn't a great idea, but he wouldn't listen to me. Turns out it was a great idea!

We got the tandem all set up and I hopped on so we could do a few circles in the parking lot. I have to say that those first few minutes were absolutely terrifying. It was SO weird and I can't even explain it. I guess you just have to hop on a tandem for the first time to know what I'm talking about. Once we started the ride I was pretty nervous so I tried to relax and just focus on pedaling. After a few miles I settled in and pretty soon we were cruising along like veterans.

Z and I ended up riding about 40 miles on the eastside with our two teammates marvelling at how well we were riding together. Tandems are a blast, especially on the downhills. Those things pick up some serious speed! All in all, we had a great day and the ride went better than I could have expected. Looks like I've been christened into stokerhood! I can't wait for the race...it's going to be awesome! I'll have to bring along a camera so I can take some pictures :)