Tina's Big Training Day

TINA STRETCHES HER LEGS OF STEEL

Tina and Will have been thinking about riding their bikes up to the wineries in Woodinville but Tina has been a bit fearful about the prospect as it's a 34 mile round trip - much farther than she has ridden previously.

Knowing a little something about being fearful and also knowing that I can make that ride fairly easily (Ivan and I did just that on Day 1 of the trip) I have become her willing, albeit unworthy, sherpa in this quest.

Just yesterday I rode the Burke Gilman Trail to the half-way point between their apartment and the the wineries, so the three of us set off to replicate that ride and give Tina a sense of the trail and to gauge how she would do with just half the mileage (16 miles).

It was a lovely, cool day and we completed our goal in about 1 hour and 42 minutes - slow for me, but a good pace for them on their first long trip out. During the ride I needed to gear myself way down in order not to unintentionally pass them. I could have certainly gone faster but that wasn't the point of the ride. This was for Tina to get a sense of what she was capable of. And as I pedaled, I thought of Ivan letting me set the pace during our week together on the road, letting me determine what I was capable of. I hope that Tina feels as good about her day as I do about that week.


THE CONQUERING HERO'S

Next weekend, we head for the wineries. We will go slow. We will take breaks. We will stretch out on the lawns when we get there and then pedal slowly home. And we will all know a little bet better what we are capable of.


THE RIDE HOME