We got married in 1992 on the second day of the ride at Mead Park in Chillicothe, OH. As luck would have it, the wind was blowing away from the park thereby saving the 6000 wedding guests (ok, so maybe there were 6000 riders not wedding guests) from the sulphurous fumes that emanate from a paper plant. Unfortunately, the news crew got the wrong day and came on Saturday (really!) so we had no press covering the event!
My new sister-in-law, Gwen, attached balloons to our bikes after the ceremony and Becky and I headed out for the last 50 miles back into Columbus. That was a pretty long ride as I recall. Staying in the park too long had allowed our muscles to stiffen right up. We made it back ok, a bit later than we'd have liked, but satisfied ... and married!
As we sat in downtown Columbus after the ride, a guy rode up to us. He was a wedding "guest" and had seen us get married during the ride. He reached into his jersey and held up a small vial of sand. The guy was apparently in the Army and participated in Desert Storm. He brought the sand back as a good luck token. And then he handed us the vial as a wedding gift wishing us as much luck as he'd had while carrying it.
Anyways, back to the reunion tour ....
Riding in May in Ohio can be surprising. The first year I rode TOSRV, it was wet and cold. I had never been so glad to get something dry on than on that first day. Brrrrrrrr! I had to pry my hands from the bars at the lunch stop they were so cold and stiff. Another year it was hot for May and we had tailwind that matched our speed. It was like riding in your own little sauna; I was sweating like a pig. The weather was pretty good on this trip.
Becky and I drove to Columbus on Friday with both bikes and all of our gear in our Ford Explorer. Everything was going great as we're heading west on I68 in Western Maryland until we hit Garrett County. I guess the police were doing some fund raising because as I topped the rise I see a state trooper pointing his radar gun at me!!!! The speed limit is 65MPH out that way and I'm doing 70 so I figure I might be able to slide by.
Not a chance! I got pulled over. I figured I'd just be supporting the local law enforcement agency with a small donation via the ticket. The officer asked for my license and registration and then he tells me that he caught me doing 90MPH. I was stunned ... absolutely stunned. After I close my mouth, I tell the officer that I didn't think the Explorer could do 90 (I also had a small wheel alignment issue which caused a serious shimmy above 75 so I always kept it below that). As this is going on, Becky is quietly trying to get me to just shut up. I heed her advice, accept the ticket, and we go on our merry way.
[aside: The whole ticket incident was weird. I thought that anything 20MPH or more was automatically reckless driving. The ticket I got was for simple speeding. I ended up paying the $350 fine for the ticket because it just wasn't worth the time and effort it would have taken to fight the ticket.]
We have a good sized group of friends and acquaintances associated with this ride. My connection to this group is through a friend and former co-worker, Ed (we worked on a government IT contract in the late 80's). People came in from NYC, San Francisco, and D.C. (that would be us). Some drove from different parts of Ohio. One friend, a non-rider, lives in Columbus with his family.
The idea was for all of us to have dinner on Friday night and catch each other up with our lives, ride the ride, and then reconvene for dinner on Sunday night before we scattered to the four winds.
We picked up our ride packages and headed over to a friend's house to decide on dinner plans. We settled on a Chinese restaurant nearby and had a great time getting re-introduced to each other. Then it was off to an early bedtime in hopes of getting enough sleep for the ride.
Here are Ed, Mark & sons picking up ride registration
Don modeling state-of-the-art rainwear
Ready to take off!
Mark & sons
Portsmouth, KY - Half the ride is done!
It was great riding with the group and especially riding behind the tandem with the tag-along, nice draft! We all had a nice time and an even better get together after the ride.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because all of the stuff above and my riding prior to 2007 is preorangehistoric. The stuff that follows is a testimonial conversion Into the Orange.
The idea is that we'd all meet in SF early in the afternoon and drive down to Santa Cruz the day before the ride (This was before flying with your bike required a 2nd mortgage!). Our flight got delayed in transit by a very inconsiderate passenger who decided to have a coronary which required a detour into Denver so he could see a doctor.
Becky and I arrived in SF 8 hours later than planned. Life is good and we bundled ourselves and our 2 bikes into the rental van which already has the rented tandem strapped in along with a boatload of gear. We make one last stop to pick up a new group member, Becky's cousin Alex, and we're off to Santa Cruz!
The trip to Santa Cruz was a little slow since we got a later start but we made it in a reasonable amount of time. After we checked in to our hotel, we assembled our bikes (a bunch of others riders were checked into the same hotel as us) and then headed into town for dinner. We found a good Mexican restaurant and chowed down!
In the morning, we get everything packed into the van, check out and Mark takes the van over to the ride starting point. The rest of us mount our bikes and ride over.
It's sunny and a little cool; perfect riding weather!out to the starting point. I'm riding my Orange Pegoretti, feeling the wind in my hair and I overflowing with Orange! I just exude it. The others noticed this and a deep philosophical discussion ensued about getting in touch with ones inner orange.
We had a nice ride but, being from the East Coast, I am overwhelmed by the amount of climbing that had to be done. I admit that I had to stop a time or two. However, the last descent back into Santa Cruz was absolutely fantastic!
Back to the present and where all of this ties back together ...
I got a message from Mark on FaceBook the other day:
"
Mark's son Sam with the orange tandem
I wasn't joking! And now the orange has rubbed off on Mark and will subsequently pass to this children!
Bwaaahahahahaha!
Yes, please get in touch with your inner orange...there is so much orange here it threatens to engulf us .... orange you feeling left out????
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