STP 2003 ~ The Story ~

Aurora and I went on the Kitsap Color Classic for the second time on October 12, 2003. The first time we did the ride was just after we had bought the triple bike. The 14 mile loop seemed endless with such a heavy bike and three of us that were out of shape.

This year was different. We had been invited to go by my Mother and Aurora had heard about it before I had heard of the invitation. The first I heard was a shout of "canwegoplease, Mom!?". I was surprised at her reaction because of the negativity I saw after the STP attempt this past summer. Since she WANTED to do this ride, how could I dissappoint her and say "NO". The deal was that we would NOT do this ride on the tandem. We would do it on single bikes so she would be propelling her own weight and not me. (It turned out to be a rather easy ride for me.) It was with that mindset that we agreed to do the ride. We remembered the last time we had gone that it was cold and drizzling out, so we brought the raingear we had purchased for STP and not needed.

The preparation began only the day before and we had not ridden since STP because of a terrible re-surfacing job on our gravel road. Aurora was extremely excited as she gathered the supplies and gear for the trip. The next day began very early, leaving the house at 5:30 am. We arrived at the Edmonds registratioin area early and were able to enjoy a wonderful breakfast before the ride. The ferry we boarded was the 8:35 ferry.

We arrived in Kingston around 9 am and started heading out for Indianola Loop. It took a bit of getting used to as I had forgotten how to pay attention to the "Dan Henry's" making our route on the road. After a few short wrong turns we were on our way. The weather started out cool, but dry and it was foggy but you could still see ahead of you. As the ride progressed the weather deteriorated. We had heavy drizzle and were able to test out our raingear. Thankfully, it did its job quite well. Aurora was quite happy even in her gear. Dry and warm is better by far than cold and soggy!

Even though we walked up most of the big hills, it was pleasant, partly due to another family riding at about the same pace as we were. The man's daughter was 11, just a little older than Aurora. The girls had a good time talking together. Since it was the other girl's first ride, Aurora knew she had the advantage and seemed to enjoy that fact. The conversation passed the time well and fun was had by all.

We are looking forward to getting out there on a few other rides next year, so look for us! We are thinking about doing: Chilly Hilly, McClinchy Mile, Northwest Tandem Rally this year. There may be others but those are what we are looking towards at this point.

See you on the road!