The Last Dog
From: Berde, Sherry
Date: Aug 23, 2007 10:17 AM
Black Dog
Sherry Berde/Charlie Townsend
Mixed Tandem
14′58″
With the weather changing, I love to ride tandem with Charlie late
summer into the fall. We started to ride the tandem again a few weeks
ago. I think we got in about 4 rides. Last Saturday we joined (a
different team– oops) training ride early in the AM on tandem. We
were flying and even won a sprint! With such excitement we made a
goal to do the last Black Dog of the season on tandem and attempt to
break the Mixed Tandem record which we believe was 15′04″.
Last night was humid and still. I was hoping there would not be a
cross wind, and there wasn’t. Cross winds are awful on tandem. We
were both well rested (too rested perhaps) after not riding for 3
days. We had a great 45 minute warm. Did some step ups. Got back
to the car for a last minute front wheel change, and a hammer gel.
Charlie stepped in dog poop 4 minutes before our start time. YUCK.
He quickly attempted to get rid of it, but there was this stinky odor
which I knew I would have to shut up and deal with.
My job is to remain tucked low behind Charlie, still, and push as hard
as I can!. I do not have a computer on my side of the tandem. Makes
for a lonely trip back there, considering I cannot see the road up
ahead. I also decided not to wear my heart rate monitor and go by
feel. I did have my watch on to time our ride. With only my watch
for feedback, I could not control myself with checking the time every
3 minutes or so, which required me to move my head a bit and turn my
wrist.
We passed the only other mixed tandem team out there at about 3′.
They had started 90″ before us. They were not riding a straight
line and I thought we might take them down. Charlie is an excellent
captain and we soared past them. We passed our 30 second guy at about
5′. Passed about 3 more people before the cone. Came to the cone at
7′ . Had plenty of room around the cone. The tandem is slow to get
back to speed. By the time we got back to speed we were at 7′14″ .
The return trip felt a bit slower but not by much. Charlie told me
(after the race) we were around 28-29 mph on the way out and about
26-27 mph on the return trip. He thought I might have been dogging it
but I was pushing. I told myself not to look at my watch the return
trip until we got to the start line (different line than the finish).
I knew that we were on schedule to break 15′ if we did not flat or
crash! We were at 14′35 at the start line. I was elated to come in
at the finish under 15′. Charlie was happy with our time too but not
so happy with my obsessing of doing so many time checks b/c it slowed
us down a bit. I was not staying focused on my job!
We were impressed by Jordan and Jim Cullen’s time of 14′57″ on tandem.
Jordan has really come on this year. He is only 12 years old. It is
amazing to watch him race. I gave Jordan a GW (old cap) for winning
his junior series. He is collecting caps from different teams. He
had his picture taken with the cap on when he got his award.