"Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Claire Petersky wrote:
|| It's official, now: my 12 year old daughter will train for the STP
|| for 2005 and ride it with me. The first day will be ~108 miles to
|| Chehalis, and then we'll do 100 the next day to bring us into
|| Portland. This will be three weeks before she celebrates becoming
|| bat mitzvah in August.
||
|| Training begins in January. I'll keep you all posted.
||
Cool. Back-to-back centuries for a 12 yo. I feel old....
You can't believe the number of pre-teens and teens that do the ride every
year. Here's the article I wrote for our club advertising the rides I'm
going to lead to get us all into shape:
---
When I rode my first STP, I sat down for a spaghetti dinner in Chehalis
Saturday night. Sitting across the folding table from me was a 12 year old
girl with her parents. I found out that this was her third STP -- her
first time on a single. Previously, she had been a stoker on her dad's
tandem.
I was impressed. Here, as an adult in my 30s, I had trained for months to
be able to pull off this ride; here, a kid with still lots of growing to
do, was in the middle of her third time. On every STP then and since, I am
always amazed to see so many kids in the pre-teen and teen age group able
to complete back-to-back centuries.
Fast forward now about five years from that first STP. Along the way, our
family has acquired a couple of used tandems from the Bike Ads on the
Cascade Message Boards. My kid has become quite an efficient
stoker -- steady, unflappable in traffic, and pretty much uncomplaining.
We whip along city streets and rural highways for rides that are
satisfying for the both of us. It's on one of those rides that my daughter
declares that she would to ride STP with me for 2005.
So, now it's the middle of winter, and I think it's time to start this
training, in January 2005. As long as Rose and I are going to do the rides
anyway, we might as well do them with Cascade. I led some kids' rides
through summer 2004, but these will be different -- specifically set up to
meet the needs of pre-teen and teen tandem teams. Our goal: to be able to
dovetail into the regular Casacade STP/RSVP training rides this spring,
and to be able to complete Flying Wheels and STP this summer.
Unlike the usual kids' rides, we'll be moving at a faster: at the lower
end of a Cascade club "moderate" pace. Unlike the usual adults' rides,
we'll be taking more breaks to accomodate our kids' legs and stamina.
These rides will be open to everyone, though, so if you're a beginning
adult tandem team, or a single rider who might prefer the faster
speed/more breaks pace, you are welcome to join in.
Our plan is to have the rides be the second and fourth Saturdays, and the
first and third Sundays of the month. This way, we can accomodate soccer
practices, Sunday schools, and other family weekend obligations and tandem
teams should still be able to get to at least two rides a month. Team
members would be expected to get in additional rides so that they can meet
the gradually-increasing difficulty and mileage of the rides.
We'll need additional ride leaders, so if you're someone who is thinking
of teaming up with your teen, or is someone who enjoys working with this
age group, please contact me at [email hidden];
or [insert name and contact info here] at Cascade.
---
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky
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Home of the meditative cyclist:
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