On Sunday the 21st of March, WATCAC members again put in a good showing in the annual Freeway Bike Hike. Four tandems ridden by Beau and Thanh, Stephen and Aleisha, Hab and Adriana, and Trevor and Greg entered the 60km category. Jennifer and Deanne, David and Nathan, Keith and Tony, and Les and Max rode in the 30km event.
It was a great day and the weather was kind with a cross-tailwind and a cool start. I did the 60km version, so apologies to the 30km riders as I don’t have any details from their ride.
Three of us 60km tandems were running late from the Cockburn rendezvous, so made the Kwinana start just as the A Group were leaving. Rather than join the scrum of waiting B Group riders, we jumped on the back of A and off we went. Then there was the usual forming and re-forming of bunches as riders sought out and found other riders of similar abilities to ride with. As usual, the back wheels of our tandems proved popular places to be for the single riders.
This was the first time in the 60km event for our tandems and the extra distance was certainly felt, especially over the undulating sections around Warwick.
Some times were:
– Beau and Thanh in 90 minutes
– Hab and Adriana in 103 minutes
– Trevor and Greg in 102 minuts
Once again, the Irish pub in Joondalup was the place to enjoy a coffee and bacon and egg roll and swap stories about the ride. Our numbers swelled as first the 60km riders then the 30km riders joined in.
Several tandems elected to ride back to their cars rather than catch the train. It was a long hot ride along the undulating Marmion Avenue, through the traffic jams at Scarborough and over the coastal ridge to Cockburn.
This year was the first for new stokers Thanh and Aleisha and new pilot Stephen (Ironman) Summerlin who all put in great performances and enjoyed the ride. Special mention goes to Stephen who rode to the rendezvous, threw up just before he got there (hard night there Stephen?), rode to the start, did the event and the long ride back to the cars, then set off home on his single bike. What a performance!