Our interview with Tom continues…
You have a rich life history, tell us about some of your most memorable rides.
In the early 60’s, I spent 3-weeks biking down the Pacific coast (Route 1) from Seattle to Los Angeles well before the development of all of today’s neat biking equipment. In a Seattle Army/Navy store, I rummaged around in some bins for items in which to carry my camping gear and a few personal effects. From one I pulled out a pair of olive-drab ammunitions bags. These served passably well as my panniers, which I somehow fastened to a flat bike carrier; bungee cords and zip ties hadn’t been invented yet either. Between them I strapped a sleeping bag and off I went early one September morning.
I covered the 1,500 miles in 15-days of cycling, but it took me a month to finish the ride since I made stops along the way to visit friends. Some of my campsites were just as memorable as the cycling: Heavy sniffing startled me out of a deep sleep one full-moon night in Big Sur. I bolted up and scattered a small herd of Black Angus that had tightly encircled my position. As they started back for a closer look, I was quick to get bike and gear over the fence and out of their field. Another night I awakened in a eucalyptus grove, my skin crawling from head to toe with tiny ants that had invaded my sleeping bag. If I remember rightly, they weren’t biting and I was too tired to do much more than roll over and go back to sleep. Driving through the Redwood Forest with fully loaded logging trucks whizzing by was particularly nerve wracking; I recall tree bark clipping my left ear a couple of times. At the Golden Gate Bridge, I attempted to take a piss mid-span, but the wind was blowing the wrong direction and it didn’t work out quite the way I’d planned.
In the early 90’s, I was involved in some of the reconstruction efforts in Kuwait after the first Gulf War. I occasionally rode my Specialized Stump Jumper from Kuwait City to a fishing village 12-15 miles down the coast. You had to finish rides early, before 9 am, if you didn’t want to cook in the stifling desert heat. On one of those rides, a bee flew into my mouth leaving its stinger and lower abdomen in the back of my throat. I couldn’t reach it with my fingers and had to wait until I got back to the house. A half-hour later my wife pulled it out with a pair of tweezers. I suffered no ill effects.
I’ve ridden six RAMRODs since 1997. I’ve lowered my times each ride, ultimately getting my total time–start to finish–down to 9 hrs, 23 minutes in 2004. I haven’t ridden RAMROD since then as the lottery system has not been favorable. I’ve also ridden a few one-day STP’s, but it’s rather long and flat and just not as enjoyable as riding mountain passes.
The one-week Goose Tour rides I’ve gone on with 18-20 friends over the last several years, especially the ones in Canada, have been quite special. This year the end-of-June ride route goes through sections of Montana and Idaho, and I’m looking forward to it.
The Velocity Blog’s “Rider Profiles” highlight the accomplishments of some of our amazing local cycling athletes, and provides insight into their lives that may inspire us all.
What are your cycling objectives for 2008?
This year I plan to ride a few time trials. I’ve registered for the Carnation TT in June and would like to try the Mt Baker TT in September.
It’s too bad that WA doesn’t have more age-group categories for TT’s and other competitive events. I believe Oregon has separate categories for riders in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, and I wonder why WA hasn’t gotten on board with this?
I’d also like to ride RAMROD again to see if I can lower my time even further; however, it doesn’t look like it will happen this year, as I’m 270+ on the wait list.
What rides are on your hit list?
1) The California Alps, aka Death Ride
2) The Dolomites in Italy, and
3) During the summer of 2006 my son and I spent two months traveling in India. In extreme northern India, there’s a 250-300 kilometer stretch of rough road that winds up through some incredible Himalayan landscapes . It starts in the small town of Manali at 6,700 feet elevation, goes through Leh, Ladakh, at 12,000 feet and then climbs another 45- kilometers to Khardung La pass at 18,380 feet! Imagine biking at an elevation almost 4,000 feet above the summit of Mt. Rainier!
What are your favorite local rides:
I live in West Seattle, above Alki in the Admiral District. It’s a great starting point for a number of excellent ride routes. A buddy, Jay, and I often do a late morning ride eastward that snakes through SODO and over to the Mt Baker tunnel where we cross the I-90 floating bridge for a circuit or two of Mercer Island.
We can also go south along Marginal Way, eventually getting to Renton by back roads then either going north along the south end of Lake WA or across 405 heading to May Valley with Tiger or Cougar Mts as final destinations.
Sometimes I pedal from home to Fauntleroy and catch the ferry to Vashon Island for some great riding on low-traffic wooded roads with spectacular views of Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier and the Olympic range. In our more immediate neighborhood, we’ve put together a gritty, hilly route that we like to call the “dirty-dozen.” I’m not a good judge of inclines, but a few of them require out-of-saddle efforts.
A favorite weekend ride is with the Goose Bumps group that usually heads out into Snohomish Valley back roads, along rivers and through dairy farm country. Some very strong riders (both current and ex-racers) show up every Sunday and the peloton often rolls along in the 24-26 mph range for considerable miles on the flats. Also showing up are a number of randonneurs who have successfully ridden PBP and 24-hour specialists. Most notable among the latter group is Chris Ragsdale who won the Sebring event this year; he rode 502 miles in this 24-hour Florida classic. I find that staggering! If that were not enough, I believe he plans to defend his win of last year in the Michigan 24-hour contest.
The post-ride reports emailed to the group by the Goose Bumps ride leaders (David Roberts and Bill Pence) and others chiming in, have been great reading–humorous, on point, and with many a well-turned phrase or aside–and I can’t help but dub them Cat #1 writers for their literary efforts. Some might demure at this categorization, so, okay, high doggerel. In any case, it’s a great group of folks with which to ride and socialize.
