| Date | September 30, 2006 |
| Hosts | Judy Allison and Malcolm Boyd |
| Where | Allison/Boyd house, Medford |
| Who (else) | Marji and Rich Andreas, Brenda and Larry Isherwood, Claire Hamanaka and Walt Willard, Renee Mayeux and Bud MacIlvain, Susan Nicolich and Dave Snope |
Team Animal House here - She's a Vet, I'm one of her patients ;-) - still flying high today after the peak experience of our tandem year. Six teams assembled at the posh but not overly ostentateous lakeside abode of hosts Malcolm Boyd and Judy Allison for a glorious fall outing in the Pine Barrens. Marji eventually finished her physicals on the family pets and Malcolm got us all assembled for some last minute paceline pointers. "Concentrate, it's inherently dangerous...." With that we were off on our way for 4 hours of the best riding of the year. After countless miles this summer suffering up seemingly endless peaks it was nice to be on open backroads winding through the pine barrens with few hills, albeit the headwind was a little blustery on one particular 12-mile stretch through Chatsworth -- the Piney capital of NJ. The cue sheets were excellent -- "Mile 21, Pine Barrens all around." "Mile 32, Cranberry Bogs all around." All teams were pretty evenly matched and we managed to maintain 20-22 mph, smoothly rotating through the paceline. Dave Snope and Sue Nicolich got bumped and took a short detour onto the shoulder. However, Dave managed to stay upright and regain the road without incident. Sue: "That was fun, but let's not try that again ;-)."
All things must come to an end and we too soon found ourselves approaching the end of the ride. The roads showed evidence of copious rain. However, it had moved out ahead of us. Wipe down the bikes, a quick shower and then LUNCH!. Malcolm and Judy have set the bar impossibly high for subsequent hosts. Starting with a soup that was to die for, the menu was absolutely incredible -- and healthy!!
Maybe it's just that tandeming seems to attract a a similar crowd -- birds of a feather, flock together, but we seem to meet the world's nicest people. The food was great, the friendships even better. Renee -- what can we say. She had us all in stitches.
Soo.... Hats off to Judy and Malcolm. Looking forward to the next DOGS outing. Good weather and strong tailwinds to those doing the Seagull and other end of season tours. Team Animal House, we're looking forward to the Savage Century and then an end of October tour of Skyline Drive. Take care, watch the diet, and see you all next time.
Rich and Marji Andreas -- Team Animal House
