Tamara Stephas

It’s very fashionable for cyclists to come out of retirement these days; everyone is doing it. However, I don’t think you can call my hiatus from the sport retirement, since that takes a real career to have retired from.  Lance can retire.  Jennie Reed can retire.  Me, I just stopped racing my bike two years ago.

And if it wasn’t a retirement, then it’s not a comeback.  I just started racing again.  I have a little more time now that I’m out of school, and the new women racers I’ve been working with on my team are infectiously enthusiastic, so why not get back on the velodrome and find out if it’s still as fun as I remember?

Whatever you call my non-comeback, you have to call it FUN!  It’s great to be back.

It turns out that some of the speed is still there, and canny riding makes up for some of the rest.   I was still able to play my preferred role of heat-turner-upper and doer-of-the-unexpected.

Last Friday was a terrific night of racing: strong field, some great moves, and even good weather for a change.    Hear that?  The gal is BACK!

Last Saturday’s 60-mile bike ride was extraordinary:  my  ByrneInvent teammates and I had more than a half dozen actively positive interactions with drivers and passers-by — and no negative ones!  A guy crossing the street with his cup of coffee cheered us as we went by.  A Metro bus driver passed us with an entire lane to spare, and then gave us a thumbs-up as we passed him at a layover.  Drivers made space for us to change across lanes when we signalled.  The traffic sensor in the turn lane at 145th has been fixed to detect bikes.  People waved.  Walkers on the trail smiled.

Can it be that we’ve finally turned the corner to a society in which cyclists are recognized fondly as legitimate road users?  Even admired?

Or was it just one of those bluebirds-singing, everything-right-with-the-world Disney moments that occur on the rare occasions when Seattle has sunshine in February?

I was saying I wanted to get involved in racing again now that I’m out of school; I didn’t mean to jump in with both feet.  But the team needed an experienced woman racer who has time to coordinate the women’s program, especially with some promising cat 4s this year but less depth to the program than in some years.  I’m not the best, but I’ve been doing this for a while, and I like mentoring new riders.  Riding with the guys is fun, but it will be a treat to have some women’s rides and hopefully help the new racers jump into it.

Whew.  Michael and I completed RAMROD (Ride Around Mt. Rainier in One Day) on the tandem, despite record heat.  For those not familiar with the ride, it is a 154-mile, one day event which completely circles a 14,000 foot volcano in Washington state.  Usually it is lovely.  One legendary year it snowed on the mountain during the ride (in July!)  This year it started at a comfortable 78 degrees F before dawn at the base of the mountain, and hit 100 degrees before 11am.  There is a long, long exposed climb up a south-facing slope midday, but breezes across the pass when you finally make it to the top.  Unfortunately, the denouement after the final pass was a descent into a blast furnace; it was well over 100F at the finish line in the afternoon.

Our ride this year was a complete success, if by “success” you mean “finished the ride,” “avoided heat-related illness,” and “were still speaking with each other.” The organizers provided fantastic support – handing out ice-filled tube socks at the base of the longest, hottest climb was a stroke of genius.

File in the category of “things we can check off our list and don’t need to do again.”

Afterward I modified the t-shirt design … just a little…

Pre-season track racing began in early May at Marymoor Velodrome. I have raced May 9th and 16th so far, and had a great time. Training has taken a far back seat to art and school this year, but fortunately there seems to still be enough in my legs to hang in, contest a few sprints, and generally have a whole lotta fun. It’s great motivation to work on tactics and ride smart. May 16th was particularly fun due to a good women’s turnout and unseasonably warm weather. What a beautiful evening. Check out Stephen Rusk’s flikr site for photos of racing on the 9th.

All’s well that ends well, as the bard said. My vision is nearly 100% again. Something finally clicked (metaphorically) about three weeks after the last surgery, and one day I simply realized I had been using stereo vision all morning. The convergence continued improving and now functions in most of my visual range. I rarely notice double vision anymore. It makes a big difference to many activities we take for granted: pouring a glass of water, accepting change at the store, driving, walking down stairs, and of course riding in a pack of cyclists. Pacelines feel so much easier and safer now, I’m amazed looking back on it that I was able to compete in mass-start races at all last year! Apparently I’m stupider and far more stubborn than I ever thought; it would have been much simpler and very sensible to have just given up racing. Huge thanks to Dr. Raghu Mudumbai and the other doctors at UW Medical and Harborview where I had my surgeries.