Well, I will try not to exaggerate when I write about this last adventure, but I am sure that it will sound like I am. Anyway, Claire and I decided that since it was not raining, we would go out and do one of our favorite loops through Healdsburg on our Burley tandem. We had the Garmin set up so we could race one of our previous times, and we were both JACKED about getting out there. First thing that happened is that I turned the wrong way right out of our driveway. We didn't realize it until we had gone about a half mile and we were getting farther and farther away from the "course" that the Garmin had set up for us. When we stopped to turn around, I noticed that the front STI shifter was broken and we couldn't shift out of our big ring. We rode back to our house and decided to hop on our Ibis Cousin It tandem which we have set up with big old cross tires. When I pulled the tandem out, we had a flat rear tire. We both laughed about how maybe we shouldn't be going out on the ride, but we fixed the flat and decided to go ride over Sweetwater.
We headed down River Road and turned into Rio Nido on our way to Sweetwater. We were both feeling good and ready for a nice steep climb. As we started to hit the steep part of the climb on Sweetwater, we could hear screeching tires coming towards us down the hill. Claire, being the reasonable one on the tandem, suggested that we pull off to the side and let whoever (or whomever) was coming down the single lane road in such a hurry to go past. We both watched as a white pickup came careening around the corner ahead of us almost not staying on the road. Claire gave a little arms up gesture (not finger, or hand) which suggested that the driver might have been going to fast. Anyway, he screeched to a halt and started to get out of his truck. I decided that the smart thing to do at that point might be to head in his direction at a run since I had the uphill advantage. Thank goodness I had my Shimano hightop SPD sneakers on and not my road shoes. The driver hopped back in his truck, and after exchanging some "pleasantries" with us and telling us that he could go as fast as he wanted since he lived on that road, headed on. He even commented on the fact that we should go back to the city and ride instead of on his road. Claire and I climbed back on the tandem and started back up the road. About 10 minutes later, we heard screeching tires behind us, and again decided to pull over. Here comes the same guy flying up the hill at full speed. He didn't really pay us any attention as he went by, which was fine with both of us. Remember, Sweetwater road is a very, very twisty, narrow road. Claire pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911. At first, the dispatcher just suggested that we should just find a safe place to get off the road. As Claire was discussing things, another driver came down the road. He lived at the top of Sweetwater, and told us that he had almost been hit by the guy in the white truck. The dispatcher was listening a little more at this point. And then a guy in another truck came up the hill behind us and when we asked him about the white truck, he said that he knew who owned that truck, and that the guy was on a rampage and was out to kill two people. The dispatcher was definitely listening now and was sending some sheriffs out. The new guy in the truck was telling the dispatcher quite a bit about the crazy guy and also mentioned that the guy was armed and out to kill people. To make a long story short, we hung out until the sheriff arrived, he took our names, and then we headed back down Sweetwater. We rode home after that and decided that we just weren't destined to get in a nice ride today. Here is a link to our "ride".
Oh, yea, I almost forgot. When we were on top of the hill talking to the sheriff, a call came in saying that the crazy guy had driven through someone's gate and into their mobile home at the bottom of the road. That was before he came back up the road past us. It will be interesting to read the sheriff's report tomorrow and see what happened.
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