Thelma and Louise on Bikes
Sometimes what seems like a rational thought inside my head becomes a completely stupid idea when it’s said out loud. When Eminva told me she was thinking about taking a run at a 200-mile event this summer I was supportive after I giggled enough to choke on my wine. But she confessed she felt bad about letting her teammates down in some Freezing Saddles thing-a-ma-jig. So I blurted out, “Hey, we could ride a super century in January when we have some time off after the holidays.” My rational mind heard this and started to shriek. But it was too late. Eminva was nodding her head.
The idiocy was suddenly clear. A self-supported super century requires skilled planning. Those are two words I detest. But the night before I pulled it together and went to the grocery store to pack a picnic.
We left my car at the Vienna Community Center filled with food, extra clothes, a floor pump, extra tubes, gallons of fluids, back up lights and most importantly, a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes. It was a veritable 7-11 on wheels.
Then we did loops that progressively became smaller as the day wore on. Out to Leesburg and back. Then we went out to Mount Vernon and back. Finally, in the dark, we staggered out to Herndon and back. We stayed on the trails to cut down on interacting with cars and to keep navigation to a minimum. I pedal better than I think, that’s pretty obvious.
Oh, and we juggled two kids. We had to start and stop according to when a kid needed to be picked up and dropped off at school. The inconvenience of children cannot be overstated.
At the end of the day Liz ended up with 122 miles, I settled for 120. And because I am the worst navigator on the face of the earth, the last .2 of a mile were earned doing circles in the parking lot. But I didn’t care. I could already taste the champagne.
PS – We did have one flat tire. Being resourceful we rode a mile down the road to the Bike Lane in Reston. Now seriously, do you think we’d stand outside in the drizzle to change a rear tire ourselves when we could stand inside where it was warm and dry while watching someone else do it?
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Originally Posted by Tim Kelley
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