Biketodetroit

I have known Judy for almost 40 years, since Judy and Tom and Gretchen and I were newly married couples in Ann Arbor. I think we started riding bikes together in the early '90s, when Judy invited me to Seattle for the STP. Each year about 10,000 riders bike on back roads from Seattle to Portland. The trip is 200 miles over two days, and there are campsites and showers provided for the overnight. There is support, food and drink, provided along the way, but it cannot match Tom's personal support. Other unfortunate riders have to make it to an aid station, but for friends of Judy, the aid comes to them.

I rode the STP with Judy several times, but the organizers had perversly scheduled the ride in late June, when rain is almost assured. I rode across the Columbia in a driving rain in which I could barely see the roadway, much less the river. After two successive years in which it rained most of the ride, I suggested we try another time and place. That led to Yellowstone.

In 1998 we rode from Anacortes, Washington to Yellowstone - 1008 miles in 13 days. Tom and his trusty RV provided support. The riders were Judy, Bill Poceta, David Sklar, Matt Mitchell, and myself. We have the whole crew together again except for Matt. We are missing you Matt and send you and Mia our best wishes.

[An interesting example of the frailty of memory. Half of us were certain the Yellowstone ride was in 1997; the others that it was 1999. Each had specific arguments for their date. We finally found documentary evidence which proved we were all wrong.]

The Yellowstone trip led to others - less difficult - and now to this madness. On this trip Bill, David and I are setting personal records for distance, having passed 1000 miles a few days ago. Because Judy joined us in Eureka she has a ways to go for her record. But there is one record we all share from the Yellowstone trip which we are pretty sure will never be broken, and that is consecutive days riding.

Somehow I get the blame for planning the Yellowstone ride. I don't remember why that is, because I didn't plan the route, but I think I had established a date when we had to arrive in Yellowstone. The problem was that I had never been on a long bike trip before, and I didn't know about the concept of rest days. That's when you take a day off during a long ride and perhaps don't get on the bike at all. Well, I didn't know about this concept (though I now admit it's a pretty good one) and so we rode for 13 days straight without rest.

Judy is responsible for our good hydration practices. She is fanatical about getting enough fluids on the ride, and the rest of us, mostly after suffering the consequenses of dehydration, now follow her lead. She is not, however, responsible in any way for our urination practices, for which we take full responsibility.

This message was sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures with your wireless phone visit
www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getpix.

To learn how you can record videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getflix.

To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download
process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

# posted by Jeff @ 6:04 AM