Chaperoning the Birthday Boy Century
When are you ever going to have all your work complete and everything sitting in a neat pile so that you are comfortably ready to make an adventure whenever it lands in your lap? NEVER. NEVER EVER. So when an opportunity comes your way, grab onto that brass ring and go for the ride. +1 when it's with a marvelous group of friends and someone celebrating their birthday! The work will still be there....as it is every day. However, this beautiful world, your health, your fitness, your friends and family, new memories and stories...are all fleeting so don't let them go! Happiest of birthdays to Matt! Thanks a million for giving me a great reason to get up at 4:30am and ride for 105 miles on this dreary, cold, but beautiful day. I am most grateful for the energy and community flowing around me to make it happen!
The Route
Our ultra-distance MtLCCC member, Matt, had his mind set on doing double-his-birthday in miles on his singlespeed trail bike. I had way too much homework to complete in addition to prepping for finals but…..when is it ever the right time? We met the rest of the early morning commuter gang to ride into the city for Friday coffee and a send-off, then made our way down the GAP to West Newtown for our second breakfast. The weather held around 40F, but began to rain on the way back north. Thankfully it let up, but the weather never really warmed up, the trail got sloggier, and we had our heads down to get this done. The shortened days made us want to finish by 4 p.m., and as we got closer…and a bit slower…we were grateful for those odometer miles to turn over. One of our best decisions was to call it a successful day at the Starbucks down the hill from our homes and to have our families pick us up. Darkness had just fallen and rush-hour traffic had picked up. That hot chocolate in a warm shop with our family members never felt so good.