Misery loves a symphony
Today I rode over 30 miles on my bike! That may not seem like a lot to some of you, but it is huge for me, especially considering how little training (that is, zero) I did for it.
See, we had planned (Elsabet, Raina, and I) to go on this thing called the Tour de Sprawl, hosted by the Sierra Club, which was supposed to be a leisurely 24 mile tour through urban sprawl, with frequent stops for discussions with environmental specialists, a free lunch, all of that. The night before last, we found out that a group from MacBike was going, and was going to meet at the Campus Center at 8 am to ride out to Woodbury. None of us knowing how far Woodbury was, we agreed to go.
Woodbury is over twelve miles away from campus. So, our 24 miles looked like it was turning into almost fifty, were we to go there, ride the tour, and come back. We waited around until 8:30, because some people had been told that time instead, and when no one showed up, we left. The moment we started moving, it started raining, and kept it up for about six miles. Just about at the time it stopped raining, we were yelled at by a lame man driving a white van that we weren't allowed to be riding our bikes, and did we have permits?, and we weren't supposed to be there, and he was calling the cops, and he was on the phone with them, and listen, the sirens are coming for you! It was an ambulance, going elsewhere.
So ten o'clock - the take-off time for the tour - came and went, and we were still miles away. We finally found the starting point at about 11, and found absolutely no one. Well, not quite true: as we were wandering the parking lot on bike, we ran across some couple wandering in their car, who just so happened to not only be from the Sierra Club, but also the ones carrying all the food to feed the riders with. They told us we were on the right path, and said they had plenty of food for when they caught up with the group.
That was the last time we saw them.
We finally found someone on her way back (early) who pointed us in the right direction, and told us there would be arrows, so over twelve miles out already, we started out on the tour, in hopes of catching up with the group.
Long story short, we rode through suburbs and developments, wetlands and farmlands, forests and frontage roads, and never caught up with the group. We kept running across bikers going the other way, after having done some of it, and everyone told us we were almost there, and that the group was going super slow so we would definitely catch them, but we never got there. We finally made it to the lunch point, only to find no one, and no food.
I don't want to say that we gave up, because - especially from our end - we road almost fifty percent more than we had planned on riding, but we did decide at the lunch point that we were tired, hungry, and wind-beaten, and worked on finding rides home. From Cottage Grove.
It all worked out, and we had a nice time eating pizza together in a little patch of grass at a parking lot at Menard's, then hanging out for both trucks to come. It may not have been what we expected, but it was still a really wonderful day, and I am glad I went.
Now, however, I am wasted. I need pasta.
See, we had planned (Elsabet, Raina, and I) to go on this thing called the Tour de Sprawl, hosted by the Sierra Club, which was supposed to be a leisurely 24 mile tour through urban sprawl, with frequent stops for discussions with environmental specialists, a free lunch, all of that. The night before last, we found out that a group from MacBike was going, and was going to meet at the Campus Center at 8 am to ride out to Woodbury. None of us knowing how far Woodbury was, we agreed to go.
Woodbury is over twelve miles away from campus. So, our 24 miles looked like it was turning into almost fifty, were we to go there, ride the tour, and come back. We waited around until 8:30, because some people had been told that time instead, and when no one showed up, we left. The moment we started moving, it started raining, and kept it up for about six miles. Just about at the time it stopped raining, we were yelled at by a lame man driving a white van that we weren't allowed to be riding our bikes, and did we have permits?, and we weren't supposed to be there, and he was calling the cops, and he was on the phone with them, and listen, the sirens are coming for you! It was an ambulance, going elsewhere.
So ten o'clock - the take-off time for the tour - came and went, and we were still miles away. We finally found the starting point at about 11, and found absolutely no one. Well, not quite true: as we were wandering the parking lot on bike, we ran across some couple wandering in their car, who just so happened to not only be from the Sierra Club, but also the ones carrying all the food to feed the riders with. They told us we were on the right path, and said they had plenty of food for when they caught up with the group.
That was the last time we saw them.
We finally found someone on her way back (early) who pointed us in the right direction, and told us there would be arrows, so over twelve miles out already, we started out on the tour, in hopes of catching up with the group.
Long story short, we rode through suburbs and developments, wetlands and farmlands, forests and frontage roads, and never caught up with the group. We kept running across bikers going the other way, after having done some of it, and everyone told us we were almost there, and that the group was going super slow so we would definitely catch them, but we never got there. We finally made it to the lunch point, only to find no one, and no food.
I don't want to say that we gave up, because - especially from our end - we road almost fifty percent more than we had planned on riding, but we did decide at the lunch point that we were tired, hungry, and wind-beaten, and worked on finding rides home. From Cottage Grove.
It all worked out, and we had a nice time eating pizza together in a little patch of grass at a parking lot at Menard's, then hanging out for both trucks to come. It may not have been what we expected, but it was still a really wonderful day, and I am glad I went.
Now, however, I am wasted. I need pasta.