One hundred miles. You’ll
commonly hear cyclists asking each other whether they’ve ever ridden “a century”,
a lofty goal that for cyclists is the rough equivalent of running a
marathon. Yes, some people are able to go
further, but for most, once they’ve gotten to 100 there’s no need to prove
themselves further, except perhaps to go find another century to do that’s more
epic in one way or another.
Once Beth and I realized in the early 2000s that our 40+ -year
old knees, hips, and other moving body parts were not going to withstand decades
of additional long-distance running, we started looking for another way to
punish ourselves. We discovered cycling,
and before long both of us were able to complete a 100-mile ride. We then started searching for challenging
rides and events to do around the country.
One of our adventures took us to Virginia in 2012, where
there was a six-day ride with a longest day of 80 miles. Beth pointed out that if we just logged 20
miles before everyone else woke up that we could end the day with 100. “Furthermore”, she said, “wouldn’t it be neat
if we were able to do a 100-mile ride in every State?”. Although originally skeptical, John
ultimately embraced the idea when he realized that this would give him
something to talk about at dinner parties for many years to come. We rode 100 miles that day, bringing our
total to 10 States, and then over the next seven years added another 23, so
that we’ve now done 100-mile rides in 33 States, most of them in the east and
south but a few (such as Oregon and Alaska) much further out there.
It has been a great adventure so far, but the pace of our
quest has slowed as we’ve had to travel further and further afield to States
that are still on the “to do” list.
During a 2019 adventure planning session last fall with our Rand McNally
Road Atlas, we realized that with our 60th birthdays approaching
that we’d best get on our horses and get this thing done or we’d be doing it in
wheelchairs. We then set out to develop
an itinerary that would take us through the balance of the States in the
continental U.S. in as efficient a manner as possible. On Saturday, May 18, we hop in our loaded
Dodge Caravan with two single bikes, a tandem, and a whole lot of stuff necessary
to execute the plan.
If all goes well, we’ll be doing 100 mile rides on the
following schedule, plus or minus a day or two:
·
5/19 Yellow
Springs, Ohio
·
5/21 Tell
City, Indiana
·
5/23 Dixon
Springs, Illinois
·
5/27 Winona,
Missouri
·
5/29 Franklin,
Nebraska
·
5/30 Stockton,
Kansas
·
6/3 Boise
City, Oklahoma
·
6/5 Taos,
New Mexico
·
6/11 Laramie,
Wyoming
·
6/13 Jackson,
Wyoming (into Idaho)
·
6/15 West
Glacier, Montana
·
6/19 Colville,
Washington
·
6/25 Kulm,
North Dakota
·
6/28 Sisseton,
South Dakota
·
7/1 Brainerd,
Minnesota
·
7/3 Cable,
Wisconsin
·
7/5 Grand
Marais, Michigan
·
7/10 HOME!
If it goes as planned, this little stunt will bring the
total number of States where we’ve completed centuries to 49. We’ll celebrate by topping things off with
Hawaii in January 2020.
What could possibly go wrong? We can’t think of a thing.
