My Biking Friend Carol Sue

They say there's a fine line between hobby and mental illness. Might be true. Some of you know I'm a bicycle rider. Love it! Have ridden seriously for a lot of years...Note: I didn't say fast, I said seriously. Meaning I like riding probably more miles than the average about-town bicycle rider. The people I ride with usually joke that it isn't worth going if you can't get at least 20 miles. I am not a racer...nor do I strive to be one. Just doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I kind of figure that at my age (64 - I don't hide it; I'm proud of it!), just going out and riding is exercise enough. And honestly, I like looking at the little blue flowers on the side of the road, or the goats grazing, or whatever. And the gals I ride with enjoy conversation. Yes, occasionally we'll have a little sprint just for fun...but it isn't really a competitive thing for us.

But I have this friend Carol Sue that I've known since probably the early '80's. In the summer of 1988 she rode from Hutchinson, KS, to Yorktown, VA. The summer of 1994 she rode from Hutchinson to Missoula, MT. During the summer of 1996 she completed her cross country odyssey by biking from Twin Bridges, MT. to Astoria, OR. When she finally retired from the working world, she signed up to do the entire trip with Adventure Cycling along with 12 other riders. They biked completely self contained beginning May 3, 1999, in Yorktown, VA, and ending August 3, 1999, in Astoria, OR.

So I guess I wasn't too surprised when she answered another Adventure Cycling ad for a companion to ride the Northern Tier and help raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Last May, Carol Sue and two female companions left Anacortes, Washington on their bikes, completely self contained and with no sag vehicles. I followed their blog every day. They rode to Bar Harbor, Maine and returned home in August. http://ride4habitat.blogspot.com/

This doesn't tell you enough about their trip...but that would be Carol Sue's blog (see link above), not mine. But what it should tell you is how dedicated she can be. Carol Sue isn't interested in racing either...but she can just sit there and crank and crank and crank. I remember a few years ago running into her one day about 6 miles north of town...only a week or so after she'd had some very major surgery. There she was, cranking away!!

It had been a couple of weeks since I'd last talked to Carol Sue, so today I called her. As we chatted she said, "Well, I was just going to come over and show you and surprise you...but I'll tell you. I have a motorcycle license now!" My response was, "So do I...but I haven't ridden a motorcycle in years!" (Motorcycles used to be our "bread and butter".) Well, it seems she took a safety course at the college and passed for her license and got a Honda 750 Shadow...and she's riding it. Our conversation went on and as we began to end it, she said something about I should get back into riding motorcycles too...and yadda, yadda, yadda....and I responded with, "Well, I'd even go cross country with you if I had a motorcycle!" All of a sudden, her tone changed, and she said, very seriously, "OH REALLY???" All I could think of to say was "Did I say that out loud?" We had a good chuckle and said goodbye. But I know Carol Sue: I planted that seed!!!

I have wonderful friends. Each one with different qualities, each one with something individual about them that I really enjoy. I tend to voice my enjoyment of my friends. Whenever one of my biking friends feels that goofy appreciation building up in them, they'll announce "I'm having one of Barbara's warm fuzzy moments!!!" I guess that's what I'm doing here this evening: just showing my appreciation of one of my strong, dedicated friends. I admire independent, self-confident women that aren't afraid to get out there and live life
!!