Slow RIde

Okay, here's the deal: any team I fielded to enter a bicycle relay race, like the Salt to Saint, wouldn't stand a chance of winning. Let's must be honest. I'm not that quick, and while I know some quick cyclists, they would probably form their own team for such an event: a team that had a chance at winning.

However, I like winning. I'm competitive. I just don't devote the time it takes to be the fastest cyclist. But, the Salt to Saint has an MVP team category, and I have just figured out how to win that. (Next year, of course.) I have determined that the team I field will do the ride -- please note that I'm no longer calling it a race -- on cruiser-type bikes. Yup, Electra bikes will be de rigeur on the team. We will do it on single speed and Rohloff hub bikes with full chain guards and large tires. I don't know how this will affect the climbing portions of the ride, but the team would have to be a shoe-in for the MVP award. Talk about style and throwing elegance in the face of efficiency.

The other upside is that cruiser bikes are significantly cheaper than race bikes, even if you do customize them beyond belief. So, we could get people involved who typically wouldn't have the opportunity to take on this type of a challenge. Sporting the racks and baskets, we would be the de facto support riders for anyone else slow enough to stay with us. If we did it right, we could have a rainbow of bikes for the team. I already know someone with an orange bike, and my wife's old Schwinn High Plains could count for red. Who has the rest of the colors? We could toss in a white or black to round out the team as well.

I may allow a race bike or two to act as support riders and pace the person riding each leg of the relay, but that remains to be seen.

So, with that, what do you think? Who's with me? Let's ride from Salt Lake City to St. George in under 24 hours! Well, maybe 36 hours? Try to be there for the awards ceremony? Be off the road by Sunday? I know there's a good goal in there somewhere.