12 June 2012

Dixon Springs State Park to Carbondale IL 55 miles (TransAm 1,165)

Gina does not have very many photos from today’s ride, the result of her personal challenge this morning to keep up with The Boys. Keeping up with The Boys means not stopping every 10 miles for pastries or pictures. This challenge she set herself up for was to last just a few miles, five, maybe ten tops. But 55 miles later, here she is arriving in Carbondale, a little worse for wear but pleased to jump on that mat and hear Phil say “Gina, you are Team Number Three!”

Being pleased at being third to arrive most certainly had nothing to do with trumping any other riders. Ninety-nine point nine times out of one hundred Gina would rather share a cheeseburger and a laugh than post a personal best. No, being pleased at being third to arrive undoubtedly had everything to do with (a) meeting a fun challenge and (b) being able to pick out the best room and/or bed at tonight’s motel. Our little Gina isn’t necessarily the most competitive person (unless she’s got a football tucked under one arm and the other outstretched to fend off that 250 pound linebacker making a beeline for her latte-loving frame) but some days, when that horse smells the barn, you best get out of the way. I’ve seen this behavior in action in the backcountry of New Zealand, the evening’s lodge room at stake, and I have learned to let that horse gallop on through.

So to Wendy, Gina’s TransAmming roommate, if you see her kicking up those hooves and headed for the rail, all I can say is: make her give you the bigger bed sometimes. And not always the one by the door, for reasons best summed up in one word: Vietnam.