In my infinite wisdom today I decided to head out on an epic adventure with Annie. We (ha ha “we”) decided to endeavor to ride our bike 50 miles. The first plan was to ride out the Cherry Creek Bike Path (15.5 miles) to REI, then hit the Platte Trail south for 10 miles, then turn around and ride home. Both trails are familiar to us...to the point of being annoying. Well, we got to the 25 mile mark...the turn-around, and decided we didn’t want to go home that way. It’s boring, we just rode it, just didn’t wanna do it. So we kept riding. Annie was having fun, reading books, playing with her baby-doll. So we kept going. At 32.5 miles we hit the C470. Humm, there’s a C-470 bike path....kinda heads towards home. So...we took it.

And...we got close to home, but we got kinda lost. We ended up out in the middle of BFE Colorado...out by Centennial Airport at a dead end. We had to take a break. Annie ran around on the sidewalk for awhile while I regrouped and tried not to get teary. My Garmin said 44 miles, and that didn’t include the 3 miles where I had stopped it at a stoplight and forgot to hit start again. I called my friend Laura who got out a map and got us headed back the correct direction, towards home. After some sketchy sections and some road riding we found a road we knew! I was soooo tired, my legs were shot.

About 1 mile from home...so close, we took a turn on the bike path a little funny and the left Chariot wheel went off the path, but when it popped back on the path it jack-knifed and tipped over. Hence, I crashed my bike as well. I have never tipped the Chariot before...in fact it’s one of my biggest fears. I untangled myself from my Azure and flipped the Chariot upright, ripped the cover off and Annie was staring back at me with a shocked look on her face. I started crying a little bit, which made her start crying. So I sucked it up and checked her out. She was strapped in so snug that I don’t think any piece of her was jarred at all. I am so THANKFUL. [FOR MY MOMS READING THIS...this is a major note to make sure those kids are fully strapped in snugly, like their car seat]. I got back on my bike, which was totally mangled and rode home crying. Azure is going to need some serious work, the handlebars are twisted for sure. I still haven’t fully assessed the damage. I have like 6 large bruised/scraped areas and a huge Charlie Horse on my right calf that is making it difficult to walk tonight. I’m glad I don’t have a race this weekend!

Epic Carnage, Epic Catastrophe. 54 miles. 4 hours. 2120 ft. vertical gain. Pulling Annie. Epic.