For the second time this trip, the team’s attempt at a century was foiled. Again, we were cut short by a menacing cumulonimbus and the thunderstorm it brought with it. This time, however, it decided to show up early and instead of stopping us mid trip, it endeavored to even keep us from starting. The previous night we had gone to bed early in hopes of getting an early start to the morning, hoping to give ourselves plenty of time to finish a century. But when we awoke to the sound of roaring thunder and pouring rain, we knew we were starting the day on the wrong foot.
As a team, we decided to try and wait the storm out, and to some degree, it worked… kind of? While we were waiting, the lightning eventually stopped. The rain, however, did not. If any of us on the team were to have a chance at completing the century, they would have to start by biking in the rain. Those who were biking today decided to go for it, and thus began a chaotic ten minutes of scurrying around, looking to gather any sort of rain gear. This included divvying up the few rain jackets we had, knowing that amongst the jackets to choose from was deemed a “performative windbreaker.” This jacket was performative in the sense that it was not waterproof, so the rider wearing it could do nothing but desperately perform mental gymnastics to convince themselves that it was doing something.
Can you spot the performative windbreaker?
After chuckling about the performative nature of a windbreaker, the bikers soon headed out, and Helen and I, being on car crew today, soon followed. It seemed like not two minutes had passed when we got a call from them saying they had a flat. So Helen and I pulled a U-ey and met them in a nearby parking lot to hand off the pump. They were soon off once again, and Helen and I embarked on our typical car crew grocery run.
Following our three hour delayed departure, the rest of the day seemed to go pretty smoothly. For the most part, the biking crew was gonna be staying on the Katy Trail, so Helen and I would just meet them at various trailheads to help them restock with water. We had our own mini adventures while they biked, including traipsing around Jefferson City and journaling outside the capitol building.
Apart from our less-than-graceful beginning to the ride, the day really went on without consequence, but soon the day faded into evening. We realized as the sun went down, the chances of completing a century went with it. The bikers tried their best and put up a great fight, but an orange dusk sky eventually turned black, and with more than 50 miles still between us and the host house, we had to call it quits on yet another century.
It was a long day, the bikers had left at 11 in the morning, and we didn’t get to the host house until 10pm. Famished, we decided to round off the rather disappointing day with a pick-me-up in the form of a Munchie Meal, Alex’s favorite snack from Jack In the Box. And you know what? It did the trick.
~Jordan