Devondale Chocolate and Caramel Milkshake: I can spell my name, too
Saturday April 30, 2016, 13 miles (21 km) – Total so far: 215 miles (346 km)
Ever since Greg plotted out and pedalled his name on the streets of HIS town, I wanted to rise to the challenge and do it, too.
I looked at all of the maps I use to plot overnight and three-day rides in an attempt to find my name hidden in the network of roads in my region. I just couldn’t find anything. I even looked at possibilities on the boring roads west of here which aren’t quite so constrained by topography and which might have greater grid-like options. Nothing.
I enlisted the help of my husband – who thought I was a bit nuts. However, he has known me long enough that he just takes that in his stride these days. He looked at the maps… he even turned them on their side. He even had an extra glass of alcohol to help him think creatively.
But alas, his response was this: “I don’t see anything. The only one I can come up with has you doing about 250 kilometres to get E and M…. (pause) And that has you using the Federation Way for part of it. So if you do that route, let me know, so I can take out some life insurance on you first.”(The Federation Way is a busy, narrow road with many heavy vehicles and no shoulder).
So…. I thought maybe I needed to think bigger. Maybe I could get my name done in a 3 or 4-day ride. So I ‘zoomed out’ and looked at the maps trying to find my name on a larger scale. Still… no luck!
Finally, it dawned on me to think smaller. Jindera is laid out on a grid. Maybe I could squeeze my name in within the confines of the village. Surely I could at least get EM. And lo and behold, there was my name!!
So, I had to go off-road to complete the downstroke of the “M” and the right-hand stick of the “Y”… but these were still within road reserves, they just have not built a road there (in the case of “Y”) or they have closed it off to limit thru-traffic (in the case of “M”).
Now, Greg is an amazing guy with many talents and a few more years of experience in life than me. So he took it a step above and did his name with lowercase letters. That’s hard! I had to take the kindergarten approach and do mine in all uppercase.
You can see the bumpy video of me riding out the letters below, as well as the map of my name on Google. I spelled out my name after I’d done my normal 11-mile local loop (documented in previous BLC rides).
Then I went and purchased the final BLC milk from the local takeaway shop. I’d never had this kind before – simply because it is a bit expensive…. But this was the final milk for the final ride… so we splurged!!
This was definitely a fun way to end the Challenge. Thanks to everyone for your fun journals and a look around your neck of the woods. I’ve loved reading everyone’s contributions. It’s a nice little community – thanks for letting me be a part. Cheers!
