Lovely Rita

"When I go home, I'm going to learn how to cycle," said Rita Christopher of Old Lyme, Connecticut. Never mind that, in her own inimitable style, she has cycled more than 2,300 miles so far from Seattle in the 2000 RadioShack Big Ride Across America. That would be typical of this remarkable, 58-year-old woman who describes herself as"a person of absolutely ordinary abilities" who plunged right in to this cross-country challenge as a way of expanding life — and in memory of her husband, who died of emphysema eight years ago. "I think of him often, and I hope he would be proud of me," she said.

Team Spam — Rita Christopher
is second from the left

A veteran journalist who worked for Newsweek and freelanced for years and then became a lawyer three years ago, Rita is a keen observer of the Big Ride as it rolls along."I think a hallmark of this trip has been the willingness of everyone to help and cooperate," she said, "and I'm particularly impressed by the young people and their willingness to extend themselves and be friends. They wanted me to succeed."

For example, the finer points of riding a bike. "Sonny (Averett of Covington, Louisiana) told me to push down with my heels; Adriana (Lopez from Venezuela) told me to relax my shoulders and Team Chico (Amber Scott of Placerville, California, and Shannon Breein of Santa Cruz, California) showed me how to fix a flat [Rita has had seven, five of them in one day]." She's also received a great deal of support from her family, including two sons in New York and Beijing, four children from her husband's family, and others on her E-mail list, to which she sends a daily bulletin.

Things were rough at the beginning, Rita recalled. Before the first night of the ride, she had never pitched a tent in her life. Cycling was a huge challenge. "At first, I thought, 'My God, I can never do this.' When we went over Stevens Pass in Washington, I thought, 'How am I going to get out of this? What am I going to tell my sponsors — that I have some rare disease?'" But Rita persisted. On the ride's first century, on the third day, from Cashmere to Grand Coulee, Washington, she fell short by 15 miles and had to ride the van into camp. "I felt terrible," she recalled. "I wanted to cry." But by the ride's fourth century, 108 miles into Madison, she sailed into camp in fine style.

Madison's farmers' market offers
impressive produce

At her age, Rita said, she thought she knew about herself, but the Big Ride has shown her a few things."I learned about not giving up and I learned about the value of hard work. And I've had to learn a little humility. 'On your left' [the phrase that cyclists use to tell others that they are passing] is not one of my favorite phrases. So I've had to learn I can do what I can do."

Now, with just 13 riding days in the Big Ride left to go, "I am absolutely astonished that the time has gone so quickly — and I am miserable that it is going to be over," Rita said. She wants to do more bike trips (after she learns to cycle) and she plans to keep in touch with the friends of all ages she has met on the trip. As a rider who has opened herself to the experience of the journey, Rita has collected a bagful of memories, such as the car trip to the Spam museum in Austin, Minnesota. The half-dozen that did so now call themselves Team Spam, and had Spam T-shirts custom made, which they proudly wore as they rode out of Madison on Saturday.

Border Number Seven

Riders earning their Bike
Safety certification

Those who lingered in the capital before hitting the road were able to catch one of its better-known events — the farmers market around the State Capitol. Scores of vendors selling baked goods, coffee, flowers and fresh vegetables, packed the square. Fun-loving Big Riders took the State Farm Bike Safety Rodeo, weaving kid-sized bikes around pylons, circling, and changing directions.

A baker's dozen of fun-loving Big Riders from Illinois staged one of the more elaborate border crossing welcomes in South Beloit, Illinois, at about mile 60 of the day's ride. Wearing fake Abe Lincoln beards and hats, the Illini greeted fellow riders with handshakes and cupcakes, sandwiches, orange juice, pastries, and fruit.

Honest Abe welcomes riders
to his home state

Refreshed and encouraged, riders completed what has come to be considered by most riders as a relatively easy day of just 80 miles. Not content with that, another half-dozen young riders set off after a brief rest for the next day's stop, Naperville, Illinois, there to catch a train into Chicago to sightsee and perhaps catch a Cubs game. They will rejoin the group on Monday.

As Rita said,"We have lots of different kinds of people on this trip, but we all have one goal." With less than a thousand miles to go, it is becoming clear that the goal is not so much Washington, D.C., as it is, as Rita has shown, doing one's best.

By Clem Work, riding reporter.

For more information about today's ride, check out the GORP Big Ride Log.