by Bo Bikes Bama is an annual charity bike ride led by sports legend and Alabama native Bo Jackson. Every year, Bo Bikes Bama raises money for the Alabama Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund, which provides disaster preparedness and emergency management resources for the state of Alabama. In 2021, the organization adjusted plans to deal with COVID. Like other cycling events during the past year, that meant making up your own ride.
I figured with all the joy that came from Bo Jackson in video games, I could pop a few bucks for his charity to give back. Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson was legendary.
What route to ride?
My first thought was to ride near some of the tornado sites in Massachusetts. After some research, I decided they were a bit far away for a ride to so early in the season.
Then I fixated on a length.
16, the number he wore for the Royals? Too short.
34, the number he wore for the Raiders? Better, but still too short.
50! Add them up. Then it was just a process of making the loop bigger and bigger to get to 50 miles. A little nudge here and there to clean it up. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35777142
Then the call went out to the pod of riders I’ve felt safe riding with during the pandemic. Some of them even showed up.
It was a glorious route. Pre-COVID traffic is starting to come back. Most of the roads were great for riding. The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail was quite busy in a few spots. I was happy to be slowed down by the joy of seeing really young kids just starting to ride their bikes.
I ended the ride with a box of donuts from Lyndell’s Bakery. I didn’t eat all of them. I bought two boxes to share with the peloton.
My only disappointment from the ride is that I came up short in mileage. I ended at 49.98. I had even ridden a bit past the finish when I saw my mileage was a bit short. Apparently, I was 0.02 of a mile short. Strava keeps rounding down to 49.9. Oh, well.
