I rode on Briggs Chaney decades ago, when I was on a bike ride with a friend of mine from high school -- we were in college by then -- and it's a good thing he was a stronger rider than I, because if I'd caught up with him, I'd probably still be serving time for his murder. It was an extremely dangerous road to be on, one-lane bridge and all, in addition to it being a bit on the challenging side for me, AND it was a blasting hot day. It didn't help that we started the ride at his house, which means I had ridden over there from my house.

So we finally get to what he thought our turnaround point should be... the parking lot overlooking the old country club's swimming pool, which we couldn't enter, of course. He lived because my hands didn't have the strength to wring his neck. Plus, I had no idea where we were nor how to get back to familiar territory.

Of course we had no water with us; my road bike, a hand-me-down from my older brother, didn't even have a cage. Boy, did that pool look inviting! Boy, was I wishing for more strength in my hands!

Looking back on this, I can't believe I did such a ride. (I can say that about every ride I took with him, though that particular one really does strike me as unbelievable, and not just because we both lived through it.) I was an occasional rider only. Even with the improvements since then on Briggs Chaney, there are only parts of the road I'd consider riding on now (those parts bordering my community).

Wow. Memory dump. Sorry!

(The bike was the Panasonic "Bu!!sh!t" bike I finally gave away through Freecycle three or four years ago. I've since seen the bike parked at the Greenbelt Metro; it's quite distinctive!)