The Fred Hutch Foundation (based in Seattle) hosts a fundraising event every year called the Obliteride, with the intent on raising money to obliterate cancer through research. Because COVID, this year’s event is virtual so I planned my own century route.

Last week I headed out for a lunch ride where, long story short, I blew up the carbon frame on my road bike. I’m okay, but my beloved Orbea is most certainly not. Scrambling, I found a robin’s egg blue gravel bike, a Salsa Warbird, in a local shop that just happens to be my size. That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

Big shift in the plan and now my century road ride has turned into a century farm-road ride. Considerably tougher on an unfamiliar route with a brand-new bike. What could go wrong?