Satori on the Outlaw a2a: One Woman's Story

Somewhere Along 87-Mile Route Realization Dawns on Skater

(Editor's note: For many of its fans, the Athens to Atlanta Road Skate is much more than an ultra-marathon: it's an 87-mile celebration of roller freedom. So when the a2a was canceled this year, diehard fans barely carved a turn before announcing an outlaw a2a, which would follow the same route but without the benefit of police controlling traffic. The non-event was Sunday. It drew a handful of diehards (including eight-time a2a champ Eddy Matzger) ... and rolling along with them, apparently, was that old a2a magic. ... Below is a report by one of diehards.)

By Elizabeth Bailey

When Blake Lambert (of roadskater.net) told me he was going to skate a2a this year, official event or not, I thought he was crazy.

But even though I was convinced I'd probably get killed by an SUV somewhere between Lawrenceville-Suwannee Road and Ronald Reagan Parkway (with no police support), I was not about to let him do it without me!

Safety (OK ... and a little bit of glory) was a major concern of mine.

However, something dawned on me over those ever-gruelling 87 miles last Sunday ...

After learning that Bruce, Uwe, Mims, Ben, Eddy, Josh, Guiggy, Steph, Julie, Dan, were also compelled to skate the course (and Lisa B. on a bike) ... and that Blake and I would have a support vehicle (Jerry and Linda - you simply rock!), and ...

After seeing Henry manning a long, fast downhill junction on our way out of Athens, and ...

After breezing through the first 38 (go Julie from Charlotte, Stephanie, and Dan from Arkansas!), complete with a more forgiving gatorback section this year, and less new subdivisions in Dacula than I had feared, and ...

After taking three Advil around mile 50 for anklebone pain that almost brought me to tears and quitting, and ...

After realizing that getting through my most feared section of my home county of Gwinnett with zero police at intersections seemed less dangerous than dealing with irate motorists being held up by a cop to let the skaters through, and ...

After being pulled up along side by a white convertible on Cruse Road containing a fun-loving, Russian coworker of mine grinning from ear-to-ear at us and yelling "I knew it was you two! You guys are crazy!!" - she later told me the friend who was driving the convertible went around excitedly the whole rest of the day telling everybody he met that we were skating from Athens to Atlanta, and ...

After racing uphill to the Lowes traffic light on unPleasant Hill Road to catch a woman in a VW bug (hey whatever happened to the Peace Bug?!) who laid on her horn at us, then realizing that not only was there just no racing in my legs, but that confronting her would not promote goodwill from inline roadskaters, and ...

After experiencing what Donn Baumgartner described as the over-40mph-helmet-lift, flying down Silver Hill tucked in behind Blakey taking video, and ...

After seeing the oasis that is David Lampp and his last-resort rest-stop: two empty chairs at the side of the road just begging for us to plant our arses in for a few minutes, and ...

After being greeted by Keno, Sam and Thomas and another skater on the course, then of course Eddy, regular as clockwork, skating back to cheer us on for a bit, then yell "I'm off to catch Squiggly" (Guiggy!), and ...

After being celebrated over the unofficial finish line by Henry and his daughter, and Chuck, Barbara and Barbara's dogs ...

After all these and so many more liberating experiences this past Sunday, I have got to tell you: I now truly get Donn's "Skate Free or Die" buttons!

If anybody had asked me beforehand why we were going to skate A2A this year, I'd have said: "Because we're nuts."

Now if anybody asks me why we skated it, my answer is: "Just because!"

Yours liberatedly,

Elizabeth

(Elizabeth Bailey is a skater who lives in Lawrenceville, Ga. She has skated the official Athens to Atlanta Road Skate five times.)

(Posted on Oct. 6, 2005)