This Middle Georgia cyclist competes all across the world, logging around 10K miles each year
Betty Jean Jordan has been cycling since she was 3 years old.
Well, sort of. That’s when she got a tricycle. There weren’t great distances involved — down the hallway and around the driveway —— but three wheels was a start.
By the time she was 6, and the training wheels came off her new bicycle, she was on her way. Literally.
In high school, Betty Jean and her sister, Donna, would ride bikes from their home in DeKalb County to Stone Mountain, a round trip of around 20 miles.
“I thought that was huge,’’ she said, laughing.
Now, a 20-mile road trip is a mere warm-up. Betty Jean has become one of Middle Georgia’s top cycling enthusiasts, logging about 10,000 miles a year on the six bikes she owns. She recently completed the Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur — a 762-mile test of endurance — in four days.
Betty Jean celebrated her 49th birthday last month, but still figures she’s got plenty of tread on her tires. She and her husband, Robert, live in Monticello and both are civil engineers. Robert also is an avid cyclist. They have a tandem when they ride together.
“I love cycling,’’ she said. “I joke that I work to support my cycling habit.’’
Betty Jean graduated from Georgia Tech, and got serious about cycling when she began dating Robert, who competed in triathlons. For three consecutive years in the mid-1990s, they participated in the Bike Ride Across Georgia — a 400-mile trek across the state.
In the early 2000s, they began taking part in weekly rides with a group out of Macon with folks who would meet at Mount Zion Baptist, south of Bolingbroke. The group still gets together twice a week during the daylight saving time, and on Saturdays during the winter months for a 75-100 mile ride.
She had every reason to give up competitive cycling seven years ago, when she was involved in a serious crash in a road race in Monroe County.
“There were about 90 riders, including men, women and juniors,’’ she said. “About 2 miles into the race we hadn’t had time to spread out. We were going downhill at 40 mph, and someone had a flat tire. We all plowed into each other. A number of us were taken to the hospital, and I was one of the worst injured.’’
She broke her upper jaw, had to have several teeth replaced and underwent surgery on her chin. Although it took her seven months to fully recover, she was back on the saddle in a week … so to speak.
“I did a time trial seven days later,’’ she said. “That probably was stupid, but I was determined not to let (the accident) set me back. I was 41 at the time and said no more ‘mass’ races for me. But I still wanted to challenge myself on the bike.’’
As part of her comeback trail, she committed to “century” rides (100 miles) every month for a worthy cause.
“Rather than make it about me, I decided to ride on behalf of 12 charities,’’ she said.
In 2015, a friend recruited her to be part of a four-woman team to participate in the 3,000-mile Race Across America.
She later became interested in randonneuring, a type of long-distance cycling that began in Europe. Brevets focus on the self-sufficiency of the competitors.
That led her to the Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur in August, with 6,672 other riders from every continent but Antarctica.
The P-B-P began 1891 and is held every four years. The race is 762 miles from Paris to the coastal city of Brest and back. It travels through 178 towns and villages. It is not so much a race against others but a race against the clock. Betty Jean had to complete the journey in less than 90 hours.
“It was the most difficult physical thing I’ve ever done,’’ Betty Jean said. “They said (the terrain) was rolling, and I was expecting it to look like Middle Georgia, but it didn’t. I’m a good climber, so that didn’t deter me. But it was longer than I expected … and relentless.’’
In ultra-cycling, sleep can be as much of a challenge as stamina. To make her check points, she slept only 11 hours over four days. At one point at the start, she was awake for 36 straight hours.
“I was a relative Rip Van Winkle,’’ she said. “I talked another rider who only slept three hours the whole time. I don’t see how they did that. If I got tired, I would lie down in a city park or church courtyard. I would sing to myself to stay awake … TV theme songs like “The Flintstones’ or ‘The Jeffersons.’ ’’
The finish line was a sight for sore eyes.
“I don’t think what I did sunk in for a while, because I had worked toward it for so long,’’ she said. “So many people were pulling for me, and that got me through it. I knew I couldn’t let them down.’’
Ed Grisamore teaches journalism at Stratford Academy in Macon. His column appears on Sundays in The Telegraph.