Countdown to Triathlon – 173 Days, 24.71 weeks to Race Day (No installment today.)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

Someone, and we won't say who, said: "I'm not a crook!"

Well I didn't mean to fib,either.  Honest!  I did intend to post for this morning like I said i would.

We had a really busy weekend.  We celebrated my mother's 88th birthday and the family took her out to dinner.

My mom and I







Then, on Sunday one of our daughter's gave our youngest daughter a baby shower.  The theme was Hawaii.  Here are a few photos.

There were diapers inside the centerpieces.

The cake

Laurel, due in April - it will be a boy.

We had hula and Tahiti dancers







We had Hawaiian food.

Laurel and our 17 year old Granddaughter, Taylor who flew in from southern California.



Opening gifts

One of the gifts I put together for the baby's room.  The photos are the ultrasound pictures.  The invitation is at the top right.







So this morning when I should have been posting the blog, I was taking back rental stuff, extra food to the Salvation Army and putting things away.  Then, this after noon I drove my Mom home to Sacramento and Granddaughter Taylor to the airport to fly home.

The Journey - Installment Sixty-Six - tomorrow.  I'm worn out today and just can't do it today!

Countdown to Triathlon – 178 Days, 25.42 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 65 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'
Billy Graham

The Journey - Installment Sixty-Five
  Utter Panic and Discouragement

       On a Friday, about two weeks before the bike ride, I received a letter from Focus on the Family discussing the upcoming ride.  The letter re-iterated that we should not ride a mountain bike or a hybrid in the bike ride.  It also listed the riders, their addresses and phone numbers.  I had been expecting to see about 50 riders on the list and was shocked to see only 20.  The notice about the bike caused me to panic.   I now owned a hybrid and it was definitely too late to purchase another bike, a road bike, and train on it. I questioned God about his providing my hybrid bike and got myself quite upset about it.  When I thought about the 20 riders, I panicked even more.  With 50 riders, I had figured that there would be some riders that would be as slow as me and quite possibly I would have someone to ride with at the back of the pack.  I was sitting on the edge of our bed at the time.  After reading this letter and I remember throwing myself down on the bed and sobbing.  As I threw myself down on the bed and sobbed, I felt in utter despair.

To understand my mindset at this point, remember that I had never done a bike ride other than the one the previous October and it was only 29 miles.  I knew I would be riding with people who rode with ease and I knew I would be the worst and slowest rider in the group; probably the most overweight and the oldest.  Beside, my knees were so painful all the time that I really couldn’t picture myself  riding very far.  That thought upset me the most because I would be letting down my family and friends and all the people who had been rooting for me and contributing to Focus on the Family in my name.  Most of all I’d be letting down my God.

When I finally pulled myself together again, I began to look at the list more closely.  I thought that perhaps I could call a couple of the women who were entered in the ride and who lived in the general area and maybe we could find some time to ride together before the actual bike ride..  I definitely wouldn’t have called the men, if for no other reason than they would not want to ride with such a slow poke. I assumed or pre-judged  that I would be the only really slow bike rider.  I called several of the phone numbers and received no answer.  I remember leaving a message on the recorder of a lady named Terri who lived in Modesto, not far from our town of Hughson. She was to play a big part in the three day bike ride with me.   I called one woman who was part of a husband-wife team who would be riding together.  She said they had been riding together for quite some time.  I had been congratulating myself that I could now ride about twenty miles or more without stopping to rest.  I asked her how far they rode without stopping and she informed me that they don’t stop at all. That comment certainly burst my self-congratulatory balloon. Well, those people were definitely not in my category, either. One woman lived in the mountains and I didn’t call her because I figured that she had legs of steel if she was riding on steep grades.  I continued to judge people and situations even when I have no knowledge of them.  Later on the bike ride I discovered that the woman I thought would have legs of steel, would be out in front of the pack and would not ride with me because she would be too fast, couldn’t ride with us at all because of health issues. She was not able to take part in the Focus on the Family Bike Ride.   Pre-judging people and situations has always been a problem for me and has created many false impressions. Would I ever learn?

Come back Monday to see the surprise name on the list.  Have a great weekend, everyone.

Countdown to Triathlon – 179 Days, 25.57 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 64 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

The Journey - Installment Sixty-Four

        A few weeks before the ride I was having some anxious moments about whether I’d be able to complete the ride or not because of my knees.  I had been attending a physical therapist for help with my ever-worsening knees.  In fact, it was recommended to me by the physical therapist that I visited that I should dispense with riding about a week before the ride.  That made me even more nervous because I wondered if that would have great implications on my ability to ride in the actual bike ride. The therapist outfitted me with some special knee braces and an electrical muscle stimulator which was battery powered that was to be worn the first day of the bike ride.  When I mentioned that I would be wearing this battery operated stimulator to my high school email group, they commented that they had their own “bionic woman”. 

One of the men in the email group, Rick  who lives outside of Denver, Colorado, wrote and said that he knew that this ride was definitely going to be accomplished because we have such a great and awesome God.  He reminded me that our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  He told me he had even written a song about that Scripture from the Book of Psalms.  The origin of the song began in his mind after college.  During college, one particular time when either he or his room mate were going through a difficult time, his room mate who was a Christian, told Rick that he wasn’t worried  about the situation because his “Father” owned the cattle on a thousand hills.  Rick wasn’t a Christian at the time and thought to himself, “I wonder if his father really does own the cattle on a thousand hills?”  It wasn’t until years later after Rick had become a Christian himself that he came across that verse in Psalm 50:10 That led him to write the song, Cattle on a Thousand Hills”.  Rick sent me a copy.  His encouragement and his song were very dear to me and made the psalm (see below) much more special. . 


Psalm 50 

¹ The Mighty One, God, the LORD,
   speaks and summons the earth
   from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
² From Zion, perfect in beauty,
   God shines forth.
³ Our God comes
   and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
   and around him a tempest rages.
⁴ He summons the heavens above,
   and the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ “Gather to me this consecrated people,
   who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
⁶ And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
   for he is a God of justice.^[a][b]
 7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
   I will testify against you, Israel:
   I am God, your God.
⁸ I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
   or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
⁹ I have no need of a bull from your stall
   or of goats from your pens, 

¹⁰   for every animal of the forest is mine,
   and the cattle on a thousand hills. 
¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains,
   and the insects in the fields are mine.
¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you,
   for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

        If God could own the cattle on a thousand hills, know every bird in the mountain and the insects (by the gazillions) are his then He could certainly see that this pitiful woman would complete the bike ride.

Countdown to Triathlon – 181 Days, 25.85 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 63 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

NO WHINING!

The Journey - Installment Sixty-Three

MORE ENCOURAGEMENT FROM OTHERS
 

        I was still involved with my drapery business when I wasn’t riding the bicycle.  One of my customers at that time was a Jewish doctor and his wife.  I had been telling her about the ride and my experiences and I commented one day that I was just like the children of Israel, grumbling and complaining and whining.  She was amazed at the story and I told her everything that the Lord had been doing.  A week or so later, Bob went to install blinds in her home.  When he returned that evening, he had two buttons that she had given to me, one with a magnet on the back and one with a pin to wear when I ride my bike.  The buttons read: “Whining” with a line through the word.   In other words, “NO WHINING”.  I wore that button every day after that and on the actual three-day bike ride.  The really great thing about this incident was that I was able to share very openly with this Jewish woman about what Jesus was doing for me.  I didn’t hold back anything and she listen politely and with amazement.

          

     Another couple who were customers of my drapery business lived in Modesto and were really interested in hearing about the story.  While Bob installed their draperies, I told them all about the bike ride, from the beginning up to that day.  They were both Christians and tried to encourage me.  They also sent a donation to Focus on the Family in my name.  I expressed my concern about not being able to finish the ride.  The bike ride was at this point only about five and a half weeks away.  I told them that even after all God had done for me, I still was concerned that I would let Him down along with everyone else who was counting on my finishing the ride.  The next day, the husband called me and told me to read Proverbs 3:5:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    And lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him

And He will make your paths straight.”

Another translation of this says, “He will direct your paths.”  I really needed to hear this at this particular time and be reminded of the fact that God was the author of this ride and that it was He who would direct me if I trusted Him with all my heart and would quit looking to myself for understanding.  I read that Scripture over and over again in the ensuing weeks.

Countdown to Triathlon – 182 Days, 26.0 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 62 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

Remember the movie from the 1960's, a spahetti western, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach?  Well, the first part of the trip to Knight's Ferry that day, I was THE GOOD.  After icing my knees and talking to Bob on the phone I became THE BAD AND THE UGLY on my ride/walk home
The Bad


The Ugly



The Good







     
         I had a comment from a dear friend named Wanda who said I am an amazing woman who obeys an amazing God.  Well, when she reads this posting, she'll have to revise her comments about the amazing woman part.  It's for sure that we have an amazing God.    I would say that in most human beings there can be a part of us that comes to the forefront in certain situations and of which we may be ashamed afterwards.  This is the case for me in the second half of this ride, the ride home from Knight's Ferry.  I am ashamed of my attitude and I would have never admitted it to anyone, except now that as I have grown closer to the Lord since then, I know that my attitude has changed.  Hopefully, I would not ever behave in that manner again. Thankfully, I have not seen this ugliness crop up since that day.  I think I can attrtribute part of the change to Wanda, my friend and our former pastor's wife.  One day in 2003 she invited me to help lead a Bible Study at our home church.  I have to thank her to this day because I have led many Bible Studies since then and am still doing so.  Any of you readers who have ever taught school, Sunday School or just taught others know that the teacher has to be more prepared than the students.  Because of the time I have spent with the Lord preparing for lessons - time I would not have spent as merely a participant - I have grown to have a richer relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ.  When one walks with Jesus, one doesn't  behave in an ugly manner.

So here's my ugliness out for everyone to see.  Why would I show this side of me?  Because for anyone that has had moments like this and think they are all bad, there is always hope to change. The great thing about God is that he gives us a fresh, clean slate each and every day on which to write our story. One of my favorite hymns is  Great is Thy faithfulness.  In it we sing in the refrain,

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

So there I was, May of 2003,  in all my ugliness;  but now I can say I'm a changed woman:

The Journey - Installment Sixty-Two

        After the experience with the hawk and snake, I continued walking and riding my bike until I reached the small town of Knight’s Ferry and immediately went to the restaurant where there were outside tables.  I asked for ice and purchased a diet soda.  I sat for about thirty minutes icing my knees and then called Bob to tell him where I was and that I needed for him to come and pick me up because my knees hurt too much to make the 35 mile return trip.  I know that he was trying to encourage me by telling that I could finish the trip.  He said he knew I could do it.  Rather than encourage me, it made me mad.  He refused to come because he wanted me to be successful on my own without help.  He knew that I needed that boost for my moral and so he kept encouraging me.  Never mind that I was being selfish because it was in the middle of a work day and he would have had leave work and drive about an hour just to reach me.

After I hung up the phone, I developed a very spiteful attitude. I told myself, “Okay!  I’ll ride home by myself.  I don’t care if it takes a week and I’m not going to call and let anyone know where I am.  I’ll just keep walking my bike and if I have to, I’ll sleep in the field.  They’ll all be worried then he’ll be sorry!”  Can you even imagine that this came from a Christian woman who loves the Lord?  Well, I did that! I am so ashamed!   I walked the bike and periodically I would get back on it for about half a mile but then the knees hurt so much I’d have to get off the bike again and walk.  I continued to mutter under my breath that “I’d show him!”  After many hours, I realized that I had walked/ ridden to the point that I was only about fifteen miles from home.  I pulled the bike over and reached in my pack under my seat for “the instant ice”.  I had saved it for just this emergency. The instructions said to rap it sharply and break the crystals and it would turn very cold like ice.  I had saved it for when I just didn’t think I could stand any more pain.  I was still out in the middle of seemingly nowhere with nothing but road, dried grass, barbed-wire fences, cows and an occasional house. 

     I beat on that pack, smacked it on the bicycle seat, stomped on it and did everything I could think of to get it to become cold so I could ice my knees.  It never did work.  So I continued on toward home, walking a bit; riding a bit.  Before I knew it I was approaching the small town of Empire, only four miles from home.  Gritting my teeth from pain, I kept telling the Lord “we can do it, you and me, but I really need your help, Lord.”  I was finally passing the cemetery, up the hill and to the winding road that runs along the river about three quarter of a mile behind my house.  Since the road meanders so much at that point I figured that it would add distance to my already “too long” ride.  I decided to cut through the orchards and take a “short-cut”.  The distance was shorter but I didn’t count on the fact that the dirt road in the orchards was so deep in dust that it slowed my progress.  I would have gotten home much sooner if I had stayed on the hard pavement even though it was a longer route.  I rode up to my house after being gone for nine hours, (yes you read that correctly).  I could barely lift my legs up high enough to step up the ONE  back step into the house.   I grabbed some ice bags and immediately sat on the sofa to ice my aching and painful knees.  After a time, I tried to stand and my knees just seemed to lock.  But we did it – the Lord and I - and no thanks to my rotten, spiteful attitude during the last half of the ride.  The amazing thing to me is that I saw the hawk with the snake and received what I thought was a positive and encouraging  message in that scene.  Then just 30 or 40 minutes later it was gone from my mind and I allowed spiteful and negative thoughts and feelings to creep in.  It shows how fickle we human being can be when we dwell on ourselves instead on focusing on the Lord.  Needless to say, I slept very well that night with the help of Tylenol and went to bed with a very thankful heart for completing a 70 mile in one day trip, arriving home safely and not having to sleep in the fields.

Countdown to Triathlon – 184 Days, 26.28 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 61 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

    

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

"If you haven't quit, you haven't failed."

I heard that quote on a Christian radio station yesterday.  I haven't quit training for the triathlon, but I'm getting nervous because the number of days to race time for the triathlon is getting smaller as you see in the title above.  My arm pain is preventing me from doing anything.  I can't walk on the elliptical,  walk the dog, swim or bike.  Of course my legs are fine, but the motion that biking or the eliptical trainer  makes, even on the stationary bike, jiggles my arm and causes pain.   I'll make an appointment for next week with the doctor to see what I can do to speed the healing.   Any of you that would pray for the arm's healing would certainly be appreciated.

  February 18, 2011 The other day when I took the pictures of the steep hill which I had ridden down in May of  2002, I drove by car to the spot where I crossed the road on Highway 108 and drove to Orange Blossom Road. That road winds around and curves so that by car your speed is about anywhere from 25-45 mph.  Houses are few and far between with many wooded areas. I was looking for the split rail fence that was in the story below. I had to continually pull over into driveways or side dirt roads to let cars pass me so that I could drive slowly, looking for the fence. I drove all the way to Knight's Ferry looking for it, but never found it.  I remembered that it was very close to the road.  I had really hoped to see it, but it was difficult because it has been nine years and it may have been torn down by now.  I was little disappointed at not finding it because it was a specific memory on that journey.  I'll even have to admit that I hoped I would see it with another bird and snake, but what I saw that day was a "once in a lifetime" sight and I'll have to be content with the memory.


The Journey - Installment Sixty-One

            At some point near Knight’s Ferry I was walking the bicycle, both hands on the handlebars.  I had gotten off the bike because my knees hurt so badly that I just couldn't ride.  As I walked along this winding, narrow two-lane road,  I noticed a split rail fence about two and half feet from me.  Between the fence and me were dried weeds. I don't remember any sounds at all at that point in the journey and  I just happened to look over to my right.  A very large bird, most likely a hawk,, although at close range it looked huge, was sitting on the bottom rail, close to the ground.  The bird filled up the space between the bottom and top rails and it had a very large snake in its beak.  Being so close to that snake, even though it may have been dead, caused me to scream.  I remember the scream because it was not like a shrill, high-pitched scream, but sort of a strangled one deep in my throat.  The fright of that snake in the bird's mouth, caused me to jump sideways,  pulling the bike with me a couple of feet into the road in total terror,  almost as if the snake had bitten me.  It did scare me very badly.  I immediately wondered if the snake could actually strike me even though it was in the bird’s mouth. It was fortunate for me that a car was not coming at the moment I jumped into the road or it would have hit me, since the road was so narrow and I would have surprised the driver, giving him no time to swerve.



This is the type of fence I saw, but there was only dried grass in front of it and no grass, only trees and weeds in the background.





    






















 (This is a picture of a similar bird with a snake.  However, remember, the snake was in the bird's mouth.  The snake was grasped in the beak about in the middle of it's length and both tail and head were drooping down towards the ground.  Thinking back now, it must have been dead, otherwise it would have tried to bite the bird and wouldn't have been hanging like that.  But at my first sight of it, the thought running through my mind was that it would strike me since I was so close and within striking distance.  This picture, which I got from the Internet, shows the snake in the bird's talons and not in the mouth and the snake I saw was bigeer in diameter and length.  I could find no picture showing a similar scene of what I saw that day.)

          I don’t know how many people ever see a hawk or eagle that close to them with a snake in its mouth.  I know I never have before and don’t imagine that it is very common sight.  I wondered, after my inuitial shock, if that bird and snake had any significance to me since God had shown me so many dead birds. What came to my mind at that moment was the picture of God as an eagle and even thought about the verse in Psalms 17:8 which reads, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.” Since an image of an eagle is given to God many times in the Bible, describing His protection under His wings,  I thought of the snake as being Satan, the enemy of us all and since Jesus was victorious over Satan  I saw it as a picture of encouragement that I would be victorious in this ride. I took it as encouragement, a special sign from the Lord.   This may be quite a stretch of the imagination, but this is what went through my mind after I recovered from my fright at seeing the snake and bird so close to me. Imagine me, out there alone in the heat of the day, woods all around me, no cars passing, total silence, pushing my bike with my knees throbbing,  and seeing this sight so close to me.  It is amazing now when I think about it.  I never did see that bird hop or fly off while I was still in sight of it.  It remained on that bottom rail while I was in viewing range.  The bird wasn't trying to eat the snake, it just remained there still as if it were a statue.  I mounted my bicycle again and the rest of the short ride to Knight’s Ferry was uneventful. Evidently, the scare of that scene also scared the pain from my knees, temporarily. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Come back Monday to see what happened on the thirty-five mile trip home.

Countdown to Triathlon – 185 Days, 26.42 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 60 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.
Lance Armstrong, Cycling Champion

How true that is.  However, my arm is really hurting.  I can hardly lift my purse or lift my arm up.  Any good suggestions of what to do or not to to get healing, all you out there in blog land?

In comments about my having to relieve myself along side the road, my daughter Leslie mentioned how bad it would have been if one of my husband's borrowers had driven by.  I never thought of that. That was my husband's bank's loan area.  That would have been horrible.  Bob retired after 37 years of banking, loaning money to farmers and dairymen and that was definitely dairy land out there.  She also commented that what he would have said about my having forgotten the map for the second time was, "Well Kiddo, didn't you think about putting it with your bike the night before?"

So, yesterday, I drove out to the area southeast of Oakdale where I had ridden my bike.  I was so amazed that I had actually ridden all that way on the bike because I was actually thinking it was taking an awfully long time in the car.  I found out that the steep hill, which is still steep, has had new pavement on that rough road and so now it's fairly smooth.  That, of course, means that I might have gone down hill even faster than 36 mph and I might not have survived.  So thank the Good Lord for bad roads, sometimes.   Below are a couple of photos I took yesterday.  It was getting dark and the photos don't do justice to the steep grade.  Let me tell you, on a bike, it is steep.


See the steep drop off?  Not so bad in a car. And look at that hill to climb after you get to the bottom, 



Those are car headlight down there
The Journey - Installment Sixty

        A week or so later I knew I’d have to make one more trip to Knight’s Ferry and this time I had to ride the seventy miles.  Time was getting short.  It was May of 2002 and the ride was looming up over me on Father’s Day weekend, the middle of June.  It was only a few weeks away.  Again I passed the nice lady’s house and she happened to be getting into her car as I passed.  She waved and wished me well.  When I got near Knight’s Ferry my knees were so painful.  I got off of my bike and began to walk for a short distance.  I was on the edge of the road trying to keep out of the way of an occasional car that would pass but still staying out of the weeds because of puncture vine which permeates the countryside and is the enemy of bike tires.  To this point, I had never had a flat tire, thankfully.  As I look back I see how gracious the Lord was to keep my tires in working order because I wouldn’t be able to change a tire and I didn’t carry the necessary tube or tools needed to change them.  How foolish that was in retrospect.  It really was a miracle that I did not have a flat after riding so many miles. Even though my son Hollen had shown me how to change a tire and had given me tools, I still knew I wouldn’t be able to do it.  With no cell phone activity in that area, I couldn’t call for help.  Looking back now, I realize that I just blindly trusted that I wouldn’t have a problem.  It was actually more beginners’ ignorance and that the thought just never occurred to me that I might have a flat tire.  I did have enough sense though, to stay away from puncture vine.  Our children were always getting flat tires on their bikes and Bob and I constantly reminded them to stay off the edge of the road where the weeds were.

         Also looking back, I realize that there were so many things that could have happened to a lone woman riding out in the country.  Sometimes I rode for twenty miles without seeing another human.  One time I did pass a barn and corral where several really scruffy men were standing around and drinking.  They really did scare me a bit, but I just kept looking straight ahead and decided that I would go back a different road, even if I got lost.



Countdown to Triathlon – 186 Days, 26.42 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 59 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

We had a Valentine's Party on Saturday with some friends that Bob graduated with from high school in 1960 - All "Oldies but Goodies"



Living Room Mantle



We set up for wine tasting in the living room.







My manzanita tree which I decorate for every holiday.

We had to move all our furniture out of the family room to seat 23 people.

I kept talking to the Amaryllis and telling it that it had to hold on until after the party.
Two days later it expired.

The Journey - Installment Fifty-Nine

I left the house yesterday an hour earlier than I usually leave for Bible Study in Hughson, the town where we lived when I was preparing for and riding in the bike ride.  Since the day before when I was describing the steep road which I careened down at 36 miles per hour, I decided to drive out there and see it again for myself. I took some photos and will post them tonight for tomorrow's blog and continuation of THE JOURNEY.

Countdown to Triathlon – 187 Days, 26.71 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 58 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels:  it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.  ~Salvador Dali

Are the hills from my memory really as steep as I remember?

Can you believe it?  I was looking online for a picture of a steep hill and there are websites which tell you how to climb and descend steep hills on a bike and best techniques to use.  Maybe they weren't there in 2002, but they would sure be a help to me now. Hills have always been my bitter enemy while riding a bike.

I need some prayer.  Somehow, I have re-injured my right arm between my shoulder and elbow.  Right now I can almost not lift it and I dread going to bed because it hurt so badly last night no matter how I turned.  I think I'll sleep in the recliner tonight.  I certainly cannot lift weights, ride my bike or swim right now.  If I walk the dog I think I'll need a sling.  This is not a good thing for my training.  I have no idea what caused it.  Twenty years ago I had the same thing occur. 

The Journey - Installment Fifty-Eight

        I decided that I needed to head out towards Knight’s Ferry again, but wasn’t quite mentally prepared to make the 70 mile round trip yet.  Next Week!  I headed out past the cemetery and through the small town of Empire out into the country, crossed the main road to Oakdale and out into the farm and dairy country again.  I turned onto Smith Road where the woman stepped out of her house and gave me directions, then later that day, gave me ice for my knees.  The end of Smith Road was my original dilemma, the reason I needed someone to come out of their house and tell me which way to go.  So on the second trip out that way, I got to the end of Smith Road and turned right. Now remember that I had already made this trip a few days before but when I reached the end of Smith Road, the directions were to turn left; go about one quarter mile; then turn right and that road would take me north to Highway 108 which I crossed on foot, pushing my bike and then a short distance to Orange Blossom Road.  At that point I would be five miles from Knight’s Ferry.  This day, though, I was only going to go to Highway 108 which was just a little bit shorter trip than the last one.  Unfortunately, I forgot about the left turn, then right turn.   By turning right I ended up on Warnerville Road and nothing looked familiar.  That, in itself, was not unusual because much of the time my mind was not always concentrating on where I was.  My mind wanders a lot.  But, when I came to this really huge hill where the road dropped downward at a very steep angle, I realized that this was brand new territory.  I have no idea why I allowed the bike to go downhill.  I could not stop my downward progress after going over the top of the rise and I could not just keep depressing the brakes constantly or they would burn out.  I was going 36 mph at one point and that scared the dickens out of me.  All I could think of was that if I hit one of the pot holes in that very uncared for road, I would fly through the air and possibly break my neck.  The fastest that I had ever gone on the bike was about 22 mph going down a hill and that was scary enough. This was terrifying! I was totally out of control and had to pray for safety and that I could just keep my bike upright.  The road was full of pot holes and very bumpy.  Possibly the bumpy road slowed my progress, but 36 mph for me was like Luke Skywalker speeding at hyperspace speed.  That is of course an exaggeration, but that’s how it felt at the time.   

        I got to the bottom of the hill and thought perhaps I could catch a road which would head north and parallel the road I should have been on, and then cut over.  I didn’t want to have to turn around because I would have ridden a lot extra miles for nothing.  My plan to turn north and cut over never came to fruition.  I came to the end of Warnerville Road and it veered to the right (south) which was not at all what I had hoped for. There was no passage to the north unless I had been on an all terrain vehicle.   This was the second time that I forgotten the map and directions that Bob and I had put together on that Sunday when we made the trip by pickup to Knight’s Ferry. Can you say “Stupid”?  That was a big disappointment to find no road heading north.  So, I turned around and headed back to the hill I had just sped down at breakneck speed. Unfortunately, I could only ride about one quarter of the way up the hill and had to walk the bike the rest of the way because it was so steep. I had experienced in Hawaii going up a hill so slowly that I just fell over. Remember the turtle on its back and the Michelin Man?   I certainly didn’t want to do that again, especially out in the middle of nowhere where there was no one around to help me get my feet out of the clips and pull the bike off of me.  One of these days I want to go back to some of the places that I rode back in 2002 and see if they are really as bad as I thought at the time or as I now remember.

This is a little like what the countryside looked like.  The hill was similar to this but very straight with no curves and much steeper.

Countdown to Triathlon – 188 Days, 26.85 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 57 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

Happy Valentine's Day!  Here's an old fashioned card to wish you many hugs and kisses from all your loved ones today.



 The Journey - Installment Fifty-Seven

        As I neared the house of the lady who gave me directions and said she would pray for me, I was begging God to help me.  My knees hurt so much that I knew I couldn’t make it home without assistance.  I was calling to Him for help.  Then I sensed in my spirit or my heart, however one would explain it,  that God was speaking to me and the words that I understood were, “I gave you that lady.”  I said out loud, “Lord, I can’t go and ask her for plastic bags and ice so that I can ice my knees.  I don’t even know her.”  There was dead silence.  The Lord had spoken and evidently was not going to say another word.  I rode past her house about a quarter mile and realized that it was either go back and ask the lady for bags of ice or ride home in excruciating pain.  I turned around and went back to her house.  I went to the front door and knocked.  She answered the door and I told her what I needed.  I said that if she could get a couple of bags of ice, I’d sit on the lawn and ice my knees because I really wanted and needed to finish this ride by myself and didn’t want to have to call my husband to come pick me up.  I remember that she stood on the other side of the screen door, hesitated,  then said, “Oh, come on in.  You look like I can trust you.” 

            I sat in her kitchen for about thirty minutes icing my knees.  In the course of the conversation we had, she asked me where I went to church.  She told me that she went to a church in Escalon, a nearby community and I asked her if she knew a customer of mine and she did.  We couldn’t believe it.  God gave me a person to help me in both directions, going and coming back, first, for directions and a promise of prayer for me and then help in the way of bags of ice coming back when I felt I couldn’t continue because of the pain.  And He made sure we even had a mutual acquaintance. It was almost as if God was giving her peace of mind about me, a total stranger, being in her home.  She asked me how I got started on this journey and I told her the entire story.  I told her about the dead birds and that I still see them every time I start whining and complaining.

         Knee icing completed, I stood up just and we headed for the front door.  She asked me if I had seen any dead birds that day, and I told that I hadn’t. (That was a good sign because it meant I hadn’t been complaining and whining.) Just at that instant, a bird flew into her large picture window, right in front of us and smacked the glass really hard.  I don’t know if the bird died, but it sure got our attention.  We looked at each other and I shrugged my shoulders and said, “At least this time I wasn’t complaining but it was as if God were trying to show her I was telling the truth about the birds. After  leaving her house and heading home for the rest of the journey, I passed several dead snakes in the road.  I didn’t stop to see if they were Rattlesnakes or not but they scared me in case they were playing "possum" and might leap up and bite me anyway.  I guess I have seen too many scary movies.  I was able to finish the ride in  5-1/2 hours total time. The amount of time it took to finish the sixty miles was not great but at least I finished.

Countdown to Triathlon – 191 Days, 27.25 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 56 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

For those of us who are as old as dirt or older, Valentine's Day at school was very special.  We'd get a list from school a week before our class party and we would busy ourselves writing the names from the list on the valentines that our mother's bought us.  We'd decorate a shoe box and cut a slit in the top.  I remember using white shelf paper and decorating the box with red hearts of different sizes cut from red construction paper. I'm thinking this was about second grade and how great I felt when I learned how to fold the paper in half and cut out a heart.  

 On Valentine's Day, we could hardly contain ourselves until the afternoon when we'd have the Valentine's party.  It's too long ago so I can't remember if we had cupcakes or anything to eat because I am only remembering the parties at my children's school.  Then we stand up with all our valentines in our hands and go up and down the rows putting the cards in each person's decorated box.  There was a prize for the prettiest box and of course most of the boys didn't really want to participate and their boxes were usually ugly.    I do remember that the party was the very last thing of the day and I couldn't wait to get on the school bus to go through my valentines.  What do some of you remember doing on Valentine's Day?  Please comment below.  Pea, if you're still following the blog, what did you do in Canada or did you celebrate it?

  

The Journey - Installment Fifty-Six

     After meeting the lady in front of her house and getting directions, blessed that she would be praying for me, I set off to finish the ride toward Knight’s Ferry.  After a few miles I realized that I needed to use a restroom.   There was absolutely nowhere I could go in privacy.  I had no option but to go out in the open, hoping that a car wouldn’t come by about that time.  Those tight-fitting biking pants are very difficult to pull back up when one has been perspiring from the exertion of riding.  It’s like woman having to pull on a wet bathing suit.  I can tell you, I hurried as fast as I could because I would have been mortified to have a car or truck come around the curve and see me going to the bathroom alongside the road.  I’m very private about bathroom things and so this situation was really upsetting to me. The amazing thing to me is that in all the miles I rode to this point, this was the first I every had to go to the bathroom while riding. 

    

         Back on the bike and feeling much relieved, I passed dairy’s and fenced pasture land as the terrain got more hilly.  I finally came to Highway 108 where I got off the bike and crossed the highway.  Cars were driving at 65-75 miles per hour so I had to wait for a big space between vehicles before running with my bike across the road.  Immediately I had to ride up a fairly steep hill to get to the main road, Orange Blossom Road,  that led into Knight’s Ferry, about five miles away.   When my odometer read “30 miles”, I stopped, drank water, ate an energy bar and turned around for the trip back.  I crossed Highway 108 again, this time heading home.  I rode for some distance realizing that my knees might not allow me to finish the trip that day.  I prayed so hard that God would help me bear up under the pain or better yet, take the pain away.  I needed to be able to ice my knees and there was absolutely nothing out there but barbed wire fences and cows. I was still probably fifteen or twenty miles from home at that point.

Have a great weekend everybody.  I'll post again Monday morning.