Countdown to Triathlon – 122 Days, 17.4 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 91 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

 Journey - Installment Ninety-One

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY – "You've not failed until you quit."

I have quoted that before, but it is certainly on my mind these day.  My arm is so painful that I cannot train for the triathlon.  Last night I slept in the recliner all night because no matter how I try to lie in bed, my arm pains me a lot.  Bob says I cry out at night because of the pain. As you see above, the triathlon is only a little over 17 weeks away.  I'm not sure whether I'll be able to train for it or not.  I'm supposed to be getting physical therapy but had to wait until I get home next week from helping Laurel with the baby.  The doctor really doesn't know what the problem is. 

I have found some notes I must have taken that second morning as we gathered before beginning our ride. It is written on hotel notepaper and I’ll summarize what one of the speakers had said.   It sounds like something they would have told us on the first day, but I wouldn’t have remembered all of the following after riding all those hours and sleeping on it.  This is in essence what was said:

         “Whether you are anxious about this ride or not, God will cause you to reach deep within yourself to pull out reserve you didn’t know you had.  It is such a blessing to finish the ride after you have done your very best. Unprepared or prepared, God has put you in this ride.  Be still and allow God to tell you the reason.  Just as Christ came to serve, you will see such examples of service by the Focus on the Family staff as well as the other riders who stop to assist each other in time of need, i.e. flat tires, etc. Be sure to enjoy the beautiful scenery.” 

One of the members of the staff told us that today we would start off differently than yesterday.  We would stagger our start from the hotel.  He said there were three groups of riders:

1)  “The Hammerheads” - they were the really fast ones who started up, rode a fast ride and got to the end of the day quickly, saying “Thanks Lord for the fast ride.”

2) “The Stop and Smell the Roses” group” who stop along the way to smell the roses.

3) “The Stop and Smell the Roses, Pick the Roses, Sell the Roses and Plant Some New Roses” group.

Can anyone guess which group I was in?  “Bingo!”  So, we got about a half an hour head start before the “Stop and Smell the Roses” group left the hotel.  The “Hammerheads left after that but I have no way of knowing how much time they had to wait..  Knowing that the second group would be trying to catch us, and knowing that the “Hammerheads” would overtake us eventually, we were determined to pedal as fast and as far as we could before they caught us. We had gone about 17 miles before the first guy overtook us.  After that we slowed our pace and headed up the Napa Valley for Calistoga.  We had beautiful weather for a June morning and the view of all the grape vineyards was truly picturesque.

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