Countdown to Triathlon – 123 Days, 17.5 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 90 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

"When you're on the starting line of your first century ride, it's not wise to sit there and think, 'I've got to ride one hundred miles today.'  I remember my first one.  My goal was to get to the first rest stop. I made each succeeding rest stop my goal.  When they're about twenty-five miles apart, you don't get intimidated by what seems an impossible distance.  All you need to ride is twenty-five miles, four times. "

-- Seana Hogan

Just think about it.  We had ridden 92 miles the day before. 

That is just 8 miles short of a century ride. 

Amazing!  Who would have thought I could do such a thing.

In the beginning of this blog I asked, "How do you eat an elephant?"

The answer - "One bite at a time." 

Yard by yard it's hard.
Inch by inch it's a cinch. 

The Journey - Installment Ninety

Day Two

       

        We all awoke early and met for breakfast in the hotel eating area.  The most miraculous thing had happened.  I had been on a bike the day before from 7 am to 9:15 pm (less breaks, lunch and flat tire fixing). As I walked into the breakfast room, many of my fellow riders asked me how I was doing.  They all knew that I had had such terrible knee trouble the day before and that I had been on the bike for so long.  I replied to each one of them that my knees felt fine and that I could never believe that I had been so many hours on a bike the day before. I didn't even have to use the muscle stimulators for the rest of the trip.  Good thing, because the batteries had run down halfway through the first day and since they were specialized batteries, I didn't know how to replace them.   The miracle was that thighs, bottom and knees were just fine.  In fact I didn’t feel as if I had ridden the day before at all.  Unbelievable perhaps to unbelievers who don’t realize the power of the Lord.

           

         However, Yvonne was having a very difficult time because her behind and thighs were so chaffed and she was in a lot of pain.  Lisa and I were upset with the person who sold her bike to her and sold her that seat.  She had ridden all day on a road bike with the tiniest seat.  Since she was so overweight, you couldn’t even see any part of the seat when she was riding in front of us.  I don’t think that anyone had given her the suggestion of applying the personal lubricant to her sensitive parts and she was even having difficulty walking.  We felt so badly for her.  We approached one of the volunteers and asked them to go and buy her a wider seat containing “gel” which really softened the bumping along the roads.  They agreed to get her a seat as soon as the stores opened.  They may have even had a spare one in the Focus van.  At some point, her seat was replaced and we shared our “little secret” with her.  I am not sure she could have continued for two more days without these adjustments.

        

 (Ryan Dobson in front of the van to speak with us the morning of the second day.

Sitting with him was mascot of the team, Traveler who accompanied the stafff on

all the 50 rides from January 2001 through July 2002.)

        After breakfast, we all gathered in the parking lot in front of the Focus van which was parked at the end of the hotel parking lot.   We had devotions and words of encouragement for the day and congratulations for the ride from the day before. Ryan Dobson stood before us and spoke about his life.  At the restaurant, the night before the ride, the reader may remember that I had prejudged this young man based on his appearance.  At the restaurant, he wore black wide rimmed glasses and had red spiky hair and to my 58 year old eyes, he looked like a freak.  The last time I had seen him was the morning of the beginning of the ride when we were at the State Capitol in Sacramento.  He had injured himself and rode in one of the vans on our bike ride and was unable to ride with us.  The day before while we were riding, he had cut his hair and actually looked “normal”.  He told us that he worked with the youth and therefore he would dress and wear his hair to  look like them.  He was not very old himself, probably in his early to mid twenties.  After telling us his story and how he came to the point in his life where he now was, it was very moving.  He told how difficult it had been to tell his parents that he and his wife were getting a divorce.  After his talk, I felt so ashamed of myself that I had judged him on appearances only.  After all, the Bible says we are not to judge others.  Only God is the holy and just Judge.  Will I ever learn and stop judging others?