After the bike ride – Installment Three

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY – "I have found that when one sets out to help and bless others, the blessings abound to the one who is doing the giving."  Barbie Jo

 

 

 

After the bike ride – Installment Three

The next morning, Terri and I left Las Vegas for Colorado Springs.  But first, Terri wanted to make a circle around the strip to see everything from the car.  This next part of the trip is not clear in my mind.   The bike ride was all so vivid in my memory, but many parts of this trip are hazy.  I don’t remember anything before we got to Colorado Springs except for stopping somewhere in Utah where we snapped the pictures below.

 



Here's Terri



It is 816 miles from Las Vegas to Colorado Springs, a long haul.  We found our hotel and settled in, glad to be out of the car.  The next morning we toured the campus of Focus on the Family and registered as volunteers.

 We were given the job of helping at one of the bike ride rest stops.  I think that it was the late afternoon rest stop and our job was to help set up the water and snacks.  The rest stop was on the top of a hill and after setting up, Terri and I were asked to stand on the sidewalk outside to make sure the bike riders knew where the rest stop was so they wouldn't miss it.  I was given a set of red pompoms to cheer on the riders.  I had never had the opportunity when growing up to be a cheerleader, but that day, a cheerleader I was.  We could see down the hill when the riders would start up that incline.  There was a huge tree at the bottom and from our vantage point, until the riders passed the tree, we couldn't see them.  When they got half way up, Terri and I would start cheering them on.  This was three-quarters of the ride and by then they were very tired. 



Barb and another volunteer outside the church




Terri on the left




We took this picture from the church looking down the street.  See the mountains in the background?  I wouldn't have wanted to ride those hills and all you readers know by now how much I love hills!  As the riders got close enough to hear us, we would start cheering them on and I would shake those pompoms.  As they approached the church driveway, we'd invite them in for a break and snacks.




Here comes Toni, the lady from Kansas.  She had five young girls and had ridden the Kansas ride, Northern California ride and now the Colorado Springs ride in the Rockies.  Her family had accompanied her to Colorado.

        Some of the riders chose not to turn into the church parking lot and take a break but decided to continue and just get finished.  But most did stop.  I remember that the morning and afternoon rest stops and lunch stop were vital to keeping me going on our bike ride.  One man was really struggling up that hill and I was standing on the edge of the road, having walked down the hill a ways,  cheering him on.  I said, "Come on, you can do it!  You're almost there. "  He said, "That's easy for you to say, you're not on a bike."  I replied to him that I had just ridden the Northern California ride a month before. He did a "thumbs up" and said, "right on!" It was amazing to see how that encouraged him and he was able to get the rest of the way up the hill to the rest stop.  I remember one lady crying as she reached us.  We helped her from her bike and hugged her and lead her over to the refreshments.  She was just tuckered out.  We even gave out several back rubs.  It was a great feeling to help others, just as we had been helped on our three-day ride.