Interesting Afternoon

Today was a very interesting and fun afternoon. One of our AB's decided that he would ride the spare hand cycle on the final leg of our trip. That led to several of us AB's (yes, including me) taking a turn around the parking lot on them. Well, naturally with a bunch of athletic people, it led to a race. When they took off, Mark still had his brake on so he went nowhere. Tina was off to a pretty good lead, and Mark finally got going and he had the hammer down. Greg, one of the handcyclist was right beside me. As soon as Mark took off, Greg said "he's going to wipe out in turn four." Sure enough, Mark comes flying around the las turn in the parking lot on two wheels. To his credit, he had made up the entire gap from the start during the quarter mile lap. Unfortunately, he had not heard how easy it was to turn one ofthe hand cycles over. Over he went and as fast as he was going, he slid about twenty feet. No major damage, just a little road rash on his legs and arms.

My three laps on the hand cycle certainly gave me a new respect for the hand cyclists. Don't think that I could even come close to making it sixty miles on one of those. These guys are incredible. I noticed Dr. Bill has a superman symbol on the back of his seat. Quite appropriate for these guys. They may have some physical disability, but there is nothing keeping them down!

Cycle to the Sea, Day 2

Day two is done!  We rode a little over 58 miles today.  The front pack averaged about 16.2 mph today.  So far on the trip, I have seen the fastest speed I have ever been on my bike.  I hit 41.7 mph going downhill trying to keep up with the hand cyclists.  Those guys can leave us on a long downhill.  They hit some speeds over 50mph!  We can always catch them on the uphills as they have to work very hard using their arms to climb the hills.  Today flattened out considerably from yesterday.  I have come to notice that Rod, the oldest one in out group at 71 starts looking for me if I am not close to him during the ride.  We worked it out yesterday that I would push him on the hills to help him out.  He usually doesn't need very much, just a little bit to close the gap and he is good again.  I have found that it is a delicate operation to meet up and reach over to get the push stick attached to his bike.  Today, I finally seemed to get the hang of it and could easily get the stick to help him get going.  This has been the most incredible sporting event I have ever been involved with.  There is a great deal of mutual respect between all the riders, able body and those with disabilities.  It really shows that attitude has a great deal to do with the way we live our lives.  I have discovered that we have (sometimes) affectionately been designated as the AB riders (able bodied).  There are a lot of new AB riders this year and most of the time it has been the AB's holding up the packs. 

We have one more day left, I am looking forward to pulling into Myrtle Beach and seeing all of the supporters waiting for us, but I will miss a lot of these guys.  It has been really neat to see the wide range of disabilities and how they have overcome whatever has been thrown at them.

Thank you for your continued prayers for safety and for the weather to hold off. 

Getting ready to saddle up for day 2 of Cycle to the Sea.

Cycle to the Sea - Day 1

Last Training Ride!

Kristy on her new ride

Eli and Greg in Huntersville

Today was the last training ride at the Park in Huntersville.  It was a very pretty day, but was a little windy.  We had a van full of bikes on the way over there.  We had the back seats down, with Kristy's, Micah's, and my bike inside, then we had Eli's strapped down to the top of the van.  Above is a picture of the draft line with Eli and Greg.  I told Greg later on, that I was right there with them, but they were not knocking any wind off of me.  We also met several other riders today that we had not met before.  I have really enjoyed talking with Greg while he has been riding with us.  He has been very helpful riding with Eli.  With as high as I sit, I do not help him with drafting, so it has been good to have someone to help out. 

Kristy did her first road ride with us today.  When she got her bike last week, she rode it about 6 miles at the church parking lot.  Today she got a little better taste of the hills you run into on the road.  She did very well on her first ride.  Micah is also riding very well.  He has really picked up on the riding and keeping up a good pace.  I am looking forward to seeing how he will do on a ride on the roads close to home with the big hills.

We have some very interesting conversations to and from the park.  Eli had just gotten new legs yesterday, so I once again interrogated him about them on the way over there.  Eli is very young to get computerized legs, we got the scoop on them on the ride today. 

I am looking very forward to the ride this week.  I can not believe that it is finally here.  As Greg said today, three days of work, then three days of real work.  The three days of real work on the bikes will be the most fun I am sure.  Thanks to everyone who has sponsored Eli or myself on the ride.  EVERY donation is greatly appreciated.  Please also pray for safe riding and good weather for this week!