Day 8-Day 10

Day 8

Today we rode from Edmond, OK to Watonga, OK. Instead of having individual ride dedications today, we did one collectively for Bill Edwards, the coach who wrote our training program and who has been battling cancer on and off for awhile now. Bill’s expertise has been a huge help to us and we all hope he gets well soon. Mr. Culotta filmed our dedication and it will be sent off to Bill shortly. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, though not necessarily ideal riding. I learned today what the lyrics of Oklahoma mean when they say “the winds come sweeping down the plains” and “the waving wheat.” It is incredibly flat here and you can see so far into the distance it’s amazing. The roads weren’t labeled with names, so we missed a turn early on in our route, but the road we were on ran parallel to the one we wanted to be on, so we didn’t add any extra mileage to our route. In total, the ride was about 75 miles and the first group of riders rolled into Watonga around 1:30p. Watonga was actually our first mail drop, and packages were waiting for us when we arrived. For the family and friends reading these blogs, if you are debating sending a care package, my recommendation would be to go ahead and do it. Everyone was really excited to receive mail, and the snacks were greatly appreciated by everyone. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon and around 5p the pastor and his kids brought us dinner. They also said we were welcome to join the youth group on a trip to the roller skating rink. The riders jumped on that immediately and almost the whole team piled into the van to head to the rink. The rink was actually and old gym and had been around for a long time. Arguably no one was a particularly great skater (these were roller skates, not rollerblades), but we were all able to make it around the rink. Most of the group even participated in the limbo contest. I think the riders thought Texas 4000 could represent, but as soon as the 13 and up women started we knew we didn’t stand a chance. Velda Chain is a 69 year old, roller limbo professional. She has been on Letterman because she’s still limbo-ing at 69. We met Velda at the rink last night and she even offered a few of the guys some pointers. I don’t think our guys are quite that flexible, but I digress. Several of us knew going into the roller skating rink that this could be an unnecessary risk—images of people breaking wrists were dancing through our heads. People wanted to go though and there were major falls until about two-thirds of the riders had their skates off. But then it happened. A rider went down and didn’t get up. His ankle was hurting pretty badly and beginning to swell. At this point, it appears to just be a bad sprain. The rider is in good spirits but disappointed that he’s not going to be able to ride for a bit. When we got him back to the church at which we’re staying, we discovered that another one of riders had found the piano in the chapel. Apparently he’d been at it for at least three hours, and a bunch of us sat down for an impromptu concert. It was fantastic, and I look forward to hearing more of the musical talent from everyone over the next couple months. As I have been running around doing stuff ever since the trip started, I haven’t had much time to sit down and just chat with people. Today, however, I got to do just that on two separate occasions. This team is composed of a great group of individuals, and everyday I learn something knew that impresses me even more.

Day 9

Sag Day! Don't worry though--it wasn't because I was injured. We rotate drivers everyday so that everyone has a chance to drive, setup rest stops, etc. Despite the fact that I wasn't driving, it was probably my most difficult day to date. Our injured rider was in good spirits this morning though his ankle was still pretty swollen. When I got up in the morning, I packed my things and headed to the kitchen to get everything out for breakfast. While people were filtering in for breakfast, I saw lightning in the sky...not good. We checked the radar and there was a lot of red, orange and yellow directly over the highway we needed to ride to get to Woodward. Again, not good. Our hosts were very gracious though and let us stay longer than expected. This also presented an opportunity for us to give a presentation to the adult bible study group! We delayed our departure for a few hours when it had appeared that the storm had passed. Though it was a little windy and hot, the rest of the day was gorgeous. One of our hosts (Cindy) came and met us about 10 miles outside of Woodward and rode in with the group. We had dinner with the youth group and were able to give another presentation. I was really tired at the end of the day and fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. I dedicated today to Dennis Manke, the son of the Velda Chain, the woman that we met last night at the roller rink. Past riders have told me that our journey will only be physically challenging for a short while, and that it will quickly become a mental game. I think I started to see that today. People get cranky and snap at each other. While nothing mean or aggressive may be meant by it, it is not always the way that it is taken. In a small group like this, it is difficult to figure out how to interpret some things. I was rather upset today about someone snapping at me after I made a request that he do something. Afterwards, to cool off for a bit, I found a quite corner at the church at which we are staying and just sat in silence. A teammate found me later and asked if I needed to talk. I explained in vague terms that I was upset and he reminded me that everyone is still trying to figure out everyone else on the team—some people know each other better than others, but regardless, we are all seeing sides of each other that most of our close friends outside of the organization would never see.

Day 10

A short day! We had a quick ride today from Woodward to Buffalo, OK--only 35 miles! We rode through rolling hills and saw quite a few cows...and windmills. I hadn't yet gone out on this trip and just cruised at a quick pace, but today that is exactly what I did. It felt great. I dedicated my ride today to Rudy Youell, a friend of my family's who had prostate cancer and who helped my family a lot when my dad was diagnosed with it as well. When we arrived in Buffalo, our drivers found a pizza shop and asked if they would be interested in donating lunch for the group. They said yes and then we found out they were also feeding us dinner tonight! The owner warned us he makes a mean cherry cheesecake which he would be making for dessert tonight...I'm doomed. The pizza was some of the best I've had, and I'm sure whatever we have for dinner will be awesome.