I really do not know how to put the emotions down into writing but I will try to sum it up. On Wednesday afternoon we road out of New Mexico and into Arizona. But we had a great surprise and boost of energy when we hit the boarder. Our friends from Carls "Rally for Pops" were waiting for us. What a great site to see our teammates in fighting Parkinson's and fellow cyclist ready to ride in to Phoenix with us. I was so honored to have these guys there with us. The beginning of the day did not matter, the hills the wind all seemed to not matter as we had reached one of the miles stones in this trip that we had all be looking forward to.
We all road together into Safford where we were welcomed by Carls friends and family. Shane, Kyle and i had just ridden 115 miles and could not have felt better about doing it.
Thursday morning led us to a short day in this three day burst it was to be only 89 miles. We were surprised in the morning by Carl presenting everyone with jerseys donated to us by Knight Transportation, Casey Knight had come up with this idea. What a cool deal and man when all 12 of us were together in our white kits it looked impressive. When you stepped away from the group they looked like a well oiled team of cyclist. Legs churning together, bike wheels inches away from each other a perfect combination of power and skill.
The days ride was fun I spent the morning riding with Carl. What an inspiration, you can see his desire to ride strong and to beat what ever is in his way. He had ridden strong the day before combating winds and hills 64 miles of determination. Today it was all about rhythm as we cruised the the first 50 miles of the day. I would be riding with him at a easy 15mph and then all of the sudden he would take off and hit speeds of 20+mph for over two miles. You had to stay on your toes but it was a fun morning. After lunch I rejoined the main group, As we rode we came upon some freshly oiled blacktop. This was not fun, you felt like you were pedaling in mud. To make it worse when we finished what turned out to be the first section of oil we noticed that it was accumulating on our wheels and picking up rocks along with it. We cleaned it off best we could and continued on. At the end of the day we found out that one of the bikes had been badly damaged.
Side note: as i write this the number of bikes totaled by this stretch of road stands at three as Keiths, Shanes and mine all have terminal damage to the frames and will need to be replaced.
In the eventing we all gathered for dinner and had a great time. When we finished we started to talk about Friday and what would transpire in regards to the ride. we made plans in case we were unable to reach the end in time. Happily this was not the case due to some extraordinary efforts by Jake, Casey and Jordon riders all friends of Carl who joined us for the ride. I can not thank them enough. Back to dinner, after the discussion we all shared a little bit about the ride, and what it meant to us. It was very inspiring and emotional, amazing experience.
The return to Phoenix arrive on Friday the 13th of may, you could feel the anticipation and excitement in the morning as we gathered for our prayer. We added two more riders Justin who met us at the hotel is a friend of Shane, Kyle and I, as well as Jordon who is one of Jakes friends. The day started with a 13 mile climb and then an amazing decent down out of superior. On the down hill we were hitting speeds form 35 up to 50 mph without speed. At one point I was past by a semi going the opposite direction, that was scary as his draft cause me and the entire bike to shake. I tapped the breaks got it under control and looked at my speed at that point 40mph, a wreck at that speed could have been bad.
We road as a team the entire 118 miles what an extraordinary feeling to be surrounded by a group of guys all working for a goal that has to do with no personal gain just wanting to help someone else. What else can be said about the morning other then it was a great experience. And thank you to everyone who joined us for it. At mile 20 my father joined me on the tandem for the last part of the ride, this made my day at this point. As we rode the last mile into the Bicycle Vibe you could see the crowd of people, you could feel the love from those around you. I had my dad with me, Carl next to me, Shane and Kyle right behind us and the rest of the team following them.
So many friends and family were at the line it was simply amazing. I don't think I can really articulate how much it meant to all of us to see that type of support.
Ed and Paul who drove for us the last week thank you for your help in getting us home we could not have done it without you.
California here we come.
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