Blessings

This has been a very difficult month for me. I have surpassed my original mileage goal by 174 miles. Four hundred seventy four miles in a month is a personal best for me. It has been hard, but I loved every bit of it.

As I rode this morning, I was reflecting on my blessings and my inspirations. I have been blessed with an incredible family. I know that not everyone gets to have a wonderful earthly dad, but I sure did. Today would have been his birthday, so I rode for him. He will always be an inspiration to me.

I have a wonderful church family that loves me and supports me. If you live in the Chattanooga area and need a church family that will come alongside you, come visit us at Oakwood Baptist.

I have an amazing work family, both past and present, that has supported me through tough times. We are going through it right now to be sure. It is an incredibly tough job that is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting, but I love every minute of it.

I must mention the animals I have been blessed to work with through the years, those that have shown me unconditional love despite their own tremendous hardships. I cannot possibly name them all, because there are thousands, but a little piece of my heart has gone with them all. Mr. Bones, Gracie, Spunky, GI Joe, Chessie, Jasmine, Elliot, Dash, Princessa, Lily, Sal, and Ward come to mind. Ward was and will always be special to me. His owner even started off the donations for this fundraiser this month. Every one of these and the many other animals we have been blessed to help inspire me in both my work and this month as I rode.

Friends and family members who have dealt with or are dealing with cancer or children’s cancer are obviously an inspiration.

You who have donated to this worthy cause, wrote me encouraging notes, and asked how my rides have been going have been a tremendous inspiration to me this month. Thank you very much.

To close, I thought of this Irish blessing that we used to sing at the end of every church service growing up. The first line reminds me of riding my bike.

May the road rise to meet you,

May the winds be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Dear John

Dear John,

We were just kids when you left us. You and I were friends in elementary school. When we got to junior high, we weren’t in any of the same classes. We passed in the hall and may have even exchanged pleasantries occasionally.

You had changed. Let’s face it, we were all changing and awkward, feeling out our way. You became chubby. And your speech changed. I remember having trouble understanding you.

I did not understand what was going on. At that point in my life, I had never known anyone with cancer. I am not sure I truly understood how serious a brain tumor really was.

I should have been a better friend to you then. I should have been there for your family.

Adam

……….

No, I am not riding my bike every day out of guilt. That’s no way to live. We all make mistakes. We cannot change the past.

I believe that we were created for a purpose, to do good works which He prepared in advance for us to do. We can endeavor each day to be a better person, to make a positive impact.

Thanks again for your support as together we try to make a positive impact in the lives of those kids and families dealing with children’s cancer.

Silver Comet

Yesterday I drove down to just north of Atlanta and rode on my second bucket list trail of the month: the Silver Comet. I was able to ride from the eastern trailhead in Smyrna, Ga to the Chamber trailhead in Dallas, Ga and back and so rode a total of 40 miles, a personal best for me.

The good thing about both the Silver Comet section that I did as well as the segment of the Virginia Creeper I had done several weeks ago was they are relatively flat. Yes, there are gradual climbs and gradual descents, but nothing like what I ride around Chattanooga. Heck, I counted at least 10 hills on my ride this morning that were tougher than any hill on either of those long trail sections.

I have two more days of riding this month. I have crushed my original and updated mileage goals as well as my best September ever two years ago. Now I am just trying to see how many miles I can finish with.

Thank you all again for helping me to reach my fundraising goal yet again. I truly appreciate it. It goes to a great cause that is close to my heart. I will have at least one more blog to wrap up this month. See you then.

Thank you

Thanks to your generous donations and your unwavering support, we have met both my initial and revised fundraising goals. I have also surpassed my original mileage goal and have nearly reached my revised goal of 350 miles…with eight rides remaining.

I am not going to increase either goal again this month, though I continue to push myself despite my exhaustion to see how many miles I can get. I have another bucket list ride coming up Saturday and hope to surpass 400 miles for the month.

Thank you for your support. I truly believe in this cause. Together we have raised over $11,000 in the seven years I have been doing this.

Virginia Creeper trail

Biking this trail has been on my bucket list for decades. I finally rode half of it today. Unfortunately, the top half from Whitetop Station to Damascus is closed thanks to bridges damaged by Helene last year.

I rode from Damascus to Abington and back to Damascus. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I loved it so very much.

The icing on the cake was then stopping by ETSU to take my daughter out to lunch on the way home.

Thank you very much for your support.

Skunk

I saw a skunk while on my ride this morning. I was unable to get a photo. I am pretty sure it was the first I have seen in the course of these rides over the past seven years.

Good news: my bottom appears to be acclimating to the seat. It no longer hurts to sit. Perhaps my butt is numb.

Better news: thanks to your generous support over the past seven years, we have been able to raise over $10,000 for children’s cancer research. Words cannot fully express how appreciative I am of your help in this endeavor.

I will be riding somewhere different tomorrow and I cannot wait to tell you about it. Until then, thanks again for your support.

Patriot Day

Twenty four years have passed since that fateful day. After those horrific events, our nation united for a while. Heck, much of the world stood with us. There is incredible power in unity, in like-mindedness.

We all agree that children’s cancer and cancer in general are bad news. I am incredibly appreciative of your support as we try to raise funds to help in the fight against children’s cancer. Your incredible support has allowed me to already meet my original fundraising goal of $2,000. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

But I’m not done riding. I am stubborn, as I have said. My intent is still to ride each day of the month. I have already ridden 180 miles and so I raised my mileage goal for the month to 350 miles. It is only fair that I raise my fundraising goal as well.

Thank you for your support. I do not expect a repeat donation. Tell your friends. Spread the word. Let’s unite behind a common cause and make a difference.

Kick Cancer’s Butt Day

This morning I rode a little over 16 miles. When I finished I did a few extra laps of the neighborhood because I still had energy.

Thank you all for your support toward a really good cause. I will try to keep you updated on my progress as the month progresses.

No day off

This morning I was tired. I briefly considered taking a break today. After all, tomorrow is Kick Cancer’s Butt Day and I intend to ride a longer route tomorrow morning.

Those dealing with cancer don’t get to take a day off. Neither do their families. I can be a pretty stubborn guy. I have determined that only serious injury, foul weather, or a broken bike are going to keep me from riding each day of September.

Thanks for your support.

Uphill both ways

I rode nearly thirty miles before the rains on Saturday and just over 24 miles yesterday. Saturday’s ride was at the Battlefield again. It is peaceful with very little traffic and predictable because I have ridden the route many times. For my ride yesterday, I had decided on riding to Soddy Lake and back.

Every route in the Chattanooga area has hills. This one starts with a big “up”: northbound on Hwy 153 from the Hixson Walmart to Kohls. And there are many more “ups” en route to Soddy Lake. Of course, I realize after each “ups” there is a blissful “down” during which I get to coast and rest my weary legs. But it is the long uphill climbs that wear me out and make me gasp for breath.

I nearly gave up before I reached my turn around point yesterday. I am old and my body was already spent from Saturday’s ride. And I needed to get home to prepare for church. Then I started thinking about how there were a lot of “ups” on the way back home too, with a long climb both immediately upon turning around and the mother of all climbs just before the end. I would have to face them no matter what.

This brings me to the title of today’s blog. Our forebears reminded us that they each had to “walk uphill both ways” way back when. We may think we have struggles, but remember that they did too and their struggles sure seemed worse than ours, right?

I was tired and didn’t want to make it even harder by going farther. Some people don’t have that choice. Cancer doesn’t take a day off. So I persevered. I finished the course.

This was a predictable and slightly cheesy post today. Because of the cheesiness and the many aforementioned hills, I will close with a joke:

A man lives in a hilly neighborhood with a small market. He lives close enough to walk. He goes to the deli counter at the market and sees a wheel of cheese with no label or price tag. He asks the deli man how much the wheel of cheese costs. The deli man sold it to him cheap because of their mistake in failing to label it.

The man is carrying his groceries home when he decides that the wheel of cheese is getting heavy. He decides to roll it on the ground. It is wrapped in plastic, after all. He is rolling it up a hill when he accidentally rolls it a little too hard. The wheel of cheese takes off down the hill and gets away from him.

A second man at the bottom of the hill sees the rapidly rolling wheel of cheese and grabs it. Later, the second man is eating the cheese with his wife when she says to him’, “Honey, I sure wish I knew what kind of cheese this is. It is excellent and I would love to get it again sometime”. Her husband replies that he knows exactly what kind of cheese it is. His wife asks, “How can you know what kind of cheese it is? It has no label”. He says, “When I picked it up, there was a man running down the hill screaming, ‘That’s not’cho cheese! That’s not’cho cheese!’ “.