Day 42--A Second SAG day

Hamburg to Canadagua, NY

We started out with another serious rain day. Apparently the whole East Coast was having major rain and floods throughout the week, and upstate NY was no different. Hank and I were riding together. Like everyone, we were having trouble in every aspect. I had traded in my sports glasses with the doulble glass, for my "civilian" glasses in the hopes of seeing better. That strategy had worked on the lessor rain days. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case today.

At one early point of the day, we had to take a left turn on a down hill, across a busy road. We barely navigate that when we had a number of long down hills with subsequent uphills. Given that we couldn't "let the bike roll" down hill, we were forced to slug it up the next hill. This routine was repeated with the ponding along the side of the road, and small creeks running down the road, whether you were going up or going down. We came upon a small store on the corner of this small village, and Hank said he was quiting the day, and assumed that I would have pressed on if he was willing to ride. I assured him, with absolutely no reservations, the I had been pressing on because I thought he wanted to press on, and that I was pleased that he suggested that we retire. We managed just 22.7 miles.

This retiring bit for weather was almost becoming a habit: twice in one week. In retrospect, I would like to have said I road every inch, but again, long before, I had had to come off the road because of intestional problems, or mechanical problems. Coming off because of safety concerns, ceased being a problem for me. And, some of the other riders had not even started the day on their bikes for other reasons.

The experience of these types of days helped me became impressed not just with the people that rode every inch, but the prudence of those that made other personally tough decisions not to ride on a given day, or down a given down hill, or because of injury, or for any other reason. Even Magic Mike, who took a number of rides on one or more days, rode himself into shape such that he road all the way from Boston to Florida, where he lives, after the XC ride. He did the extra couple of thousand miles unsupported, on his own.

It was days like this, where I needed to make personal decisions, that I learned the most. Things like that it was OK to leave some of my testosterone in the bag, not judge a book by its cover, and enjoy the moment more. Thanks for all on the XC ride, riders and support, who helped me learn more about myself, and accomplish a meaningful experience, and permit me to reach for more in life from myself.

While I look for other things to commit some of my time, I have been able to be more involved with a friend who not only manages a work team for habit but volunteers his time to help other families renovate there homes, and I get to help out on these projects. Wow, I've definitely been writing too long today, I'm getting way too heavy. But, since this is a journal for myself as much as to share the experience with others, you'll all have to bare with me.

At the end of the day Hank was kind enough to invite me to join him and Champ in a dinner hosted by a business acquaintence. The gentleman and his wife were a pleasant ending to a very wet, tough day. The couple have been all over the world in various physical challanges, hiking, biking, etc. The gentleman joined us the next day for part of our ride to Syracuse. More on that tomorrow's post. See ya...................