29th ride

This morning was a huge step forward for me as a cyclist, as I did my first organized ride -- the Ride for Recovery for Dawn Farms in Ypsilanti. They offered rides of 10 miles, 25 miles, 40 miles, and 100 miles, and even though the farthest I had ridden previously was yesterday's 16.4 miles, my friend Marie Brazeau from our small group at Zion Lutheran Church had challenged all of us, "Let's ride 25 miles! I'm going to." However, largely due to the weather, Marie ended up just doing the 5K (3.1 mile) walk.

What success I did experience (and it was, admittedly, minor) was attributable largely to my friend Doug Tidd. As Doug was the one who got my into cycling, I think he probably feels some sort of paternalistic responsibility - at any rate, when he found out a couple of weeks ago that I planned to do this ride, he registered for it himself, and then picked me up this morning and drove us to it. Even more crucially, he pulled out a spare rain slicker he had, telling me, "Try this on." Amazingly enough, it fit, so garbed in this bright orange covering I was able to survive over 2 hours of riding in cold (low fifties) wet (a steady, though mercifully light, rain) conditions. The forecast I had seen called for rain to begin late morning, and for it to be in the low sixties by noon, so I dressed accordingly. But the rain dogged us throughout the trip, and the only thing mercifully absent was wind.

A number of my friends from Zion were there, and when I saw Sue Strickland (Michelle's former fellow Spartan Marching Band member!) before the start, I introduced her and Doug. Then a little shy of halfway into the ride, Doug experienced a flat tire, and, since he was going to be a while with repairs, he told me to go ahead, not wanting me to stand and get cold. I considered trying to introduce a touch of levity by asking, "What if you can't catch up?" But in the end, I decided it would best to let that go.

Shortly after leaving Doug, Sue's husband Kahle rode up beside me, looked at me in surprise, and said, "Why, hello!" We rode together for nearly 10 miles, and I was very glad for his company. Finally, with only 7 or so miles left (we felt), he asked me, "Are you doing OK, Allen? Are you sure? Would it be OK if I picked up my pace?" I was fine with this, and so bid him farewell. Then as we were closing in on the finish, I missed a turn (onto Bemis Rd.) and so ended up lengthening my ride by a little over a mile.

My final time was slower than I had hoped for, finishing in about 2 hours 20 minutes -- too long to be out in that cold rain! But I thank God that I was able to find my way back to Dawn Farms, where we started, and was soon warming myself in the barn, enjoying the "Recovery Lunch" they had spread out for us. Doug came in only a couple of minutes after I arrived, and by that time I was already sitting and eating with my Zion friends, who said that I looked in pretty poor shape, as wet, muddy, and cold as I was. Here is a picture of the members of our Zion small group who were there, with me in the aforementioned bright orange rain slicker.

But anyway, I'm very glad to have done this, and, as I grinned and told Doug on our trip back to Ann Arbor, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"

Also, a word of thanks to my old friend Steve Brownell. We were best friends in elementary school, but have only rarely seen one another since his family moved away in sixth grade. (We lost track of one another for decades.) As I said, this event was a fundraiser for Dawn Farms, and Steve's very generous contribution last night helped me to surpass the goal I had set -- in fact, inducing me to increase the goal! (He called me "old friend," and hastened to add, "I use 'old' as a term of endearment." But I don't mind freely admitting that my years are starting to add up, and am glad to 'own' getting older.)