Rick and Monique

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ready to Ride--But not in the rain?

"How you doin'?", I asked my wife Monique.

"My legs hurt, but I feel great," she replied.

"Me too," I said. "Only a handful of us believe it's possible to get it done."

"I don't mind being part of the handful really," she said. "But riding in rain, I just can't do it. Too dangerous." Pause. "No way I'm goin' out in the rain. You can't make me," she continued. Then an afterthought, "Impossible."

Today she rode in the rain.

The posts are few and far between--I'm off on the nearly 500 mile bicycle ride across Iowa this week. Sounds kinda crazy, I know. People have called me crazy for years and I figured it was time to walk the talk. However, one gentleman is roller blading across Iowa, another is riding his Unicycle. One woman is riding with one wooden leg and another with only one arm. An 81 year old man is riding this week with only one gear, my wife rode in the rain, and the rest of us are riding with one big pile of guts, fear, pain, joy, pride and satisfaction. One man, Wes, rode the first three days...the first after discovering his nephew was killed in a motorcycle accident. He leaves for the funeral tomorrow morning. We've all got stories. Between my wife and I, we've popped two tires and broke a spoke. In all that I've told my story at least once already, and to a perfectly random stranger who overheard a conversation.

We're all a little crazy I suppose. But I'm off on another day of doing the impossible and that feels quite normal. All the days are them that the Lord has made and the lot of us wake up to see as much of it as possible.

3 comments:

Tea with Tiffany said...

I'm inspired by your craziness. Actually I don't consider it crazy, to me it's living out loud and living well.

Be safe and enjoy!

IHG said...

We looked for you in Red Oak but there were so many bikers. WOW! Hope you are having fun. I'm sure you are...both of you find joy in everything you do. It's the storie from the others that always make it more exciting. Too bad about the motorcycle death. That really makes me sad.

Ok...have fun...be safe and can't wait for more stories!

Laura said...

Oh! Traveling (riding) mercies to you and lovely wife! How brave of her to overcome that riding in the rain thing.

I've found it can be quite liberating...