The Big 40!

No, I do not mean that I have turned 40 years old; even though I am not too far away from that milestone. But, I am excited that Sandy and I hit the 40 mile marker on our bikes this week. We wanted to sign up for a local bike tour and were given options to ride 25 miles (the length of our longest ride so far) or 40 miles (seemed a little scary, especially with others watching - I couldn't call my husband to pick me up inroute without someone knowing=)
So, we decided to do a test run. We rode around Morris county. At the 15 mile mark, I exclaimed, "This is going well, we should sign up for the 40 miles." I realized that sounded premature with 25 miles to go. But, as 25, 30, and 35 miles wizzed by we realized 40 miles was really doable. We didn't even feel dead or extremely sore, just tired. Being a bit cocky with our success, I decided to ride 20 miles the next day at the gym. My husband smartly warned me that the 2nd day will be worse. He was right, though I do not admit that often enough. I am sore, but still happy to have hit a new milestone in our quest to work up to 70 miles a day.
I need to remember that growing muscles are not the reason we riders will be able to complete the Sea to Sea Bike Tour. We are studying II Corinthians in Bible Study today and the verse II Cor. 12:9 reads, " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." May God keep us "weak" enough that we don't attribute our ability to ride all these miles to our own training, strength, or the right equipment.

A Purpose to My Madness

At the risk of sounding like I'm giving a sermon, I want to share a revelation that struck me this week. I came across a verse today at 6am in the morning (I've decided my only hope of consistent Bible study is to get up early)that put some perpective on the bike tour. II Corinthians 9:13 says, "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God..." It struck me that I tout the purpose of me riding in the Sea to Sea Bike Tour is to help those stuck in povetty and to raise awareness of their plight and our ability and responsibility to help. While this is true, the ultimate purpose is to bring praise to God! I can only do this as a participant if my motivation comes from thankfulness for the grace God has given me - many blessings and eternal life. I pray this bigger goal will stay with me even after the bike tour. I give those of you who know me permission to bob me over the head (yes, I am hard-headed) with this truth on a regular basis.

On the lighter side, I want you to know that Sandy and I were riding together Sunday and we were serenaded by a bunch of high school boys in a car with whistles and "Hey babes" remarks. Sandy at least had the semblance of mind to offer the comeback, "We're old enough to be your mother." Not exactly the phrase to make us women in our late 30's and early 40's feel like we have the gumption to ride a bike 800 miles. Maybe something like, "In your dreams." or "Do you want to race?" would have made me feel more like a teenager again. Despite knowing we should be appauled by such blatant sexism, the cat calls actually spurred both Sandy and I on to ride another 100 miles - just kidding, but we did finish up our 18 mile ride with smiles on.