This was my first year on the ride with my new bike (a nifty little Jamis Ventura). Man, what a difference from riding the little BMX! My pedal output was greater. My ride time improved drastically and overall I just felt more legit while riding.
Sarah wasn't able to make it to the ride this year and for good reason. So, I sort of took on the role of the face of our team. And while she wan't there in person, her "be relentless" attitude was alive and well. I used it to push through the pain of pedaling. Whenever I felt like slowing down, I simply thought of her being on the sidelines doing her trademark cheer of "Go baby, go!" and I would get a burst of speed.
During the ride so much went through my mind. I thought about how far we've come since last year. What Sarah's been through. What she's accomplished. How much our lives have improved since last year. It's been like night and day.
They say that you never forget to ride a bike and while I'm not sure if that much is true I will say that life itself is a lot like a bike ride. You set out and maybe you have a route mapped out, maybe you're just going where the roads take you, but you can never be sure just where you'll end up. You may think you have it all planned out -- you draw up your map or set your GPS, but you can never factor in everything. Maybe you go to make a left turn and wind up hitting a detour that takes you to places you've never been before. And maybe those places are great, maybe those places are horrible. But that's the way life is, your path never always ends up according to plan. That is the way last year worked out for us. But through it all, Sarah kept plugging along and now, here we are...back on path.
When I crossed the finish line I had a thought; that this year Sarah crossed a finish line of her own...the end of treatments. That's the real finish line. Things always seem to fall into perspective for me at the most random times and that was one of them. I crossed the finish line to a throng of spectators cheering me on, some of them were cancer survivors and current patients, here they are cheering me on, when it's them...people like Sarah who are the real heroes. I'm just some schmuck on a bike.
Now that the ride is over I just want to ride more. I want to make next years team 100 times more successful than this years one, but I also long for a day when I don't have to ride for cancer research. Imagine that...a world without cancer! Sounds like a beautiful place to me. Let's get there. I'll drive..or better yet, I'll pull the whole damn world there on my bike.
Much love as always. BE RELENTLESS.
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