The rain went on for most of the morning, and one or two riders who had got caught out without their rain gear almost suffered hypothermia. Arek resorted to a plastic bag with a hole for his head.The day was also characterised by me missing a turn at one point and taking Arek round the opposite two sides of a rectangle to the others. The upside was that in the town of Mexico, just south of Texas, and both in New York State, we had a terrific lunch in Daddy Ed's Diner - a great cup of clam chowder each followed by other good cooking. We met up with the group again an hour later, having covered about 3 extra miles.
The third thing characterising today would be punctures. I had two, both rear wheel (Paul L kindly pointed out that I was the second-heaviest rider in the group - true, but great for downhills - so it was to be expected), Stuart had one and Bryan had a major blow-out which completely shredded his tyre.
The fourth thing marking today, in contrast to recent days, was hills. Not hills like tomorrow's hills, but pretty stiff climbs all the same, and you could feel your legs draining of strength as you laboured up.To pass the time Arek and I tried to come up with all the analogies we could between the Christian life and a long-distance bike ride. There are plenty, and I'll just mention them roughly here in case some of you preachers want to develop them yourself:
1. Downhills are easy, but deceptive. There is only one good downhill each day, and that's the last one. Otherwise you are losing height you have laboured for and will have to labour for again. As in life, if you only ever have downhills, or only seek the path of least resistance, you'll inevitably end up in the deep stuff at the bottom.
2. The wind can be your friend - or your enemy. It's invisible, but it's real. When it's blowing from behind is not the time to rest, but to be on the road and going flat-out. When it's against you, don't expect to make the same progress, or you will be frustrated and disappointed. In life, there are seasons, and it's good to know what season we are in.
3. Hills test character. On a ride they are going to feature. Are you going to cheat and hold onto a passing truck for a tow, or will you show stickability and perseverance? Again, you won't expect to make as much speed uphill as down, so no need to get frustrated at lack of progress, and it's not the time to try and outride the youngest, fittest guy on the ride. After this hill there will be another, and another, and you need to pace yourself according to your strength, not someone else's. But when you finally do get up to the top, take time to enjoy the view and don't be in any hurry to get back down again. You will see more and farther than the people in the valley, and you'll be glad you endured the trial. You will have learnt something, tried something hard, achieved it. "How weak is your faith if you falter in the time of trouble!"
4. You can go downhill all day on the ride without taking on any food or water, but you can't do uphills. Same in life - no spiritual water or food and you won't have the strength to tackle the trials.
You can see that a lot of today was about just keeping going, although even at that, it was interesting - nearly everyone I talked to had enjoyed the rain, just because they hadn't had a chance
to test themselves in that one way. Paul Bayfield (left, in his raingear) comes up with an interesting "factoid" every day. Today's was that by yesterday the riders had ridden the equivalent of all the way across the Sahara. The day before, the accumulated distance was halfway around the equator of the moon. Apologies that you aren't getting this at least until Saturday - we are in a one-store-and-motel town called Redfield in New York State, and we have no phone coverage. Not sure if it will be any better tomorrow - 120 miles and a lot of hills.God bless.
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