Tour de Plains

On Saturday I woke Arthur up at 5:15am to go on a bike ride.  His first words were, "Someday I 'll be in pretty good shape if you don't kill me first."  We were headed to an organized bike ride in Newton call the Flatlander.  It is a benefit ride to raise donations for clean water in Kenya that is hosted my the Mennonite Central Committee.  We arrived to find about 150 other riders running around in bike shorts getting their bikes ready for the ride.  The numbers we wore to identify us as part of the group had "Cycling in the name of Christ" printed at the bottom.  Arthur made the comment that he had never seen so many people come together for Jesus wearing so much spandex in one place before.  It was a beautiful morning for the ride especially since it had been predicted earlier in the week that it would rain all day. It was Arthur's first organized ride.  I realized I might need to clue him in on some of the lingo with biking since he looked at the map and the asked me was SAG stops meant.  Basically SAG stops are like manna from heaven.  About every 10 miles there is a stop where the ride organizers provide water, fruit, and snacks.  During the ride you aren't thinking about making it to the end but just surviving until the next SAG stop.

Here's Arthur eagerly awaiting the start of the ride.  I intended to take more pictures throughout the ride but surviving seemed like a more important issue that pictorial documentation.  

We had selected to do the 65 mile ride-- remember we are gluttons for punishment.  The first 30 miles were south and west which happened to be against the wind that morning.  Aurthur, being the kind husband that he is, allowed me to draft behind him which helped make it easier in the wind and saved my legs some.  The Flatlander did live up to its billing-- the largest hills were overpasses.  After riding on moderately hilly terrain at home the smooth sailing was appreciated.
As we were approaching the 4th SAG stop Arthur was focused and in the zone that he kept riding since he didn't notice the tent or the group of people trying to wave him down from the side of the road.  I shouted at him a few times which he didn't hear (that's nothing new).  I was ready to get off my bike for a few minutes so I decided to stop.  After filling up on water, cookies, and fruit I decided I should try to track down my husband.  About 2 miles down the road Arthur realized that I wasn't following him anymore.  He turned around and essentially sprinted back into the wind to locate his lost wife who was peacefully eating cookies.  This exhausted him out and we were about 45 miles into the ride so everything was starting to hurt-- our neck, shoulders, and back from leaning forward, our backsides from sitting on a seat the size of a fence railing, our legs from pedaling and fighting the wind, and we each had some tingling setting in in our hands and feet.  The next 7-8 miles were a little bit brutal.
 At the next stop it hurt to move but we found out we were only 15 miles away.  Of course we could make a measly 15 miles so our protesting bodies jumped back on.  We continued to pedal through fields upon fields.  The scenery hadn't changed much but we could see the water tower for Newton in the distance.  Arthur said that as he was riding the last few he was thinking about how it was like the suffering and pain that leads up to death but there is glory waiting at the end. I told him death might be better because at the end the pain goes away but at that point we we felt like death.
They had lunch for us at the end of the ride.  We were watching and listening to some of the other riders sitting around.  We noticed that all looked happy and enjoying themselves.  They were discussing their plans for the rest of the day such as shopping or mowing the lawn.  We were amazed.  Then we found out that one of the gentlemen there was 89 years old and had just ridden the 65 miles we had.  Earlier a man who was celebrating his 88th birthday had finished.  This was inspiring but also a little demoralizing that our 20-something bodies couldn't keep up with the octogenarians.
Today also marked some progress towards a few of our New Year's Resolutions.  One of my goals is to ride my bike 1200, equivalent to the perimeter of the state of Kansas.  As of today I am closing in on 900 miles for the year.  Arthur's goal was to lose weight and get in shape.  He rode 65 miles for the first time in his life.  He has also lost about 10 pounds in the past few weeks.  He has been tracking his exercise and calories and was pretty excited that today's ride consumed 4700 calories.  In his words, "That ride literally cost me a pound of flesh."  (A pound of fat gives 3500 calories of energy).  We'll head our for ice cream tonight to celebrate.  Omnia Vincit Amor.