Riding With Support

Article 6 of the RUSA Rules For Riders says that all riders must be self-sufficient. I'm hoping that they only mean during the ride. I will have to admit that I'm not very self-sufficient off of the bike. Gratefully, I have a wonderful wife without whom I couldn't even consider all the riding I do, not to mention chasing the goals I've laid out.

Recently I saw two boxes of new checks on the kitchen table. When I asked about them, my wife said she had ordered them because we were almost out of checks. I had no idea how many checks we had left; I would have had even less idea where to order more from. But Carmel knew the answer to both questions.

This year I have several "projects" I'm working on.

• There's "Project 365". I intend to ride every day this year without missing a day.
• There's "Project R-12". I intend to ride at least one 200 kilometer or longer ride each month for the entire year to obtain the RUSA R-12 Award.
• There's "Project SR". I intend to ride the entire brevet series (200K, 300K, 400K, 600K) this year to obtain the RUSA Super Randonneur Award.
• There's "Project 10,000". I intend to ride 10,000 miles total during 2010.

And "I'm a soldier in the war on poverty". My boss (not to mention my bill collectors) expect me to show up for work on every scheduled workday, and most of those workdays are 10 - 12 hours long.

Finally there's "Project Mama" as in "if Mama isn't happy - ain't no one happy". That means taking care of our little piece of heaven in Marion Illinois. Building projects take up a lot of time and energy, but are absolutely necessary.

That doesn't leave much time for figuring out whether or not we need checks, or anything else. Gratefully, God has given me a wife who is more than capable of taking care of our lives and our business while I enjoy cycling the second half of my life.

Thank You, Lord.

Thank you, Carmel.