Wednesday morning, after discussing a few potential
projects with my boss, our conversation turned to the Tour du Burundi. He and I don't speak of it often, but this
morning was different, and I raised the issue of employer matching funds raised
by employees for charitable events. Had
heard that other divisions do such things but hadn't seen it in our division.
After a brief conversation he approved matching funds but
wanted to cap it and asked what I intended to raise. I told him $15,000. He then approved matching funds up to $10,000! I almost starting crying but thought he would
fire me for doing so and then there would be no matching funds so I kept the
tears to myself.
That two minute conversation instantly doubled what has
already been contributed to date, $2,175, and it means that every dollar
donated going forward is two dollars donated!
I've reset my goal from $15,000 to $20,000 because of my employer's
generosity. So cool!
Leaving the office that day, again long and intense, as I
stepped out the front door, before me was the moon in my absolute favorite
phase, a crescent moon with just the smallest bit of moon visible. This night, however, as I looked west, the
moon was positioned as if it looked like a smile. Instantly I felt like God was smiling down on
me, hugging me after a long day, and saying, "You're doing great raising
money for my kids in Burundi". It
felt great!! Mind you, God smiles down
on me all the time, whether raising money for His kids or when I choose paths
that are not His plan. It's called
unconditional love and I'm so grateful He feels that way about me. By the way, He has that same love for you
too, no matter your past or where you fall on the faith spectrum. Unconditional is, after all, unconditional.
So with that encouragement I set my sights for the
weekend rides. This is the first weekend
of riding outside two consecutive days, something I've never attempted, so I
was really curious how this would play out.
Set out Saturday morning for Redwood Road (50 miles) and met up with a
group of women training for the Cinderella Ride which is a women's only
ride. I often thought there should be a men’s
only Prince Charming ride but can't imagine the cast of characters that would
take part in that event so maybe that's not such a good idea.
I started riding with one of the trainers in the group, a
man, who seemed fairly intense, when we were passed by another rider who said
nothing when approaching from behind.
The safe thing to do is to call out, "On your left” (or right) when
passing. The three of us found ourselves
at a stop light. Me on the left, the
unsafe passer in the middle, and the intense trainer dude on the right. Me?
I'm quiet and just happy to hit a red light to grab some water and catch
my breath. My new found trainer buddy
decides to take it upon himself to tell the unsafe passer guy just exactly how
unsafe he was.
Needless to say it was not a cordial conversation and me,
ever the peacemaker, decided to tap the unsafe passer on the right shoulder and
once I got his attention I said, "I still love you". He didn't take my comment in the caring
manner in which it was given. I think I
tried to follow it up with a second inane comment when he cut me off and said
he really couldn't hear me because his ear buds were in. That's unsafe as well but who am I to bring
up more of this guy’s poor judgment during a 30 second red-light? So, I asked, "What are you listening
to?". "Music" came the
reply. Now I'm no sales person but I got
the sense this was not the time to ask him if he wanted to donate to the Tour
du Burundi. The light turned green and
off he went and I spent the next 15 minutes of the ride pondering the question
of why I spoke up in the first place.
Hey, you gotta find something to occupy your time on these longer rides.
With that drama behind me I settled into a great
ride. On rides like Redwood I have my
set resting places and one of them is after descending Redwood there is a stop
sign where Pinehurst meets Redwood.
Continue on Redwood and in a couple miles you're on Skyline Boulevard
which offers great vistas of the Bay.
Take a sharp right on Pinehurst, an uphill climb, and you've made the
turn towards home. Today my path was
Pinehurst but regardless of which road I take I always rest where Pinehurst
meets Redwood.
I felt so good as I approached Pinehurst this strange
thought came into my head, "What if I don't rest. What if I turn right and climb
Pinehurst?". I have to say, this is just weird. Might it be that I'm getting in better
shape? So turn right I did without the
traditional rest and the Pinehurst climb was, well, easy. You have to understand these are not typical
Burundi Dave bicycle ride experiences.
Another oddity now occurring is how I feel on
descents. Not being as top-heavy as I
once was I can approach downhill turns with more speed. Now I'm not like many cyclists who fly
downhill like a friggin' dart but I am going faster because I feel so much more
in control of my bike. Clearly my center
of gravity is lower and it's yet another blessing as a result of training for
the ride.
So with riding day 1 in the books, I saddle up for a 40
miler on Sunday, the Windmill ride (see an earlier post which explains the
Windmill ride). My biggest concern,
quite frankly, how's it going to feel sitting on a bike seat after Redwood the
previous day? I won't go into details
but let's just say there were no issues.
Two great things about this ride:
the hills are a bright green as you can see in these pictures, and; the
Windmill ride being relatively flat, I decided to push my pace to find out what
I had left in the tank. Turns out I averaged 17 mph, a 1 mph improvement from
the same ride 6 weeks ago. Suh-weet!!
The Tour du Burundi is now just two months away and
everything is progressing nicely! Oh and
quickly, I have lost another 8+ pounds over the past few weeks bringing my
cumulative total lost to 85 pounds, just 15 from my goal.
So like I said, a fantastic week! Haven’t decided where I am riding this
weekend but the weather forecast…spectacular, so I have many options!!
Thanks for being a part of all this.
