Riding to Ride

Lately, since I got home from Wagner, I find myself riding my bike just for the sake of riding, except when I am doing bike patrol at work and events, of course. Several months ago, I set a goal for myself, and I am almost 2/3rds of the way there. It has been 11 years since I rode 1000 miles in a biking season. (Helped that year by a nearly snowless early winter, where I rode through town looking at Christmas lights on my bike.) After the Ride Across the Rez, I made that number my goal for 2010. 1000 miles before the snow falls.
Moving to rural Minnesota has helped with that goal. There are miles and miles and more miles of backroads and dirt roads out here. In addition, last weekend, we went up to Duluth and started to ride from Carlton/Jay Cooke State Park to the Twin Ports, but found the Willard Munger State Trail was washed out from all the rain we've had. Yesterday, (Labor Day) I enjoyed a wonderful 14 mile jaunt down the Gitchi-Gami State Trail on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Last year I finished the season with 603 miles. This year I am already at 576.
It has helped in other ways, too. My health is better; My weight is down about 20 pounds, my blood sugar and blood pressure are both lower. My endurance is up. More importantly, I have come to realize a spiritual connection in "riding to ride." I think of Scottish missionary and Olympic runner, Eric Liddell, who said, "When I run, I feel His pleasure." That's how cycling has become for me. Each push of the pedal, each mile, draws me closer to God, deeper into the relationship. More understanding of where I am now, and where I am going in Him.
Things change, goals are modified, but right now, if I get to that 1000 mile mark this year, I plan to work to 1500 next year, and then take a team from Yankton, SD, to the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base in Kamiah, ID in 2012; 1250 miles on the Lewis and Clark Trail, visiting every reservation and tribe along the Missouri River. Well, that's my plan. We'll see if that is what God has in store for this Two-Wheeled Explorer.

We are proceeding on...
Hans