Thursday, August 21, 2008

Staying in the Moment


As predicted, the winds today were 15-25 mph from the SSE. This meant I faced them directly for 16-20 miles on an 89 mile day that again went well. If I’m not careful, I can let myself become frustrated with circumstances like this. I need to remind myself that the wind, similar to rainfall, blows on the just and unjust alike. It does no good to curse the wind. Instead, I practice being in the moment, accepting the circumstances I have been given. Rather than focus on the idea of the wind stopping or the ride being done, I work at accepting, even appreciating the situation I’m in. I’m very thankful that I’m close to my pre-accident strength, if I’m not already there. So I spend my time thanking God for the renewed strength and the privilege of using it in the wind. I allow myself to be aware of the pleasure of experiencing the forward movement of the bike. I spend time in communion with the nature around me, with the wind and in prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of this wonderful experience. I spend time thinking about and offering prayers of blessing for people I know. And I always, always strive to keep fully aware of the road ahead of me and the traffic beside me.

We moved out of the sand hills today. This is still sandy country, but we’re clearly moving into the Midwest. I saw a lovely restored country school house. I don’t recall seeing any out west. Perhaps this is due to the less dense population and greater distances. Also the humidity is higher here. In part this means it doesn’t cool down as much at night. And I saw my first large ragweed and wild hemp, what we used to call ditch weed.

The flat spot on my rear wheel is barely noticeable. I switched bike seats tonight. The old one had a plastic cover which doesn’t breathe. The rain from the first day caused chaffing from which I still haven’t recovered. I hope the new leather covered seat helps. I already have a side benefit from the replacement process. I noticed a hair line fracture in my carbon seat post, so I called Marty my bike mechanic. The seat post will be replaced in either Des Moines or Pella.

In about two days we’ll be in Iowa.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cal
For me the wind on the plains was always something that I loved. My girls always hated it. But I always thought the wind was refreshing and cooling blowing against your skin and threw your hair. There would be times that the wind would blow hard for several days straight and then it would get tiring. But I miss the kansas winds. Norma