TWO DAYS!!!!! And I Like to Ride My Bicycle!

So I've been riding my bicycle almost every day this week in order to get ready for Sunday's Victory Ride. For those of you who don't know, her name is "Black Betty" and the first track on my iPod that I listen to every day is, appropriately enough, Ram Jam's "Black Betty. What can I say? It makes me happy, it gets me revved up for the ride and gets me turning my peddles quickly. What it all boils down to is simply;

And that's what I've been focusing on for the last two weeks - my bicycle is my source of therapy, my cathartic tool, my escape, my stress reliever, my friend - okay, maybe that's a bit much. Regardless, I've been spending a lot of time in the saddle lately. Yesterday coming home was probably the worst day I had on the bike. I took a hilly route home and when I was about five miles out I felt like this;

Nothing I was doing was working and I was just totally cooked. I'm hoping that with a little rest before Sunday I'll be in good shape. Because quite honestly for Sunday's ride I want to look like this;Not this;

At least that's the plan I have in my head.

My sister Angela, brother-in-law Per and niece Annika will all be here as well. That will be really nice since Angela wasn't able to be at the first Victory Ride two years ago. It will be nice to have family there since this has been a month of roller coastering with the family.

If I don't get the chance to say it on Sunday (I'll probably be too much like the picture above to post) I'll say it now - MY WIFE IS AMAZING! She has really been my salvation during all the craziness of the emotional turmoil between planning the ride, trying hard to keep up with my Admin classes/internship, David and Aunt Janice's passing and also being able to keep up with all of her own issues. Having TRIED to fill her shoes while she was recuperating from her hip surgery I do know how hard her job is and yet she manages to take on so much of my own burden - she truly is an amazing woman and I don't know what my life would be without her.

I guess that's what life is all about. If you're lucky enough to find your soul mate and share your life with them, even a crappy day is paradisical (is that even a word) because you are with someone who shares your joy and your pain. But even if you're not with your soul mate, I think it is true that "a sorrow shared is halved and a joy shared is doubled". Isn't that what we should always strive for? Trying to help those around us?

Well folks, that's what we're going for in just TWO DAYS!!!!! Helping those around us and doubling their joy - the joy of summer, the joy of childhood, the joy of becoming who they are to be. Here's hoping that by the end of the day on Sunday we have raised the other $3,000 we need to be able to make that difference in the life of one camper and doubling their joy!

So my friends/readers I'll see you on the road this Sunday and if you can't be there, then go to the site and sponsor one of us and we'll ride for you!

Stay well!