Fellowship United Methodist Church

I have had some time to reflect on my first Bicycle Ride Across Georgia now that it ended 10 days ago.  It was a phenominal event and I will most likely become a yearly BRAGger.

I met some great people, got to hang out with a long time friend and made to new friends that I hope to get to know better in the coming years.  Mark, Daniel and  Kerry from CycleWorks are some of the greatest people I have ever met.  They took me under their collective wing and taught me so much about cycling and even let me hang out with them in their booth and tech support area.  Not only that, but they let me share a hotel room every night of the ride so that I didn't have to sleep in a crowed gym with 500 other cyclists (can you spell s-n-o-r-i-n-g?).  But these guys are more than great cyclists.  They are each committed followers of Christ who see their faith as the central part of their lives.  And it showed in everything they did.  For instance, Kerry and Daniel were the bike mechanics and worked like crazy.  Their tip jar filled up pretty quick because of the great service they gave folks and at the end of the ride they gave 1/2 their tips to support the reason I was riding - to build Paulding County's first Habitat for Humanity house.  They inspired me in so many ways.

There were others also whose names I do not know.  The 1,476 other riders who represented every form of humanity.  Some were "go fast" guys who rode every expensive bikes and virtually flew along the route.  There were inner city kids on the "Dream Team" sponsored by REI who had amazing stamina.  There were couples and families riding tandem bikes and even one triple bike.  There were kids as young as 5 years old and youngsters in their 80's.  Some people rode high end road bikes, some were on comfort bikes and some were even on mountain bikes with 2 inch wide knobby tires that I cannot even imagine trying to spin for 50 miles much less 481.

There was a bunch of folks who took spills and had road rash that they wore like a badge of courage.  But they keep on coming back every day to keep riding.  At least four people were injured in accidents bad enough to cause them to drop out of the ride.  The rest of us rode for them.

Every person along the way had a story and every one of them rode for a reason.  My reason was for a family that I do not even know yet.  They will receive a new house later this year but more importantly, they will receive a new start, a new chance to experience life in all its fullness without the burden of overbearing mortgages.

I would have rode BRAG even if I wasn't doing it as a fundraiser but every mile was a lot sweeter knowing that with each pedal crank there were people sponsoring the ride so that a family could have a new life.  Thank each and every one of you who support the ride financially and with your prayers (I felt every one of them).  Love you guys.