Another item on a list of good decisions

Amongst the better decisions I’ve made in my lifetime are the following:

1. Marry Shadow

2. Not doing the 55 mile option in yesterday’s Soldier Ride San Antonio

While the wind certainly had a hand in that decision it was really formalized for me when I arrived at the event and parked, got out of my car and came face to face with the guy who parked next to me – Dave.



Obviously toward the beginning of the ride - thanks to Dave
for the picture.



It’s a small world, let me tell you. Dave is a guy I met about 15 years ago while stationed in the Azores. I knew he was in San Antonio because I’d run into him back in March but the odds of us both being at this event and parking next to each other were prohibitively low. In reality, Dave was my lottery ticket yesterday for capable motor function today.

You see, about a year ago, Dave started riding a bicycle with some enthusiasm – enough so that this summer he biked across Iowa – for fun. So it was nice to not only know someone at this event but also to talk a little ‘shop’ as it were. This is what he said to me after we discussed what we’d been doing on bicycles for the last few months – namely him biking across large square-ish states and me getting my bike wedged between two trees.

“Don’t do the long ride.”

I took it as a sign from above and as I felt no real obligation toward the longer distance, I heeded his, what turned out to be, stellar advice.

The Soldier Ride isn’t actually ‘A’ ride, but a series of rides put on by the Wounded Warrior Project across the country to raise money for America’s wounded warriors – many of whom were in evidence at the ride, and some with special bikes that you’ve probably seen before, where they are hand-cranked instead of food pedaled.

The San Antonio version of the Ride was the last for the year and nearly 500 cyclists showed up for a ride that was relatively flat, but somehow it seemed the organizers were able to contrive a looped course that was against the wind the entire time. I don’t like riding against the wind, I really don’t and as I entered a long straightaway into the teeth of this wind I just thought, ‘this really sucks.’

Two minutes later at about the 15 mile point, one of the wounded warriors on a hand-crank bike passed me.

As I watched him go, I thought, the wind isn’t really so bad, you know.

So for the rest of the ride I forgot the wind. I enjoyed the sunshine, the mid-70s temperatures and yes, even the pain in my knees, feet and legs. Because at the end of the day, I still had all my original stock features when so many of my fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, do not.

On my short list of good choices, I should add participating in the Soldier Ride, even the little 25 mile version.

Special thanks again to those who helped the San Antonio ride raise more than $92,000. You should expect an email from me again next year.

Jon and Marie VanGuilder; Valerie & Timothy Trefts; Norman and Anne Bushey; Steven Bushey; Lynne & Steve Corry; Scott Beaulieu; Scott Wakefield; Marilyn Main; Ed Boucher; and Dave Smith.