If This Were Just A Bike Ride

It isn't always what it appears to be. You pick the "it".

Viva Catie II gathered tonight in Bastrop, Texas after the final day of all-day biking. Circling together to talk about the things of wonder tomorrow will bring, each member of this team shared their reasons for being a part of this journey.

If this were just a bike ride, sleep would have been more essential than finding rest in each other's promises of hope.

Each group biked a long leg of today's trip. We had two bikers pulled due to the extreme heat. We had experienced bikers struggling to ride up what I am fairly sure were small mountains. We met with conditions that stretched the human spirit to the point of almost collapse.

If this were just a bike ride, ending the day early, and putting bikes on cars and riders in seats, would have been seen as the failure of an attainable goal.

Leadership happens when you least expect it. We've seen bikers push each other to ride - challenging each other to find the point of victory in each struggle. We've laid witness to the very physical and spiritual concept of carrying anothers burdens.

If this were just a bike ride, cyclists would be shot on demand for entering into another biker's sacred riding space.

But this isn't just a bike ride. It isn't. The biking is the physical manifestation of what we can't really explain or touch. This ride is about things so much bigger, so much wider, so much more intent than words can describe.

In the morning, several cyclists from the Lance Armstrong Foundation will join the Viva Catie team and bike into Austin, Texas. I imagine words will yet again fail me.

This bike ride that is so much more will be over tomorrow. Six days that changed lives and the world.

If this were just a bike ride, well, this would be a waste of time.