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Journal Entry Nov 3, 2007 Birthday Challenge 07 Ride Report For those who could not make the Longleaf Trace Birthday Challenge Ride this year, we will try to provide some verbal, and eventually, pictorial imagery for you. (Please send us your pics you would like to share, so we can post them on the website.) What a great day!! Thanks to Lee McCall with the Birthday Challenge Committee for organizing the event and support! Lee says there were over 200 folks registered, and the vast majority were you, our customers and friends! Thank you for coming! The gathering started early with good fellowship and a relaxed feeling of anticipation all around. The color guard, all dressed in their shiny silver helmets and pristine uniforms, presented the flags. The National Anthem was sung by a young man with a great voice, and a prayer was offered for the wonderful day and for a safe ride. We offered a few reminders, introduced John Schlitter (recent race winner of a 500 mile race in Texas and Bacchetta Bikes guru!), sounded the start siren and watched the crowd launch safely, right at 9:00 AM! The temperature was in the 50's, the sky was blue and we had a light tailwind. It all sounds perfect . . . and it was! There are so many images that come to mind, it is difficult to not leave any out. The families, riding together on bikes and trikes, hooked together, or not, make the heart feel good! Way to go kids for making the effort and going the distance! Folks riding after various surgeries and medical issues made the challenge even more meaningful! Bill, recovering from his bout with prostate cancer met his age challenge, in miles! Way to go Bill! We were always mindful of our friends who could not be there and have a special place in our heart for Don Sullivan, a long time Challenge rider, who passed away this past June at 83 years young. There was one crash that we are aware of. It seems that some pedestrian on the trail stepped in front of, and tried to hand off a small yellow kitten to a rider in the group! The action caused two riders to go down, resulting in some hand and leg injuries to one rider. Debbie says Rosemary is doing ok today, but still worried about the hand injuries. We are sorry this unfortunate incident happened and hope Rosemary will be riding again soon! Kudos to Wayne and Keith, and the rest of the escort team for towing the injured Rosemary, and her upright bike, from Carson to Prentiss, on their bents! Thanks to Tina for helping with the splint for Rosemary's hand! The image of the group arriving together was one to remember! The challenge was indeed difficult for some. Seeing others, zooming up and down the LLT, brought back a bit of nostalgia that surely the folks who lived along the trail experienced when the trains were running up and down the tracks! Man, John Schlitter is something else! Visiting and stopping along the way, and stopping to help Pat change a flat on his low racer, he still made it to Hattiesburg close behind the faster bents and low racers. Visiting with this rider on the return trip for a few miles, he took off again after learning that Pat, on the fast low racer, had gone by while John had made a pit stop. Of course, John was the first to return! No problem. It was good seeing Jim Lovelace on his low racer riding and we wish his wife, Gail, good luck breaking in her prothesis and hope she can start riding her trike again soon! The image that comes to mind most often is that of a wild eyed and bushy bearded Alan, riding right up into the now emptied pavilion and announcing that he went all the way to Hattiesburg! The gray beard, wind-splayed from side to side, proved he had reached some high speeds, and the determined spirit indicated he was not finished yet! Indeed, a few minutes later, he left again to get in a full hundred miles for the day! Way to go Alan! From graybeards with overalls, to little girls with handlebar streamers, the Birthday Challenge ride motivates everyone to do their best, whatever it may be. We are glad to be a part of such a wonderful group of folks! Well done! View All Journal Entries |
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