Subject: The accidental race Spring has sprung, the weather is gorgeous and no matter how hard I tried I could not come up with a plausible excuse for not going for a bike ride. Being prone to excess, I resolved to NOT overdo it and bike too far for my winter-hibernation physical condition but divine providence would intervene. I headed out to my shop to dust the cobwebs off my bike and when I aired up one of the tires the valve stem broke and it went flat. Crud. It’s been a long time since I’ve biked and even longer since I’d changed a flat. But it all came back to me and I fixed the flat and was soon on the road. I decided to bike 28 miles which would be half of the distance for the race I’m scheduled to do this fall. But at 13 miles out I made a left turn on my normal bike route and found myself smack in the middle of a race! It was the Heel and Crank Duathlon. As I rode along in the race I asked one of the bikers what the race was and he said it was a 3 mile run – 13 mile bike – 3 mile run. Cool! I just happened to join them right at the start of the race in Bell Mina (a quaint little town named after the Belle Manor Plantation that was pronounced “Bell Mina” but southern folk ). Instead of turning back at 14 miles into my ride I decided to continue to ride along with the race!
I began to feel guilty for ‘participating’ in the race although I’m not sure why. After all I reasoned, this was MY regular bike course and they were the ones on my turf. But I didn’t have a race number and I was wearing ear buds and listening to music which was probably a rules violation. They went from Bell Mina to Swancock Road then cut off towards the river to make a loop. I’ve biked this route hundreds of time. There is a really steep downhill on a very rough chip-seal road. Right at the crest of the hill I heard a female voice say “on your left” and I thought, ‘fat chance’ as we started to descend and I grained speed and probably hit 40 mph and she never did come around me. Well, until the next uphill. The downhill is where us old fat boys excel! I continued to ride with the race guys as we looped back to Swancock and were heading back. And then I saw the reason I was out there.
Up ahead I saw two riders on the side of the road. They were working on a flat. I pulled up to see if they needed help. One of the guys was struggling trying to get the tire off and the other guy was holding the wheel. Neither guy knew what they were doing! I asked if they needed help and the one holding the tire said, “He needs some help, his hands hurt and he can’t get the tire off”. I quickly got off and took the wheel from them. I had just ‘practiced’ this a couple of hours ago! I had the tire half off the rim, the old tube out, put a little air in the new tube, put in the tire and put the tire back on the rim in record time. I then aired it up with their CO2 cartridge and put the wheel back on the bike. Soon they were back on their way.
The one who had the flat rode on ahead and the other guy pulled up beside me and thanked me for helping. He said, “That man has ALS and that is why his hands were unable to fix the flat. I think this race raises money for ALS. I’m pretty sure God put you there today to help him.”
After riding with the race for about 10 miles I cut off and took a shortcut back home. I am spent. My legs are toast now – so much for my resolution to not overdo it today. Oh well, it was a fun ride (race ) and I was able to help someone and that is always a good feeling.
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