Written by: Audrey Nugent, Orange Ride
The ride today was one of our shortest—forty-two brief miles. Most of the riders stopped halfway to play a few rounds of paintball, which looked liked a blast! Afterwards, we were all able to ride on a smooth, quiet bike path into town. It seems like it is getting cooler outside, as well, or it may be that we are becoming immune to this humidity.
Obviously, the physical challenge of doing a cross-country bicycle ride can be pretty tough, but an aspect that has proven to be surprisingly tough for me is the mental aspect. When you are on a bike for seven or eight hours a day, there is a lot of time dedicated to solely thinking. One thing that I like to do at the end of each ride is go back and reflect on the path that my thoughts took that day and see if they were in line with the Lord.
During the first week of this adventure, I heard from a message that our thoughts can either be with and about the Lord, or they are not; there is no neutral or in-between. This has challenged me to focus all of my thoughts on God throughout the long days on my bike, and spend all of my time in prayer. It has been amazing to step out of busy life and take almost the entire day to be exclusively devoted to biking and praying.
