Written by: Mike Rutheford, Blue Ride
Today the blue team woke up in Cambridge, OH. We had a shorter day ahead of us as we pushed off towards Wheeling, WV and our next state on our travels. The newer riders like myself have been settling into the rhythm and our group has swelled to 27 riders and two support personnel. One big happy biking family.
The ride kicked off with some bike trail miles and an off road detour due to trail construction that led to some dirt path scrambling. Once we all got back on solid ground it was up and down all the way to the state line and the requisite pictures with the WV welcome sign. The Dairy Queen 1 mile from the church received a nice uptick in business as many of us enjoyed some ice cream to cool off after the ride.
For me personally today was a challenging day. We haven’t had tailwinds this week and the hills we are running against are more “punchy” than in my hometown of Cincinnati so I find the climbing to be more mentally challenging since it is tougher to settle into a rhythm. My riding family was a great help as we encouraged each other with each hill and each pedal stroke. As we push deeper into the mountains of WV, MD, and VA I’m reminded of Romans 5:3-4 “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
Keep us all in your prayers on the mountain roads and the big climbs and descents over the next couple of days as we endure to our final goal of Washington DC.
