At the lunch stop on the first day of the Face of America 2007 ride, a few yards away from one of Frederick County, Maryland's historic covered bridges, Mike Gibson was explaining how his single bike was set up with all the controls on the right side.
Mike, who lost his left arm in a boating accident when he was a teenager, operates both front and rear brakes and derailleurs with his right hand. Asked if that was difficult to master, he replied quickly, “You adapt. That's what all these guys do,” he said, speaking of the more than 100 cyclists participating in the ride who have been severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. “After a while, you figure it out.”
One of the things that was easy to figure out during the first leg of the two-day, 110-mile ride from Gettysburg to Bethesda, is that teamwork means everything. From the blind cyclist on the back of a tandem counting on his captain in front, to the hand-crank cyclist whose team members sometimes had to help him up steep grades with a push, the idea was that everyone pulls together.
Unlike many organized rides, World T.E.A.M. Sports staff asked all riders to stay behind the lead motorcycle course monitors, and they made sure that no one fell off the back. At the rest stops, no one left until everyone was in and ready to go again. And everyone pretty much finished the 53-mile course together.
The ride got off to a fine start, rolling through the Gettysburg battlefield, which was serene under early morning skies. We passed monuments, memorials and stone fences, and it wasn't long before we came upon a troop of Boy Scouts holding a large American flag and cheering as the riders went by.
The terrain was rolling, and the weather was cool and sometimes windy. We rode the last seven or eight miles in a drizzle, but I didn't hear anyone complaining about anything. And when was the last time you went on an organized ride and didn't hear people complaining?
That's just one more reason why being part of a Face of America ride is such a rewarding experience: Riding alongside people who have sacrificed so much, it becomes very easy to see what's worth worrying about in life and what isn't. As Mike Gibson put it, “after a while you figure it out.”
Click here to see pictures of today's ride, and earlier posts about Face of America 2007 are also available on bikingbis.com.
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