“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson

Hello everyone,

In someways the actual ride to the beach on the last day is anti-climatic. In other ways it is one of the most joyful and at the same time sad events. The morning begins as usual with breakfast with your friends but you realize this will be the last one with them. Tracy has refined the actual ride to ceremonial status. The riders go off in groups of two or three every three minutes. We are sent off with fanfare, hoots, collars and cheers and it always brings a tear to my eyes. As luck would have it, I was paired with Sabine who was the first person I rode with in LA. Sabine has a reputation for going off on her own adventures and wandering from course. In LA in our ride to Manhattan Beach she had a course plotted out that got us lost (for awhile) in rush hour traffic. So on our ride out of the hotel hen we were supposed to turn right, she and I turned left and all the folks were screaming that we were going the wrong way. I guess that Kevin had planned the same thing but ha planned on saying that he was riding back to the Pacific Ocean. It was a lot of fun riding with Sabine but I now know how the other pilots felt when flying with Maverick in “Top Gun”.

We rode for about 12 miles and the riders gathered at a recreation area for all the cyclist to meet up for the final 4 miles to the beach. We are lined up two by two with a van in front and one behind. We roll along with a lot of horns and shouts from pedestrians who realize the accomplishment we are about to achieve. I hung to the very back go the pack with Ian. Ian had been pulled off the course in the desert because of dehydration but was riding extremely well the last several weeks of the ride. Richard who broke his collarbone also rode his bike to the beach. You want to see all your friends succeed in this endeavor and seeing them back and doing well makes my heart sing. The same could be said for Kevin and Mary who crashed on the longest mileage day of the ride and kept going. It isn’t that you won’t have adversity, it is about how you deal with it.

The last 25 yards before the beach, I dismounted and carried my bike across the line. Someone asked me what i was doing and my comment was “this bike carried me faithfully for 3400 miles and I can carry it the last few yards.” I dipped my wheel in the Atlantic Ocean and was part of a lot of pictures, hugs and shed a few tears. I commented that every ride someone jumps in the ocean  – Lou obliged even though I made up that story. I do think though that Jeff did jump in 2012.

I rode with Mary, her husband Johnathon and Lois back t the hotel but not before we stopped for a Starbucks. At the hotel, the fact that this is almost over begins to hit home as everyone is preparing to ship bicycles back home and the CrossRoads crew are dismantling the trucks. Tonight is the celebration dinner and probably the last time that i will see many of these wonderful people. Some of us are talking about other rides and that will happen but not as a group.

I will post some rollup thoughts and post ride thoughts in a few days….

Thanks for reading

~Chuck

carrying my bike across the line