The adventure begins…

Well it really began over a year ago with just three knuckleheads (me, Kenneth, and Randy) sitting in my office dreaming about an adventure. I had just finished reading a book called “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller. In the book Donald Miller shares the story of his adventure riding across America. The idea was inspiring, but the three of us didn’t think we could take over a month off from life to do something like that.

We dreamed about doing some sort of Texas ride, maybe Orange to El Paso in 10 days. We knew we didn’t want to do it just to say we did it, we wanted to use it as an avenue for good; a way to give back to people who had given so much. Almost immediately we knew The Wounded Warrior Project was the right cause.

Kenneth had once been a competitive racer who now enjoyed getting out on the bike on weekends. Randy actively participated in triathlons and enjoyed cycling as a part of competition. I didn’t even own a bike and really was just caught up in the idea of the adventure. Thanks to Ride Away Bicycles I eventually got a bike (long story) and the training began.

We began inviting other friends and people we met to join us on the journey, with the idea of a team of twelve cyclists to complete the trek. Several people stepped forward with their own desires to give back and WOW Cycling Club was born. We eventually shortened the route and went vertical, from Wichita Falls to Corpus Christi. The ride would be 7 days, 6 days of riding and 1 rest day.

The team is made up of both civilians and veterans (some with disabilities). We have a man who once had a heart attack, another who had back surgery just a few short months ago, and one who can’t ride the event having crashed just a few weeks ago during training and broke his collar bone in two places.

All-in-all we are just a group of men with a desire to honor those who have given so much of themselves.

We ride out tomorrow morning at 7:30am and it’s expected to be about 41 degrees. Looks like we will be putting our cold weather gear to good use. Tune in tomorrow for news after our first day. Our route is 98 miles through some tough roads and possibly high winds.

Day by Day:

Day 1

We began our day in Wichita Falls at a Wal-Mart parking lot.  It was cold, my bike computer was reading 39 degrees.  All the riders had on our full winter gear to try to stay warm for the next several hours of what looked like a tough day on the bike.

The Patriot Guard Riders were there and the plan was for them to escort us from Wichita Falls to Jacksboro down highway 281.  We all sang the national anthem and we rode out behind the Patriot Guard with the flags of our state and our nation flying on the back of their motorcycles.  The evening before, they invited us to have dinner with them (a pot luck that they prepared) and we all learned just how selfless and amazing they are.  I learned that their motto is “Standing For Those Who Stood For Us” and I realized that we had a shared vision.

The first 25 miles to our first rest stop in Windthorst went quickly, with the temperature moving up slowly to 44 degrees.  The riders were all commenting on the parts of their body that needed some heat (our fingers, our toes, our legs).  The excitement really made it seem easier than it otherwise would have.  As we pulled into the rest stop, there was a small crowd cheering for us, some of them holding American flags and many coming over and greeting each of the riders.

Excitement Turns to Adversity

Rolling out of Windthorst we were all on an emotional high from the warm greeting that we received.  However our excitement soon turned into adversity as we struggled against 20-30mph winds.  We were looking forward to our next stop in Jacksboro, but a little worried we would be late with our pace cut to 12mph instead of the 15mph we had planned.  The wind was so strong, there were a few times when a wind just would blow my front wheel over a few inches; a rather unnerving experience when your are riding very close to your teammates.  In case you have never seen a team of cyclist ride together in a pace line, there is literally a few inches sometimes between your tires and one false move can bring down several riders.

After another short stop to refill our water/Gatorade bottles, we finally made our way into Jacksboro.  We were climbing up the last hill just before we were to descend down to our destination (Jacksboro National Bank) and our excitement was rekindled.  There was a police escort that blocked traffic both ways, so we could make the left turn into the bank.  As we rode in, we were overwhelmed by the cheers of the crowd.  We parked our bikes and right away many people from the local community came up to greet us.  We felt like celebrities shaking hands and hugging people.  They had a moon bounce for the kids, good ole’ Texas barbecue, and music courtesy of Buddy from Voices of a Grateful Nation.  Later several of the youth from the community began singing patriotic songs and lead us in the “God Bless America.”  We stayed and talked to everyone we could and came away with a feeling of pride in our nation and gratitude for all who came out to support us.

Fracture

The rest of our ride from Jacksboro to Fort Worth was very difficult, battling the wind the whole way.  Some of our riders needed a break and accepted the help of our sag vehicle.  Some of our riders rode fast and some slow, but it was clear that our team had been fractured by the forces of nature and we never really recovered from it.  While we still finished the 98 files that we set out to do, it didn’t feel very triumphant, instead it felt like we had entered the ring with a heavyweight and came out the clear loser.

In the end, I could tell that all of the riders were touched by the service of the Patriot Guard Riders and the love of the people in Windthorst and Jacksboro.  I personally have never felt so well connected to the heart and soul of America.  A place were people helping others is very common and often goes unnoticed, but it hadn’t that day.  We all had full hearts and a sense of pride to be Americans.

Day 2

We started our day later, it was nice to catch an extra hour or two of sleep (with the time change) to recover.  We didn’t have any planned meet-n-greets so we knew our schedule was flexible.  We began by winding our way through the downtown streets of Fort Worth, headed for Pennsylvania avenue and our longest stretch of our trip, the I-35 access road.

Again today the wind was much more that we planned for with speeds of 15-20mph hitting us dead on from the South.  This resulted in a slower pace than we planned for, but because we didn’t need to be anywhere at any specific time, we plodded on working together as a team in a drafting line taking turns battling the forces of nature.

Cohesion

Unlike the day before, we stuck together as a team throughout the entire day and helped each other through the rough spots.  The team really bonded and several of the team members were given or reminded of their nicknames like Kool-Aid, Diesel, and Crash.

We rode down I-35 for many miles until the access road disappears (around Grandview) and switched over to Hwy 81.  The scenery was really nice with farms all around and a train track running parallel to the road on our right side.  We saw a slow moving train going the opposite was we were and we waived and the conductor blew his whistle for us.  Shortly after it stated to gently rain and cooled us off.  We continued on to Itasca and had planned a rest stop there.  We saw a Veterans Memorial right on Hwy 81 and stopped for a team picture.  We remembered who we were riding for and felt a new sense of resolve.

We continued on to Hillsboro and eventually hooked back up with the I-35 access road.  We continued to fight through the wind for the rest of our journey and finally ended as night fell upon us.

While our time wasn’t as good as we had liked, we all agreed it was a great day and a true team effort.

Day 3

Well I have been having a tough time keeping up with our daily blog, but here goes.

On our third day, we left Waco headed for Austin at 7:30am.  We planned to stop in Temple at Horny Toad Harley Davidson, so we had to stay on schedule.  Like Day 1 and Day 2, we were riding straight into a head wind with 15-20 mph winds.  I think we learned our lesson on Day 2 and the team all stayed together and fought through the wind.

It also rained on us some, but not too much.  Just before we reached Temple, we met up with the Patriot Guard Riders.  They enlisted the help of a constable and before we knew it we were screaming through downtown Temple with the Patriot Guard at our front and rear and the constable stopping traffic at all the lights.  It was a lot of fun just flying through the city streets and never stopping.  We made it to Horny Toad Harley very quickly and got a small break from the wind.

When we arrived at Horny Toad Harley there was no fanfare, but I immediately noticed all who were present (Operation Float A Soldier, WOW Cycling Club, and the Patriot Guard Riders) shared a single vision, to honor those who have given so much of themselves for all of us.  You could sense a kindred spirit and we enjoyed some fellowship before getting back on the road.  Thank you to the folks at Horny Toad Harley for providing us refreshments and a great place for a rest stop.

The rest of our ride we just enjoyed the usual antics of 11 guys riding bikes for hours on end.  We made it into Round Rock (our stopping point) just before sunset after carefully navigating the traffic along the way.

That evening an Austin Firefighter and his wife hosted dinner for the whole team at their home.  The food was amazing and the Foosball was intense.  All in all, it was a very fun evening and a real blessing to make new friends and bond together as a team.  Thank you Dan and Ann for a great evening!

Day 4

Day 4 started with an air of excitement because the team knew we were going home (San Antonio).  The temperature in Austin was in the mid-sixties when we rolled out, but quickly began to drop as we made our way from downtown to south Austin.  We stopped briefly for a picture at The Capitol.

Soon the cooler weather also brought rain and we road carefully through the hilly roads of the Hill Country.  With the change in weather brought a great blessing as well, the wind finally shifted to come out of the North and for the first time on our journey, we had a tail wind.  This put us ahead of schedule for most of the day and we enjoyed the quicker pace.

Our first rest stop was at Cabela’s and we enjoyed their hospitality.  We took a team photo in front of the mountain inside of Cabela’s and enjoyed some light moments from some of the stories that the team had learned about each other along the way (“Show me your profile!”).

We were ahead of schedule most of the day, so we stopped at a few Starbucks along the route to enjoy a warm drink and to kill some time.  Our final stop was at the Bluebonnet Palace where our friends and family gave us a very warm reception and KABB TV 29 caught it all on tape and put it on the 9 o’clock news.  We enjoyed barbecue provided by the Sportsman Group from River City Community Church, listened to Buddy from Voices of a Grateful Nation sings and play his guitar, and shared the stories of our journey with our family and friends.  It was an emotional and great way to come back home.

Day 5

Day 5 was a day of rest for the team at home in San Antonio.  Although we weren’t riding our bikes, we were busy sharing our story to help raise support for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Our day began with the team meeting at KABB TV 29 at 8:15am to prepare for a live interview.  Ernie Zuniga had us on the morning news and talked about our ride.  It was cold and we were all standing outside wearing jeans and our jerseys, so between the airing of the news we were quickly putting our jackets back on to stay warm.  A man from the Wounded Warrior Project happened to be at the TV Station that morning to talk about their upcoming soldier ride and he appeared with us on the morning news.  It was a fun time for the team and another way we can get the word out about our cause.

A few hours later, several members of the team went out to Spring Branch Middle school to talk to the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders about our trip.  The school had made posters and put them up around the school and was already raising money to help the Wounded Warriors.  We enjoyed talking to all the students and seeing their desire to help.

We ended the day with loading up our gear to get ready to roll out the next morning.

Day 6

No blog entry

Day 7

No blog entry, final day of riding