We are getting some ride time in as spring bursts into bloom! The last 2 weeks in particular have been filled with great day-long trips. I’m trying to get my butt hardened a bit before the Iron Butt Association 1000 mile in 24 hours ride. After not sitting in the saddle for any length of time over the last few months I found it necessary to acclimate to the seat again for longer rides.
Setting Up The Group For The IBA
I had a follower of my blog contact me in regards to doing the IBA ride with us so we met up a couple of weeks back and did some riding together, had lunch, and discussed IBA details. Bill and Toy are their names and It was a natural friendship that took place. They are a wonderful couple, genuine and honest, and fun to be around. It's not often you find couples that you can get along with so easily and it is great to know them. Bill will be going on the IBA with us. That makes a solid group of 4 riders.
Margaret can’t do the IBA because of her back from surgery years ago. That much time spent on such a short amount of time on the bike causes her pain so I decided to make it a guy's ride. Good chance to get away with friends for a few days.
Getting Road Time In Before The IBA
We had lunch at Docs in Muenster, TX, and nailed down the departure date and time, the route is completely set both to Phoenix, AZ, and back. Fuel stops have also been planned. I’ll have to do an oil change before we leave as the trip will be 2000 miles in three days.
We did some great riding into Oklahoma with Steve, Angie, Bill, and Toy a couple of weeks ago. Put almost 400 miles in one day on the bikes. We did some riding up in the Muenster, TX area, through the wind turbine fields, then over the Red River into Oklahoma, over to Ardmore, OK, then around Lake Murray, back to Whitesboro, TX, and finally home from there. We stopped at Lake Murray to climb Tucker Tower which overlooks the lake and take pictures. Toy introduced us to Geocaching and even found one around the tower for us to see. I signed and dated the Geocache log book as Ride it Wrench it before Toy returned it to its hidden resting spot where it will await being discovered by the next geocache hunter.
This past weekend we did more riding southwest of Fort Worth, TX. Initially, we weren’t even going to ride. If we didn't ride we would flop around the house and be worthless all day. This is where I believe in the providence of God. I don’t typically write much about my spiritual viewpoints but I do believe everything happens for a reason. We usually discover those reasons afterward but sometimes the situation makes itself evident right then.
Helping Riders In Their Time Of Need
While riding on an FM road by Glen Rose, TX in a particularly curvy area we came across a bike accident. There were 3 people, one couple that was riding 2 up and another rider, John, that lost control. No one had stopped yet to help and his friend was on the phone with 911. We pulled over and immediately jumped in to help mode. First, we pulled the bike away from him. We carefully rolled him onto his back while bracing his neck and checked for injuries. Steve and I began traffic management while Margaret, Angie, and the other lady began using our first aid kits to stop the bleeding and treat for shock until EMS arrived. He was in bad shape and kept going in and out of consciousness.
Care Flight Arrived
When EMS arrived they were concerned about moving him because he was unable to move his legs or arms so they called in Care Flight to fly him to an emergency center. As of the writing of this post, John has had 2 surgeries, broken ribs, and other internal damage, and is still unable to breathe on his own.
I know we ended up on that road at that particular time because it was meant to be. John needed help and we came by right after it happened. If we had decided to spend the day doing nothing at home the situation may have been worse for him.
Leave a Reply