A few years ago, my husband, Gary, and I decided to take on America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride around the breathtaking Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada.
And it was 100 miles long.
Yes, I said 100 miles long.
We did all 100 miles in ONE day.
Gary and I rode a tandem bike for 100 miles in one day.
Gary and I had never been to Lake Tahoe before that ride. We didn’t know the details of the race; we thought we were going to ride around a beautiful lake.
But the ride includes a challenging 800-foot climb to a rest stop overlooking Emerald Bay and another 1,000-foot climb to Spooner Junction. There are also many short rolling ascents and descents over that 100 miles totaling over 4,924 vertical feet of elevation gain. The altitude on the ride ranges between 6,300 feet and 7,100 feet above sea level.
I didn’t know those details in advance. In my head, I pictured us having a nice ride around the lake and maybe even stopping to have a picnic.
We didn’t know it was going to be hilly.
Until the night before.
That was when I was in line to get our registration, numbers, and the course information.
Gary had to do continuing education coursework, so I stood in line for the two of us…and got more than enough information from the guy next to me in line.
He started by asking me if I was really going to ride 100 miles. He even had the nerve to say, “You cannot do 100 miles. You just might as well tell yourself that you cannot do this.”
I had to stand next to this guy for about 45 minutes listening to him tell me how he had never done the full 100-mile ride, and that there was no way he believed I was going to be able to do it!
Boy, was I quenching fiery darts!
Up until that point, I had only ridden 20 miles on that tandem bike. Gary had ridden 50 miles with our son on the bike; neither of us was truly prepared for that ride.
And that guy next to me in line was making sure I knew it.
Sure, I was a little naïve, but I was optimistic.
The next morning, the ride started out easy. I had my phone out recording video. I was having a good time!
But at about the halfway point, I could tell Gary was exhausted. He had perspired so much that there was salt on the bicycle. He could hardly even eat his lunch, and I knew we were in trouble.
What did I do?
I went into my prayer closet—a.k.a. a porta-potty.
And I forgot that I wasn’t alone.
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Want to know what happened? Hear the whole story in “Life in Tandem,” part of our Favorites Collection —17 MESSAGES (valued at more than $150) pulled together in one powerful collection!
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