There is this woman standing behind me in line at the US Airways luggage counter yelling into her phone, "I will never fly US Airways again!" I am assuming she was on the same flight as me, 5:00 AM from Boston. Our connection was late, and none of our bags made the second flight. C'est la vie, my bike and two bags will make it eventually. Considering I recently lost my battle with Fedex on a $4k claim with my TT bike, I realize there is no use in worrying. I turn my attention back to what is really important in life: Peanut M&M's. Why are they so freaking delicious and where can I get some?! I search all of my pockets and come up empty, I was hoping that in my disoriented state at 3am as I made my way to the airport I would have picked up a pack. Anyway, I made the decision that enough time had been wasted in the Palm Beach Airport listening to the noise of impatient people, so let me get you up to speed on our lives.
· Carolyn graduated from college, officially, with a Mathematics degree. Looking for a math teacher?
· Work has been mayhem for me the past two months, and I officially hit Platinum on US Air which is no easy feat. With a minimum of 90 U.S. Air flights in one calendar year....good luck hitting Chairman.
· I can say confidently that both of our biking abilities are light years ahead of where they were last year at this time. We recently did a solid Century (100 mile ride) with no issue.
· Last week, I signed up for Battenkill --the toughest one-day bike race in the country!
· Carolyn was one of the lucky ones to get a number for the 115th Boston Marathon on April 18th.
· We will be doing the Landry's Indoor Time Trial next month, which will give us a good litmus test on where we stand in our biking abilities.
Last Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM I open my eyes and they hurt, the sun was still sleeping, I should still be sleeping and certainly I should not have stayed out so late. I reluctantly put on a few extra layers to keep out the cold. As I jumped on the bike and began to pedal slowly out of my neighborhood, I saw my neighbor walking her dog in a full ski outfit....it was 55 degrees out. Floridians, specifically south Floridians, live in a different world. So it got me thinking, what in the hell was I doing out before the sun came up, riding a bike...alone no less. Ten minutes went by and still nothing, there was no reason for me to be out there. The roads were quiet, except for a few poor suckers on the way to work. The lights were flashing red and yellow at the intersections, signaling me to ride faster towards the ocean. I passed the bars I had been frequenting until wee hours of the night for the past 4 days straight, which were now empty. I passed a few other riders on A1A with a slight nod or perhaps a half assed attempt at a wave. What brought them out that early? Perhaps Ironman? Perhaps they were escaping from their hectic lives for the emptiness of the early morning roads? Perhaps they want to be better, better than the guy who slept in, better than the person they were yesterday.
100 miles on a bike or 3 miles on your feet, everyone has their reasons for being on the road. I'm out there to be 100 miles better than when I left my house, 3 miles farther away from the woman in line screaming into her phone to a person who is likely equally as annoying and one healthy step better. Perhaps ask yourself: why do YOU take to the road? And if you don't, maybe you should.......
"Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment."
