Category Archives: Cycling

October 4, 2016 · 10:17 pm

Detour

detour Monday I went for a well mapped out bike ride on a beautiful Fall day.  Everything was going as planned.  Taking the back roads I was free of traffic and made it to my lunch break destination with time to enjoy the scenery.  Then, after lunch, about a mile into the rest of my route, I came across a detour. Whereas I had planned to turn right, cross a bridge and continue back road riding as I meandered home; my right turn was blocked by a “road closed – detour” sign complete with barrier across said bridge.

This really wasn’t too big of an inconvenience as I was familiar with the area and able to navigate an alternate route around the detour.  But as I cycled home I just kept thinking about that “road closed – detour” sign.  Isn’t that like life? We have our well planned and mapped out route in mind and go about following the map/plan and then – surprise!  Detour! Continue reading →

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Filed under Christian Faith, Cycling, Uncategorized

July 11, 2016 · 4:24 pm

On Being Rooted

Today on my Monday ride (Monday’s being a day off when I try and take a longer cycling ride) I enjoyed seeing the beauty of some of Bartholomew County’s farmland in full summer season.  The corn is growing and beans likewise.  Most of the wheat has been cut and straw baled, with a couple of double crop bean fields noticed.  One farmer was disking up a field that was yielding the sweet smell of fresh earth as I rode past – life in the country!

With such a firsthand view of these scenes my mind kept falling back to the importance of being grounded or rooted in life and faith.  I’m a country boy at heart, raised to appreciate the land and the resources it provides.  I’ve also come to understand there is a spirituality of land and place that God often uses to get our attention and draw us close. Continue reading →

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Filed under Christian Faith, Cycling, Spiritual Formation, Uncategorized

April 25, 2016 · 3:59 pm

When Life Goes Pop . . .

. . . because someday it will!

It was bound to happen sometime.  I’ve had my new road bike a month or so and been out on about a dozen rides.  I saw the troublesome looking rock as I rode through the mud and debris that was trailing out from the construction site, but too late.  I could not avoid it, and sure enough, pop!  There went the back tire tube.  That was deflating. Bike

But that’s life, isn’t it?  Live long enough and compile enough life experience and some time some place things are going to go “pop!”  It’s not a matter of if, but when.  It may be nothing more than an inner tube, but it may be something way more . .  that lab report you’ve been waiting on; that call at 2 a.m. (nothing good ever happens that time of day); that “pop!” to your smooth ride through life’s current chapter.  What do you do when life goes pop? Continue reading →

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October 1, 2015 · 4:06 pm

A View From the Rear

This past Saturday I did something I had been wanting to do for three years.  I volunteered on my bicycle with the Columbus based “Mill Race Marathon”.  What an interesting experience.  Some 35 cyclists were involved this year supporting the Full and Half Marathon and the 5K.  We were interspersed among the 3500 or so runners and walkers on the streets of our fair city on a cool September day.

As a newbie I did not want to be in a position with too much responsibility. For example, no leading a runner off course, or getting smoked by an elite runner I couldn’t keep up with.  No, when the volunteer form was submitted I checked those positions that were more toward the middle or end of the course.  Little did I know that rookie volunteers must be assigned to the trail or sweep position, as a rule.  My assignment, along with another cyclist, was to be the trail on the last half of the full marathon.  This meant bringing the final runner in to the finish line.  This meant six plus hours on my bike (I elected to ride the entire route) with much of it at speeds that ranged from two to four miles per hour.

It may sound like it, but I am not complaining.  I had a blast doing this. Continue reading →

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Filed under Cycling, Ministry, Uncategorized

August 2, 2015 · 6:12 pm

Overcoming Tunnel Vision

Overcoming Tunnel Vision

The difference between a mid-summer bicycle ride and one of an early spring variety is measurable. You can literally measure the growth of the crops as you ride past. By this time of year, especially with all of the summer’s rain, the corn forms tunnels along some of the county roads that I ride. What began as a small kernel has emerged into a tall plant, fully tasseled, and producing grain.

To my untrained eye those corn fields look pretty healthy and Continue reading →

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