Day 5: Sherman to Ardmore

June 15, 2005

The day started out again at 5 AM. The pastor also came out at 5 AM to make breakfast for us. I asked him how much sleep he got since he was there so early. Told us he went to bed at 1 AM and got up at 4:30. He had stayed up late to prepare the food and such.

And the food was delicious! He had made quiche in two varieties: green chile and asparagus with tomato. So good. I really mean it when it was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. I helped by cooking a whole bunch of bacon, but they also had a big pot of oatmeal, fresh baked homemade bread, cereal, fruit and juices.

With such a big breakfast it took the team a while to get going. In fact we didn't leave until a quarter till eight. I lead the group for the first few miles as we made our way to the main road. I then stayed with the main group for a good ways. My phone went off and I had to pull over to answer it. Leah, the driver for the day, was trying to call me, but she hung up just as I answered. Jumped back on the bike to catch up and started pedaling furiously. Came up on a small group of the team and stopped to find out that BJ and Brian had crashed. Looked pretty bad. Briad was deaf for about a minute or so when he hit his head pretty hard. BJ really got lucky. He was wearing a water puch on his back, which is where he landed when he crashed. It ripped up the pouch and still tore holes in his jersey. If he hadn't had the pouch on he would have been in some serious pain and probably would have taken large chunks out of his back.

I hung out with the group for 15 minutes then started out on my own. Made some excellent time and started passing up team mates. Came up to a big junction and didn't think it looked right. Since I made the maps and directions I was confused when the road took an odd turn. It turned out that the road wasn't on the map and if I had followed it it would have taken me completely the wrong way. Unfortunately, some of the team took it anyways without stopping. The road turned to dirt and they still took it and some went even further than that. The drivers had to chase them down and get them back on track.

From the junction, it was only a few miles to the border. Although the crash and phone call had put me at the back of the pack the wrong turn put me back in the race to the border. (Every border is like a little race for prestige) I charged ahead and was doing better than 25 mph as we crossed the bridge. I ended up coming in first for my little group and fourth overall.

We all stopped and took a picture at the border. Ate lunch, bashed Oklahoma and the University of Oklohoma and just goofed off. It felt great knowing that we had biked out of Texas and into another state.

Between the border and the lunch stop I rode with Stephen. We talked about religion and God and mormons the whole time. And the whole time just flew by. The conversation lasted a good 40 minutes or so and we were flying along at a great pace. It felt good to be traveling through the countryside talking about higher thoughts and philosophizing.

At the lunch stop I had to turn around to get back to the van and I wiped out in some dirt. Nothing too bad, just some scrapes and a whole bunch of dirt all over me. Kind of funny since one second I was on the bike and in an instant I was on my back laughing about wiping out. Did a little dirt angel and yelled out in good humor about it. Got up, dusted myself off some and headed to eat.

Lunch had been provided by the church in Sherman and consisted of croissant sandwiches. Quite tasty.

Got on the road again after 30 minutes of hanging around and didn't feel too great. Quickly learning that you can't sit around after working and then expect to jump back on the bike with no negative consequences. The hills just kept coming and the heat was intense. The team as a whole suffered in the heat as well. Heard later it was 99 degrees that day.

The good news is that I didn't have any soreness, no knee problems and no saddle soreness. I was just feeling intensely overheated. I and my teamates slowed down to a crawl and each hill was a torture session. Really, really wanted off of the bike. Wanted off so bad that I craved it. It was truly miserable as we traveled the 18 miles to the next rest stop. Found out there that we were getting a police escort into the town. Also found out that Leah was giving ice massages. She would take a big chunk of ice and rub the back of your neck with it. Very effective. Took another big chunk and massaged the rest of my body with it. Then I found some shade and slept in it for a good ten minutes waiting for the rest of the team.

While waiting, a lady stopped her car and talked to us. She was getting ready to bike across Oklahoma the next week. She was visibly impressed that we were biking across North America, but I was just as impressed with her ride as she was older than us and didn't seem to be in our same physical shape. We wished each other well and headed out on the bikes again to meet up with the police.

More torture as we went along. The hills seemed to stretch on forever. So hot and depleted. Finally met up with the police and we rode single file into town, running lights and everything behind him. Kind of like a little parade. People would honk and wave or stop what they were doing to see what was going on. The media was out as well to take pictures and video. When we finally made it to the YMCA I nearly lept for joy, but I was tired so instead I kind of arched my eyebrows in joy.

They greeted us in the parking lot with a huge tub of Gatorade and fruit. I jumped off the bike snagged a Gatorade thanked them and promptly walked my bike into the air conditioned building. Ahh, sweet relief. A lot of riders followed me in and it wasn't too long before we were all in the pool and splashing around.

Unfortunately for me, I got a call from the pastor in Sherman saying we had left some things in his van. So I had to leave the team and set things up so we could get the boxes back. The pastor helped tremendously and willingly drove to the bus station to drop them off for delivery to Norman. Got back in the pool for a little while then got dressed for dinner. In the locker room some elderly naked men stopped us and asked about what we were up to. We willingly talked to them and were friendly, but still it was kind of odd to talk to naked men about prostate cancer.

Dinner was an an ll you can eat affair at the hospital cafeteria across the street. We were laughing and horsing around. It's always interesting to see the difference in team morale before and after dinner. Before hand, we're in good spirits, but sluggish and a little quite. But during dinner we start talking loud and we get laughing pretty hard as we talk about the day and such.

While this was going on I noticed a bunch of papers on the wall in front of me. Each paper was a dedication to somebody who had died of cancer. Below the name was the relationship to the person who had dedicated the paper. There were probably 50 of these names and I took a moment to reflect on them and to think about how a life was ended, probably prematurely. I also noted the relationships and saw that the dedications came from spouses and brothers and sisters and grandchildren and even from parents.

After pausing to reflect on this I turned back to dinner and joined in the horsing around. Not too much later a nurse came up to us and addressed us. She was crying and trembling as she told us about her son Jason, who was 21 when he died from cancer. She thanked us as the tears flowed down her face for doing what we were doing. And she told us how much it meant to her to see kids her son's age sacrificing their summers to raise money. She started breaking down further and couldn't talk any more and she walked on. Our hearts were broken for her. No one talked. It was all we could do to not break down ourselves. Where before I had read names and reflected on them as a whole, now I had met one of the names and it brought home the meaning behind the name. I was so close to crying that I couldn't look at anybody and I could hardly even breathe with the sense of loss and heartache so palpable in the room. Slowly people came back to life. Not too much later I noticed Jason's name on the wall and the emotions hit me upside the head again. I ate slowly and spent the time reflecting on my recent experiences.

Back at camp, the YMCA had set us up with a lot more food and drinks and gave us free reign of the facility. They even hired a yoga instructor for a free one hour session. And they did our laundry. And when we were swimming they heated our towels for us. We are being treated by all of our hosts as if we were royalty. And when we say thank you they always say "no, thank you".

I don't know how to express my sentiments in words. But it's powerful. Last year, I was largely ignorant about what cancer was and what it does to people. Within this last week we have met so many people that are or have been affected by cancer's reach. Even while planning this trip, I didn't, couldn't, understand what was involved. Riders from last year said that they began the ride for certain family members, but quickly were riding for all of the people they met along the way. At the time I thought that this was an honorable thing. Now I see that it is almost mandated.