Ready?

It's getting closer and closer to the estimated time of departure for the 2012 ride across America. Every day I get more excited and ready to load some bikes on the Explorer for the trip to Maine then west to Washington and the Pacific! On Dashboard (for you MAC folks) I just started my Pedal America 2012 Days To Go widget and right now I have 119 days, 7 hours, 31minutes, and 32 seconds to go before Margaret and I head to the Northeast.

I am ready!

I'll have to admit I've been a little slack on my pedaling but that's not a problem. People ask me if I'm training for the next cross-country ride and I always tell them, "If someone really wants to ride across America, I believe he could take his bike to one coast or the other, unload it, and start pedaling. In a week or two, maybe three, he would be in good enough shape for the rest of the ride." It's not a matter of training, it's a matter of the mind. If training was required I would not have made it the first time! I looked in my journals and found that in the one month before the ride in 2009 I pedaled only ninety miles. If my math is correct, that's a whopping three miles a day! I don't believe that qualifies as training! But, after all, it's a ride not a race. It can be done by anyone who is willing to pedal only one mile . . . 4,295 times!

Now I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions but I do plan to get back to my somewhat regular riding schedule on Day One of 2012. That would give me about ninety-something days to ride . . . before I ride! Maybe I can do better than three miles a day!

Unless something unforeseen and unexpected happens, physically, I will be in shape to ride across America again. Going west or going east, when riding in the northern states, the second day is mountainous. Coming from the Pacific, the second day there's the climb up Washington Pass in the Cascade Mountains. Next hilly region is the Rockies.

From the Atlantic, the second day of the ride finds riders in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, then the Green Mountains of Vermont, and to top it off the Adirondack Mountains in New York. Either way, east or west, the first two weeks are like boot camp, preparing riders for the crossing of the good old U.S.A.

I'm really thinking about going back to the gym. I've not been a regular since 2005! That's embarrassing to say the least. (Maybe I should also make that one of those New Year's Resolutions I don't make!) I like the outdoor gym, called a bicycle, with the cool breeze on my face, the warm sun on my back, and the silence of wheels moving along on a smooth, hard surface. The smells on the road are, without a doubt, better than the gym. The smells on a bad day on the road are better than the smells on a good day in the gym. Refreshing . . . especially in the mornings. Another reason I should go to the gym, Margaret goes consistently. Looks bad for me to be a slacker, doesn't it? Anyway, if I go to the gym, I'll let you know.

Mentally, turn me loose! Right now I'm watching the video of the last ride. (Fourth time today.) Jonathan and I are in Minnesota, just out of Red Wing and about to cross the river into Prescott, Wisconsin. I am doing the whole trip in my mind now. I can feel it. I can see between the slides. I can hear the critters in the trees and the fields. I can feel the slight mist of the morning as we pedal out of Fountain City, Wisconsin right along the Mighty Mississippi River. It's a good feeling too.

I am ready!

Socially I'm ready! I love to meet and talk with the grassroots, hard-workin', flag-wavin', gun-tottin', church-goin', patriotic folks who are the backbone of these United States. They don't have time to occupy anything but their homes, jobs, farms, churches, and communities. On the last ride, I talked with restaurant owners, cooks, waitresses, police officers, mechanics, motel clerks, bikers on Harley Davidsons, bikers doing the same thing I was doing but in the other direction, pastors, store owners, a senator, kids, bike mechanics and shop owners, vacationers, truck drivers, cowboys, farmers, retirees, Jonathan, Margaret, myself . . . and the list could go on and on!

I am ready!

Spiritually I'm ready to launch into another revival ride through God's incredible creation! Jonathan's most-used, three-word phrase sums it up, "Oh my goodness!" I'll miss him and hearing "Oh my goodness" three or four time an hour. Oh my goodness is actually an excellent summary of the ride however. Every time I even come close to thinking about the first ride and the next, Psalm 19 comes to mind, "The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world" (vv. 1-4).

But how can I think of Psalm 19 without Romans 1:18-20 following on its heals, "But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put his knowledge in their hearts. From the time this world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God."

I have a cowboy friend in Monticello, Utah who told me, "Most of the cowboys I know out here believe in God. You just can't ride out here in his creation for days on end without believing."

Job speaking to his buddy Zophar in Job 12:7-9 said it like this, "Ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish of the sea speak to you. They all know that the Lord has done this."

The fish know it, the animals too. The birds know, and the sky, and the earth! Seems like we who are created in his image have the most difficulty believing in our Creator: we who have all the degrees and power and knowledge and that other stuff that sets us aside as smart!

Once again I'm reminded of yet another passage in Romans, "Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead" ( vv. 21-22).

In the book of Job, God gives Job the ultimate final exam of Job's life. The written exam would have probably been a lot easier but Job had a problem of putting his foot in his mouth and chewing vigorously. The exam dialogue is found in chapters 38 through 42 and it's quite an extensive question and answer session. Finally in chapter 42, verses 2-3, Job responds, "I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You ask, 'Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far too wonderful for me."

Way to go Job!

When I rode across America God gave me the answers to Job's exam. I cheated! I saw the answers in full color, wide screen creation, and with special effects, that were full of things far too wonderful for me. Like Job, I realized the truth of two major things for my life:

1. God is God and I am not.

2. God has all the answers and I do not.

That's it!

I'm ready! Margaret, can we leave tonight?