Dat 1

      Today I rode for Grandma and Grandpa Schwarz. I’ve always loved Grandma because she always stood for what she believed in. She believed mostly in God and His plan. She was always positive about it but, you’d know if she didn’t approve of something. At the end of our 142 mile day, she was on my mind, not only because of who she was, but also because I knew she was in some way watching over me. The last 17 or so mile were very tough (pretty significant climb). I also rode for Grandpa for much of the same reasons except he is very special in his own way. I like that he is unique. He is passionate about very few things, but he seems to know exactly what makes him happy. I find this to be very smart and rare. I’ve tried to follow his example and I hope I Ridefor9-11 makes me happy every day. I love them both and believe I picked a great day to ride for them.

       To summarize briefly, we had one crash with no injury. It was noted that at one point it was 111 degrees. We hosed each other off with some random garden hose. I felt pretty good today.

        It’s pretty hard to explain what we/us felt at the send-off. It was great to see everyone. It made me realize how few friends I have, but.... how much I love them. On a quick side-note, it was great to see Greg scramble for well over an hour fixing the two flats he got. Other notes are: opening a small note tonight from my wife...  I’ll fill in more of the blanks when I get the chance. I love you!