Cycle4compassion

Hello!

Remember when I wrote about the Compassion fundraiser?  Well last Saturday, my dad, sister, and I rode 25km.

It was raining in the morning, but we decided to go on as scheduled.  We got ready and went to the Erie Canal bike path. 

at the beginning

We put on our rain ponchos on and started out.  I thought the path was supposed to be mostly blacktop.  I was wrong.  Like really wrong.  It was like fine gravel and sand mixture.  And it was soaked.  If you biked in the center, your tire would leave an inch indent.  Under the bridges was paved, though.

It was really hard.  We went about 10km an hour, which is only 6 miles per hour.  It was just a little path, and there were drop-offs on each side.  The one side was rocky down to the canal.  The other side had a bunch of trees down the slope to a road or something. 

We stopped once to take off our rain ponchos, because it appeared to stop raining.  It was noon before we got half way.  We stopped, took some pictures, and had a quick lunch.

half-way

My arm started to hurt, because I had sprained it when I fell off my bike while I was camping.  I did not feel like riding much more.  But we had to go on.  So we went.

Not ten minutes later, we stopped to put our ponchos back on.  It was really cold and kinda breezy and raining.  We were going so slow.  I would have liked to go faster, but I think it would have worn me out. 

Because it was so hard to bike, we walked our bikes for a while.  It was easier but not faster.  We got to one of the bridges and got back on our bikes.  It was refreshing to ride on the blacktop. 

When we still had 5km left, I wanted to walk the rest.  I think we all did.  But we kept riding.  Finally in the distance, I could see our truck!  I went as fast as I could, which wasn't very fast at all.  We made it.  It was so nice to get in the truck and get warmed up.

I'm not going to lie, I wanted to quit many times.  But, then I would think about all the people who donated to Compassion because of my ride.  I would think about the lives I was changing.  I couldn't quit.  And I am so glad we didn't.  It was a lot of fun, and I wouldn't change it if I could.

Soon, I'll get the final tally of how much we raised.  You'll never guess how much.  God is good.

Change a life!

Lizzie :)