A Bit of Catching Up

When I went back to work on February 10 after my medical leave, I decided I would not sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for retirement for the next 5 months.  These are some of the events and activities I planned and enjoyed:

Special Olympics Torch Ride

Each April, law enforcement agencies across the country are heavily involved in fund raising for Special Olympics.  One of the big events is called the Torch Run.  I don't know exactly how it's organized, but let's say there are four actual torches, one assigned to each corner of the state. In the week preceding the start of the Arizona Special Olympics, law enforcement agencies take turns running the torches to the Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies in Phoenix.  Though called the Special Olympics Torch Run, biking is also acceptable. 

I participated in the Torch Run as a runner for many years, then for about as many years chose not to participate.  For the past couple of years, my friend and co-worker Lea and I talked ourselves out of doing it as a bike ride.  The distance is about 20 miles, we start at 6:00am after having worked until 10:30 pm the night before, it's always cold and there have been times it snowed the night before, and it's early enough in the year that we haven't done much if any biking.   However, this year everything, including our motivation, aligned.

Some of us old dogs aren't all that comfortable hopping on a bike and doing a 20 mile ride right out of the Spring chute, plus I was still regaining fitness from the surgery.  I took advantage of the mild weather in late March and April to do a decent amount of riding beforehand on the only unpaved road in my area that stays open all winter.  During this time, I found myself struggling on rides that should not have been all that difficult, no matter what my level of fitness wasn't.  I thought my bike wasn't shifting correctly, and asked Ron to see if he could make some adjustments.  Fortunately, as it turned out, he made the problem worse.  Since I knew the bike shop would take some time to repair it, I asked if I could ride his bike.  One ride on his bike caused me to realize the problem wasn't ME, it was MY BIKE!  A fifteen year old Giant with plenty of miles on it, I'd had the distinct impression it was fighting me..guess it was all tuckered out! 

One would think in a biking haven like Flagstaff one could do a bit of bike shopping and walk away with a bike the same day.  One can, if one doesn't mind paying top dollar.  If one is a more conservative spender, one can order a bike and wait a month for it to cross the ocean from the Big Bike Factory in China.  Being that conservative spender, I chose to order and wait, and used Ron's bike for the Torch Ride. 

Our agency being the Highway Patrol, we've always done our leg of the event on Interstate 17.  This year, the powers that be at Special Olympics decided Interstate highways were too dangerous, and only State highways could be used.  For us, that meant instead of using the wide emergency lane of the Interstate, we'd be using the no-shoulder two-lane State highway that is parallel to the Interstate. Talk about UNSAFE!  Our Patrol commander had a choice of disobeying the higher ups and running on the Interstate anyway (a moral dilemma for a law enforcement agency), or taking the event to forest service roads, making us invisible to the public, but safe.  He chose the latter.

Lea, fellow dispatcher Kathleen and I got our cheery selves up and to the meeting site at 6:00am, and started the 20 mile ride shortly after.  We were the only "girls" doing the event, though our only female officer in the district, Sherri, drove one of the support vehicles. She did have the excuse of being on light duty with an injury....The runners got dropped off 10 miles from the finish and ran from there.  It was a gorgeous morning, very mild, beautiful scenery, and nary an 18-wheeler to blow us sideways.

In a very nice concidence, the event was held on April 25, the exact date of my Mom's death a year ago, and a year and a week from my Dad's death.  My Mom's teaching degree was in Special Ed, and she and my Dad both had many years of service with the mentally handicapped, including Special Olympics.  Later, they both became avid bicyclists. The ride turned into a perfect, and a couple of times tearful, tribute. 

Here we are at the finish, looking no worse for wear:

 

 

 

I was the last one in, and that's me still in my helmet. Kathleen is beside me, and Lea behind her wearing light blue.  Yay girls!  You can click on the picture to enlarge it for a better view.