—Do Tell Me More!—

I rode with a few very nice women. Our ride started with four women, Janice King, Latoya Lopez, April Banks, and Kelly Clark (me). Janice and Latoya rode for the first few weeks minus a few days, then April and I continued on cross this great country.

So then…..here is a bit of how we were with each other and the road. The first full day of riding, Saturday, June 5th, we got off BART in Dublin and began our ride. The first five or so miles were smooth as can be, early morning coolness, no potholes, no trash, no aggressive drivers, nice temperature, clean air…..we were all smiles.

Then we started to get into our own individual pace of riding….so riding feet away from each other turned into riding blocks away from each other, but this wasn’t a problem, cause we were fresh, excited, fully charged with cell phone text ability, and happy.

Then the temperature started to rise, the sun started to shine brightly, and our bodies started to heat-up because riding requires energy output…..and not to forget….we were carrying all of our own gear, completely self supported, no car following close behind to help us with anything.

April and Janice were just zooming along…..the rock-body-well exercised-women…..they are. Latoya and I were riding along; Latoya made sure to stay with me, she too had been practicing rides with Janice, so she was paced according to her needs.

Mind you, I was the one who was the least practiced rider, I got my touring bicycle just a week before the long ride. The longest ride I had taken was 37 miles some 17 years ago, and just in May 2010 I took a 20 mile ride…..but no fears…my body is designed to work, and it does. Well lets just say, that the work is not easy; I had to put my mind in overload and repeatedly tell myself “Kelly Ride!” It is a very good thing I am strong minded, and I do use my mental ability when my physical ability lags. Being strong minded really helps in the world of my teaching too, as a teacher I absolutely believe that all my students will achieve despite the obstacles….then I set about the work, the challenge, the doing….just like I did with riding the bicycle.

Well about a few hours into ride I took a spill, a fall, a crash, a body attached to bike while horizontal and on asphalt. Here is what happened, I didn’t see any of my rider friends, I was wondering where they may have turned, I thought I should go forward, but the hills I saw ahead made me turn right instead, I was hopeful. My hopefulness was ended over the course of about 10 minutes. I was multitasking, trying to get water-bottle, check road, look for rider friends, and I forget that my feet were in riding shoes that click into pedals. I came to a stop and I could not get my left foot unclicked from pedal, and so I fell onto curb; I do believe I may have really hurt my arm because over the next week it was swollen and I could hardly use it. No worries about arm…I was just 15 or 20 miles into ride….yeah.

Well Latoya came to me, asked if I needed help and if I was okay…..of course I was okay….my mind said what my body didn’t say. Well we got on track with where we should be on the road, and so we rode. The temperature continued to climb! The bicycles seemed to grow in weight, when what was really happening was tired muscles. And the hills began to appear….oh my, oh my. We rode, we walked pushing bicycles, we talked, and we made it to top of hills. Then there was the riding down the hills, which may seem like fun if you know how to ride down a hill at 30 miles per hour while hauling a 130+ pound bicycle plus yourself. I started to grow a fast beating pounding heart rate and fear of crashing kept creeping into my consciousness, so I got off the bicycle and started to walk it down the hills with cars passing at 50 miles per hours.

After about 20 minutes of that walking the bicycle downhill I decided I needed to ride, so I got on bicycle, picked-up speed, and was zooming; hitting those corners like I had been riding for years…..then my hands began to cramp, so I needed to stop. I yelled to Latoya lets stop, she pulled onto a graveled area and stopped. I raced onto graveled area and crashed again….yeah….now I was certain my arm was not broken, but close to it (you are free to laugh, I did, and so did Latoya). Some 15 minutes after I brushed myself off, rubbed my aching and almost broken right arm, I got back onto bicycle and rode down more hills. Finally reaching where Janice and April were resting and waiting for us. We had all rode about 25 miles…we were proud, thirsty, very hungry, and accomplished….oh yeah….tired too.

Latoya, Janice, April, Kelly (me)……we were all smiles, laughter, happy, getting along. We were all riding because we all know that with a well functioning, funded, effective, and efficient public education system more people will have the option of riding a bicycle across this beautiful country. We know that public education teaches children and families about good health and exercise practices. Good health and exercise means a better health care system, where we visit doctor to maintain our good heatlh. We know that if more of us participate in outdoor activities, we will learn more about each other, which will allow us to get along better. Riding together, seeing nature, falling, getting-up, breathing deeply, noticing ways we can create better systems of living, and allowing the mind to rest over scenery…..it is all good.

Fund public education….Prioritize public education….Let us live better together!

Smiles. kelly

Success!!

We never saw a welcome to DC sign, so this will have to serve as our last border crossing. The ride is finished and the work is just beginning! We’ll catch you up on all the amazing people we met along the way. Stay tuned.