HE DID IT!!

posted by Mary Lello, Sunday, September 27, 2009, 5:42 AM

The following message is written by David Brink - who rode the tandem with Jim yesterday. An amazing day, truly.

Mary

Well here are the stats of the NDY RIDE

Distance: 5.2 miles

Time: 1:08:45

Avg. Speed 5.4 mph

Max Speed: 9.1 mph

It certainly was a GREAT day, a crisp but warm morning. Jim was like a horse getting ready to start the Kentucky Derby …he wanted to get going on the tandem right away.

I don’t blame him; it was a beautiful day and what a way to spend it…on a bike! Once we got going me (The Captain) and Jim (The Stoker) we started rolling out of the start with several cheers. The last time I rode with Jim was the “Raymond Loop”, for those of you who don’t know the Raymond Loop on a bike, it is the hilliest 65 mile bike bikes you can do from the Portland area. And now we get to ride together again. We started out the first mile (yes the first mile) with Jim warming his muscles, after they where able to loosen up, things just seem to be smooth. He had a nice pedal stroke that jived with mine and we kept pushing the pace. Dave Reese and Tim Stiles (Jim’s PT guys) were jogging at the side monitoring everything that took place. My focus was maintaining a straight line and keeping the bike at tempo, while Dave and Tim were making sure that Jim was OK. OK he was as Mary, Mary Margaret and several others jogging, were complaining that we were going too fast and that they couldn’t keep up. Art D. and Mark Z and few that were on bikes, didn’t have that problem. But everyone that was there gave tremendous support.

As we approached the turn to the driveway to the finish (mile 3.75) we ask Jim if he wanted to keep going. His response to me: Can we go FASTER! So on we went. I thought our jogger’s would turn off, but they managed to get a second breath. So all said and done we pulled off 5.2 miles. Jim was tired afterward, but was able to something he has not been able to do in a long time…ride a bike outdoors.

A GREAT DAY!

David