Wish List

I wish you could have been there
for the sun & the rain & the long, hard hills.
For the sound of a thousand conversations
scattered along the road.
For the people laughing & crying
& remembering at the end.

But mainly, I wish you could have been there.

"Wish List" by Brian Andreas

Finish the Ride

This Saturday, a group of cyclists will ride in honor of two fallen cyclists in particular, and all fallen cyclists, in general. We are riding for Tom Hoskins and Lee Ann Barry who were killed last October 21 as they were on the last leg of a ride across America raising money and awareness for brain injury victims. They were only about 40 miles from home. So we will finish the ride for them. I will also be riding for Daniella Izqueirdo who died from injuries received in the Six Gap ride in Georgia this past September. We will ride from Columbia, SC to Charlotte, NC. From a Cracker Barrel to a Church. Tom's grown children will ride with us as well as Lee Ann's husband and son. I am honored to be a part of this. It will be sobering and somber. Yet, it will be inspiring to witness and be a part of the love and connection between cyclists. Not often do you get to do a ride that feels like a pilgrimage or a holy ride, but as I sit here the day before Finish the Ride, it feels like that. Feels a little like a celebration of life mixed in with a funeral procession. I feel a sense of deep sadness and yet honor for being one of the cyclists who will go and finish the ride. I did not know Lee Ann or Tom personally. I have gotten to know a little bit about them since their death. It is much the same way with the cyclist from Florida. Creepy really. It is like if I learn a little about them then they are not really gone. I love my "Wish List" jersey. It is so appropriate for this.