Roadtrip

I was starting to think I was gonna' die. I was riding a $6k competition mountain bike down the side of this mountain in WI, and every corner held something new. Roots, rocks, trees, abandoned snow machines; you name it. Earlier, at the top of the mountain I had stopped to catch my breath and chat with the paramedic who was lounging on his 4-wheeler.
ME: *Wheez* some hill! I think I'm going soft.
MEDIC: Well, I think It's the highest point around. It's all downhill from here, buddy.
ME: So, you here to keep us from killing ourselves?
MEDIC: Naw, I'm just the guy that makes sure we get the body out before the varmits chew on it.

I hit a root and did a nice controlled endo. aggg. Thankfully the bike didn't get a scratch. I rode out of the woods and bombed it down the ski course back to the Giant tent. Fun. I like speed. The lady in charge at the tent asked me if I wanted to take another bike out. Goofy grin. "Sure."

A few minutes later I was headed back up the mountain side. This time on a $3k all-mountain bike. Heavier, but a lot more suspension. I took a steeper course up the mountain. Everytime I pushed the pedal the front wheel would lift off. Pretty soon I was laying on the handlebars trying to force the bike up the hill. Talk about a workout. I got to the top and dove past the paramedic -- back into the woods. This time was a lot more fun. With the added suspension I was able to trust the bike a lot more and pretty soon I was curving out some pretty sweet single-track. Yeah. That was fun.

So for a business trip it was a lot of fun. The Giant Maestro Suspension system was pretty rocking. And, while I don't think I'd make a very good mountain bike racer, a day of riding the mountain was fun.
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Got to see the grandparents. It's tough watching them get older and knowing that we may not have many years left... They were really wishing they could see the other grandkids. With both of their sons getting divorced they've not been able to see any grandkids for awhile. I think they feel time is running out.
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Madison WI is probably the most rocking town I've ever been in. Even better than Denver. 40,000 college students, 14 bike shops, and an incredible downtown. Bookstores, coffeeshops, art galleries, museums. It was incredible. College kids were studying everywhere you looked and bikes nearly rivaled the cars. Really, really cool.

Oh, and get ready. I heard about 4 bums on the street corner discussing where they were going to go for the winter. The local Victory Mission had better get ready.

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We went to church with the Grandparents. Pastor Jeremy at First Assembly has been doing this study on the heroes of the faith. (Heb 11) Good stuff.

Downside was, he spent the entire time doubting the Bible. He started off for the first five minutes on how it's not some fictitional story. No problem there, but then he starts trying to prove the Bible using theologian's hypotheses. And there were a bunch of hypotheses. But he couldn't say definitively which ones were right because he'd have to use the Bible to define that.

But apparently we needed to prove the Bible to do that. Quite circular. Quite painful.

Other than that, it was a great sermon. Noah believed when nobody else did. He persevered for 100 years while everybody ridiculed. I honestly know very few people today close enough to God to hear His word and persevere on that level.

What a challenge.
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