Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Epilogue 10-6-10

Day 33 Bed to fridge to lunch to nap to dinner to bed Miles 0, avg. Spd. Snails pace, time, as much as I want, total miles, same as yesterday.

Yes, I did not ride today. I wasn't sure that I would ever ride again. But then Amy said, "Hey, maybe after the marathon, I should get serious about biking and we should ride across the country together." Ok, I'm in. How quickly we forget.
Two days ago I was only supposed to do 80 miles but I told Roger that I was going to go 100 because it may be the last time I ever do a century the rest of my life.
Then, Chris Haygood called today, Chris is a good friend who works at Bob Wallace Appliance (ask for him for all your appliance needs). Chris congratulated me and then said, "hey, I've got a favor, would you help me train and ride a century?" Ok, I'm in.

I really expected to be more emotional than I was at the end. I was even more emotional thinking about the end than I was at the end. However, I am finding it difficult to talk about the experience without being emotional as I get further from the finish yesterday.

Many thanks:
To God for his unfailing, love, mercy, patience and protection.

To the Shepherds of the Twickenham Church for their vision in affording me this opportunity and their continued daily Godly living and their daily Godly leading of the Twickenham Church.

To Amy for her love, her vigilance, her sacrifice, her support, her understanding of my need to do this, and for her ability to spend money.

To Kolton, Kooper, and Kody for surviving without their dad, steak, and salsa for 39 days.

To Lloyd Brooks, Brad Bass, Ben Logan, Jamie Kimbel, Jason Brooks, Suzanne Gass, Ben Logan again, Mark Thompson, Ed Sparks, Mark Chastain, Fred Tate, the Bass Family, and Roger Harwell.
Your friendship and sacrifice can only be described as Christlike.

To the Twickenham church family for your continued prayers, thoughts, blog comments, and survival at church in my absence. See, I told you I wasn't indispensable.

To all blog commenters. You will never know how much taking the time to post a comment kept me going.

To the faithful steed. (Ridden hard, and put away wet).
I am very concerned about getting yelled at by Brooke at Bicycles Etc., when he sees the condition of my drivetrain. It's not pretty. You guys at the shop prepare for the worst.

So, what's the moral of this story? I can't tell you right now. But you should hear lots of lessons in days to come.

The best part is, I'm still off for a month and a half.

We'll be home tomorrow. Kolton has football practice 3:30 PM. I may go and watch.

Final pictures.




Last Morning, Lake Butler, Fl..


That means "one more day."


We still have hills.


The family arrives for the big finish.


The long walk to the beach.(that's the Atlantic Ocean people)


It's a really long walk. The steed is not a great mudder.


I'm wet, I don't care.


Wow, the steed is heavy. I think I just hurt myself.




Who's the hot chick on the right?


A parting shot.


The steed, loaded for the last time and the ride home.

Merry Southern Tier Cross Country Tour to All and to All a Goodnight!

Lincoln


P.S. "COME ON PEOPLE GET OUT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Location:Pensacola, Fl.

8 comments:

  1. Margie (not Bunny)
    Lincoln, I am so proud of you! Amy, Kolton, Kooper, Kody - I am proud of all of you. What a feat! We will all be talking about this for years to come! Have a safe trip home and a good practice Thursday afternoon. We look forward to seeing all of you this Sunday.

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  2. Isaiah (not walton)
    But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

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  3. "I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance . . . .You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary" Revelations 2
    Ok you got weary . . . But brother you kept getting on. You perservered and endured. I know that the weight of what you have accomplished will come to you gradually over the next days, weeks, months and years to come. I know that none of us will be as glad as Amy and the boys to have you home but we will be exceedingly happy to see you!

    We won't be home to see you this weekend but will hug your neck when we return home to that corny place we call "Sweet Home Alabama"

    Be safe driving home - I know Amy will be glad to have help driving!
    Be blessed.

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  4. Uh, excuse me, but I think there is "northern tier" as well, correct? How much time off did you say you had remaining?

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  5. CONGRATULATIONS!

    You will need the next month and half off because all you will want to do is eat. When people say, "hi, how are you?" Your answer will be, "hungry, all the time."

    Thanks again for letting me join you on this journey - it has helped keep my motivation up for my two remaining ride events this season, and has me longing for another week long ride next year.

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  6. It's almost incredible to think that you pedaled a bike from sea to shining sea . . . only you "really" know how great of a personal accomplishment it was. Thanks for the joy and inspiration of sharing in your journey through the blog.

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  7. Woohoo!! You did it! Congrats!

    I'll leave you with this:

    "It's supposed to be hard.
    If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it.
    The hard... is what makes it great."
    Larry Roshfeld

    Keep inspiring and doing!
    Stacie Flinn

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  8. Lincoln, the link below is for an article that came out in this morning's paper here in Pensacola. I am so thankful that you are finished with your ride and headed home safe and sound. The man in the article was almost finished with the same ride you made when he was hit by a truck . . .

    http://www.pnj.com/article/20101007/NEWS01/10070329/Gulf-Breeze-cyclist-s-U-S-journey-ends-in-tragedy

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