Simple Hobby Homesteading

All righty, I’m back. Just so I don’t get behind on my quest to get each day done I will hop on and finish this day.

When we left young Tiffany and Jhenna at blog post Day 3, they were fast becoming BFFs through shared stories of struggles, perseverance, and triumph. As we drove down the Pacific Cast Highway (Highway 1) we cheered on riders as we passed and I even caught a glimpse of Kevin!

We were asked to stay and help at the last check point of the day making sure riders didn’t miss the turn to come up, grab a PB&J sandwich and those magical little energy jelly beans and check in so we knew they hadn’t fallen into the ocean. We had a great time cheering in the riders and I even got to cheer my husband in and get a great big kiss! I shared with him the great news that I had the bicycle part and in just a few short hours we would see if it fit. He was tired and a bit sore but showed genuine excitement at the notion of having a riding buddy the next day.

Tiffany and I stayed and waited until the last riders came through and were given the green light to head on into camp at the high school in Santa Cruz… we would be camping on their football field for the night.

When I got there my amazing husband had already grabbed our bags, set up the tent, and was sprawled out seemingly just waiting for me to arrive and talk his ear off. I gave him a quick kiss, asked how the day’s ride went and admittedly only half listened as I thought about getting the bike piece to Jamaica and Ian.

Kevin paused for a moment while he was telling me about his day and I hate to admit it but I was gone, jogging to get my bike and heading to the mechanics. I thnk Kevin understood… He wasn’t mad when I came back so he must have understood 🙂

I grabbed my bike from the rack and looked at the slot where the wedge piece was supposed to fit… it looked too small for the piece I had in my pocket. “We’ll see” I thought. I made my way to the mechanic’s van and waited patiently (though I may have been bouncing up and down) while Ian finished up with a bike on the stand. He finished and I wheeled my bike over, held out the piece in my hand and just stared. He took the piece and slipped it perfectly into the hole and inserted my seat post with seat. It fit like a glove… like a perfect non-OJ Simpson like glove! I jumped up and down and gave Ian a HUGE hug! Jamaica just laughed and said if it didn’t fit he would have chipped of a piece of wood from his stand and wedged the seat post in! They were probably just both relieved they didn’t have some crazy sobbing woman standing before them.

I jumped on my bike and took it for a little spin down the block and back… it felt MARVELOUS! It had been just over two weeks since I had sat in that saddle and I cannot even explain how good it felt… amazing! I thanked God, I thanked Ian and Jamaica and I sprinted back to the tent to thank my husband!

That night we put my numbers on my bike and I was ready to ride for the next day. We called the boys and gave them the good news. They were both doing well in Wisconsin and excited that I would be riding the next day. We had a delicious supper and snuggled down into our sleeping bags and laid our heads down on our rolled up jackets.

Did I mention I was not able to refit my pillow into my pack when we left the hotel that morning? Apparently a sleeping bag takes up a little bit of room in a pack and the pillow had to be left behind… this ought to be an interesting trip camping with no pillow. I like my pillow. However, my bike ws fixed so all seemed to be perfectly right in the world at that moment. Little did we know it would be a fitful night of rest full of many things meant to keep one wide awake (like I needed any help with that!).

Kevin was very excited to have me ridingthe next day though he admitted he was a wee bit worried I might have a tough time of it… Day one was hard and he was thinking our training in Indiana may have been inadequate. Couple that with his held fear that I was ill-equipped to clip out of my speed play pedals quickly if need be and I doubt he got much sleep that night thinking about what all could go wrong. We will see…

 

~Jhenna