Last Wednesday (April Fool day) was the first time I hopped on "Snow White" and went for a ride with the team. If I'm not mistaken, we did a good 6-7 miles that day. It was sunny, and the wind was blowing at just the right strength. I did not know how to clip in and clip out at all when I first started biking with "Snow White". I biked from home to Armory (the place we gather for training) with full of nervousness. The thing I felt most insecure of was that my feet could barely touch the ground, so as soon as I lose my balance by 0.01% I will fall on a road full of cars. As I pedaled, when I saw the stop signs and red light three blocks away, I slowed down to ~2mph (no kidding!), as soon as I approached them, and thought that it was safe enough to pass, I accelerated and rode at ~12mph. Yes that was exactly how scared I was.
Last Saturday (4/4) was the day the team went on a long 30-mile ride. We detoured a little and ended up with a total of ~35 miles (56 km), started at 7am, and ended at 11.30am. We gathered at 6.45am at Armory, and made a loop to Homer Lake. I totally sucked at reading cues (directions) because... I'm just that kind of person who will lose my way even if gmaps is on, navigation is on. I'm just... really bad at directions. I mean, even I've been on campus for 1.5 years, I will still take the wrong bus, and end up in somewhere that has no one. I personally enjoy doing callouts (provided that I'm not the one to lead, cause I'll panic) and paying attention to potential dangers such as cars, gravels, sticks, etc. I'm super comfortable doing that. The best thing about the ride was that I finally got to experience real biking on long miles; whereas the worst thing about the ride was the wind. Wind sucks. The wind made it so hard to propel forwards, to hear callouts clearly, and to breathe cause I kept breathing in air and the mucus kept coming out from my nose. Plus, it was really cold that morning (~ -3 C). I was literally shivering while biking, and my fingers and toes got numb, ears got pain, etc. After the ride that night, my hip hurt so much that I couldn't lift my left leg at all. All of a sudden, all of the bad thoughts came to my mind--I thought I somehow broke my ligament, and I will not be able to bike forever. O.O
The day after, Sunday, I went to bike again early in the morning at 8am with Julio. As usual, we biked against the wind @@ We did approximately 12 miles that morning before he rushed back to RAL for subgroup meeting. After his meeting ended at 1pm, he picked me up and brought me for lunch at Courier Cafe. That was the best meal I have had in a while. Thanks, Julio! He is this one person that I am always grateful to have. From helping to solve Chemistry problems, relentlessly teaching me old and new things, to supporting me for me doing this incredible bike ride, alongside a lot of other things like picking up my bike for me, bringing me out for good food, cheering me up when I was down, there is just too much to list here. Sometimes, I'm really amazed by how two people from the opposite ends of the world will meet and can actually "click". With Shampa joining the lab few months back, R348 is officially my favorite place on campus. They are the two people who are always there when I needed help.
On a side note, I spent my spring break (3/21-3/28) volunteering at Give Kids The World, Kissimmee, Florida. This is definitely the best volunteering experience I have had by far. GKTW is a resort that works with wish-granting organizations. It allows kids with life-threatening illnesses and their family to live there for a week at no cost. It's basically a theme park with Carousel, Lori's magical flight (flying Dumbo), Castle, Amberville (arcade center), Ginger bread house (food service), water park, Ice cream palace, etc. The volunteers get to learn how to operate the theme park, serve food, and join the daily special events. My group was lucky enough to be involved in Halloween night and Winter Wonderland Parade, in which we did face painting, hair spray, giving out candies on Halloween, and dressed up as fairies, soldiers elf for Winter Wonderland Parade. My favorite place in GKTW is the castle. There is a pillow maker, star tower, and a play land in the castle. Each wish kid has the opportunity to put his/her name on a golden star, and the star will be put all over the ceiling or in the star tower. There are over 100,000 stars on the ceiling and in the star towers, because once it's put up, the stars will never be taken off. I was kinda sad to see the kids whose height was only as high as my waist having to go through surgeries and treatments at such young ages. It really made me ponder a lot about my life. Did I appreciate every opportunity I have in my life? Did I help to make the community/society a better place?
I remember Jerry who worked in Champaign Cycle once told me, "Every time when the ride gets hard, think about the people you know who have been through a lot more hard times, that will help you to pull through the rough days you'll have on your ride." That's absolutely true. No matter how hard it is, I know I'm gonna pull through it, because I know nothing could be worse than living with illness everyday. Probably the reason why I am so passionate about I4K is that I hope I4K could at least be the source of strength for everyone who needs it, not just for cancer patients. When you think that everything in your life is going downhill, read the portraits, and you'll know that as long as you're alive, there are still chances to make something up. You'll learn to see bad things in a good way, a process to learn and grow.
Coming up next: 45-mile ride on Sat and Portraits reception on Sunday! Woohooo!
P/S: Snow white is my new bike's name! :)
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