The Pact

Riding into CP#1 TransIowa V8

January 21, 2014

The Pact was made between friends last night after speaking about the passing of Steve – we would both be around until our 80’s so that we didn’t have to bury anyone this young out of our core group of friends.  Sure we don’t have any control over death but it sounds like a great idea to reduce the pain of the loss of a good friend.

How many close friends do you have that you would truly miss if they passed away before you felt it was time?  Last night I came up with 10 or so that I would truly miss.  I also contemplated about how many I would travel for to pass my regrets onto their family if something happened.  Most of these guy’s spouses wouldn’t even know me but I would still feel obligated to travel just because of the bond that happened during the course of our lives.

The bonding event for me is generally a race or endurance event that I participated in.  Trans-Iowa always jumps out at me because of the camaraderie that is required to attempt finishing the beast of a race that Trans-Iowa is.  First off though is my bike tour buddy and great friend Todd whom I spent 28 days with so our bond is deeper than words can say!  At V5, I met Eric from Florida and we still keep in touch and always talk about doing a crazy race again sometime in the future.  IronMike came into my life during prep work for the Underground Railroad Bike Tour and is another that jumps out at me.  Single Speed Scott from V8 was a smooth riding tough guy from Nashville that always has a smile on his face.  Guitar Ted race director of TI is most definitely travel worthy just because of his awesome heart and all that he does to make TI a great event!  These are just some quick names that jump out at me while pondering the pact so don’t be mad if I didn’t list you because more than likely if you are reading this you are on my list!

But do us both a favor and don’t test me until we hit our 80’s please!

Grand Arrival Underground Railroad Bike Tour