This past Saturday I did a 52 mile bike ride. The only problem was that it was supposed to be a 64 mile bike ride. So, why did I come up short? I came up short because I didn't have enough nourishment and time.

On Saturday mornings, my friend Mark and I and sometimes his wife Beth, ride bikes together. We often don't know where we are going until we meet up. This past Saturday, it was just Mark and me. We decided to head to Lindsborg, which is 19 miles away. I have made that trip many times so it was no big deal. We arrived in Lindsborg in good time. It was then I discovered that I had forgotten my debit card and I only had $6 in my jersey. This usually is not a problem except we decided to ride another 11 miles before we made the turn to come home. Mistake one is that I did not have the funds to buy enough food to keep my strength up. Oh, and the wind came up out of the NNE, which made it even more difficult to ride home.

Mistake two was that I thought I had most of the day to ride. When I stopped back in Lindsborg, on the way home, I had a text from Shelly that we were to be at Amanda's by 12 noon, it was 10:48 and I had 19 miles to go fighting a head wind all the way. Well, I tried but failed and Shelly had to come and pick me up 12 miles from town.

Here are some lessons I learned:

1. Be prepared, always be prepared. Even when you don't think you will need whatever it is that you might need, take it anyway.

2. Better to have more and not need it than not enough and wish you had it.

3. Know your limitations. When I discovered I didn't have the needed funds for food, I should have headed back home and not gone the extra 22 miles.

4. Make sure you have the time. If you don't have it, don't do it.

I hope that you will take what I have learned and benefit from my mistakes. In the future, I will more readily count the cost and to my best to have whatever I need to finish the course. Sounds like a spiritual lesson could be hiding in and amongst there! Maybe next time I will write about that.

Take care!