RAAM 4-Person

Ari’s Angels are currently on the road. They are through Camdenton, TS31, where they are averaging a speed of 16.69mph. Whilst they aren’t challenging for the lead, they’re riding well. Riding with passion! Determination! Grit!

The last 24 hours, they have ridden over 400 miles. Excellent mileage. They can be proud of their effort. A few days ago, a dog chased Bill Edmonds, causing him to crash. His shoulder is sore and the therapist thinks he may have a tear, but he is still riding. Now that is Courage with a capital C.

I found something worth noting. Found something on their blog I thought I would put in there. Written by 50 year old Steve Kendra, it is amazing. It was quite an interesting read and I hope you find it enjoying too.

“I got to ride up through Monument Valley in Utah. This particular 25-mile pull started just as the sky to the east had started to glow a bit, and I rode right into the most beautiful sunrise. It was more uphill than I expected, and my speed dropped off to nearly a crawl. Dan and I had been riding all night, and I was tired. Real tired. Anyway, in my lowest granny gear, and my speed hovering around the blinding pace of around 6 mph, I started perhaps dwelling a little too much on my sore butt and legs and forgot to look around and enjoy that moment.

I had my iPod cranking through a little speaker mounted on my aerobar; I had requested it to just play random songs from my library. And, as fate would have it, and as usually happens to me when I hit a low point, a member of my family came to my rescue, this time in a rather unusual way. My daughter Taylor had recorded a song she had been working on with her voice teacher, I think it is called, “Lo How the Rose ‘er Blooming,” or something like that. The name of the song or, even the words of the song really don’t matter. Her beautiful voice all by itself in that cool clear desert air with the sun hitting the peaks of those wonderful sandstone monuments quite literally brought tears to my eyes – and even now as I type this, just the memory of that moment is nearly overwhelming.

I guess my advice to you all for today is not to forget to look around and appreciate what’s around you, even in those low times when you’re hurting. For me it took an angels voice to remind me of that at just the right time yesterday morning.

Our ultimate hope! Finish the race: The Race Across America and the race to find a cure for NF! We hope, for a brighter future."

They are well on the way to finishing the race! They are working together well as a team. This is a great team, riding for a great cause. Get behind them! Cheer them home! More updates as the race goes on!