WABA Socks to the Rescue

Joseph and I volunteered to be a bike marshall for family the ride at the Bike DC event this past Saturday. Despite the rain, I was surprised to see so many participants ...



... especially children, who were brave to come out in this weather


We had to wait underneath the WABA tent until the family ride began, so we enjoyed the free coffee and pastry from Starbucks, complimentary of WABA for the bike marshalls.

I was getting cold, especially my feet, from standing around until the ride began. Then I spotted them on the table, just laying there, about 10 WABA socks. I asked and they told me to help myself. Well, I didn't think twice and grabbed 9 of them, then I always need socks. Later on, I was so glad I did.

We started our ride in the rain. My feet were freezing and wet and I was still coughing, not totally recovered from a cold. It was so unbearable for me that, Joseph and I, and a few others, stopped underneath the tunnel about a few miles into the ride, to change into dry cloths. My socks were totally drenched and my toes were numb. Luckily, I had the dry WABA socks to change into.

Despite having 2 pairs of dry socks on and plastic bags over my shoes, I was still freezing. Then Joseph mentioned the word... "Pneumonia". He said that I ought to stop because I'm still coughing and that I could get Pneumonia. Well, he scared me and I realized he was right, that I shouldn't push it. I never quit a ride, so this was the first time I did.

In the car, I took off the WABA socks and put on 2 more pair of dry WABA socks, trying to warm up my feet because they were numb. These socks aren't ideal for winter/cold riding, but they sure helped me out on that day. Thank you WABA, they went to a very good cause. A thank you also goes to all the volunteers who stood out in the rain, directing us on the ride.




If you want to learn more about what gear to wear to ride comfortably in cold weather, join me at the FREE Bike Clinic at the Bicycle Pro Shop in Alexandria on Friday, Oct. 30th.

Won't Quit, Will Commit!

The documentary "Race across the Sky" an intense 100 mile mountain bike race in Leadville, Colorado situated at an evulation of 10,152 ft. with Lance Armstrong and 6 time winner Dave Wiens was amazing. Watching this movie has inspired me to want to look into mountain bike riding more (maybe a race too?)

Before the movie, I stopped at Cafe Deluxe at Tyson's corner to eat my favorite tilapia sandwich. Heading towards the end of the bar, I sat next to a big group of people. I overheard them talk about biking and it turned out that they were also going to go watch the documentary. We started talking about the contents of the movie and one of them happened to be Roxanne Hall from Leadville Colorado, who was in the movie.

It was quite emotional to hear Roxanne tell me that she was almost killed by a car driver who hit her while training for the event. It was inspiring to see Roxanne in the movie showing her laying in the hospital with a broken back and internal injuries and how she recovered to be able to partake in the event. I didn't have my camera with me, so I asked her mother who was in the group to make a picture of the two of us and email it to me.

If you are into biking like me, it was a great, funny, emotional, inspiring movie.Incredibaly, Lance Armstrong won the race despite the flat tire he got with only 7 miles to the finish line. He rode with the flat tire and mentioned in the panel discussion that he can't fix a tire.

This movie wasn't so much about Lance Armstrong but more about 1400 regular people like you and me, who won the lottery to partake in this challenging race and trained to accomplish the unthinkable. It was about believing in yourself.

The movie left me with the following, inspirational words from the race president Ken Chlouber, who gave a motivational speech to the participants before the race: "Won't Quit, Will Commit!"