Important Lesson Learned

One thing lead to another as it tends to do and we found ourselves pedaling away from our host's apartment at 4:30pm this afternoon with a 40 mile ride planned before we'd set up tent.  Now, while we have been seriously training hard by imbibing and relaxing over the last four days in Washington, DC, making camp before dark was not going to be an easy feet.  That is until a man, apparently middle-aged, who had clearly not been following our training regimen passed us about 10 miles out of town.

"Where are you guys heading," he inquired as he easily pedaled up a slope that had forced me and Geoff into our lowest gears once more.

"We're heading out towards Skyline Drive over the next few days and heading cross-country in the long-run," was my reply between panting breaths.

"Oh, well you're going the wrong way."  And after seeing our puzzled, slightly concerned expressions, "you guys are going right into the wind.  You should be heading East from the West Coast.  I've done that ride several time myself."

We rode on with our newfound acquaintance who, after a few moments, turned to us with a proposition that stunned me into inaction for the next 10 minutes.  He nonchalantly offered us a stay at his home, only minutes from the path we planned to ride that day.  Of course it would be 20 miles shy of our day's goal, distance we'd need to make up by riding longer tomorrow.  But then again, there was no way we'd make camp at any decent time if we went on with our current plans.  But there's also the fact that we barely met this man before he casually invited us to his home, and that is simply hospitality I am unfamiliar with growing up in NYC.  So we rode on, the weary gears turning slowly in my mind, still rusty from last night's farewell training event at the bar.

Finally we came to a crossroads.  Actually it was a gazebo.  To our left was a little trail leading to a warm bed and the opportunity to make a genuine connection with a complete stranger.  Straight ahead would lead to a shorter ride tomorrow.  We turned left.

Now I sit here, satiated and bathed, thinking fondly on a pleasant evening spent with an incredibly generous family.  I think back on that moment of indecision about whether to accept this man's hospitality or trek on to meet our day's goal.  I am intrigued at the impulse that made me believe that meeting our arbitrary goal of cycling mileage would have been more beneficial than accepting John's invitation.  I can't help but wonder how many other times I've let incredible opportunity pass by while blindly grasping at a phantom goal.  Thank you John and Shelly for all of hour hospitality: the delicious dinner, lodging, and - more importantly - good conversation and motivation to ride on.