Well, the schedule was to be in Klamath Falls tonight after a 97-mile ride, but we were all so tired last night, and this house we are in is so comfortable that we decided to take a “rest day” today and stay right here for another day. I am writing this blog after sleeping ten hours and getting out of bed an hour ago at 8:00 am. I usually schedule a rest day every Sunday, but I phoned the camping spots and rearranged our schedule, so here I sit, enjoying my rest day very much. Yesterday was a killer day, and I am still very tired and exhausted. I think I will schedule a rest day on Thursdays and Sundays for future trips, at least for the first couple of weeks of the trip, until I get in shape. My first bicycle trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, was in 2013. I was 64 years old, and it was so much easier. I should get all caught up on my Bible reading and Bible memory today.

Last night, as we were watching the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves play basketball, both teams striving to win so that they could go to the NBA national championships; if they win the best of seven series they are in, I thought of 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” The desire to win, succeed, accomplish, conquer, and overcome a significant challenge is how God made us. We can grow that part of our motivation, and we can also shrink it. As I think about this year’s bicycle trip and what motivates me, I think it is primarily the challenge. There is something very rewarding in attempting to do something challenging and accomplishing it.

That is the cool thing about goals: you can write them while you are sitting in a comfortable chair in a warm room, with a cup of coffee, but all the while you are writing them, you are counting the cost and mentally evaluating whether you can actually do it, or if you want to pay that kind of price.

Someone asked me why I was doing this bicycle trip, and I responded that it is impossible for me to win an NBA championship, even if I wrote a goal to do it, but I think I can still do this bicycle thing for a couple more years. Everyone needs a crazy mountain to climb. My good friend Lloyd is ten years older than I am, and he is still skydiving, now how crazy is that?!