Ride4Life

SC Ride4Life is officially underway and we’ve began our 300 mile trek across the state!

I guess I should mention that the trek is by bike. No, not a motorcycle but a bicycle. And no, I’m not one of the crazies that rides a bicycle to the beach but my dad is!

I can assure you that there are very few riders that do this ride for the fun of it {Maybe a few in the fastest group. I’m looking at you, Ropp} but they do it for the cause. You may have picked it up in the title but it’s a ride for life and all proceeds go to a local pregnancy center. Even though it is a huge accomplishment to say you’ve ridden 300 miles in 3 days, we do this ride to teach young women their value in His eyes, leading them to Christ and preventing abortions.

This will be mine and Cory’s third year of going on the ride but my parents fifth or sixth. So why do we all go if my dads the only one riding? We go as support. And no I don’t mean to cheer him on, which we do by the way. Each group of riders has a support vehicle that pretty much just follows them around all day.

I promise it’s more organized than it looks. At least we knew where everything was.

For our group, they will stop every 30 or so miles and we will find a good place to stop {sometimes just off the side of the road}, unload the coolers full of Gatorade and chicken salad {funny story…last year mom made us some chicken salad to snack on during the day and during one of the stops, it accidentally got put out for the riders and they LOVED it. So much so that it was the first thing they asked for at our meeting on Monday}, set out cantaloup & watermelon and prepare for a rush of filling up empty water bottles. They will pull in, stop for 10-15 minutes and take off again. We load the car back up, go up another 30 miles or so and do it all over again!

Their safety is our main concern and when it’s 90 degrees, they have to stay replenished. We are there to make sure that their every need is met. They are the ones riding across the freaking state, after all! I must say though, the support team is definitely the back bone of this ride.

So even though I’ve got the next five days off from work, I can guarantee it’s no vacation! We will work our tails off for the next three days but think how many unborn babies we are saving? My mom has to work today and will be meeting up with us this afternoon leaving me to do day one without her. I may actually be crying for my mama by the end of the day because she’s got it down pack.

This was my dads group from last year and I’m so glad we’ve got some of these guys riding again this year because they were an awesome group to support. We sure will miss you, Keith! {Please say an extra prayer for Keith– in the orange helmet. He has been battling AML since February.}

We always enjoy the time we get to spend together as a family {or at least I do. Pretty sure my parents feel the same way} and this will be the first year that Gracie gets to go! We are a little leery of how well she will do because she is not the most patient child in the world and our days can get kinda long but I’ll guess we’ll see!

So for the next few days, I’ll be filling water bottles, loading and unloading coolers, slicing cantaloupes and be at the beckon call of our riders! To follow all our ride fun, make sure you follow me on Insta!