2013 LAP Century

The 10th Annual Lula Assembly of Praise Century was another great success. These folks really know how to put on a ride. I've lost count how many of these I've done (less than 10) but each one is special and always well supported. This year my plan was to ride with the birthday boy Stephen Sisk. He's 40 years old!! Just like me. And he's is in some seriously great fitness. We set a new Chad and Stephen record on this course which I'll tell you about later.

There were lots of guys and gals that I know there. This is kind of like a home town ride for me because it takes place on the border of Hall and Habersham Counties in Lula, Georgia where men are men and the deer run scared. It's always funny to me the people from the church. They seem grateful but there's definitely a lack of understanding of why we would do this. Cycling is well outside the norm in some of these households. One lady told me she wished she could do something like it but she was too... heavy. I laughed and told her I used to weight 300 pounds.
It was a lie but the look on her face was worth it.

At the start were many of my favorite people. Pictured on the right is David Latty (Protagonist cyclist). Mr. Latty likes to hammer on the flat roads at such a pace that you start looking around to see who it is that's messing up your drafting relaxation. If there's only three or four of us his accelerations can hurt.
I like David but sometimes he hurts me.

Also at the start were John Lilly, Duane Mahon, Kim Turpin, David Shabat, Kim and Dylan Cantrell, Star Bridges, Dustin Mealor, Craig Tinsley, Sean Philyaw... that's all I can think of right now.

Here's some other photos from the start...

Joe made his announcements and the ride began with a lead out from the Hall County Sheriff's Department. That's always very cool.
As we made our way toward Maysville I snapped a few pictures of the main group.

Once we made the right hand turn in Gillsville the lead group picked up the pace. Led by a bunch of guys from BluSky and BikeTown the pace was more than some of us wanted since we weren't racing. So we backed off and rode quick but enjoyable. In our newly formed group were Stephen Sisk, David Latty, David Shabat, Kim Turpin, and Kristen Weinacker. We were having a great time!

The day was perfect and our pace soon overpowered what the ladies wanted to do so it ended up just us guys around mile 50. To that point we had been averaging 19+ mph which is well above the norm for this ride. And the infamous climb up Apple Pie Ridge Road still loomed.

There's a point in every century ride where you start wishing you were done. For me that point is around mile 80. As we pressed on toward Apple Pie I told everyone that I felt we were riding toward purgatory. I thought back to what the lady at the start said and used it as motivation. And yet again channeled my inner Jens Voigt.

On the road there we picked up young Dylan Cantrell. He had been with the lead group but was suffering from cramps. We gave him some enduralytes and hitched him up to the train. When I learned he'd never climbed Apple Pie I told him how to attack it... you don't attack it. It fights back once you get about halfway up the climb. Hurts very much.

At the top there is a SAG where you can have some food and claim yourself a delicious Jaemor Farms Apple Pie. Of course nobody actually eats it after climbing that thing. I always get one and stuff it in my jersey for later in the day when I get home. It's like fried victory!

We gathered our group and basically climbed our way back to Alto, Georgia. That's right, the climbing didn't end there.
We pushed on toward Lula and the great meal that awaited us. I found Sean and the rest of the leading group already enjoying the spaghetti and brownies. We all sat around and talked for a while and then headed home to our families.

The Pie.

This is always a great ride I love with people who appreciate it as much as I do. Thanks to all the volunteers from Lula Assembly of Praise who make this ride special every year!

See you next time!

Chad Hayes

Something that Inspires Me

Over the past few months I've been impressed and influenced by some great things happening around North Georgia and beyond. So many things that I thought I would share at least one of them. Hopefully you too can find some encouragement from this story and know that either; you are not alone or that you can overcome when crap happens that you can't control or don't deserve.

Most recently is the diagnosis given to Benny Bohanon after over a period of a week he went from riding his bike 50 miles to unable to stand to now unable to walk. Benny has ridden countless miles with and without me. He is always invited on any trip we take because Benny is great fun. Always smiling and willing to sacrifice for anybody, Benny is a true friend.

Benny Bohanon

Two weeks ago he was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. An unbelievable and totally unexpected event in any one's life but even more so given Benny's love for cycling. I've received many updates from him about the doctors predictions and his own take on them but none made me more proud than this update on January 25th, 2013.

Good Friends,
As many of you may know, I am off the bike for now, I was diagnosed with MS, the day after New Years, and am spending my time in a wheelchair these days. Dr. says it is temporary, and I will be probably be back on the bike this summer. I can’t wait. Right now my legs are useless, my calf muscles that I was so proud of are just loose skin.
I know God has a plan for me in all this, and it has to be patience, and learning to go on his schedule, not mine.
Then last night I was praying. I had this long prayer about everything I wanted God to do for me by Monday, then by two weeks, then by a month, then 6 months. Then it hit me, I was doing the same thing to God that I do to everyone else around me. Giving orders, then expecting it to all get done by a certain time. I had to stop and ask for forgiveness for my demands.
Then I immediately started thinking about some of my bike rides. We rode to the top of some of the biggest mountains in the Southeast, including Hogpen Gap, Brasstown Bald, and Mount Mitchell in North Carolina. Mount Mitchell was the biggest, with 20 miles of uphill grade to the top, and only a couple of short descents to rest. Whenever I was on a really big climb, I would count my pedal strokes, 1, 2, 3, all the way to 100, then start again. Many times I would count over 1000, I remember counting over 3000 pedal strokes once. The guys would laugh at me, when they would be talking and I would tell them they were messing up my count. See what I was doing... I was taking those big mountains one pedal stroke, one Step, at a time. It was like God showed me that, right after my prayer.
So that’s what I am going to learn from all this, and more things too, patience, perseverance, learning to depend on others around me, and learning to go one step at a time. We’ll just have to wait and see how long its going to take to get over this mountain.
Hope to see you all on the road soon.

Your Friend, Benny


That's why I like Benny so much. He just throws it out there. If it's on his mind it's coming out of his mouth. He's just happy to be "in the mix" when he's with all of us on a ride. But don't let me mislead you. Benny can hammer. He works hard and never makes a bad decision. And like I said he's great fun.

 
So this week I declared my need for a Group Ride. After being a host home with 9 middle school girls for our church's Winter Weekend I was ready to put some miles in with friends. I put it out there on an email and 8 roadies showed up in downtown Lula, Georgia to ride together. Only Stephen Sisk and I knew about the trip to Benny's. I sprung it on them at the start of the ride. Of course they were just fine with it. So we prayed and off we went.

My only concern other than Benny not being there was the first time group rider Alex Fuentes. He was nervous. But he had all the right gear and smiled a lot so I wasn't worried too much. He was riding an old school Litespeed Ti bike with a triple chain ring his father-n-law gave him. He has no idea how cool it really is. Even though I keep telling him.

And speaking of old school, Star Bridges was rocking a vintage 90's John Deer jersey from his glory days on the team in Athens. I really envy him sometimes.

David Latty was wearing a funky green and white jersey that I'm sure I would never have bought from seeing it in a picture. But on him it was totally different somehow. It was so ugly is was cool. And that doesn't happen often. At least not to me.

So we headed towards Maysville on a long road called County Line that was mostly down hill. Not the best start to a ride because we never got warmed up. But we talked and I got to catch up with my friend Sean Philyaw. The back roads in Banks and Habersham are the best for riding.

Once in Maysville we took a left across the tracks and on to Benny's house. We rolled up and I knocked on the door. His wife came to the door and looked really puzzled. I said "We're here to see Benny?" Then she smiled really big and went to get him.
She pushed him to the door and he was surprised. His face was beaming. I felt really great.

The guys were gathered around as I wheeleed him down a few steps. He started thanking us and telling us the story of what he'd been going through. His wife brought him a jacket and took pictures while we talked. He must have thanked us a hundred times. I felt like we hadn't really done much. But to him it was obviously a great encouragement. We were all moved by his sweet attentive wife and his relentless positive attitude. The whole thing weighed heavy on all of us as we rolled away from Benny's home. I started thinking just how many wonderful things just happened?

Our Sunday ride to Benny's house was more than just a visit.

When we rolled to the end of the driveway there was a decision to make. How do we get back to Lula? At that moment nobody really cared. David threw out a suggestion and we took a left.

I found myself on the front with Star Bridges and we rode for a minute just soaking it in. Then he said "Makes you really enjoy every pedal stroke doesn't it?" I said "Yeah, it sure does."
I'm pretty sure every one's conversation for the next 10 minutes included words like that.

During the ride back I broke the cleat on my right shoe and couldn't clip in. This created an annoying but challenging problem. Evidently I've had those cleats for a long time. We rode down a road called Carson Segars and I took the time to hang out with our newbie Alex. It was on this road that he began to ride farther than he'd ever been. His legs and lungs new it but his head must be pretty stubborn because he kept on mashing to keep up. I think Alex would love racing his bike some... he has the head for it. 



We regrouped a couple of times on the way back up to Lula. I stayed with Alex and we talked cycling. His friend Mark stayed with us and we got him back in one piece. I thought it was especially nice of the guys to wait on us just outside of Lula and we all rode in together. What a great day on the bike with friends!

The next day I received an email from Benny. I'm posting it because I know all the guys with me will be reading this and I want to extend the good feeling they carried away from our ride. I was told one time by a good friend that the greatest measure of blessing that God can bestow on a man is when that man gives selflessly to someone else. "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself" (Proverbs 11:25).

Chad,

Thanks again for the Bike Group visit Sunday. I know it was your idea to get that together. You will never know how much that meant to me. What an encouragement! I was beaming the rest of the day, I haven’t felt this good in weeks. Looking back, I believe Sunday will be a turning point in my MS flare-up, and God will start his healing on my body now. 

I hope you get a real blessing in return for your good deed.

Thanks again,

Hope to see you all on the road real soon,

Your Friend,

Benny Bohanan

 Thanks for reading!

Chad Hayes