Notes and Stories

New Website coming soon.

Yes, we have all heard that for a couple of years now, but we actually are doing something about it now and those who have seen it are VERY EXCITED. To prepare for the new site, there are few things we would like you to do:

Please stop using the site to log your miles for a while. Keep track of what you are doing so you can add it when we are ready, but until we rebuild the database anything entered after today will be lost.
If you do not have a [good] profile picture on the old site, please email us one [click here]. Our new director is planning on using website profiles as one tool to get to know everyone and it would help is she could put a face to a name.
Please don't use the forum for a while. Same deal as the training log.
We need to clean up our User list.
- Contact Tim if you have not logged into the old site in a while. We are trimming our user list to only those who have logged in within the last year -- unless we hear from you.
- Click here if you want to be removed from the list completely.
- Forward this to a friend who you think might be interested.

FFL Next week

Next Friday, November 5th, will be the First Friday Lunch day. Please join us at Chez Daniel in Bloomington for a great meal and good conversation. Since we don't ride on Wednesday nights for the off-season, this a great way to stay connected and have some fellowship time with your riding buddies.

Are you prepared?

by Don Callander

The kit, shoes, socks... check
Sunglasses, helmet, gloves... check.
Heart rate monitor, cell phone, Hammer gel... check.
Tires pumped up, chain lubed, clipped in... check.

With everything in place, a normal routine everyday training ride was about to begin. I mean who would go out for a ride without all the previous mentioned categories taken care of and ready to go. The ride was smooth, solo, and very enjoyable.

Being almost home, in fact just a few seconds away, I reached up to turn off the heart rate monitor, and simultaneously hit a pothole in the road. A second later, I'm over the handlebars at 17 mph full force on the left shoulder. I instantly knew the collarbone was broken. The pain was incredible, and I began to make preparations to get myself to the emergency room.

The emergency room and x-ray confirmed what I already knew a severe comminuted fracture in two separate places in the middle one third of the collarbone. In less than one second, my season was over. Even though my preparations were flawless, I had ridden this route hundreds of times, and I was in shape, disaster struck in a heartbeat.

But is it not amazing that we often will begin our day, with absolutely no spiritual preparation at all. We leave for work, school, or running errands without giving a second thought to our spiritual preparation for the day.

In the sixth chapter of Ephesians Paul clearly demonstrates how to get dressed for the day. And yet in our hurry, we often will leave in essence, spiritually "Naked". We spend little or no time in his word. We do not memorize, contemplate, or meditate on the truth. We don't sing hymns or spiritual songs. We don't pray. We don't often even tell the people that we love we love them before we run out the door. So here we are on Satan's playground totally unprepared, naked and then wonder why often in a split second we fail.

So why is it when we're ready to go out for a simple bike ride we go through all of the necessary steps of preparation, yet we go into spiritual battle completely unprepared? Are we unaware? Is it laziness? Is it not important for us? Hmmm…. great questions. And certainly the answers for us may be varied.

Many in this club use a program called "Map My Ride". Let me suggest an acronym:

M editate (on God's Word).
A doration (to the Lord Jesus Christ).
P ray.
M otivate.
Y ourself (to)
R epent.
I nspect (your heart and motives).
D esire (the)
E nergy (to serve the Lord)

So my challenge for everyone reading this is to be prepared, suit up, and be prepared for battle. We take those steps in the physical realm, and we can still have accidents. So may we give due diligence to our spiritual conditioning, preparation, and implementation.

May God bless.