A RAIN Rider Says "Thanks"

Submitted by John Bassett

Many thanks during last Saturday’s RAIN ride to:

• Dan Hickey for his bucket of ice
• Clair Murphy for encouragement at lunch
• The Gruppettos (see their Blog post) for the GU and fantastic late afternoon tow

I could not have done it without you.

I was standing in line at the Dairy Queen a short distance back down from the street from the RAIN finish line.  I was primed to order a chocolate milk shake, my favorite post-ride treat..  Having yet to change out of my salt-stained Spandex, I was an easily-identified cyclist.  A local Richmond rider struck up a conversation.  It was about 9:30 PM, the official end of the ride, and nearing darkness.  My friend had finished hours before.  As we exchanged our observations about the day’s ride, we began to note the steady stream of eastbound bicycle headlights passing by on US 40 behind us.  Some were single lights - some were in groups of two or three.  Some had PSVs tailing them with their hazard lights flashing.  We knew that each bike had a rider who had started the day in Terra Haute 163 miles away.  Each rider was bound and determined to make that finish line a few blocks away.  And, we thought, there would not be much of a celebration left for them.  

So, it was rather spontaneous on my friend’s part - to each passing light he would yell:

“Great job. You’re almost there.  Not this traffic light, but the next one.  Turn right and you're there.  You did it!”

Most yelled back, some just groaned, some were too spent to say anything.  But, I think all appreciated that small acknowledgement of their personal effort.

I’d say few of our fellow Dairy Queen patrons had any idea what that yelling was all about.  But, kudos to the RAIN finish line staff for passing out those late medals.