Bitter Sweet

Just came back from a 1200 mile round trip to Mississippi. A very good friend that I used to work with and ride with has cancer. He is not good but has put his trust in God so anything can happen. I hadn't seen John in thirty-five years but it seemed like yesterday when we talked about the old days. He was a heck of a rider. We did several centuries back when they didn't count kilometers just miles. When we drove up to his home his old PX 10 was sitting out. It hadn't been out of the shed behind his house for fifteen years. It had a few wasp nests on it but other wise just needs a bath, a little polish and mechanicals gone through to be back on the road. John and his family told me to take the bike and see that it would do some good for someone else. After I go through the bike it will go to the Chain Reaction Bike Shop in Goshen, IN. our community bike shop that helps others have a bike that otherwise wouldn't be able to.

This is John's second PX 10. This one replaced the white one destroyed in a wreck he and I was in. We had ridden 50 miles that day and set up a camp site. We decided we should have a bottle of wine so we took off with another rider to the closest town. the Hi-way we were on had just been paved and it started to rain. It got real slick. John had glasses on and instead of stopping to remove them he just closed in on my back wheel and watched it. Well, my bike slide out from under me an John went over the top of me. He landed on his face and got cut up bad. Two young girls on their way to the prom all dressed up and took John to the Bluffton Clinic that was close. A Plastic Surgeon was on duty that week end and it was a good thing for John. The doctor worked on him for several hours an John still had to back and get more done. The other rider, well he just road around us and was OK. Some riders would have quite riding after that but not John as this bike shows he road many, many more miles. If your reading this take a moment to say a prayer for John and his family.