Team Oz Training Rides

We’re at it again! Team OZ has been training in preparation for the Heartland Aids Ride from Minneapolis to Chicago in late July and we’ve also been training for the Aids Trek in early August.

Team OZ got a late start with training rides this spring due to the inclement weather. But the miles have been adding up. Several of our first attempts ended up at the coffee shop for breakfast. Might as well enjoy a relaxed bit of socializing if the weather is not going to cooperate. Our first rides were about 30-mile rides. We gradually increased the mileage from there. Typically, Saturday is the big mileage day, meeting at SJA at 8:00am. Sunday is about half the distance. There is little rest for the weary.

Here we are in July and if you remember a few Saturdays ago, the temperature was in the nineties and high humidity. Well, that day, ten of us from Team OZ met at SJA at 7:00am and went out on a short little ride to Scandia, Minnesota. We stopped for lunch at a quaint “Calf-A.” You can imagine the décor. Round trip almost ninety miles. And thanks to the encouragement and generous support from Team OZ volunteer crewmembers, we actually made it. Crewmembers are an essential ingredient for any long ride. After lunch, these good souls shared watermelon, fruit juice, good ole’ Gatorade, candy, and water. After biking one 13-mile stretch against the wind, under the blazing sun, watermelon never tasted so good. Thanks crewmembers. You are amazing!

The weekend of July 4^th was a butt busting, two-day, back-to-back 100-mile ride days. The first day was a trip to Wyoming. Yes, Wyoming. And the second day was a ride to Hammond, WI, the first lunch stop on the actual Heartland ride. This rider was out of town and missed all the action, but hear that the sag vehicles were of the utmost importance. Again, another hot, blazing weekend. This is what we call summer in Minnesota.

This last weekend, we started winding down and are gathering the storehouses of energy. The long miles are behind us. Saturday the 13^th, we rode a lovely 30-mile ride. Spirits were high and the weather was a little cooler. We even picked up a rider downtown, who is training for a triathlon. I love those short days. Just a dream!

Vickie Hepler has been involved with the Sister Parish group since its inception in 1993 and traveled with the first delegation to visit TNII in Guatemala in the spring of 1995. She joined the SJA choir in 1998 and loves the groups' enthusiasm and is touched deeply by the music and spirit. Vickie also cherishes her involvement in a SCC that's about five years old.

Thank you everyone for your continued support, especially friends and family. You know first hand the commitment the training requires and our absence from family time. Keep us in your prayers and we’ll look for you out on the road.