This past weekend, I participated in the 14^th Annual Katie Ride for Life in beautiful Amelia Island, Florida. The Katie Ride is the flagship event for the Katie Caples Foundation, an organization founded by David and Susan Caples, in honor of their daughter Katie, who tragically lost her life in an automobile accident. Katie went on to become an organ donor, saving the lives of five people and enhancing the lives of several others through her gifts. I had wanted to participate in this event for many years but had to put that desire on hold until I was physically able to do so. I set riding the Katie Ride as one of my rehab goals and it felt great to finally fulfill that goal, especially since it was one I had set before my amputation. It was indeed a pleasure to participate in an event that honored those who had given the gift of life.

The ride has evolved over the years to not only include rides of various distances, but they have also added the Katie walk and fun run and a Katie fun Triathlon. The ride lengths included an 18 mile, (more like 20, I will get to that later), 34 miles, and 63 miles. I chose to ride 18 miles as this was my first ever road course on the trike and I didn’t want to over do it on my first one.

The day started out from home, wet. My wife had taken the dogs out and when she came back in, she said, “prepare to get wet today”. It rained just about the entire way up to Amelia Island but once I got into town, not a drop. Cloudy, windy, cool, and overcast yes, but dry. Once everyone had received their ride packets, the “Riders up” command was given at 0750 and we were off at 0800. There were easily a few hundred cyclists at the event and as I looked around, two things were obvious. I was the only amputee in the field of riders and I had the only recumbent bike of any kind. I stood out just a bit but I have to say, in my experience in riding thus far, I have met some of the nicest people that ride bicycles. Weather it is on the trail or on the road, there is a shared bond of being out in the open, riding your bike (trike), having a great time. I was passed by a many cyclist, (my trike is not a speed machine) and to a person, I was greeted as they went pass with a pleasant “good morning” or “way to go”. And even though I was not setting a blazing pace, the fact that I was out there pushing the pedals was good enough.

I will admit that I was a little nervous getting out on an active roadway. To their credit, the organizers of the Katie Ride take great strides to ensure rider safety. There were roving motorcyclist with flashers and signs warning drivers of cyclist, there were numerous caution signs along the road warning drivers of a cycling event, and there were police officers at busy intersections ensuring the cyclist could pass through safely. It was those blind curves, with minimal shoulder space that made me uneasy. Needless to say, when I hit those curves, I pedaled hard and fast to get through them quickly and I checked my mirrors often. I had some cars approach me on several occasions but most passed and gave me a wide berth. I say most. I have always heard of cyclists being “brushed” by vehicles passing a little too close and I had a couple of those experiences. Not to the level of close calls, just going by a little too close for comfort.

The 18 miles, to my surprise was a little more then that. I have a Garmin that keeps track of my distance and after fighting a strong headwind that just about stopped me in my tracks, I looked at my Garmin and I was just over 16 miles, less then two to go. Wanting to finish strong, I kicked it up a notch and picked up the pace. Mile 18 came and went, mile 19 came and went, now my “kick” is starting to drop off. Just over 20 miles, I came through the Finish Line, Mission Accomplished.

It was an awesome day on so many levels. I was able to finish the 20-mile ride on my first road course and saw a couple of old friends, Walter Hill and Rob Lee, who I met years ago as a member of the Jacksonville Transplant Alliance. They taught me that whether you are a donor family, recipient, or caregiver, donation is truly a life changing experience for everyone involved. For more information on how you can save or enhance someone’s else’s life, please visit http://www.donatelife.net