The first 24 hours of this race have passed.   It is day 2 and Rob rode through the night.  He had put in some fast miles.  We woke up and got on the road to try to find Rob (with the help of Race tracking info).  We finally found him around 12:15 just after he had veered off the road and crashed.  In his words, “I shouldn’t have looked back to see the truck.  I’m just tired and didn’t think clearly.”

Kim Godawa patches up Rob after he had a fall in the Sonoran desert.

He had a good bit of road rash on his left thigh which his nurse attended to.  I may not have mentioned that I am Rob’s life coach.  He told me he was fine, just a little rattled from the accident.  I prayed with him and then he whispered, “I really am good.”

“I feel really good,” whispers Rob DeCou after praying with Jo Dee Ahmann while recovering from a fall.

When we were all back on the road, he asked me to call him.  He laughed a bit, told me his plan, and told me that he wanted some of his longtime friends and mentors to call him.  He said, “I need my community.  It does not go well when I am not in touch.”  The friends and mentors include some high school teachers and coaches and a woman who has had some severe medical issues including transplants and a few kinds of cancer.  Her name is Jan Stanton and she, like Christina, inspires Rob with her joyful, upbeat approach to life.  One of Christina’s favorite Bible verses describes Jan perfectly, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”  Proverbs 31:25  Rob loves to surround himself with people who laugh at the days to come—courageous, joyful, strong—no matter what the circumstances.

Rob pedals on through the Sonoran desert in 100 degree heat.

His plan is to cycle until 11:00 P.M. tonight and then take a 3 hour rest.  For those of you doing the math that is 33 ½ hours of continuous cycling.  It is something I can’t fathom.  I am just riding through the desert in a car and dealing with dehydration and a headache.  How can a human being push the limits of endurance this way?

Signing off,

The Messenger, Jo Dee Ahmann

Rob is racing to raise money for brain cancer research.  His goal is $20,000.  Would you please consider giving here

You can leave him a note of encouragement. We are reading notes to him as he rides.