Lincoln to Omaha, Nebraska (55 mile ride)
The second I woke up to ride that morning, I had the biggest feeling of excitement: I was riding to my hometown. It was a rainy morning, but that didn’t bring down my mood at all. This ride meant a lot to me, the last time I was home was for a funeral for the passing of my best friend’s little brother, so I dedicated the ride to him. The ride was awesome, I had the biggest smile on my face the whole time and I never felt so determined to finish. We made it into Omaha and my mom was already waiting for me at the stopping point to give me a hug. We eventually rode to the Spina Bifida Association’s park where we staged up and met our buddies for the afternoon. Some of my close family friends and past high school professors were there cheering me in as well which was an awesome surprise.
After talking with the hometown friends and being interviewed by the local news, the team had lunch thanks to the Spina Bifida Assocation, and then played assisted wheelchair baseball with our buddies. We also had a few games on the side, a squirt gun war and water balloon fight. It was a fun afternoon, then we headed to the Westwood Church to get ready for the night’s events.
We soon arrived to the Ollie Webb Center for a night of swimming, playing volleyball, and making new friends with the Ollie Webb members. I reconnected with two individuals who I had previously met at the friendship visit last year when the JOH guys came into town. I played on the volleyball court and had dinner with them, making jokes and laughing the whole time. It was a fun event and we eventually had to say our goodbyes, and headed back to lodging. It was the best feeling being home, even if it was just for a short day. I wanted to do the North Route simply because I wanted to bike through my hometown, and I’m incredibly lucky to have been assigned this route. We all went to bed early for our crossing into Iowa the next morning.
Christian McSweeney
University of Colorado Boulder – Eta Gamma
Cyclist