Preparing for the “Two Oceans” Race

Steve has been preparing for this race for a while now.  I thought I would just give you a picture or two of my now pretty lean husband. 

Just a little story to explain the bike.  In January 2012 we had to prepare our budget for the year 2013.  It is hard to think on ahead about how much money you will need for fuel.  You plan your trips and budget accordingly.  Last years budget was the first one Steve prepared I think for us.  A few more trips were made than we budgeted for and so the fuel budget was coming up short for the year. 

Steve was driving 10k to the Schaefer’s house to run with Grant five mornings a week.  So to save on fuel he started biking the 10k over to his house.  Run with Grant and then bike the 10k home.  He also started riding his bike just about everywhere he had to go in town here.  For a while the only time our vehicle left the carport was to take our family to church on Sunday and a family outing to the Schaefer’s for tea on Friday afternoons.

All this biking and running has slimmed Steve down quite a bit. 

Just a little side note.  Today Steve is trying to fix his bike.  On Tuesday was Luke Schaefer’s birthday.  He wanted his Auntie Rita to make him homemade vanilla ice cream.  Steve is usually in Maround doing ministry on Tuesday afternoons.  That morning Steve biked to Schaefer’s, ran, and then biked home.  He let us have the vehicle to go there in the afternoon.  He biked to Maround and then biked out to the Schaefer’s again for cake and ice cream. 

We loaded up his bike on top of our vehicle to go home.  We actually do this quite a bit with the kids bikes so that the children can all ride bikes while we are at the Schaefer’s.  Steve and I keep telling ourselves one of these days we are going to forget that we have bikes on our roof and drive right into the carport.  Well this was the day we forgot.  Steve’s bike got a little crunched up.  The seat pole was bent.  The back tire doesn’t work right and something with the gears is messed up.  Plus he needs a new brake handle.  The roof rack needs some work too.  The carport is just fine.