Anyone with a bike and a good heart is a prospect!

        I've mentioned that Team Leap frog was based on a leap of faith that we can do this (not to mention my love of frogs).  But we're seeing a whole new meaning to the "leap" aspect of our team.  

     The team started out with only me, and as it was, I wasn't even certain I could do it, but was pushed into trying (hence the leap of faith).  As my team grew larger than ever, I started believing more and more in this "faith" concept.

     When I say the "leap" is taking on a whole new meaning, what I mean is, as one one team member finds a conflict in riding this year, miraculously, a new rider somehow leaps into that hole.  

     One of my riding buddies, Robert, had been a huge cyclist for many years and rode in the Bike To The Bay for about 12, along with the team he formed.  About 8 years ago he was bit by the infamous MS Monster himself, giving his ride a whole new direction.

     Last year he decided to throw in the towel for the Bike To The Bay due to the complications he encountered with MS, but offered to help me train for the ride.  Oddly enough, he rode faster and further than I could ever imagine going.  I did complete the ride, and grew my team bigger than I would have ever thought possible.  But I had to question why Robert had thrown in the towel if I was able to do it with 30 years of MS under my belt myself.

     When the next year sign-ups came around Robert actually Joined our team.  The only difference was he signed up for the 75 miles both ways (I'm hoping I can do 50...)  

     Slowly but surely he started asking some of his friends from his old team to ride again and has gotten several commitments.  

     He had been talking to his friends Mary and Kent, who were very anxious to join our team, but neither of them had bikes.  Remember the Bike co op where I go to work on my bike... well Robert figured that would be the perfect place to take them to find a bike.  

                                

     Mary found one that she absolutely fell in love with, and once you're hooked there's no backing out.  Kent, however, is still deciding, but as soon as Mary bought that bike I asked her if that meant she was riding, and she said absolutely!  The only caveat was that she needed someone to train with.  This was music to my ears!  I can always use another riding buddy:) 

                                       


     I'm very fortunate to find new team members to fill in some of the empty spaces and very hopeful next year some of the Leapfrogs who are on a sabbatical will be able to leap back in:)

Have a great weekend!!

Christine:)

Everyone knows someone...

       I'm sure we all have doppelgangers, or at least someone who is relatively similar to us.  But I started thinking the world was full of people who shared my same make up, because people are constantly telling me they know my twin.  Maybe I have an all american face...

     The other day my friend Karen asked me to meet her and some friends at Paddy Jack's Grill for their trivia nite.  My mind is always swimming with random thoughts, but trivia isn't usually a part of them, though it did sound like fun.

                                

     We were at a table with eight people so it was inevitable that within our group we could come up with at least one or two intelligent answers, so if I could be any help at all I would be thrilled (For the record, I knew the answer to the campfire dessert was S'mores:).  After contributing to the first question and getting that hard one out of the way my job was done, and I left all of the easy ones up to the rest of the group:)

     Towards the end of the evening the next question was going to be on literature.  Someone at our table said "Hey Jennifer, this should be right up your alley since you're a writer!"  I got this rush because I always wanted to publish a book, and just knew someday I would be guided on how to do it.

     I asked Jennifer if she had actually published a book herself.  She told me she was in the process of co authoring one right now.  My eyes lit up because I knew this was my chance to figure out how it's done.

     Before long we were deep in conversation and Jennifer knew my whole life story and I also knew hers.  We discovered that our lives were oddly similar.  Not only did we each have three children, we both hoped to be motivational speakers someday, as well as writers.  Fate has drawn me to others in the past... was this fate again??

     Jennifer mentioned that she has a friend who could be my twin.  I said people tell me that all the time.  But I think the reason for that isn't because I have an "all american" face, as much as an "all American" spirit, because within five minutes of someone meeting me they usually know exactly  who I am, and everyone knows someone just like me.  If they didn't know who I was, then how would they know I have a twin??

     Further in the conversation I mentioned how sometimes I feel like the universe is all mine, and everyone around me is an instrument in my life.  Jennifer totally agreed that this was how it worked.  Our energy attracts people and therefore we draw them into our own universe.  That's why things always have a way of working out, because we attract others to be our support.

     I told Jennifer this makes perfect sense because it was an outside force that steered me into riding in the Bike To The Bay, and then my energy attracted over 40 riders to join my team.  It's all a process.

     Of course, just to put this to the test, I asked Jennifer if she rode a bike, and she admitted she hadn't been on one since the ten speed bike she rode back in her high school days.  When I mentioned I ride in the MS Bike To The Bay with 30 years of MS under my belt, and believed she could do it as well, she was hooked.  My new BFF was now anxious to join my team.

          I will surely pick Jennifer's brain down the road to figure out this book thing, as well as motivational speaking, but for now I am totally convinced that we all have magnetic forces that draw great people into our lives, and if you think you know "me" then you probably do know my twin, because I believe "everyone" knows "someone".

Have a great Day!!

Christine:)