Vuelta a Margarita

“The Europeans look down on raising your hands. They don’t like the end-zone dance. I think that’s unfortunate. That feeling—the finish line, the last couple of meters—is what motivates me.”—Lance Armstrong


 Barking Dog Cycling of Vermillion, SD (formerly the Lane Hogs, Inc.) has once again provided a spectacular day and venue for an organized philanthropic bicycling adventure (Margarita Ride IX) for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. You really have integrated some of the most beautiful scenery along the Missouri and Vermillion River Bluffs. Imagine that even the route’s road names explicate the beauty—Timber and Bluff Roads. Well done my friends!

On the next ride you take, STOP (and I mean that literally) and reflect on the opportunity and adventure that awaits you. Medical statistics reveal that some of us will fail in our advancing years, succumbing to various deleterious diseases that will restrict our future rides. Our genes will cull us from the Peloton as our nervous systems falter…whether it be MS or some other neurodegenerative disease.


I want you to meet a friend and colleague of mine. Kelly had just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease when Rocket introduced us. She thought the two of us should meet, because of our common interests. Besides being one of my most fascinating friends, Kelly is a nationally, regionally and locally recognized master teacher, extraordinary technologist, an authentic adventurer, and genuine friend. If you have ever been one of Kelly’s students, colleagues or friends; you know that you gain more from your unique association with him than you can quantify/qualify. Only a part of his story is told by this YouTube presentation of his 10-day 550 mile adventure with Dominic Gill—Kelly: The Century Ride.

“Those that believe the earth is flat have no place here, where the earth’s curvature is visible beyond field after field of rippling green. On one side of the road a field of corn jerks northwards, like the head of a small child having its hair pulled by the school bully. On the other side sunflowers look away, every single one of them, ignoring the wind’s bullying and staring straight at the sun despite the warnings we have all read about the dangers of doing so.

This is South Dakota, where grain elevators scrape the sky…”

Dominic Gill--Sharing a Ride Across America (Wilderness.com)

It’s not immodest to celebrate the personal victory. Raise your hands, protrude your tongue and shout out your conquest!