A Special Gift

Dan and I ordered new bikes from an online outlet store a couple weeks ago. I got the absolute cheapest bike we could find since we are trying not to spend an arm and a leg getting into this triathlon thing. In my mind, that seems to defeat the purpose of fundraising!  

Our bikes arrived last week and we set up an appointment with Reed Cycle in Eagle to have them assembled. After talking with Bill at the shop about our bikes, he suggested that we hold off on assembling mine for a day.  He had a line on a used bike that was about 10 years old, but of much higher quality that would probably be about the same price as I had paid for my new one. If I wanted to buy it, I could still send back the new one I had bought online.  

We let Bill know that we were training with TNT to raise funds to fight leukemia. That’s when he told us that the previous owner of the used bike had passed away from leukemia. 

Jason was 39 years old and had been through more than one bout with leukemia. He had undergone at least one stem cell transplant, but lost his battle recently. He was an active athlete and had four bikes that his widow, Jessica, was looking to sell. 

I came in the next day to have a look at the bike. Bill spent most of the day cleaning it up, rerouting the brake cables, tuning up the components, retaping the handle bars and even replaced the seat and tires. He spent a long time familiarizing me with the bike, adjusting everything to fit me and answering my newbie questions. I felt like Bill treated me just as well as if I had come in and bought a brand new $2000 bike! 

When I got her home, I parked her in front of my fireplace for a picture. Then I had a good cry and thanked God for the gift of this bike with such a special history. I thought again about how important the work is that Dan and I are doing, how much I miss my mom every single day and how hard these days must be for Jessica as she is now having to go through life without Jason. I hope he is pleased to see what has become of his old road bike and that the miles I put on it will help get us one step closer to a cure.

-- JAM