1) Load your iPod with the third time you’ve listened to your opponent’s book…all the way through the endnotes and publisher’s materials—and third time you’ve listened to two of his public presentations.
2) Load a bunch of Rob Gagnon lectures, which you listened to a few years ago, but need to refresh.
3) Load the Indiana University lecture Doug Wilson gave and prepare to scream alone in your car at the lunacy of university students.
4) Drive down to Tucson—twice in two days, and get turned back halfway through your first attempt on Friday by a nice big thunderstorm. Go home, repeat on Saturday.
5) Do your first solo (unsupported) climb to the very, very top of Lemmon—that is, up to UofA’s Sky Center, a mere 9,052 ft. above sea level. Touch the gate. It’s official. Pass a guy right at the top who is young enough to be your son. Feel good about that. (Total ride: 56.83 miles, 7,779 ft. of ascent. Here’s the Garmin Connect readout).
6) Stop and smell the roses…or, in this case, take some really cool pictures of the incredible scenery you get to see from the vistas on the climb up Mt. Lemmon, such as this one right at 9,000 ft. above sea level, looking out over the Tucson valley.
7) Get stuck in a HUGE freeway closure on the way home (fatal roll-over accident 8 miles up the road); discover you have MORE Rob Gagnon lectures hidden in your podcast section on your iPod, listen.
8) Given you’ve burned a minimum of 4,000 calories on the ride, enjoy some yummy Nutella when you get home.
9) Thank God for the health to be able to enjoy His creation in this way at 50 years of age, always recognizing—every ride could be my last, and someday, I will get off the bike for the last time.
10) Sleep very, very well.
Alpha and Omega Ministries is a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. James White, director, is a professor, having taught Greek, Systematic Theology, and various topics in the field of apologetics for numerous schools.
