cycling update...of sorts

There's this guy at work...'Jack'.

Jack's a big cycling guy. He's done this MS150 thing several times. He does 4 or 5 100 mile rides a year. The proper term for those, I have learned, is centuries...even though they have nothing to do with years. He rides after work and does a ride every Saturday morning with several other people that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 miles, the middle of which involves a substantial bridge over the intracoastal waterway in Saint Augustine. He croses that bridge twice, because that's about where he turns around to come home. Yeah, it's one of those single file lines of cyclists like the one that passed me a few weeks back, doing 25 miles an hour or so. It's a bit out of my league, for now. He won't be doing the MS150 thing this year because he'll be in Canada, but we've talked about it. Jack is one of the people boosting my confidence, telling me if I can ride 40 miles without stopping now, and I keep training, I'll have no problem with what I'm trying to do in September. He's given me a few pointers along the way, too.

Jack's also a golfer. He played on a college team twenty-something years ago, and is still pretty good. Last week I asked him if he wanted to play Thursday night and he declined. He was going on vacation through this week. He was going up to the Carolinas someplace to do a bike ride up some mountain. It was 'only' about 70 miles, but it was all uphill. He'd be home midweek though and would love to play this Thursday if I'd set it up. No problem. I had an after work foursome for this Thursday...nine holes after work in a company league thing.

So yesterday afternoon, I get an e-mail from Jack. "Sorry, won't be able to play this Thursday."

Short. Sweet. To the point. Shit! Damn you Jack. Now I have to go find someone to take your #(*^#%*%$@ place. Shoulda known better than to expect you to play while you're still on vacation. I'm running Jack down all over the place, complaining about how the last thing I needed to do was go find a fourth to play golf. I'm asking most of the people I know who play. Since it's a company league thing and it's very cheap, all are either already playing if they want to, or can't. I'm complaining about how Jack left me in a lurch and I get to one guy who can't play and...

"Well, you know why Jack can't play, don't you?"

"No."

"Dude, the guy had a heart attack on his bike ride. He started having chest pains. They rushed him to the hospital. 100 percent blockage in one artery. 80 percent in another. They did angioplasty and he's fine, but he's still in the hospital. He should be home by the weekend."

Damn...I'm still a bit shocked, and feel more than a little stupid.