Free Lap

In crit racing, a “free lap” is given to riders who flat, experience a mechanical issue, or are involved in a crash. They collect themselves, roll back to the start/finish, and are allowed to jump back into the race by re-joining the main group on the next lap. It is meant to simulate what happens in a road race, when a rider is allowed to draft off team cars to catch back up to the peloton. Near the end of the race, however, when there are just a few laps to go -- free laps are no longer given and the rider must decide to either finish the race solo, or drop out completely.

In life -- just like in crits -- sometimes we get a free lap, and sometimes we don’t. When I was hit by a car I was blessed with being given a free lap. As difficult as it was to deal with, after about six months of collecting myself and rolling back to the start/finish I had the good fortune of being allowed to re-join the group. I may be suffering at the back of the pack right now, but the race isn’t over yet and I may just have something left for the sprint.

Nate Aikele (pictured above with Lance Armstrong), unfortunately, isn’t being given a free lap.

While racing in the Driveway Series a couple weeks ago in Austin, Texas, Nate went off course and hit a tree. He fractured his T4 through T10 vertebrate, severely breaking his T7, and severed his spinal cord. The prognosis is permanent paralysis from the mid-chest down.

Permanent paralysis.

In Hebrews chapter 12, the author refers to our life as a race and encourages us to run it with endurance. That word, “endurance” can also be translated “patience” and it suggests that every individual’s “race” will include difficulties that we must suffer through. The difficulty that Nate has been given to endure is of a magnitude that many, including I, cannot truly comprehend. The race that has been “set before him” is one that no one would willingly choose. If the neurologists are correct, Nate will never re-join the peloton. He may not be receiving the free lap, but he has chosen to not drop out completely – he will finish.

Please join me in praying for Nate and his family, and applaud him as he continues his race. If you are able, the family is seeking donations to aid in his recovery.
You can donate online here: https://fundly.com/nate-for-the-win

He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31

Be careful out there,
and when you feel that burn in your legs on the hard training days -- be thankful.