Hey everyone!

We are so close now! Yes, today I rode for 87 miles to end up 60 some miles away from Ixmiquilpan! We got started this morning around 9:am and finished by 3:pm. At the end tomorrow, we will have cover 2200+ miles.. I was supposed to go up a big climb today, 20 miles of steep climbing! well it was not what they told me it would be. At the end of the ride there was a climb, 5 miles long and pretty steep but it was by no means the "big" climb I was told it would be. Today was a very good day, I was relaxed and in good spirits. I still have pain and sorness and I am very tired. However, being this close to the finish i feel my body is no longer talking to me..or maybe i'm just not listening ;)

Yes, It was about after mile 1500 that my body started to cave in and my mind had to step in, then my mind was also weakening but with the help of all of you and my heart i got past that too. I think I have rid of all the weakness I had in me in the past few hundred miles. I also think I have used all the strength long ago, all the fitness i had is also gone. This is no longer a phisycal test, nor is it a mental one. Heart, its all heart now. Its all love.

I have had, as you all can imagine, lots of time to think, to ponder on things about life, about..the ultimate force. This is waht I think, now, one day and 60 miles away from my goal:
"how often am I going to want to quit?" I asked my coach Robin,
"Every day, but you just have to keep your head up and turn the pedals you can do it"
I knew she was right, I knew I would get through but I did not know how...
My family, my friends, my wife, my kids, people I just met my coach, Kate. This is how, all the love and support of those bihind me, all the love. And this, a story i kept repeating to my self every time I was on the verge of stoping:

I was 15 years old. I was sick, on a weekend night, I took my self to the public clinic. I walked 45 minutes to get there and sat at the waiting area for about an hour.. It was late, past midnight, poeple sitting on the benches and some tables. Some were sitting on the floor next to me. I was tired and my stomach was hurting (probably food poisoning). I was falling asleep when a man came running from the street. He could have been 25 or 45..people age faster when they are poor and hungry, I think. He was holding a little boy. The mom was running behind them. "run viejo run!" she said to him.
He ran inside and a nurse came to meet him. "my child, my son is very sick" the man said.
they went inside, the mom stayed outside, the door was left open just enough so that I could see what was giong on inside. "put him here" the nurse said and pointed to the floor. The beds were probably all taken.
I saw the man put the boy on the floor. As he was doing this I noticed the boy's hands and legs were dangling from his body. He was almost completely naked.
The nurse bent over the body and I could not see what she was doing...but I knew.
A couple of minutes later the man walked out.. He look at his wife and said "ya vieja..ya" "that's it vieja...that's it"
"why did you not bring him earlier?" the nurse asked
"We left yesterday morning to come here as soon as he started getting "sick" the man answered.
They explained that they lived too far away from the town and there were no roads, they had to walk several hours to get to one main road and waited for a car to go by and hope they would be picked up.
Without anything else to say, the man went back inside the room.
He came back out with the boys body, wrapt in a blanket then they left.

I went home, I just wanted to know the boy's name..
Over and over again I repeated this story in my head, some times I cried sometimes I got mad....but every time I grew stronger. Everytime I pedaled faster.
When I think, why? when I ask my self why, why do I do this, why go through this pain, why be away from those I love, why build a clinic in a place I no longer live in? The answer is always the same. Becasue it is the right thing to do. Because that child should have had another chance.

Love, is what got me through. Love for what I do, love for my family, love for those who are in need.
I have been tested, I have been challenged, and I have come on top. I have accomplish something bigger than I ever imagine my self a part of.
Every time I found my self fighting against the wind, the sun, the rain, the up hills, the pain, the tears I found my self looking into some one or something that inspired love to grow in me and I got stronger..So, now 60 miles away from my goal I realize that love is, the ULTIMATE force.
Please forgive me if this blog is going every where but this is what goes on in my mind And I just want to be true to you all.
Please stay tuned
Ascary

To liliana and Ava:
Hola hijas, I hope you girls are having a great weekend! Well I am coming back home very soon. I Love you all very much plaese bee good to wach other and your sister Sulema ok? Well I have to go to bed because I am tired but I will talk to you very soon.
Love, papi
PS: tell mami I love her