Pre Trip
Hello everyone!
This is where I will be posting my updates throughout this trip across America! I will do my best to update the blog as often as possible, although how often that will actually be remains to be seen.
At the moment I'm finishing last minute preparations to fly out to Baltimore tonight. Tomorrow is training and safety day, and on Sunday we take off around 7AM!
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Hey everyone!
So I realized quickly that I won't have wifi every night. But I want to try to provide updates of my ride that are as daily as possible, so here is what I am doing. Each night I have wifi I'll post an entry, but on nights that I don't have wifi, I'll write an entry in my diary. Then when I do have internet access, I'll post entries from previous days... make sense? Enjoy it because this will be the one and only time in my life when I make my diary entries public...
Day 1 June 1:
I'm pretty tired and it's late (almost everyone has gone to sleep already), so I'll keep it brief. Today was our first day of riding. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, except for a few big hills, which previewed what the next couple of days will be like. I'm not really so sore, but who knows how long that will last. I did have my first (kind of) fall of the trip, although it was very minor. My bike was fine and the only part of me that was bruised was perhaps my ego.
The thing that stuck out the most about today was the difference it made to have the 4K alumni ride with us to our first host. In addition to driving our two vans (which provide lunch, water, snacks, etc.), some of them rode with us. Today I rode with Porter and Gavin, who made everything so much easier for us by riding in the front, figuring out directions, giving tips, etc. I was really grateful to have them there and I know it will be interesting when we don't have them any more!
Our very first water stop as a team...
Our first host on the trip was the Otterbein Church in Waynesboro, PA. They were truly gracious and provided hot showers, a delicious dinner, and tons of snacks and drinks for tomorrow's ride. We were all extremely hungry by the time we got into Waynesboro, so let's just say there was a lot of fried chicken and mac n cheese eaten, and whatever was leftover will be consumed very quickly tomorrow. Thanks so much to our kind hosts... we could never do this trip without you!
That's it for day 1!
First lunch... yes that is a mac and cheese sandwich WITH mayo and turkey
Top of mountain... you have no idea how out of breath I am in this picture
Our first state sign
Day 2:
The riding has definitely intensified. The more difficult parts of day 1 became the medium difficult parts of day 2. A lot of hills - which are often deceptive because they look gentle, but can go on for a very long time. We rode over the biggest mountain so far. Thankfully we were able to take a quick break at the half way point, because I honestly don't think I would have made it otherwise. As someone who trained in the flat world of Chicago, this notion of gravity being against me when I'm biking is a bit of a harsh reality. Thankfully I'm gradually learning how to ride on hills / mountains... to pace yourself, keep breathing... and just kind of accept that no matter what tricks or tips you might have, it will be painful.
In an effort to avoid even more mountain climbing, we rode through two ABANDONED, yes abandoned, tunnels. When we started riding through them, my group's lights all of a sudden didn't work and we found ourselves riding in near complete darkness for about a minute. Thankfully we managed to get some light and made it through safely... grateful that we could go through the mountains rather than over them directly.
Comforting words for cyclists
Entrance to the lovely dark, cold, debris filled tunnel
Ok so maybe this picture isn't all that exciting to you, but for us it was amazing to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (about 1.5 miles long I believe)
Today was a harder day than yesterday for sure... in addition to spooky tunnels and high mountains / hills, we also ended up having to ride on some gravel instead of paved roads... definitely not ideal with our bikes but we made it safely!
Lovely, lovely gravel... wet gravel
I'll end there for tonight, but I want to also say thank you to our hosts for tonight, the Bedford Presbyterian Church (which should also tell you that we are in Bedford, PA). They were so kind and patient with us, especially as our ride took much longer and we arrived later than ancipated. They provided an amazing hot dinner.. which is better than just about anything, after a hard day. They even shuttled us over to the nearby middle school to shower in the locker rooms.. a huge help getting all the gunk and grime off of us. So thank you to Bedford Presbyterian Church for all your kindness!
That's it for day 2...
Day 2 riding group + some other friends...
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