Today was a day that could have been only sad and upsetting, but I'm glad to say that our team didn't let it be that way. We spend the first half of the day relaxing at Brian Satola's house, having fun, petting his dog, etc. After nearly non-stop biking for 25+ days, it was good to have some rest time to recover and let the leg soreness subside. In the late afternoon we went to Robert's Family's Celebration of Life for Jamie. I won't go into every single detail, but I'm really thankful to the Roberts family for inviting us. Of course in a sense it was difficult, to be reminded of the grief and loss, but it was also great to see the Jamie that we didn't really get to know... Jamie the daughter, the sister, the teammate, the co-worker, the student, etc.
A silly highlight of the post-ceremony reception. We had not really eaten much immediately prior to th6-e service, meaning the entire team was very hungry... and I mean 4K cyclist hungry (ignoring the fact that we hadn't ridden in 2 days anyway). So let's just say that there may or may not have been teams of 4K riders actually darting through the crowd, looking for foods (some of Jamie's favorites, pigs in blankets, fried mac and cheese, chicken skewers, etc.) as they were being served off of platters. At some point we figured out where the kitchen was and just stood at there, swarming the servers as they came out. Finally I think the servers gave up and realized what would happen anyway, and just constantly came over to where we were. A bit silly, but we were filled and I'm sure Jamie would have been proud of us for so shamelessly stuffing our faces.
Of course when we returned to Brian's house, we were greeted by even more food, because pizza had been ordered for us. And of course, despite having just stuffed our faces, we did it again. When you bike that much, you find that your metabolism is sky high and you get hungry very easily, even after large meals... or at least that is what we keep telling ourselves. Anyway, thanks again to Brian Satola for hosting us. We'll certainly miss the lovely (and comfortable) house as we get back on the charter bus tomorrow for a 16-18 hour day ride...
No comments:
Post a Comment