I am so proud of my team. Although we left at 6:30am as one of the later groups, we pushed through the 90-mile day and finished first at 12:30pm, 12 miles and forty-five minutes ahead of the group closest to us. Although this trip isn’t about being the best, today was exceptional in that we had “weaker” cyclists with our pace-line. These are people that usually finished in the last group and struggled through the day. Not only did our achievement boost their confidence in their ability, but also it proved to me that a positive attitude is key on those tough days. We cycled very efficiently, and skipped one out of every two crew stops (they’re every 10 miles) in order to save time and fatigue (believe it or not, stopping only makes cramping worse). Moreover, we talked a lot and kept on encouraging each other. Conversations go a long way in making the miles go by smoothly and without too much focus on the pain and difficulty of the climbs.
The terrain was mostly large rolling hills with an 1000-foot climb about midway through the day. We saw an antelope cross the road and run near the shoulder for about 200 feet as we rode by. I got a video but it wasn’t quite clear, so I posted a picture my friend Adam Wallick took instead. We also saw a species of wild cactus with flowers, which we haven’t encountered so far, even in the desert.
We rolled into the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Craig, CO and spent the afternoon playing games and performing KOB (I uploaded pictures for the first time—they’re a bit blurry). Right now, we’re watching Topgun in the games room!
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