Today’s ride was dedicated to Marc’s aunt Nancy, who lost her battle to Multiple Myeloma in 2014. Nancy was the oldest sibling in her family and always had the most positive and optimistic outlook on life that inspired those around her. Her diagnosis was very surprising, and Marc described that it was very hard to watch her go through her battle. However, she stayed positive throughout it all and got to see many milestones in her family, which brought her joy. Today we rode for Nancy and her whole family.

It was a tough day today, filled with lots of hills and hard rain at times. However, it was also filled with beautiful views, nice trails, and the prettiest sunset that we have seen yet! It was a pretty long day totalling 80 miles, but everyone powered through and got to the stayover safely.

Our stayover tonight is the Westwood Baptist Church in Zanesville, Ohio. Our hosts graciously provided us Chipotle for dinner, a ride to a facility with showers, and cots to sleep on – which will be a nice little break from our sleeping pad! In the morning they will be making us omelettes, which we are all very excited for! The memory of a tough day fades when we have food in our stomachs and a place to sleep, and we are thankful to have both tonight.

Rider Shoutout: Zihao is someone you absolutely want to bike with each day. He is so positive and optimistic, and always has something funny to say to help pass the time. He is also a very strong biker and is someone you can trust to be on your team. We are thankful for him and hope that the Raptors win the basketball game this evening because he is rooting for them.