What an achievement!! Today we rode over 100 miles. 108 to be exact. This means that I am now apart of the Century Club, basically anyone who has logged in 100 miles or more in a ride. I never thought I would see the day where I could do this and love it, but the ride, although long was also quite interesting.

The weather leaving Dublin this morning was perfect, slightly overcast and no wind. Leaving a half an hour earlier than normal we were on our way to Indiana at 6:30 AM. After one road block was overcome by forging a river, where a bridge was out, we continued our trek towards our first century of our trip. The first 67 miles seemed to breeze by, so fast that most of us were in awe how fast we really could go and how flat the land was. The weather, however, had a surprise in store for us.

As I rode in the first group up to lunch I then stayed back, in what became the second group, which included Matt, Praveen and myself, to battle the extremely gusty winds which threatened to push us off the road, the torrential downpours, thunder, and the most exciting the hail storms. We were forging ahead in the winds and rain, when all of a sudden the left side of my face started to hurt. Traveling West on US route 40, as the wind whipped around us from the East and South, the rain felt much harder. Than we all noticed at once that the rain became hail. Trying to find shelter in the middle of Ohio proved much harder than we anticipated when instead of finding cover we battled our way through the hail because there were only wheat fields surrounding us.

As the hail subsided we trudged on through the rain and I was also thankful that John lent me his jacket because without it, I would have frozen while changing yet another flat tire. As we started to near the border of Indiana (where we are staying the night in Richmond), the rain cleared and the blue skies came through. As the weather got better the three of us finished the over 100 mile trek!

As the rest of the riders pulled in, we were all exhausted from the early start and long day of riding and battling Mother Nature. Tomorrow will be a hot day with temperatures calling for 91 degrees of hot sun, which will also be a test of our strength, battling from the rain and hail to the hot humid heat of the Midwest.

As a group we have been able to rely on each other and push each other to be the best we can be. We have worked together as an entire team, we have worked in smaller groups, we have individually pushed ourselves to learn and become better people, but no matter what task has been put in front of us, we always know that we have the support of one another.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

-Henry Ford

Welcome to the Century Club!