Alright. Since my last post I have most definitely learned what a "serious climb" is. We all are very, very familiar with serious climbs. We had two 80+ mile back to back days in the mountains - Saturday and Sunday. Both days were pretty rough for everyone due to not only the climbs but also the heat. But: we made it across some mountains! I'm so proud of us. my group rode really well together and took turns pushing each other up, and as always we made each other laugh. perhaps a little too much, because all my stomach muscles go towards laughing and pedaling falls by the wayside. today we only did 47 miles (my group got pretty lost and we ended up doing 7 extra miles...) and tomorrow we have a rest day here in Pittsburgh. I have to admit. . . I've 'had a pretty rough time on the mountains. However, we all made it through and hopefully the midwest will seem like a breeze after 6 days in PA. (Edit: there might be mountains on wednesday out of pittsburgh in which case i will be slowly propelling myself up them, cursing myself for writing this joyful blog while mountains were still ahead. i guess i'll find out!)The new stem I got in Gettysburg is amazing! I'm no longer having back pain which makes riding 100000x more enjoyable. My knee is still acting up - I think the tendon of my knee is rubbing against something called the lateral femoral epicondyle & the repeated cycling motion is causing the area to swell up at night. It hurts to cycle uphill but some other people with knee problems and I have been yanking up with our feet, since our cycling shoes are clipped to our pedals -- that hurts less than putting pressure down with the injured knee. I'm going to ice it and hope for the best. Another rider is injured and has been unable to ride for some time - we're all keeping our fingers crossed that she's able to make a recovery and be able to ride with us again soon.the church we're staying at is awesome - there's a giant shower and a nice spacious, carpeted room for all of us to sleep in. there's a great kitchen and tonight we got some generous food donations from panera bread - hurrah!i think my family is coming to see me in indy and i am very excited to see them then, miss you guys!-bridgetps. please excuse my spelling and grammar, i'm blogging on a small netbook and i'm not quite used to the small keyboard!