Hmm long time since I've blogged. So let me jolt my memory.
The ride into Ranchester... knee pain around mile 20. Lame, way to go knee. Typically, Ana was sick that day too, so we took over the van together after the first rest stop. About 300 feet after we took over there was an awesome downhill. Sad. Hmm, oh yes Ranchester was nice, we stayed at a middle school... with SHOWERS!!! I did some serious bike maintenance that day and put on some new brake pads. The few days before this, we've been approaching the Big Horns. This day, they stood right in front of us... so finally putting on these brakes seemed like a good idea. What else... Greg and I were on dishes this day... we power washed those dinner dishes with a hose until they were sparking. It was a cold and wet sacrifice that we made for the team. But we're such good people, we knew it was the right thing to do.
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Ah now this next day was crazy. 5 mile warm up. 18 mile climb. In preparation for this, the team geared up with face grease and roaring music. The knee made it until mile 17ish, having no phone service, I jumped in a truck with Larry and Rachel to the rest. They were good people. They have 8 horses and are from Minnesota and were roadtripping with their motorcycle (in the back of the truck). They were married in 1976 and have a few kids. Like I said, good people. I get to the rest and drive the next 8 miles to the 18 mile downhill. Erik so graciously volunteer to drive the van down the hill so I could ride it (: (: I hit a new high speed, 43.8. Riding down with Conor, Greg, and Steve, I was kind of nervous, but they kept up pretty good. We stopped at a pretty waterfall mid-downhill... it was gorgeous, and the ride through the canyon out of the mountain was incredible.
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We pulled into Dirty Annie's, a little restaurant shop at the bottom and waited for the team. Poor Pi pulls up in a pickup truck all banged up slightly after and he headed for some stitches.
I finished the ride with the speed demons and we caught up with 3 13-14 year old cyclists biking around the west... Pulling into the stayover was my favorite part of the dayy. Jordan appeared in the door wearing roller skates.
Upon entering this rec center... my eyes were blessed with visions of grace... Nathanael skated around and around the gym, twirling and twisting and beautifully skating his 6'4'' figure in circles. Once the whole team arrived, a 1970s skating party naturally erupted and after the owner stopped by... word got out of a bloww up obstacle course and you can only imagine the fun that took off from there! Favorite stayover thus far. Hands down.