Today could have been one of the easiest rides of the summer. However, because of weather delays and cold muddy rain, it was rather annoying.
We had the usual wakeup and headed out of Craig, CO at around 6:00. We met a couple sponsors who were riding with us today. One of the sponsors, Bruce Rogers, is the main reason Journey of Hope happens every year. In 1987, when he was in college, he rode his bike from San Francisco to Washington DC on a similar route, all by himself. He had no support vans, no Clif bar sponsorship, no sweet jerseys. When I first met him, I could tell he was one of the most down-to-earth persons you could ever meet, always keeping a very humble attitude to life. Conveniently, his own firm, KRG, is our main sponsor year after year.
We headed out, and was immediately hit by a light shower of cold rain and obnoxious winds. The worst part about it was that the rain loosened up the mud all our the streets, and it happened to get all over me. The trek was only 35 miles, one of the shortest trips so far, and most of it was fairly flat. With that being said, it would have been the easiest ride had the weather been a little more favorable. After about 20 miles, we had to wait out the storm, sitting in the vans. It got a little boring, so I ended up taking a 15 minute power nap. Once we got going again, the weather warmed up a little, but it was still tough to get back on the bikes, with our muscles tight, and that mental block from waiting. Regardless, we finished off at around 1, had the usual sandwich for lunch along the way (2 meat, 1 cheese). The place we are staying today is the Christian Heritage School. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any showers located at the school. Once we arrived at lodging, we went straight to a swimming pool/spa to take a quick hot shower. The placed seemed really nice, like an upscale YMCA, but apparently it was expensive to take showers at, $5 a person. Luckily, I didn’t have to pay.
After we showered up, we made a quick Wal-Mart run. I was running low on protein, so I hopped over to GNC, where I met this guy who apparently sponsored the Journey of Hope team 10 years ago. It was pretty neat talking to him, discussing the differences in the teams, and their sponsors.
We came back to lodging where I had a quick workup consisting of pushups and bicep curls using resistance cables. I was pretty exhausted after it, so I ended taking an hour or two nap, along with the rest of the team. Literally, you would walk into the gym, and there was 25 guys, at least, sleeping. After the nap, we went to dinner, sponsored by a man named Mark, and his affiliated organization, Horizons. Horizons basically houses people with disabilities and helps find jobs for them in the community. I met a few of them during the dinner, including Jamie and Kelley, and honestly, you couldn’t really tell they had a disability. They were just a regular pair of girls, trying to figure out life.
Mark was a really nice sponsor. He donated a ton of very fresh pizza (it was Italian restaurant pizza, not your typical delivery pizza). I found out he graduated from Miami of Ohio and we had a conversation about the Michigan – Miami game in regionals of the NCAA tournament for hockey the past year. I was not amused by any means, but I did my best to keep a smile on. Bad memories.
After dinner, a group of us checked out downtown. We were on a street called Lincoln Avenue. I checked it out and I walked over to 903 Lincoln Avenue. It gave me a little laugh, as I currently live on 903 Lincoln Ave, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Bob, the corky sponsor, decided to buy us a round of cokes being his last day he was riding with us. We went out to an Italian restaurant, and literally got a round of cokes. TIP: Now if you down want to get a few odd looks from the locals, don’t go to a restaurant and order a round of soft drinks. Regardless, we made it a fun time. I really enjoyed this little town. I guess it’s a pretty big ski resort down, kind of like South Lake Tahoe, but it had a really unique feel to it. We headed back to lodging, and got ready for a 110 mile ride tomorrow, one of the tougher rides left on the trip.
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