Today, I miss my family. We’re staying in a little town called Benton, CA tonight; it’s pretty desolate out here—just a gas station, a school, and a few mining operation buildings. Naturally, we’re camping out. I’m glad to finally be out of Nevada, which was long, dry, and hot. Benton isn’t much different but at least we’re one day closer to the fresh sea air buy the coast. Today’s ride was 82 miles long, and I was sweeping the team at the back. It was a pretty pleasant sweep as I spent nearly the whole day with my good friend and teammate Joel (who managed to take the California border race as well). The climbs todwday werne’t too tough, and we got really lucky with the temperature (high of 91, compared to last year’s team which endured a 110 degree day). Today we also raced to the border which I came in third behind Joel and Lance. It was a pretty tight and fun race. I’m excited for these next few days as they’ll bring shorter rides. AND, we get to rest in Yosemite National Park. I hope you all are doing well back home and in Austin. Miss yall.

This is 13,000 ft high; right now were at about 7000 ft (on Montgomery Pass):