I was yet again deceived with the low mileage. Today was again, definitely one of the hardest days of the ride to date. We started out the day very smoothly, but by the end of it, we had climbed 3800 feet into Yosemite. As I swept the back end of the ride, at one point on the climb, we were going 3 mph. Nevertheless, even with these clibs, the view was absolutely gorgeous and screamed of a creator. I’d see the lakes and flowing rivers and choke up at the glory of it all. We eventually got so high that we biked past snow atop the mountain ranges. What made the day even tougher, as we climbed higher and higher, the sky started pouring (a mixture of rain and snow). The one upside of this was that all the crevices along the mountain became streams of flowing water eventually forming tiny waterfalls along the side. Absolutely enthralling. When I finally reached the entrance with our last teammate, we were welcomed by a cheering team with the breathtaking Lake Tioga to our left, snow further up on the left, and the “Welcome to Yosemite” sign in the distant background. This was definitely a climb and ride of a lifetime. I’m excited to be able to rest a bit in Yosemite. I still have an amazing team—wouldn’t be here w/o y’all.

Joel & his antics