It has been a month since Day Zero, when the ride officially started for the 2009 team. This month has gone by ridiculously fast. What is even crazier is that we have been actively preparing for the ride since early November of 2008. Anyway, today we made it into Helena after almost 9 hours on the road. It was a fantastic day, although I had some rough times towards the end.

This morning we had the biggest Rockies ride dedication circle so far this summer (the only other bigger ones where when we were still with the Sierras the first couple of days.) Most of our host houses came out to Vickie and John’s to send us off. I could really feel the energy in the air. It seems like everyone in the neighborhood is family. Thank you all for coming out this morning and for your positive thoughts and prayers.

In addition, Charlie and Marion also joined us for the ride dedication. They have been married for many years now and are still very in love. Charlie was recently diagnosed with pancreatic and lung cancer and is flying to Seattle tomorrow to get a surgery on Tuesday. Today the team dedicated our ride especially to Charlie and Marion, and I kept them in my thoughts all day long. It was so cool that Charlie even joined in on the Haka chant.

The ride today was pretty flat and easy. I had a blast cycling with Lisa for part of it; we had a “date” and caught up on life. Later I joined in with Mike, Jeff, and Emily for a super fast moving pace line. We averaged 20 mph for 20 miles, and made it to our 60-mile rest stop in no time. There, our drivers for the day surprised us with a 5th of July celebration including awesome outfits and fireworks. I couldn’t stop laughing and appreciating how awesome our team is.

I took off with Mike, Jeff, and Em for the next stretch of 20 miles and we were going pretty fast. Suddenly, I started to feel faint and really tired. I knew what was coming; I was going to bonk. I did not want to get to the point where I would be too tired to keep going, so I quickly had a PowerBar and lots of water. I even tried squirting water on my face multiple times, but it was useless. I eventually had to stop and take a break. Bonking feels horrible. The lack of sleep from last night and the summer is catching up. I really need to take better care of my body.

My team waited patiently with me as I temporarily recovered, and then the 4 of us rode at an easy pace to the 80-mile rest stop. I thought about Charlie all day today and really believe that his good spirit and positive attitude is what got me through the day. I was really exhausted and did not feel like continuing, but I did. By the time we got to the rest stop we had gotten way ahead of the rest of the team. While we waited for everyone to catch up I took a nap. I woke up an hour later feeling groggy and tired; it was time to get going because the rest of the team had finally made it to the stop and a huge storm was heading our way. I collected all my things, grabbed my rain coat, and got on the bike.

The storm definitively caught up with us and stayed for about 30 minutes. It was pretty windy and cold while it lasted, but then when it cleared up we were able to speed up and make it into the South Hill Baptist Fellowship safe and sound by 5pm. Here we got to take nice warm showers and relax for a while until dinner was served.

Thanks to everyone who helped prepare the delicious chicken, ravioli, salad, bread, and desert for dinner tonight. It was so tasty and good for the soul. Also, thank you for taking care of us and helping making us feel right at home!