Day 3:
Today was a fairly simple 50 mile ride from Sacramento to Jackson. I was a sweep today which meant that myself and Jeff from CU Boulder were the last pace line that made sure all of the riders were accounted for.
One make think being a sweep would be nice to rest; this is true. It also was frustrating at times when we would get in a rhythm and then happen upon another line stopped for a flat tire. This of course means that we had to stop, wait, and let them get ahead.
Along the journey our crew do fun "challenges" in which they have us do eating and drinking challenges involving milk, orange juice and coffee. Today was a challenge in which we had to eat 3 pieces of birthday cake at a stop and then continue on. Jeff and I completed it, and thankfully it was on a fairly "easy" day.
Because I was a sweep today that meant I got to lead us into our friendship visit. We took 3 laps upon arrival and then we stopped and greeted the people at the friendship visit.
We had a great time signing autographs eating and just visiting with the people during this friendship visit. There were probably 50 to 75 people with disabilities that we got to visit with today as well as their caretakers.
After the visit we rode to our lodging which is a high school. Unfortunately, there is an incredibly steep uphill that we now call hotdog hill because everyone ate hotdogs shortly before we had to write up the hill and everyone felt that said hotdogs were going to be making a return visit.
For dinner tonight we ate at Mel's diner a local establishment. The local Lions Club made us spaghetti, salad and awesome cookies as well as cheesy bread.
After dinner we all came back to lodging and got our bikes prepared for tomorrow's very long treacherous journey. Will be embarking on a 95 mile ride from Jackson to Lake Tahoe. Included in this ride are several mountain passes and about 10,000 feet of climbing. This day is said to be the hardest day of the Journey of Hope North route and it comes on our fourth day of the trip. The anticipation behind this day is huge. Tomorrow I will be riding with Saurabh and Jason my Miami fraternity brothers. We will be on our bikes for almost 12 hours.
Please pray for our entire team tomorrow that we all finish strong and make it in before the sun sets.
Love & Honor,
Beau
PS sorry today's blog post is so scattered looking I am doing it from my phone.
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