Day 48

Brattleboro, VT to Burlington, MA -- 90 miles We are (unofficially) finished!!! Today was the last long day of the tour and it was a tough one. More about the ride in a minute. We are in Burlington, a northwestern suburb of Boston, and this is the last stop on the tour. Tomorrow we will do a ceremonial 18-mile ride to Revere Beach on the Atlantic Ocean for our "wheel dip" and then we will have officially been all the way across the United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 44 or 45 days (not really sure). I originally thought it was 52 days because that's what the pre-trip information said but that included our five rest days and two pre-departure days in the Los Angeles area. I know one thing: I'm very thankful to have completed the 3,400 mile journey accident-free. I only had one little mishap and that was the day I basically "bonked" between Blythe, CA and Wickenburg, AZ (115 miles). I learned a lesson the hard way. Don't give up coffee "cold turkey" and don't try to skimp on calories when you have to ride long distances! My little accident occurred in the parking lot as I was clipping in and fell over on the "clipped in" side. It got a little scrape and a couple of small bruises but that's very minor compared to what could have happened! Anyway, today's ride was a humdinger. First of all, the forecast called for rain all day so we weren't looking forward to riding 90 miles on our last long day in inclement weather. We've all been very cautious to pay extra-close attention to what we're doing so as not to have an accident at the end of the tour. We crossed our 13th state line at mile 2 when we rode into New Hampshire. A couple of miles after that, I missed a right turn and went an extra 2 miles before I realized it. Then the fun began REALLY began at mile 7. After doing some rollers we saw two very long climbs in front of us that we later found out (from someone who has a computer with this information) that the first one was 14% and the second one immediately following it was 15%. They were each about 200 yards long but these two hills had a few riders walking today. We had 6,100 feet of climbing yesterday so you could say our quads were just a little bit fatigued! After the first SAG stop at mile 31 the climbs were less severe but we still had quite a few left to go. I started riding with my regular riding buddies, Bill and Ken (Peoria, IL), John (St. Joe, MO) and "Boston" Bob (not to be confused with "Iowa Bob") at the 2nd SAG. At mile 42 we hit the Massachusetts state line, our 14th crossing and 15th state. The rain started to pick up by this time and so did the traffic. Coming into our second SAG stop at mile 60 was a harrowing experience. The highway was incredibly rough with holes and bumps galore and the cars came way too close to us for comfort. All of us were pretty shaken up by that point. We finally turned off of that highway and got onto a less congested road, thank goodness. The four guys wanted to stop for lunch but I had filled up on cheese and Triscuits at the SAG and decided to ride on in. Fortunately, I quickly came upon Meredith (Bowling Green, KY) and Laura Kuhlman (Chicago) and the three of us navigated our way through the suburbs to our hotel. We thought we were home free with only a half mile to our left turn to the hotel, when we found ourselves on the entrance ramp of I-95! We had turned one light too soon. Whew -- that was a close one! Of course, we all said, almost in unison, that we had pulled a "George" because he gets lost at least twice a day and has been known to ride on interstates we weren't supposed to be on! We all celebrated with "high fives" when we pulled up at the Hilton Garden Inn, our last hotel (and there have been over 40) of the tour. Tonight we have a reception planned for 5:00 before dinner where I'm sure there will be more than a few drinks consumed to celebrate this amazing journey. Tomorrow's ride: 18 miles to the ocean. It will be like a walk around the block!!!

Day 47

Albany, NY to Brattleboro, VT -- 79 miles -- Today was a spectacular day! I think it was my favorite day of the whole tour. We only have one more day to ride so tomorrow's ride better be perfect if it's going to beat today. Maybe it was God smiling down on us due to the blessing by Father Michael, Don Behrens' pastor, who came to the hotel to see us off this morning. The five of us who have been attending mass each week stayed around for an extra 15 minutes so we could receive his blessing but it was worth it. He was a humorous and delightful man and we wanted to be there for Don, as well. He has raised over $25,000 for the Catholic Charities Emergency Relief Fund for the Diocese of Albany. This group really rolled out the welcome mat for us by providing two SAG stops fully stocked with homemade brownies and all sorts of cookies and drinks. How I'm going to go back to my Weight Watchers lifestyle after eating like this for two months I'll never know! I'd love to know the average calorie consumption of our group on a daily basis! Anyway, back to the ride itself. The weather was perfect. It had rained during the night -- as it has almost every night for the past two weeks -- but by morning the skies were clear and the wind was blowing gently out of the west. We've had a tailwind almost every day since we got into Missouri. We paid our dues the first part of the trip with horrendous head and crosswinds, that's for sure, so we were due a change there. We crossed our 12Th state line when we crossed into Vermont just outside of Bennington. I have biked in the Bennington area before when I did a bike trip with Walt and Claudia Stallings and Debbie Mickel a year ago last October. We had a continuous 7-mile climb coming up outside Bennington which was very similar to the climbs we've done many times out in Colorado. The descent was fast, fun and scenic. I topped out at 45 mph and I was holding back a little. Our German father and son team, Achim and Alex, reached 53 mph which I had no trouble believing. They have a slow go of it on the climbs with their tandem recumbent machine, but boy can they fly on the flats and downhills. We had another SAG stop at mile 52 and still had more climbing to go but it wasn't that bad. The Green Mountains are a beautiful place to ride and I'd love to bring Lee back here to do the very ride we did today. Brattleboro is a charming Vermont town with lots of quaint shops and restaurants. Four of us opted to walk to a barbecue place about a mile from the hotel and it was one of the best meals we've had the whole tour! I have to admit I had my doubts about barbecue in Vermont but they nailed it. It also probably tasted so good because we had ridden nearly 80 miles and climbed over 6,100 feet without stopping for lunch (that's if you don't count string cheese and triscuits as lunch). We're all getting a little bit sad that tomorrow is our last day. It's a strange feeling. We've been together for 7 weeks and I do mean together! We've shared breakfast every single day, SAG stops, riding experiences, laundry duties and group dinners for over 50 days and after Friday night, I may not see most of these people ever again in my lifetime. Tomorrow is going to be a long, difficult day when we go through New Hampshire into Massachusetts heading for our final destination of Burlington (89 miles).

Day 46

Little Falls, NY to Albany, NY -- 72 miles -- Today's ride was one of the easiest we've done the whole tour. The route was all on Route 5, a fairly flat highway along the banks of the Mohawk River. Our only official SAG stop was at the top of our only significant climb. The view from the top overlooked the river valley and countryside beyond and it was a beautiful sight. The weather was cloudy and cool most of the morning but we didn't get any rain, thank goodness. It's been raining most every night but over with by the time we start riding. Don Behrens' charity volunteers provided another SAG stop for us about 15 miles away from the finish. There was a large crowd gathered in the parking lot of Dunkin Donuts cheering and clapping for us as each one of rolled in. It was a nice welcome! Don personally led us on a route that he regularly rides and he promised there would be much less traffic and more scenic than the CrossRoads route. So with Tracy's permission, Don led us on a personal tour on a nice bike trail along the Mohawk River into Schenectady (where we saw Union College and some nice old buildings) and then into the Albany area. Tonight is our last official route rap at 5:45. It's starting to sink in that this will all be over with in three days. We still have two of the hardest days of the tour left to do tomorrow and Thursday. We ride from here to Brattleboro, VT over the Green Mountains (a BIG climbing day) and on Thursday, we ride from Brattleboro through New Hampshire and on into Burlington, MA, our final destination. Then it's all over except for the ceremonial ride to the Atlantic Ocean on Friday.

Day 45

Syracuse, NY to Little Falls, NY -- 78 miles HELP! I can't remember one thing about the ride yesterday. All the days have been running together for some time now but eventually I can remember something, but I am truly drawing a blank. I guess I've just been on the road too long! Don Behrens (Albany, NY) is raising money for Catholic Charities for Emergency Relief for the Diocese of Albany. His organization set up a SAG stop in addition to our regular one so we had extra junk food on the ride today. They're planning a bigger SAG stop with more volunteers for us tomorrow. Little Falls is a small town on the Mohawk River that, in its heyday, was a thriving commercial town on the river and Erie Canal, but that was then and this is now. There's not much to tell about Little Falls except that a lot of trains go through there at all hours of the night! There is one special thing about this town, though, and that is that the lock there is the highest one on the Erie Canal. We stayed at a Best Western (the only hotel in the whole town) and they did a buffet dinner for us in one of the meeting rooms. There was no internet in the hotel so I wasn't able to write this yesterday. This probably explains why I can't remember anything about the ride today! We didn't get rained on yesterday and that's probably because I had my rain jacket with me all day -- good insurance! Only 3 more days to go until Burlington, MA!

Day 44

Canandaigua, NY to Syracuse, NY -- 68 miles Today is Sunday so Ken and Bill (Peoria), John (St. Joe, MO) and I rode our bikes into Canandaigua to attend 7:30 mass. It was a really beautiful church and the sermon was good. The greeters were very nice to let us park our bikes inside the church, too. Since we were riding shorter mileage today, we got to leave an hour later so we were only 45 minutes behind everyone. We caught up to them at the SAG stop (mile 37). We got lucky again with the weather because it was a beautiful sunny morning with temperatures in the low 70's. I'm going to suffer when I get back to Arkansas where temperatures are in the 90's with high humidity! We rode through the pretty lakeside town of Geneva which sits on the northern edge of Seneca Lake, the deepest of all the Finger Lakes. Beverly had a little crash in Seneca Falls but was OK enough to continue riding. Seneca Falls is the place where the women's suffrage movement began and women attained the right to vote. There was a museum there but John (St. Joe, MO) and I didn't stop to tour it because we wanted to check in at the SAG stop before they closed it. As it turned out, we weren't the last ones there. It seemed like everyone was taking their time today. My legs felt heavy and tired all day so I didn't have a great riding day but the scenery was beautiful so it was a good day to ride at a more leisurely pace for a change. We also stopped at the Erie Canal where you could take a boat ride along the canal but we opted to pass on that, too. We got into Syracuse about 30 minutes before the rain but I was prepared today with my rain jacket. Since the forecast calls for rain the rest of the week, I've decided to ride with my rain jacket with me at all times! As soon as I got to my room, I took a bath and lay down and took a nap before route rap -- my first nap of the whole tour! I was really tired. There was a little social at 5:00 hosted by our German father-son team to celebrate Achim's (Dad's) birthday. He provided LOTS of beer and wine for all of us and we sang Happy Birthday to him and took lots of pictures. It was fun. Dinner was a Chinese buffet across the street. It was actually pretty good but not as good as Wegman's last night! We only have 4 more full cycling days until this is all over. They will be long, tough climbing days but the end is near and everyone is getting pretty excited about getting finished and going home.

Day 43

Hamburg, NY to Canadaigua, NY -- 95 miles Canandaigua is one of the small towns in the Finger Lakes region of western New York. Lee and I biked in this area about 10 years ago when we came up here to do a ride called Bon Ron Roulet. It's really beautiful. This was a long day but the weather was spectacular for the first 70 miles or our second SAG stop in Avon, NY. The forecast was for afternoon showers but it was such a clear gorgeous day that I asked Paula who was riding in the van because she had crashed the day before to carry my rain jacket for me -- big mistake! We passed another milestone today when we hit the 3,000 mile point of our tour. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera with my today to capture the moment. I was afraid we'd run into rain (which we did after the lunch stop in Avon) and I didn't want to run the risk of getting Melissa's camera wet. I already had to replace a cell phone that died after it got wet just from sweat! Clark, Jim, Tracy (staffers), Paula (Sacramento) and Scott Hlady (Moline, IL) were there holding up the 3,000 mile sign and cheering us on with cheerleader poms and funny hats and disguises. It was such an exhilarating feeling to see that sign and realize that we'd all ridden that many miles on our bicycles! The reason Scott was in the van today was because he had gotten up during the night to answer his phone and broke his 4th toe when he ran into the dresser -- ouch! Beverly, one of us riders, is from an area around Rochester so today's ride was along the roads she rides all the time. She said we had to eat lunch in Avon at a place called Tom Wahl's. It's like a big Whattaburger and it lived up to its reputation. They had their own homemade root beer that was great. I've become a big root beer fan on this trip! We sat around a visited a little too long and got into a pretty big rain about 5 miles out of Avon. About 5 or 6 of us huddled under a Mobile gas station awning until the worst of it was over and then finished up the last very hilly 20 miles. We got into Canandaigua just before another storm hit. We had to wait about an hour and a half to get into our rooms, though, and that was pretty unpleasant since we were wet. Dinner that night was across the street at a big grocery store called Wegman's. It was the most unbelievable grocery store I've ever seen. There's a big food court with all kinds of buffets -- enormous salad bar, Chinese food bar, sushi bar, etc. They told us we could go through the line one time only so we better get all we want in that one trip. They weigh your plate(s) at the register and you pay so much per pound. You should have seen some people's plates (mine!). It was the best place we've eaten on the trip in about 3 weeks. After dinner I got a decaf latte and walked around the store for about 45 minutes just looking at everything. They have Wegman's all over this area. They're similar to Whole Foods but have more to choose from. I sure wish Little Rock had one!

Day 42

Erie, PA to Hamburg, NY -- 80 miles Last night in Erie threatened to be a short night because there was a block party directly under my hotel room window with live bands playing (loudly) until after midnight. It became necessary for me to pull out the emergency sleep enhancers -- Ambien and earplugs! I slept like a baby! It had rained most of the night and the forecast calls for rain all week in this area, but thankfully, all of it seemed to move through during the night and we had a perfectly beautiful day of riding along Lake Erie on Route 5. There were beautiful vineyards all along the highway to the right and huge Lake Erie on my left. We crossed our 11Th state line today when we entered New York state. Paula from Sacramento had an accident today when her wheel got caught in a deep rut between the shoulder and the highway. She went down pretty hard, but Mary Ann and Janie were with her and got her stabilized until Tracy and the ambulance arrived. The last I heard she has a concussion and cracked her helmet in four places. So to all of you who don't think it's necessary to ride with a helmet, you're an idiot! Her helmet saved her life. She'll probably have to take a couple of days off, but knowing Paula, she'll be back and ready to go as soon as she can. It's really amazing to see on our map each day how much distance we've covered by bicycle in six weeks. Everyone is getting excited and anxious about this last full week of riding. I'm trying to be especially careful because when my mind wanders I tend to make careless mistakes. With less than 500 miles left to go, I'm not going to take any chances! I've come this far with no accidents and I have to keep my head in the game if I want to arrive safely at the Atlantic Ocean next Friday morning. I was thinking today while I was riding that it would be so great if Lee would surprise me and show up at the hotel when I get there next Thursday afternoon. I doubt that he will be able to, however, because of all the responsibilities he has between now and June 30Th, the date we close on the house we're selling and the house we're buying (which I haven't even seen yet!). Our ride tomorrow will be a very tough one. We're riding 93 miles to Canandaigua, one of the Finger Lakes towns, and it's going to be a big climbing day.

Day 41

Erie, PA -- REST DAY. Today was a big day. We started out doing laundry at the local laundromat and then a few of us rode our bikes to a local bike shop and then down to the Erie harbour area on Lake Erie. There are over 500 shipwrecks at the bottom of Lake Erie, the shallowest of all the Great Lakes. Today the weather is chilly and overcast. The forecast is for cool, rainy days for the remainder of the week. It's very nice to have a relaxing day without being on a schedule. Just seven more full riding days to go! We're in the home stretch now.

Day 40

Niles, OH to Erie, PA -- 92 miles Today we crossed our 10th state line into Pennsylvania and are in Erie enjoying our fifth and final rest day. The weather was pretty miserable for today's ride. The high for today was only supposed to be in the low 60's but I'm not sure it ever warmed up that much. Around mile 18 we started getting rain and with a cold wind from the NW (our ride was straight north most of the day) we were wet and freezing for most of the day. About six or seven riders stopped at the first SAG stop (mile 33) and decided they were just too wet and cold to continue. My socks were soaking wet and I was so cold that I couldn't even feel my fingers. I hooked up with Rich and Laura Kuhlman (Chicago), Darryl English (Park City, UT) and Jim Simone (Chicago) who have been riding together almost the entire tour. Laura is the strongest female rider in the group -- she even has a coach from Colorado and is very serious about her cycling. I was able to stay with them with little difficulty and we rode either in a pace line or an eschelon (new to me) to make the best time in the windy, rainy conditions. When we pulled into the second SAG stop (mile 71) the rain had stopped and we were starting to dry out with the intermittent sunshine. The SAG was at the greatest place called the White Turkey Inn in Conneaut, OH. This place looked like something out of the 50's with miniature juke boxes on the counter. My buddy, Mike Lee (Portsmouth, England) played "Peggy Sue" in my honor while we ate and drank the specialities of the house -- chopped turkey sandwiches and root beer floats. Lee would have LOVED these root beer floats. I took a picture of one so that I could show him! For once I was thankful to have 30 more miles to ride so that I could burn off some of those calories! My eating habits will have to go through a drastic change when I get home. We eat whatever we want whenever we want with no regard to caloric or nutritional value. At first I felt a little guilty about this but I'm getting used to it now! I guess that's our reward for all of the hard work we do every day. Since our last rest day a week ago in Champaign we've ridden across the rest of Illinois, all of Indiana and all of Ohio. After these last seven days we really need this rest day!

Day 39

Wooster,OH to Niles, OH -- 94 miles Today was another long ride. It's almost like any ride under 80miles is like a 25-mile ride along the River Trail used to feel like. My definition of a long ride has changed dramatically since coming on this! It was very cloudy and stormy-looking all day, and to top it all off, it was down-right chilly! The temperature never got above 60 degrees so this was the coolest day we've had since the freezing rain day in Santa Fe last month. This is also our last night in Ohio. We've essentially crossed a very wide state in three days! Tomorrow we'll ride to Erie, PA and thank goodness, we'll have a day off there on Thursday. This will be our tenth state line crossing and our only stopover in Pennsylvania. This is also our last rest day. We'll have a tough week in New York, though. The man who initially told me about crossing the US with CrossRoads told me that crossing New York was the hardest part of the tour. He said that by that time everyone is ready for it to be over and to get home. I can totally understand what he meant now. I told Lee last night that I'm starting to feel like someone who's counting the days until they get out of prison! Of course it's not that bad, but it is a grind doing this many miles this many days and weeks in a row. I'm sure I'll miss a lot of people I've met -- after all, we spend nearly 15 hours a day for 7 weeks together! I won't miss getting up at 5 AM and being on the bike from 7 AM - 3 PM every single day. We'll ride around 87 miles tomorrow. The forecast is for more cold weather and rain tomorrow. Let's hope that changes!

Day 38

Marysville, OH to Wooster, OH -- 98 miles This was a pretty day, too, so we've been blessed with three beautiful days since Indianapolis. We even had a tail wind again today and that is always welcome. Today we biked through Amish country. This area of Ohio (north central) is rural and has some amazing scenery. The homes and barns look like something you'd see in a magazine. We saw several horse-drawn black carriages that are so characteristic of the Amish communities. There was another bike tour on the road today going in the opposite direction. Several of those riders yelled at us that we were going in the wrong direction and that was pretty humorous to us! This group was part of a 3,000- rider tour called GOBA which is an acronym for something along the lines of "bike ride across Ohio." Almost every state has a big state ride like this, RAGBRAI in Iowa being the largest and most famous. We were out on the bikes by 7:05 again this morning, our regular starting time. A few riders who like to ride a little slower and stop more often were requested by Tracy (owner of CrossRoads) to leave a little earlier so as not to be out on the road too late. The last three days have been long ones -- 88, 108, and 98 miles respectively -- and tomorrow will be another one at 91 miles to Niles, OH. Special note to Sharon and Sarah Jane: I'm with Jim and Carol at the Wooster Public Library right now so this a hello to you from all of us. The weather report for tomorrow is for highs in the mid - 60's (wow, that's pretty cold for us!) and for blustery winds with a possibility of thunderstorms. Doesn't sound that great, but we are going to be one day closer to Boston and that's all that matters to me at this point!

Day 37

Richmond, IN to Marysville, OH -- 105 miles HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you dads out there -- especially to my husband, Lee, and my boys' dad, Tom. My dad died in 1976 when I was 19 years old so it's been a long time since I've celebrated Father's Day with my daddy. I wonder what he would think of what I've been doing for the last 5 weeks! Weather wise, this was a perfect day. The temperature was in the mid 70's starting out at 7 am and ended a little on the warm side in the mid-80's according to my "Yankee" riding buddies (but not by Arkansas standards). We had a strong wind out of the west today which was a blessing for a change. It was a long day but an enjoyable one. The past few days I've been riding with Ken and Bill from Peoria, IL, Bob from St. Joe, MO, Bob from Boston, and today Paula from Sacramento. We stopped and had lunch around mile 66 to break up the day a little bit. We've picked up a few new riders since Champaign. Bob from Boston joined us to completed the second half of his trek across the US which he began in 2001, and Jim and Carol from the Philadelphia area (Westchester) joined us in Indianapolis to complete their 4Th leg of this journey. I'm beginning to think Bob, Jim and Carol were the smart ones to break it up into segments and not try to do it all at once. Two and three weeks at a time would be a lot easier than seven straight weeks. However, since we're nearing the end with just 12 more riding days, I'm going to be glad I have it all behind me in one attempt, I think. Carol said to say hi to her good friends from Westchester, PA (Sharon and the other name escapes me right now) who are reading my blog updates for daily reports. Sorry I can't remember the other lady's name but just ask Ken how bad I am with names! I call him Bill about 5 times a day. Well that's it for now. We have 3 more hard days before we get to our next rest day in Erie, PA. We ride 100 tomorrow and 95 the next, etc., etc. We're a little over 75% finished with the tour -- hard to believe.

Day 36

Indianapolis, IN to Richmond, IN -- 84 miles Today's weather was just perfect. The rain from the day before had blown through and the day was clear and beautiful. We even saw a flag just hanging from a flagpole -- no wind! I almost stopped and took a picture of it because it's something we've never seen before on this trip. I rode with five or six men all day long. We started a pace line about 5 miles outside of Indianapolis and we just stayed together the whole day. It was nice to have a leisurely ride and make good time for a change. We had a lunch stop -- something I'm not used to doing -- in a cute town called Centerville, about 10 miles from our destination of Richmond. We took the last 10 miles pretty easy since we had just eaten. Richmond is a really nice town. The group of us that was riding together today are all Catholic and we have been going to Mass together every Saturday afternoon i n whatever town we're in on that day. Our taxi drive said the people of Richmond either work in "plastics or caskets!" I thought that was pretty funny. Today and the next 4 days will be very long, tough days. We have 104 miles to ride today into Ohio, then 98 tomorrow, 94 the next day, and so on and so forth. We have less than 1,000 miles to go to Boston. I'm ready for this to be over now! We're beginning week 6 today...getting time to go home -- my new home!

Day 35

Crawfordsville to Indianapolis -- 65 miles Today we rode in the rain for most of the ride. We had a fun rest stop at the Gentry's farm. We huddled up on their front porch and had snacks and visited with Donna and Carl who have been welcoming Tracy and her CrossRoads riders for the last ten years. We had a chance to ride on an outdoor velodrome but most of us passed up the opportunity to get out of the rain as soon as possible. We had to ride in pretty heavy city traffic in the rain for the last 4 miles so that was unpleasant and challenging. I wish motorists remembered that cyclists have the same rights as another vehicle and that we obey the same traffic laws as cars. It's frustrating and dangerous some times when they act like we have no right to be on the road (in their nice dry cars!). When we heard thunder and saw the lightening, we rode the last few miles in record time. We were drenched w hen we got to the hotel and very glad to have a dry place to go for the rest of the day.

Day 34

Champaign to Crawfordsville -- 89 miles We crossed our 8th state line when we rode from Illinois into Indiana. We rode into a headwind or had a crosswind most of the day but that's becoming the norm and we're getting pretty used to it. Nothing out of the ordinary happened today. We stayed at a nice Holiday Inn with a nice outdoor swimming pool. We changed time zones again so now we're on Eastern time and lost an hour.

Day 33

Rest day in Champaign. Had a nice rest day in the Champaign-Urbana area. I had a massage (of course!) and then toured the University of Illinois campus on my bicycle. I've discovered that I ride a whole lot better the day after a rest day when I've done an easy 10-15 miles on the rest day itself. Five of us girls went to see "Sex in the City" at the movie theater. Pretty good movie!

Day 32

Springfield, IL to Champaign, IL-- 93 miles) Today was BEAUTIFUL! The temperature was in the mid 80's, what wind we had was a tail wind (praise the Lord!) and the ride was relatively flat. The best part of the day, however, is that it's the end of a "work" week and tomorrow we have a rest day! Those are the days we look forward to the most now days. A group of us will go somewhere good for dinner tonight and then go see the "Sex in the City" movie which I've been looking forward to for months. Tomorrow I'm going to get a massage. As a therapist myself, I know how important it is to flush out the lactic acid from the muscles and work out the kinks. It's the one thing I decided to do every single rest day since I'm putting a lot of demands on my body and it deserves to be pampered! We've covered over 2,200 miles so far. The black line on our map (to show the distance we've already covered) is growing inch by inch every day and now we're about 2/3 of the way finished. It's just hard for me to believe that we've actually ridden this far on a bicycle in four weeks. Just unbelievable!

Day 31

Quincy, IL to Springfield, IL -- 108 miles Today was a long ride in the rain but it was a great day. The first 75 miles was in the rain but it wasn't that bad because it wasn't hot and the winds were mild. It was nice not having to worry about being in the sun all day so I rather enjoyed riding in the rain for a change. As has become the norm for me lately, I rode most of the day by myself and only saw a few other cyclists. As it turned out, the reason I saw so few people is because I was at the front. I made good time to the first SAG stop where I refueled, dried off a little bit and was on my way. I rode with Linda Kasper (Tucson) from mile 71 the 2nd SAG, to the finish here in Springfield and by that time, the rain had stopped. We were soaking wet but it didn't seem to matter. We had a good conversation and made really good time. When 100 miles rolled up on my odometer just as we were coming into the city limits of Springfield, I was pleased to see that I had just ridden my fastest century ever! I averaged 17.1 mph and finished it in 5hrs. 50 minutes. I felt strong the whole way so I guess it's true that to become a strong rider you have to log a lot of miles and THAT we have done! We have one more 80 mile day tomorrow into Champaign and then a day off. We always look forward to those. My friend, Bernita Edelman, whom I met a massage conference, is going to hang out with while I'm in Champaign. I'm looking forward to seeing her since it's been over a year since I've seen her.

Day 30

Kirksville, MO to Quincy, IL -- 75 miles Today's ride was windy to put it mildy but it was an exciting day, in my opinion, for three reasons. Reason number one: we crossed our 7Th state line from Missouri into Illinois; reason number two: we crossed the Mississippi River and we're now in the Eastern part of the U.S. which means we're that much closer to Boston; and reason number three: we've surpassed the 2,000 mile mark of our ride. I can hardly believe we've ridden over 2,000 miles on our bicycles in exactly four weeks today (happy anniversary to us). I rode most of the ride today with my friend, Janie Bender from New Jersey (she's a HUGE Rutgers fan). Janie, by the way, is the only female in our group who has ridden every single mile of the trip so far. She's still an EFI-er. Remember what that means from an earlier email? It stands for "every fabulous inch" -- or insert your favorite adjective that begins with the letter "f" -- I'm not in this group anymore, by the way! We're in Quincy, Illinois tonight and we rode in on the most beautiful street of gorgeous old homes I've ever seen. It's Sunday and we've got to rest up well because we have 107 miles to do tomorrow when we ride from Quincy to Springfield. It will be a long day. Join us in praying for a tailwind.

Day 29

Chillicothe, MO to Kirksville, MO -- 75 miles --- Today's update is going to be boring if you're not a cyclist. Today it was all about the ride and it was amazing!!! This was the hilliest of all the days on the tour. Our leader told us there were exactly 148 hills (and not little ones either) from Brookfield, the 25-mile point, to the finish. I think I counted 149 actually (joke, of course.) If you like to climb hills over and over and over and over, this is the ride for you. Take state highway 11N out of Brookfield and stay on until you come to Highway 63 and on into Kirksville. I felt better today than I have the whole trip. I felt strong, light, confident and at the risk of sounding really corny, "one with the bike." It was very challenging but everything just clicked for me today. Not that this is a race by any means, but it was a personal challenge for me today to do my best and I think I did the best I could possibly do. I averaged 16 mph and was the third person into the hotel out of 44 of us. Laura, the strongest female in the group by far, finished only 10 minutes before me so I felt very good about that. I needed a day like this to spur me on. The group is getting into a funk, it seems. We're with the same people for breakfast, lunch and dinner and we're running out of things to talk about! I'm very thankful I have a room to myself where I can get away from everyone and just be quiet and relax. Tomorrow we ride 75 miles and cross the Mississippi River into Quincy, IL. From here on out, we'll only be in each remaining state about 3 nights. I have a feeling this is going to be over before we know it. That will be a good and a bad thing as we will have to return to the real world where the most important things to us won't be which direction the wind is blowing and the weather forecast for the day!

Day 28

St. Joe, MO to Chilicothe, MO -- 86 miles) This was an uneventful day really. I'm actually writing this a day later because the Best Western in Chilicothe did not have a computer for us to use. Kind of nice to be free of the responsibility of "blogging" for one day, really. There's nothing exciting to report from the ride from St. Joe to Chilicothe except that I found out -- and regretfully, did not take a picture of the sign -- that Chilicothe, MO is the "home of sliced bread!" You can actually type in www.homeofslicedbread.com and read about it! I haven't checked it out yet but my friend from Santa Fe, Kim, wrote me an email and told me about it. I find that pretty humorous! The motel last night was like one out of the 50's or 60's. It was a real motel with motor court where you could drive right up to your door. We had a couple of rocking chairs on our porch so a few of us sat around and rocked, drank a beer, and visited a little while before dinner. It's rare to have that much extra time so it was really pretty nice.

Day 27

Topeka, KS to St. Joe, MO -- 86 miles Today was a good day all in all. It was overcast and looked like rain all day, but all we got was a little drizzle as we were coming into town. The highlight of today was that we finally got out of Kansas!!! We did more miles in Kansas (463) and only had maybe 60 miles with a tailwind. The wind was brutal. It was not my favorite state from that standpoint, but the people were nice and we had a good steak in Topeka last night! So, we crossed our 6th state line today from Kansas into Missouri. We are staying at a nice place here in St. Joe -- the Drury Inn and Suites. Today is the last day for our beloved staffer and head mechanic, Pat, a "kiwi" who lives in Honolulu. He's going home tomorrow, but the Pat from Wichita Falls is back to take his place so we'll still be in good hands. We also lose John, our truck driver and baggage handler. ; He's also been amazing. As I've said a thousand times, you meet the greatest people on bike tours. Tomorrow we'll go Chillicothe, MO (86 miles), the home of long-distance cycling, supposedly. I think there's a plaque somewhere in the town about it. I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow.

Day 26

Abilene, KS to Topeka, KS -- 105 miles Today was my first day back on the bike after an unplanned 3-day hiatus from the tour. You may remember that I was needed at home to sign papers to sell our house and start organizing things for the move. I think that riding the rest of the tour will be easier than what Lee has ahead of him in packing up the entire house and having us moved out before I get home. We reached our half-way point today when we arrived in Topeka, KS. It was a long, hot, HILLY day. Today's ride dispels the rumor that Kansas is flat! Nothing changes the other fact about Kansas, however, about it being windy. It is the windiest place I've ever been in my life! Today's ride was 105 miles but it truly was a beautiful ride. The middle third of the ride went through the Flint Hills region which looked very much like Ireland! It was very green with gentle, rolling hills. It was challenging with all the climbing (5,175 feet of elevation gain) but it was worth it in terms of beautiful scenery. I'd take today's terrain over the flat, boring part we've been in for the first two-thirds of Kansas. We'll enter Missouri tomorrow when we finish up in St. Joe (85 miles). It's hard to believe we've already been over 1,750 miles on bicycles! The tour will probably seem to go faster now because we'll be entering a new state every 3-4 days versus 6-8 like in the western states.

Day 25

REST DAY in Abilene, KS -- I was so glad to see the group again. It's only been 3 days and it feels like I was gone a week. They are so ready for this rest day. It's been a grueling week for them and if I had to miss any days at all, I'm thankful it was in Kansas. There's not much to see along the road and there's always a headwind when we're riding which makes it twice as hard to cover the distance. Lee left early this morning for the 8 1/2 hr. drive back home and I got to stay and be a tourist in Abilene. There's a few noteworthy things to see here. The Eisenhower Presidential Center is here and it was well worth the visit. If you're a history buff at all, you'd love it. I kept thinking how my sons, Drew and Brad, would have enjoyed it. I've never seen any two kids so knowledgeable about American history than those two. However, our German exchange student, Markus Wirtz, was quite the history wiz , too. I'll never forget the day he came home from North Little Rock High School and told us that he made the highest score on an American history exam. But I digress....tomorrow is going to be a long day. We ride 105 miles to Topeka and will surpass the half-way point of the tour. We'll actually have traveled half-way across the United States on a bicycle -- unbelievable! I heard a funny (but pitiful) story upon my return. Brenden, our beloved 64-year old British cyclist, was pedaling along when, lo and behold, what should strike him upon the back? A dead chicken! Yes, friends, someone threw a dead chicken at Brenden and knocked him off of his bicycle. This is sad to say, but I wouldn't have been too surprised at that news had we been cycling in Arkansas. I'm not sure why, but I just would have thought that Kansas drivers would have more manners toward cyclists. I guess there are rednecks everywhere! My first questions were: 1) how badly was he hurt (only minor injuries), and 2) who drives around with dead chickens in their car with the intention of hurling them at innocent victims? I'm sure this is an impression of America that Brenden will never forget. Sorry I had to miss that incident. I'm sure the incident garnered much attention at the dinner table that night. One more rider succumbed to the virus while I was gone and had to lay off for a day. Mary Ann Daly from the Seattle area and Janie Bender from New Jersey were the last two women in the group who had not ridden in the SAG vehicle the entire trip. I know Mary Ann only gave up because she had to -- she's one tough woman. I wimped out early on in New Mexico when it was sleeting and gusting 70 mph winds, but not Mary Ann and Janie. The virus (formerly thought to be food poison) got to about 75 percent of us. Either the other ones toughed it out and kept riding or they avoided it somehow. I hope that's the worst that's going to happen to us. We're due some good luck and some tail winds!

Day 24

McPherson, KS to Abilene, KS --- ??? miles. Did not ride today. Driving back from Arkansas to Abilene. Lee drove me back and it took 8 1/2 hrs. and was over 550 miles. This was a big sacrifice of his time because he has to pack up our whole house and have it ready for closing by June 27th. We got started on the process but there's still so much to do. I think riding the bike will be much easier than what he's facing the next few weeks.

Day 23

Great Bend, KS to McPherson, KS --- ??? miles. Did not ride today. Still in Arkansas.

Day 22

Dodge City, KS to Great Bend, KS -- ???? miles. Did not ride today. Had to go home to Arkansas for a few days to tend to family business matter.

Day 21

Liberal, KS to Dodge City, KS -- 83 miles We're in Kansas now and it's very dry and VERY windy. The southwest part where we are is pretty boring really. All we've seen for miles and miles are wide open fields with a long, straight highway. It's been tough riding because the wind is directly in our face coming out of the north/northeast -- the direction we're going, of course! My average speed was 11-12 mph and that makes for a really slow day when you're faced with riding 83 miles. More people have been coming down with the mystery illness which we're pretty sure now is a virus and not food-poisoning. That's a little bit of a relief since we have no control over where we eat breakfast or dinner every day. Over the past couple of days, fourteen of us (excluding me) have been to the emergency room due severe vomiting and diarrhea. We're all getting pretty weary from the daily grind of having to ride long miles every day in the wind, so the illness going through the group is only adding to the stress we're already feeling. I only suffered chills and fever on the first day the symptoms started appearing (Tucumcari to Dalhart) so I feel pretty lucky to have escaped the worst of it. Today was a tough day, as I said, but we saw some pretty neat things along the way today. In the town of Meade, KS we toured the Dalton Gang Hideout - a secret tunnel between the barn and the house where the famous train and bank robbers hid out in the late 1890's. The town of Dodge City is kind of interesting, too, with the Boot Hill Museum. It's a two-block replica in the center of town that recreates the feel of Dodge City during it's famous years as the most dangerous, rowdy outlaw town in the West. I toured it briefly before going to the Dodge City Airport to fly home for the weekend. Circumstances beyond my control made it necessary for me to take a few days off from the tour to go home to North Little Rock for the weekend. We listed our house for sale in November and wouldn't you know, we got an offer we couldn't refuse last Tuesday and the buyers want to close on June 27th -- two days before I finish the tour in Boston. My husband wanted me to come home and help him get started on the packing process since he will have to handle the entire move by himself. I also knew that if I ever wanted to be in our house again it had to be now since it would no longer belong to us after the tour was over. As it turned out, the break did me a lot of good. When I left I never stopped to think I'd need to leave during the middle of the tour, but things happen and several people have had to leave for various reasons. I'm going back tomorrow to rejoin the group in Abilene and spend the rest day there with the group on Tuesday. We'll resume the ride on Wednesday when we ride 105 miles from Abilene to Topeka -- the half-way point of the tour!

Day 20

Guymon, OK to Liberal KS -- 40 miles Of all days to have a short ride! For the first time in almost 3 weeks we had the most wonderful tailwind and almost flew into Kansas. We casually rode along at 23-25 mph just laughing, chatting and thoroughly enjoying our short day. The organizers said the short day was necessary in order to prevent us from riding 125 miles straight through in one day, a point we certainly didn't object to especially with all the illness going through the group. We posed for pictures at our 5th state line crossing and had plenty of free time in Liberal to explore Dorothy's house at the Land of Oz and see the official "yellow brick road." Other than that and all the cattle feed lots in the area, there wasn't much to see or do but go back to our rooms and rest up for a long, windy day tomorrow.

Day 19

Dalhart, TX to Guymon, OK (74 miles) Today was a good day in terms of no catastrophes occurred! The ride from Dalhart to Guymon was a long, straight, flat (for the most part) road and the ride itself was pretty boring. The highlight of today was that we crossed our 4th state line today from Texas into Oklahoma. At the Oklahoma state line, mile 50, a nice couple from around Oklahoma City set up a "welcome to Oklahoma" SAG stop for us with homemade cookies, brownies, banana nut bread, popcorn balls, etc. Don and Helen went across the US in 2006 on a tandem with Crossroads and ever since then have been welcoming Crossroads riders into their state with delicious refreshments and friendly conversation. Upon leaving that rest stop, I looked down at my tire and discovered I had a flat. It was a good place to have one because the SAG vehicle was right there and Pat, our "kiwi" s taffer, willingly changed it for me when I promised a neck and shoulder massage later -- a great negotiating tool! The four sick riders from yesterday stayed behind at the hotel in Dalhart to recuperate a little longer and should be joining us around dinner time. We will only be in Oklahoma one night and tomorrow we will cross our next state line and stay in Liberal, Kansas -- a state I'm sure we'll be sick of because we will be in it for seven nights!

Day 18

(Tucumcari, NM to Dalhart, TX - 98 miles) Looks like I'll be handing out a few more refunds. I made it to the first SAG stop at 9:30 am and had to call it a day. As it turns out, I wasn't the only one struggling. A bout of food poisoning was going through the group and we were dropping like flies. Only about 8 people made it the whole way and I can't begin to explain how difficult a day it was even without the illness. Yesterday's ride was 110 miles and it was one of the hardest days so far in terms of distance and head wind. However, yesterday we had a few occasions where the wind was at our side and that gave us a bit of break. Today, though, was a different story. We crossed into Texas today and lost an hour when we changed to the Central Time Zone. The leaders thought, since it was going to be another long day and the winds usually increase as the day goes on, that it would be better to start an hour earlier. Bags had to be outside and loaded on the truck by 6 am. After a breakfast stop at Denny's about 3 miles from our hotel, four of us started out riding together at 6:45. Today's ride to Dalhart was northeast for the first 20 miles, then directly north. Had we had yesterday's winds, it would have been a tolerable day. But no, the winds shifted during the night and came out of the north dead in our face all day long. It took my group 2 1/2 hours to go 31 miles, the first SAG stop. I was barely able to get off my bike (thanks to Rich for helping me with that) before I just laid down on the ground where I stayed for the better part of an hour. Other riders were vomiting and running behind scrub bushes to take care of other matters. As for me, I was just shivering and dizzy and just plain felt awful. The vans shuttled people in to the hotel all day long. Five people went to the hospital for IV' s where it was confirmed that they had a low-level food-borne bacteria. There were some troopers among the group, however, who rode all the way in. Janie Bender from New Jersey, my original riding partner at 6:45 this morning, just came in the door at 7:30 pm. That's over 12 hours riding time! Even the strongest riders, Don and Damien, only averaged 10-11 mph all day long that's how strong and constant the wind was. My friend Paula from Sacramento, CA said (on her way to the hospital at 6:30 am) that her main objective before leaving home was to make it through the whole trip without having to go to the hospital. That's how naive I was -- it never even occurred to me to have that as one of my objectives! Hopefully, this bacteria will exit our bodies as quickly as it arrived and we'll all be back to normal (albeit exhausted!!) by tomorrow. We cross another state line tomorrow, Oklahoma, for a distance of 77 miles. Oh joy, a short day!

Day 16

Santa Fe to Las Vegas, NM (74 miles) -- Today was perfect in every way. I started out riding this monring with two good friends who live in Santa Fe, Kim and Alan Simpson. Lee and I met Kim and Alan about 3 years ago when we did a ride in New Zealand. Alan makes me laugh so much! He's originally from New Castle, England and is a physicist working in the Santa Fe area. Too bad he's not smart or anything! Kim is a webpage designer (and a former handbag designer) and they came to visit us last year for the inaugural Big Dam Bridge century. We love getting to spend time with them. They rode the first 15 miles with me and turned around when we were getting on the interstate to ride over Glorietta Pass, the highest elevation on the whole tour -- about 7,300 feet. The weather was just perfect: clear skies with white puffy clouds, winds out of the SW at 15-20 mph and tempe ratures in the 60's when we started and near 80 when we finished. One couldn't have ordered up better conditions than today. Alas, a great day in every way. Alleluja! Today is the first day of our longest leg of the tour without a rest day -- nine days in a row. Tomorrow (Memorial Day) is a going to be a long one -- 109 miles from Las Vegas to Tucumcari. We'll surpass the 1,000 mile mark tomorrow! Tuesday we'll do 95 miles and cross into Dahlhart, Texas for one night. Then one night in the Oklahoma panhandle and the next 6 nights in Kansas.

Day 15

REST DAY in Santa Fe.

Day 14

Albuquerque to Santa Fe, NM (67 miles) - I work up to find my rear tire flat. How I made it all the way in to the hotel without having to change the tube is hard to believe. At 5:15 am Lee helped me change the tube and get ready to get on the road by 7:15. The forecast for today was for intermittent showers with temperatures in the high 40's to low 50's. About 10 miles out of Albuquerque the rain began and never stopped. I only thought that yesterday was as bad as it could get. At least yesterday, the hail and sleet let up and the rest of the ride -- including a 5-mile interstate climb -- turned out to be a walk in the park by comparison. At mile 18, our friend, Alan Simpson from Santa Fe met me to ride the rest of the way into Santa Fe. After about a mile, I had another flat on the same wheel. I sent Alan ahead and called Lee to come help me change out the tube and the tire. We never found the rea son for the flat but assumed there was something hiding in the tire causing the trouble and changed it out to be safe. My feet and hands were as cold and wet as I've ever experienced on a bicycle. We stopped at a neat restaurant in Madrid (about 25 miles outside of Santa Fe) for a warm beverage and some lunch. After drying out and warming up a bit, we went back into the rain and finished up the ride about 2 hours later. We did quite a bit of climbing today. We actually looked forward to the climbs so our bodies would warm up enough to generate some heat. I had no feeling in my fingers at all so braking on the descents was very challenging. Alan turned off to ride home about 2 miles from the hotel so I braved city traffic and road construction to get to the hotel. After cleaning up my filthy body I tackled cleaning my filthy bike. What a job! We had dinner at Los Petrillos with Alan and Kim, Karen Powelson and her husband, Jean-Francoise and Bonnie Bishop and her boyfriend, Larry. It was a great way to end a yucky day.

Day 13

Grants to Albuquerque, NM (76 miles) - This morning looked ominous from the first peek outside at 5:30 am. It was cloudy, cold and already windy -- great! After pedaling about 5 miles the fun began: hail, sleet and more wind. The ride became dangerous, in my opinion, so I decided to hop in the van and get a ride to the first SAG stop just to get out of the weather. For all of you who pledged a penny a mile, I guess you're entitled to a 25 cent refund! I kept thinking that as badly as I wanted to see my husband that day in Albuquerque, I didn't want it to be from a hospital bed, so I swallowed my pride and got in the van. I'm no longer in contention to be an EFI-er (short for "every fabulous inch"). There are only two females left who haven't SAGged and my hat is off to them for getting through the worst weather (or so I thought) I"d ever ridden in. Day 13 proved to be an even greater adventure!

Day 12

Gallup to Grants, NM (68 miles) -- I should know better than to hope for a short day. Here's a good example: the ride was only 68 miles today (I remember when that used to be a long ride!) so I thought I'd be in by 12:30 or 1:00. But once again, my constant companion, Mr. Wind, made sure that didn't happen! Approaching the Continental Divide was pretty uneventful -- no big climbs as in the Rockies -- so after a quick SAG at the top, we began a delightful, gradual descent pedaling at around 20 mph with little effort. That's when I began to think I'd be at the hotel early for a change. Of course, the wind picked up and the hard work and slow pace commenced. Crossing the Continental Divide was the highlight of today, and I had a 3-day visit from my husband to look forward to the next day which renewed my enthusiasm!

Day 11

(Holbrook, AZ to Gallup, NM -- 88 miles) Today was one of those days you just get on the bike, ride and get it over with. It was pretty coming into New Mexico around the state line but other than that the past two days have been pretty boring. I pushed myself harder today than the other days just to get finished as quickly as possible. I came up on three men riding together who have collectively crossed the US by bicycle 6 or 7 times! They were very kind to let a girl ride along since they are having a guys' trip reunion ride. I was glad to have someone to talk to which helps the time and the miles go by a little faster. I also knew we'd be losing an hour because we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone when we entered New Mexico. We had to take a 9-mile detour off the interstate so I didn't get to sprinkle sand at the state line. I did get a picture of the big "Welcome to New Mexico" sign from the side road, though. We've come 723 miles so far, crossed two states and a time zone. I think that inself is worth celebrating!

Day 10

Flagstaff to Holbrook - 95 miles Today was an uneventul day really except that "I was standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona -- such a fine sight to see." -- from a song made famous by the Eagles, of course. The rest of the day was spent riding along Interstate 40 from Flagstaff (7,000 ft elevation) to Holbrook, AZ (about 5,000 ft). It was a good day because we were going down in elevation and we had a tailwind from the west which was great! This was our first tailwind day since the second day when we had a few casualties. We will cross the New Mexico state line tomorrow and stay in Gallup tomorrow night -- mileage for the day will be around 85 -- about the norm, it seems! I had two flats which wasn't fun but I had good help, so it turned out fine. More later!

Day 8

Cottonwood to Flagstaff (48 miles) - I guess you'll think I've been loafing around for the past 2 days since we've only done 50 miles or less compared to the 85-115 mile days we had in the beginning. We are in the mountains now and it takes twice as long to do the same distance when you're climbing, of course. I got a little too excited about day 6 when we had the nice climb into Jerome (a Eureka Springs-like town) and then a steep, fast descent into Cottonwood. I think I said it was a 15 on a scale of 10 in terms of quality of riding that day. As good as it was that day, yesterday was even better. We left Cottonwood at our regular time (7:15 am) and enjoyed a nice rolling terrain along a 4-lane road into the beautiful town of Sedona. Those red rocks are just breathtaking. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. The skies were crystal clear, the temperature was about 65-70 degrees and the humidity was about 15%. After a little stop in Sedona to enjoy a little rest and take in the view at a coffee shop, we headed north through Oak Creek Canyon toward Flagstaff. We had about 25 more miles to go but this is the where the climbing came in. The road through had a slight uphill grade as we pedaled along the river. At about mile 37 we hit the switchbacks and had 2.2 miles of steep climbs to reach the summit. I must be getting stronger because I didn't even dread the climbing. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. I have to admit that my determination to lose weight this past year was driven by this very thing: climbing! When you weigh less, climbing is just easier. The view at the summit was spectacular. The last 12 miles into Flagstaff was still uphill but more rolling. We encountered some headwind again but we didn't mind too much because we knew that once we got to Flagstaff we'd have a full day off tomorrow. YES!!! After this tough week, we all need it.

Day 9 was a rest day in Flagstaff.

Day 7

Prescott to Cottonwood - 48 miles. Today started out just like yesterday with the promise of being a beautiful, calm day of cycling in the high desert but one can be so wrong! However, before I start complaining about the wind (again), let me say that this day of cycling was a 15 on a scale of 10. We began by leaving Prescott and riding out of town to climb Mingus Mountain. Just like yesterday, the long supposedly FLAT road was, of course, a 4-5% grade and straight into a 25 mph headwind. So, long story short, it took us 2 hours to go about 15 miles. Once we began the ascent up the mountain, the roads turned to switchbacks and the mountain blocked the wind for the most part. The steeper climb was actually easier than the less steep approach! At the summit (7,023 ft.), we celebrated with snacks at the SAG truck, took a few pictures and began the descent which was SPECTACULAR! It mad e all the work leading up to it worthwhile. After going around a curve, a panoramic view unfolded unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The visibility was crystal clear and across an enormous valley we could see the red rocks that Sedona is so famous for and the snow-capped San Franscisco peaks behind them about 50 miles away. We descended into the historic hillside town of Jerome where we enjoyed one of the best cheeseburgers I've ever had at the Haunted Hamburger. A few of us took an optional loop to explore the Tuzigoot Indian Ruins which were very interesting. A short 5 miles later we arrived at the Best Western in the little town of Cottonwood where we are tonight. All in all, this day has been the best so far!!! Tomorrow we are off to Flagstaff which will be a very difficult climbing day, but I think my legs are finally getting used to the routine as it's actually becoming a little easier every day. A much anticipated day o ff awaits us on Sunday where this massage therapist will have a much-needed massage herself! After close to 600 miles in 7 days, I think I've deserved it.

Day 6

Wickenburg to Prescott (60 miles). I know what you're thinking -- 60 miles, is that all? I know that's what I was thinking but I quickly discovered why it was almost half the mileage of yesterday. It was all uphill and into a ferocious headwind all day long! I would have never in my wildest dreams thought a 60 mile ride would take 6 hours, but at times I was thankful to be going 6 mph on what looked to be a flat road -- called a "false flat" I've since learned. I've also made it more difficult for myself by giving up coffee to cut down on bathroom breaks -- sorry, too much information! But that does lead me to a point I'm trying to make: Caffeine withdrawal is real and I noticed it about halfway through today's ride. I was very tempted to throw in the towel and take the "SAG" (short for support and gear) vehicle, but my pride just wouldn't let me. After a Mountain Dew, a bag of Peanut M&M's, half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some Cheetos I was good to go and the rest of the ride was spectacularly beautiful. We are in the mountains now and the climbing is slow-going but the trade-off is pretty scenery. This new diet is hard to get used to after following Weight Watchers for almost a year, but they say we're burning between 3,000 and 4,000 calories a day so I'm not going to worry about it. Prescott is where we are tonight and the elevation here is about 6,000 ft. Tomorrow we're heading toward Flagstaff and stopping for the night halfway in between at a town called Cottonwood. We'll pass through a quaint little town called Jerome which overlooks the red rocks of Sedona so we were advised tonight at "route rap" to stop and smell the roses!

Day 5

Blythe, CA to Wickenburg, AZ (115 miles). Today's ride was LONG! Not only was it 115 miles, but it took me 7 hours and 40 minutes to finish it. Today we crossed into Arizona, our first state border crossing. We were given a little film canister of sand at orientation and told to sprinkle a little at each state line, so we did that for the first time today. Tracy, the tour leader, said it would bring good luck and less flats so we weren't going to take any chances! The first 38 miles was on I-10 like yesterday, but then we got off on Route 60 East and headed for Wickenburg, AZ. We had to constantly pour water over our heads and shirts to stay cool. Temperatures were reported to be in the 100's but it's hard to tell because there's no humidity. We climb uphill all day tomorrow from Wickenburg to Prescott (60 miles). More tomorrow.

First Update - Days 2, 3, and 4

Day 2

Pacific Ocean (Manhattan Beach) to Riverside, CA (78 miles). You could call this day "Tour of Los Angeles" because, even though the cities changed names, it was just one long, continuous city ride for several hours. Riverside is a pretty small city down in a valley. It had the best frozen yogurt I've ever tasted. Glad the first day is behind us because we'd all be nervously anticipating getting started. Now we can start to get in a "groove."


Day 3

Riverside, CA to Indio, CA (87 miles). Parts of this ride were the best I've ever experienced and the part some of the worst. At one time we had the most incredible tailwind I've ever ridden in. We were riding 35+ mph without even pedaling! However, when the wind shifted from west to northwest, we were blown all over the road, sometimes into the path of cars. As we were coming into Palm Springs, two riders in our group, Jose and Cindy, crashed when the wind literally blew Jose off his bike and Cindy, who riding behind him, went over the top of him. After a visit to the Palm Springs ER, Jose had had a concussion and advised to drop out. Cindy had a big scare and some major road rash, but otherwise OK. A few others got tossed around by the wind and had minor scrapes and cuts, but are still hanging in there.

Day 4

Today was a long day and tomorrow will be even longer! We rode 100 miles from Indio, CA to Blythe, CA. There is NOTHING between them, just desert. We rode on the shoulder of Interstate 10 the whole day. The first five miles leaving Indio weren't too bad but then we started a long, gradual 11-mile climb. As the day wore on, so did the wind and the temperatures. We didn't enjoy the tailwind that we had yesterday and riding on the interstate with a strong crosswind was extremely scary at times. The constant truck traffic sucked us in toward them and then after they passed the wind nearly blew us over. From behind, the cyclists looked like they were leaning to the left at a 45 degree angle just to stay upright to counterbalance the strong wind blowing from the north. I was determined not to become dehydrated so I drank almost 5 gallons of Gatorade/water mixture in my camelback. I'm glad I did. Four people went to the hospital at the end of the ride today due to dehydration and overexposure. You don't sweat in the desert like you do in Arkansas so it's hard to tell if you're drinking enough. We were advised to wear full-coverage head sweats and keep them wet by pouring water over our heads while riding. I thought I was in Arkansas about 25 miles outside of Blythe when I could see twisters out in the desert -- sandstorms! Riding through a sandstorm is a cheap way to have microdermabrasion and it stings like crazy! I felt very fortunate to have gotten through the day without a flat tire. About half the group had at least one flat and some people had two or three. Tomorrow will be every bit as hard and probably harder. The temperatures will probably be in the 110's and the ride is 15 miles longer. We will cross our first state line tomorrow and stay in Wickenburg, AZ tomorrow night.