We started our day with some drizzling rain in a 50-degree temperature. Having gone through the cold rainy day in Upstate New York, my spirit was high as it was a rare 55-mile short day. I was optimistic that we would finish by noon and spend the rest of the day reading, sleeping, and catching up with all my postcards. Also, Claire created an ultimate sweep challenge for her last day as sweep, and it was individualized for each person. We were all pumped for the day.
About 3 miles into the ride, we saw the groups in front of us all stopping on the side of the road. What was going on? As we were getting closer, we saw a giant carcass of a cow (or bison?). Our bone collector, Pearl, was having some serious time selecting a favorite bone to add to her collection, and eventually she chose the hip bone.
What a day so far! The view was pretty, the rain was lovely, and we were cruising for one hour straight. Then out of no where, the wind started to pick up, and it was so cold with our whole bodies soaked wet. We couldn't feel our fingers, and even shifting became an effortful task. There was no cell signal, so our truck drove to us to deliver the instruction to get to lunch.
When we finally got to lunch, we were so cold that we couldn't even open the bag of chips. Everyone cuddled inside the truck and our lovely truck driver and safety navigator, Kelly and Raquel, delivered food, dry clothes and all other things we needed to us. When the van finally came with more dry clothes, five of us eagerly hopped on to be shuttled to the host. Seven brave riders decided to finish the rest of the 24-mile ride, and it was such a proud moment when they got to the host. We were welcomed by hot shower and sauna, and dinner crew (shout out to Katelyn, Masha, and Gillian who also made the whole ride) made amazing Bike & Build chili and pasta for dinner. What a great day!
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