Day 13 - Crossing the Continental Divide

Yesterday was only a 45 mile day and you'd think it would be much easier to ride 45 miles than 75 miles. However, when the 45 miles is mostly climbing, I'll take the 75-90 miles of flat road riding any day. We started the day at the Golden Arches as usual. A quick and cheap breakfast to fuel us up a 20 mile gradual climb. Sounds easy but you must always keep you legs churning to fight the force of gravity and the gentile wind that's blowing in your face. We had steeper climbs as we neared the Continental Divide but knowing I was near, I got a burst of needed energy. It felt great standing at that sign. I imagined myself as a boxer who had just knocked out his opponent. You do think of crazy things while you ride. Although we ride together we don't converse much because we are spread out and on narrow shoulders of the road. There are many hours where I reflect on life, my family and other positive things to keep me going. When thinking of Cindy, Makiala and Maura I'm overwhelmed with a desire to be with them. This helps me at the end of the ride because I know I'll be able to talk to them once I reach my destination. Today when we got to Silver City there were some delightful surprises waiting for Pat and myself. It was mail day and Kaylyn picked up a number of packages for the gang. Pat and I had 2 packages from Dave and Grace Suriani. The boxes were loaded with all of the things a biker would need for the long haul. Instant meals, hydration mixes, beef jerky, butt cream, M&Ms and etc were stuffed into the box. Dave is an avid rider and knows what it takes to do long rides. Dave and I rode across New York this summer and he really helped me prepare for this trip. Thank you Dave and Grace. Our other surprise package came from Fred and Donna Zelt. Fred is a Bike the US for MS alumni. Fred and Donna live in the Pittsburgh area and learned of our ride through the local MS Chapter. This wonderful couple sent us a Pittsburgh themed care package containing Sarris chocolate covered pretzels, Terrible Towels and Steeler players' figurines in addition to the many vital items that bikers use every day. Thank you Donna and Fred.

After opening these surprise packages we set up camp and headed out for a protein pack dinner, a giant steak. Later we stopped in the Little Toad Creek Brewery and many of us had more than one beer. As I posted earlier, I asked our Roller Derby waitress (she really did belong to a team) to throw me out of the bar after 3 beers and she obliged. 

Today is a rest day and that's what I plan to do. Stay tuned. . .