Long Grueling Days

Dave and Sue coming up a steep pass through the gorge.

I want to apologize to all of you who read my blog for not posting every day. The days here have been so difficult and long that by the time I have a bite to eat I’m ready to collapse on to my air mattress and fall asleep. 

The ride has been extremely taxing because of the relentless climbs and the 80 mile plus days. I’m enjoying the ride because of my wonderful teammates. We’re all Americans except for Will who is a University student at Bath. He is an incredible hill climber but more importantly he’s a fine young man. The country is beautiful and the pubs are awesome. Tonight we had great ales and wonderful British dishes. The team really sticks together and we usually bring a lot of life and excitement to the local establishments. At least I like to think so. I wish I could remember all of the charming little towns we pass through but they’re so numerous that it would be impossible. We did cross into Wales for a short distance so now I can officially say I’ve been to Wales. It was a little like my connecting flight in Madrid to Italy. I guess I can say I’ve been to Spain. Today was the first time in four thousand mile of riding for MS that I did not complete all of the miles. My chain slipped off and got wedged into the gears. I had to be rescued and taken to the rest stop 5 miles down the road, I was able to fix it there and completed the last 20 miles. I’ll make the lost five miles up at some point in the ride when I get lost. I believe tomorrow’s ride has less steep hill. The weather has been beautiful. Hopefully I’ll have more energy tomorrow to add more stories and details about this challenging adventure.