Day 75

Seventy five days down, 6 to go.

Rumor has it that the morning music actually sounded, but I beg to differ. I woke up in a complete daze this morning and probably shouldn’t have been given a bike to ride on dangerous, curvy, steep, narrow roads for 71 miles. I do however distinctly remember refusing to get out of bed, which was a futile effort to feel more rested.

We were served blueberry oat bran cakes and the best breakfast casserole I’ve ever had for our morning meal. After eating, route meeting, and cleaning up I got into the In n Out burger group. Our plan was an excellent one to power through the day, skip lunch, and go straight for burgers.

I rolled out with Brandon, Dino, Nate, Kate, Elle, Maria, Stew around 7 am. Somehow we misread the cue sheet and took a left right out of the driveway and continued I go the wrong way for about a mile until we figured out something was wrong. When we finally got going the right way we were almost immediately greeted by a summit. It was not even 2.6 miles into the ride when I reached the top.

We all stopped to take a picture together and then plummeted down one of the best descents we’ve had yet. It still holds no comparison to the one coming down from the volcano though. The turns were just tight enough to give me an adrenaline rush, but just wide enough to keep me from having to wear out my brake pads.

That really set the time for the day. We knew we were going to descend about 4000 feet into Chico, but what we didn’t know was that we would be soon 4000 total feet and climbing and somewhere in there descend a total of 8000 feet. It was literally the most mentally and physically challenging 4000 feet descent I’ve ever done.

Around mile 20 we took our turn onto the road where we were instructed to ride single file or ride shotty in the van. We had started to spread out and somehow I didn’t notice when Nate stopped to wait for those behind us. I followed stew and Dino into the forested area hammering fairly hard. My surroundings were breath taking. I was completely lost in myself, the river running next to the road and the mountains to my right and my left.

When I realized I was all alone I stopped and waited for everyone to catch up. As I waited for K8 and N8 plus 8 Jenna, britt, and a whole lot of others passes. I couldn’t figure out where they had went, but just as I was thinking of turning around to find them they came Steadily up the hill.

I jumped back in the line and we climbed until mile 36 or so where we saw Sarah pulled over for lunch. We had started that climb around 3000 and at our highest point were at 4600. When we left lunch we thought we’d descend the rest of the way. We were completely incorrect. There were a few 1000 foot descents mixed in there after long steep climbs.

Our final break was around mile 65 just before the final down hill. We decided that we would forego showers so that we could go to in n out on the way to the host site. The double double I ate was definitely worth it. On the way to the host from the restaurant Brandon, Kate and I stopped at the nutrition shop for the free protein shake samples that the guy dancing in the corner promised us. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the mint chocolate chip post workout recovery drink they gave us.

Then, when we finally got to the church we were given a gift from God himself. The first shower shuttle was just returning and decided they would run a second one. We were thinking we wouldn’t shower at all, but then when we heard we could go late we thought we’d have to bike, but then the van swooped in and saved the day.

After a long wonderful shower we went back to the church. It was nearly dinner time and the parishioners were starting to show up with food for the potluck. The tri tip and Mac n cheese completed my life. I was still full from in n out, but managed to devour a full meal. I even survived giving quite possibly our last dinner presentation while swearing bullets. I wasn’t sure if it was the meat sweats or if it was from the sweltering heat.

Post dinner I bummed around for a bit. Jesse had shaven his massive beard so many people were buzzing about that. Even the guys I met from the church talked about it. They were awesome. They told me some great bars to take Jess to for her 21st bday last night even.

All the old people piled into the van around 930 and spent the night on 2nd street. The Bear Garden, Duffy’s, and some underground place were our home for the night.

It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with everyone before we leave. It’s a short week left before we part ways. Every moment from here on out is one to treasure.