How's your butt?

This seems to be the most common question asked among the group. This fact implies 3 things: 1.) Most have butt problems of some form. Anything ranging from saddle sores too bad some have to miss a day of riding to bruises on the butt (my butt's fine actually. I'm just having a lot bike problems). But when you spend most of your summer sitting on a seat that is half a size of your butt, it is not that surprising. 2.) That we as a group actually care enough about one another to ask about the current butt situation. We realize that help and support from each other is crucial if we want to reach the West coast. Everyone is pretty much considerate of each other's problems and want to help out in any way. 3.) That we have actually gotten close enough in the 2 weeks that we have known each other to ask about the delicate situation of a person's butt. Gender is not an issue. Iwould say that more is learned about someone here in a 2 week time period than elsewhere in a 6 month time period. Even if there are some things you rather not know. And we have 8 more weeks.

Yesterday was a tough day. I woke up to the sound of rain coming down hard on the roof. It did not stop. On top of that we left when is was 51 degrees out side. It was so cold that I could see my breath. Oh and did I mention it was raining. I put on 4 layers of clothes. As Nike says "Just do it". And I did it. And it was so much more fun than I would have anticipated. Yeah we were all cold,wet, and shaking at lunch, but other than that it was an epic ride. The presence of cars had decreased due to the weather and the dogs where hiding in their houses. So we had the roads to ourselfs. After doing a ride like that I can now say that we are all now officially cyclists. Our accommodations were excellent too. We stayed at a church where the preacher was an avid cyclists. He got us all the gear we needed. And he fixed my bike! I was having so much trouble shifting gears that I was told I would have to buy a new derailer. I had already spent a lot of money on other bike problems on the trip that I didn't want to have to buy a new derailer too. In case I haven't mentioned, I've had way too many bike problems than is normal. I've already had to buy a new wheel, tire, tubes, etc. But this awesome guy just happened to have an extra derailer laying around so he totally fixed it. Now I don't have to get off my bike and manually shift it with my fingers (it's what i had been doing) Oh and now we are in Ohio. So it's been Rhode Island, Conneticute, New York, PA, and Ohio. And I need to rest up for tomorrow b/c I think we have like an 85ish ride tomorrow up mountains.