Final Entry :-(

As I sit here in my Grandparents apartment in San Francisco, Ca, I've had plenty of time to reflect on the amazing journey that I just completed. I'll first explain the days I left off and then my extreme withdraw from the bike and build life. After our final build day in Prescott, we started our seven day biking stretch into San Diego. We first headed to Wickenburg, Az. This was the day in which we were to drop 4,000 ft in 60 miles, which also meant we would gain about 20 degrees of heat. Now we were told it was going to be hot, however, I don't think anyone was really aware of how hot 114 degrees is until we made our descent down the mountain and realized it for ourselves. It was the strangest feeling going down the very windy mountain and feeling it getting hotter and hotter. When we finally reached the bottom, it had to be over 100 degrees and we had about 20-30 more miles to go to get into our host site. We pace-lined it the rest of the way in, averaging about 22 mph, just to get out of the heat. I believed we arrived around 10 or 11 am look at our phones to realize that we were riding in 114 degree heat. We all sat in an air conditioning room for about an hour, trying to regain strength and courage to go walk 1/2 mile down the road to a pool and showers. I think the walk was just as difficult as the ride.

After this first experience with the heat, we started to wake up at 4 am to try and beat the heat of the day. Our next ride was only 48 miles and to Wenden, Az. This was mine and Ginger's last sweep day and we made sweep history, getting in at 9:20 am. It was awesome. The ride wasn't to bad, hot (but not as hot as it could have been) and pretty flat.

The next day was our ride into Blythe, CA. Blythe is right on the border of California, so we got there right at the end of the day and took plenty of pictures with the state sign. Oh and this was also the last day in which I fell on my bike and I definetly went out in style. We were pace lining in the morning, and I was feeling great because I was keeping up with Drew and Nhan (the Macho Men of the group), when all of a sudden Drew's leg cramped up so he pulled out, and then as Nhan was saying slowing I was asking Drew if he was okay and didn't here the slowing call. I somehow locked my front tire with Neel's back tire, unclipped both my feet, fell off my seat, and begin to drag my feet on the ground while slamming my breaks (its what we call a JJ stop, named after the 7 year old kid from the Chapel Hill bike Clinic). Anyways what was so cool about it, was that there were sparks coming out from under my feet from my cleats and the road colliding. When I finally stopped, it wasn't much of a fall, but a tip over because there wasn't anything left for me to do. That was about all for that day.

The next day was an emotional day for us all as we were all reminded of the dangers of biking cross country. About 2 miles out from our host site, 3 of our riders were struck by a pick-up truck from behind. All three were airlifted to the hospital in Palm Springs and given proper medical treatment. Two were discharged that night with minor injuries, and one is still recovering, but should make a full recovery in due time. The whole day was very scary for our entire group because we were unable to get any details until late at night. However, the situation was handled amazingly by our leaders and the locals from Brawley (where we were headed that night). The rest of us made it safely to Brawley, crossing over the Sand Dunes where Tremors was filmed (population 6, but 2 were on vacation).

The next few days were rough, as we were missing a part of our group still. The ride into Julian was physically one of the hardest days for me as I bonked at about mile 35 of 70. It was an extremely hot day in the dessert, so hot that my phone wouldn't even work because it got over heated, and we had a huge climb at the end of the day. After I was feeling better in Julian, CA we went out for pizza and a the famous Julian's apple pie. It was about 3 miles to the pizza place and we didn't have a ride, and no one wanted to ride their bikes after the day so we decided to hitchhike. After walking no more than .1 mi the nine of us got picked up by a Prius...and all fit. On the way back it took a little longer but we got picked up by a pick-up truck. The best part about it was driving by the people who decided to bike and seeing their faces as we passed them both times.

Ok, I'm just going to skip the day into El Cajon, mostly because I was way to excited to remember anything from that day (except that we the first time we saw the ocean right after a climb we all waited for everyone to do the cupid shuffle). My mind was to focused on the next day into San Diego. We woke up at 8 AM, unheard of in the bike and build world, finished watching Anchorman, had a dance party, and a couple of us painted our faces for Minitank (the nickname of the person who was still in the hospital recovering). We finally got on the road at 10 am and rode with all 31 of us. We stopped several times due to one flat and 2 broken spokes and to make sure we were all together. With about a mile away we all stopped again to regroup and to pick up one of the people that was in the accident to ride in the last mile with us (the other one rode the whole ride in one gear because his bike wouldn't change gears). At this point we could see the ocean and were all freaking out. As we turned the corner onto the boardwalk, we were all screaming, the beach was packed with random people cheering us on. We found the first place we could to drop our bikes, strip down and run to the beach. It was one of the most incredible feelings in the world to run into the ocean with this amazing group of people after all that we've been through. This trip was an experience of a lifetime and something I will never forget. I've met so many incredible people and seen some of the most beautiful places our country has to offer.