The End is Near

After 71 days of cycling, building, sleeping on mats, changing locations nightly, eating 4+ PB&Js per day, climbing, coasting, meeting new people, taking showers with a hose, going on adventures, consuming my weight in ice cream, pot luck dinners, spandex, wearing the same clothing for several days in a row, always being slightly unsanitary, avoiding potholes, jumping sewer grates, waking before the sun comes up, bodies in motion, living out of a 4,500 cubic inch bag, flat tires, finding chain grease constantly on my hands, and legs, and face, arm warmers, singing silly songs, playing 20 questions for hours on end, mountiains, plains, rolling hills, oatmeal for breakfast, cliff bars, saddle sores, camelbaks, diner milkshakes and burgers, and sleeping on the floor next to 30 other wonderful people, our journey has finally come to it's close. Tomorrow bright and early we will wake to make our sub-20 mile ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and down to the Pacific where we can seal our efforts with cold water and hot sand. I would like to appologize again for the delayed updates over the last week. They are mostly written but are stored on my computer which has been comandeered by Colin, Mo and Jesse in order to make a end of trip slide show since it is stocked with many of the riders' photos. If you care to read through the final days of our adventure, I will be posting them as soon as possible (I will be back in Tampa on Saunday morning and can complete any tragglers at that time if not sooner) and if I can figure it out, a file with all the posts in Word document form.

I would like to give a pre-emptive thanks to all of you who have followed us this summer and provided support to our riders. I have enjoyed hearing from all who followed the trip through this journal of events. I began writing as a way to remember the day to day events later on, and I am always delighted and shocked to hear when people other than my family and friends have been reading. I wish the best to all of our 2008 riders and look forward to the reunion rides and adventures we have spent the summer plotting and scheming.

San Fransisco, here we come.