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| Today we rode a little less than 40 miles, which is well below the average of 70 miles per day. It's probably best that our first ride was shorter so that we can build up to higher mileage. |
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| To kick the day off we rode from the host church to a strip of beach near the Historic Charleston Foundation for the tire dipping ceremony. |
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| At the tire dipping ceremony we all put our back tires into the Atlantic Ocean, looking forward to the long journey ahead. When we arrive in Santa Cruz we will have another tire dipping ceremony but that time using the front tire, knowing that we have completed a monumental trek. |
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| Ann Marie and Jeff showed up to the ceremony to send me on my way! (Thank you guys so much for coming out to support me!) |
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| Once we made it out of the city there were a couple long stretches of road that I really enjoyed riding. I was able to fall into a groove quickly and hold a solid, steady pace. I did stop, however, to capture this shot of a railroad from a bridge. |
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| A few riders and I hit up a swim spot on Lake Moultrie after arriving in Pinopolis, SC. I jumped into the lake in my chammies (those special cycling shorts with butt padding) and my sports bra. The water felt great and drip drying on the dock afterwards was relaxing. |
Right now I honestly don't feel well at all. A lot of different things are going on with my body. Without going into too much gruesome detail I'll just say that the end result is an upset stomach; I'm extremely nauseous. All of the other riders are out socializing and I'm sitting in one of the sleep rooms by myself just trying not to throw up. I might also be skipping a debrief of today's ride... Oops! On the same thread, a cold is making its way around the team. A few of the trip leaders have it already and some of the riders are starting to feel a little under the weather as well. I'm hoping that I can steer clear.
People have started to ask more in depth questions about why I'm here and what my tattoos mean which obviously results in me sharing about Harrison. I currently feel overloaded, like I've talked about him multiple times but haven't had a chance to really express any emotion. Ideally I would be at The 2-3 (the house I lived in prior to this trip) on my kitchen floor with my roommates where I could have a super intense cry/snot/scream session. I guess I don't feel like these people know me enough or like I don't know them enough to express that kind of raw emotion yet. Also, I'm working with one of the trip leaders to try to make a detour route so that I can ride by the wreck site when we are in Greenville a few days from now. Going by the site is something that is very important to me. But at the moment it's all seeming too real too fast.
The Catty Corner: I needed to get an emergency prescription filled yesterday, so the program director of Bike & Build, Brendan, took me to the nearest WalMart. As I go into the store I realize that he's not with me any longer. I turn to see him standing by one of those claw machines where you try to win stuffed animals. With a puzzled look on his face he says, "These games always distract me." He proceeded to find 50 cents and play the game. He lost. We walked away and went shopping. I win.
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