82 miles- Winston Salem NC

Today we left Chapel Hill for a windy, hilly, chilly ride to Winston Salem NC. It was absolutely beautiful out today! More pictures to come but I posted a few. We woke at 5am and set off around 6:30am. I got 2 flats about 20 miles in and finally figured out what was causing them. I had a spoke going through the rim tape so one of the sweeps, Ryan helped me out and put new tape on and now no flats hopefully for awhile! I will try to patch the tubes up later and use them again. The two sweeps, Ryan and Daniell really helped me out today with the flats, rim taping, and just being really supportive on the up hills and teaching me new things about cycling. The ride started off pretty rough. I strained both achillies tendons so they are pretty painful mostly when I walk downstairs. But once I got on the bike they stretched out and felt good. Still icing them! I lowered my seat a notch and screwed my cleats more back on the bottom of my shoes to help. My body is still getting used to the excessive exercise and eating alot. Today was pretty rough on my stomach but I made it through after many gas station visits! haha! At lunch there was a strawberry farm that some riders went to and picked a batch for everyone! The views today were the best so far. So much green, pretty sky, lots of animals, lots of nice folks that pulled over to make sure we were okay when we stopped to rest. Oddly enough, on such a ride, I guess you start to have weird thoughts, or at least I do. I recognized just how much more we utilize our senses on bikes. The ride today was smelling so fresh with trees, flowers, and well cow shit too. I keep my eyes opened to the road ahead and tire in front alllll the time and glance around when I can while listening for cars behind. My hands are pretty sore from gripping the handles too tight when I get nervous going down hill or grip on when going up. All riders seem to be safe! We had one minor crash with 3 riders today. All of the them are well, just buises and scrapes and their bikes are being repaired. We rolled in to the church around 6:15pm (pretty late!) and then had a nice taco bar the church made for us. Showers were at the local YMCA and really nice! It had a hot tub in the womens locker room too! Many riders went out to a local brewery in town after dinner. I sat back and decided to blog, stretch, and bed soon. Tmrw is another big ride over 80 miles! Thanks for reading and all the comments! I appreciate all the support from everyone! Night!