May 17th was our first official day of the trip
cross country that included a wheel dip in the Atlantic and my longest ride
yet, 68 miles. We woke up at 5:15, did our chores, then met the Silver Riders
who led us to the ocean where we were met by I believe was the commissioner and
mayor of Nags Head and a few parents. There was a nice ceremony with prayers
and pictures and then we took off our shoes and carried our bikes down to the
ocean where we dipped our back tires in the ocean!
The Silver Riders led us a little way till we reached road
264 and that was the same road we took all the way to the next church. I’d like
to say I led the rear of the pack. I couldn’t see anyone behind me so I assumed
I was always in the led. Slow and steady wins the race. The road was pretty
empty and looked the same the entire way. I took quite a few breaks but they
were worth it. We had lunch at about mile 30 that consisted of a delicious
bagel with nutella and this apple butter stuff. I also had a big carrot stick! I will try to be rather conservative in
this blog and not include the weird, yucky, and rather unnecessary information;
however, at this lunch break I did venture into the woods for my first
wilderness pee break. I’m in need of more baby wipes! Its surprising how little
you have to use the restroom for just how much we are drinking. At least I’ll
speak for myself and I’ve been gulping the water down! I also saw a lot of road
kill that included many interesting critters such as a fox, birds, snakes and
other unidentified critters. OH! A live otter ran across the road in front of
myself and a few others! He was cute and reminded me of Kasper! (family dog)
After lunch it got a little rough, I wont deny that. I was
mentally prepared for the rough part of my longest ride though which helped
some. The last 30 miles, also on road 264 were long, sunny, and simply rough to
pull through. I took many water and stretch breaks and got through! My legs
feel pretty good, its mostly my lower back and bottom that are feeling prettyI
came in first place in my book! (Even though I’m pretty sure I was one of the
last riders to come in shh) The last 5miles we came into the town that was a
pretty empty town. The population is pretty small and theres not much to do
here. Not to mention I have no internet and no cell phone service.
Upon arriving at the Soule Methodist Church we were able to
shower across the street at a highschool. Even though the showers were freezing
cold, it was the best feeling after a long ride to get out of the cycle gear and
get clean. After showers the Pastor, his wife, and fellow community members
greeted us with prayer and a very nice spread of great homemade food. There was
yummy chicken, salads, pastas, broccoli salads, corn tortilla casserole thing,
fruit, and manyyyyy desserts. I’m going to attempt to stay away from the
desserts and go for the salads and fruit first. This will take such will power
since I love food and eat just about anything.
After dinner, the Pastor and his wife invited us into a
small traditional Sanctuary where she played the keyboard and sang and he the
acoustic. There were a few nice song prayers and kind words. The folks here are
very kind and supportive of what we are doing. They invited us for a nice
breakfast in the morning at 7:30am.
This will likely be one of my longest blog posts. But I felt
it was important to document my entire first day of Bike&Build as well as
my longest ride to date. It turned out to be a great day and will likely be a
bit sore in the morning. I’m looking forward to a 33 mile ride tmrw! Check out pics in the "Photos" tab on this blog! Thanks for
reading! Night!
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