The Best Things in Life are Not Things
I saw this line on a church marquis this past Sunday in Centerville, Ohio. I was reminded of it all day yesterday. My 60th birthday was not special because of the number of the birthday, it was special because of the people with whom I had to share it!
What a blessing!
The ride from Grafton, West Virginia to Hancock, Maryland today was a very tough one: nearly 12.000 feet of climbing elevation (the most of any day of our trip) and 135 miles long. Drew, Jennifer, Lucja and Sara followed me for the entire day in their van. They got to see what it is like for me to bike over 50 miles in mountain after mountain.
They all said they were tired tonight, so I guess I should be. It must be the adrenalin in my blood because I felt pretty good today (and tonight).
Two days to go in our trip! Where did the prior 17 days go? The trip has gone by so fast. Time always seems to go by faster when you are having fun and enjoying your endeavor.
Pennsylvania tomorrow!
I’m not commenting so much on this post as your trip in general. I am one of three Class of 1979 graduates who did an ocean to ocean trip the summer of our graduation year. A few differences – we went east to west, we weren’t racing or fundraising, and we had no support but ourselves. One other thing – we were quite a bit younger than you are now, and it was still ouugh. I can sympathize with the mountain regimen you mention in this post. We didn’t go through WV, but PA was hell. When we went through PA, we stayed at BU for a night (slept on the grass in the academic quad as a matter of fact).
Good luck finishing up and congratulations on your tremendous accomplishment. Pass that along to the rest of the riders too. We each drank a bottle of champagne standing in the Pacific Ocean back in August 1979. I’m sure you have your own celebration planned. Enjoy.
Richard Werther ‘79