Rain, miles, and hunger OH MY!

The three came hand-in-hand yesterday. I went on a 66 mile ride with Mike Masilunas and rode nearly the entire Montour trail. We started the ride off in a soaking rain, which lead to what we found 6 hours later to be extremely wrinkly feet, and the last 50 miles or so brought spats of sprinkles. It didn't slow us down though, nor did it slow down the hardworking Montour Trail volunteers who had set up a 'free hot dog & lemonade' booth about 30 miles into our ride. Nothing satisfies the stomach quite like a hot dog...and nothing keeps reminding you ate it for the next 20 miles, quite like a hot dog, either. But it was satisfying to both the mind and heart to have such a friendly chat with great people in the middle of such an intense ride.

The first 35 miles or so, despite rain, were truly a breeze. The trail is flat, crushed limestone, and follows through woods, meadows, farms, train tunnels, awesome bridges, and sprinkled with blooming wildflowers.

The next 20 miles became a bit more taxing. Though the trail is 'flat', it does seem to follow more of an upgrade on the return, and by that time the rain had officially soaked through the crushed limestone and had turned the underneath into a thick, slow-churning mud... making each turn of the pedal that much harder. Not to mention, we'd already been out for nearly 3 hours, the hot dog was quickly spent (though we did have a few granola bar reserves), and a bit of monotony and boredom set in.

Around mile 55 the excitement of knowing we were nearly finished grew, and the anticipation of knowing that we still got to ride through 3 long train tunnels, and 2bridges in those last 10 miles, thrilled us to keep pedaling. Finishing back at Mike's house at 65.71 miles was unacceptable in his eyes, so we pedaled up the neighborhood so we could finish the ride at exactly 66.00

Awesome! Not only were my legs strengthened with the training, but I'm also 100% sure I'll make it through at least the first day (65 miles) of Bike & Build! Haha, not only that, but I'm feeling much more confident now that cycling across the U.S.A is not only possible, but that I can also do it in the rain, and that I'll be able to do it with an enthusiastic spirit :)