Day 4.....

After the very hard day on the road yesterday I woke surprisingly well rested. My legs a bit sore but not too bad. The day began with a huge breakfast..........this was the first day we actually started out with food other than a doughnut.

We were instructed to be ready to leave the hotel at 8am. By 9:30 we were leaving the parking lot. We were divided into 2 groups again.

This was the first day that was well organized. A good route, scheduled breaks and we only got lost once. We climbed about 3000 feet before lunch. It was more tough hills. And lots of them. The hills were relentless. We kept climbing and climbing and climbing.

We ate lunch at a park on the Potomac River. A nice rest after lunch and then we loaded onto a fairy crossed the river and for the next few hours rode on rail to trails. Rails to trails are hike and bike trails that have been converted from old Rail roads. Ironically this was my Combined Charity contribution this year - I never thought I would get to ride on the converted rail road trails - The trail is paved, very wooded/shaded and FLAT! This was only supposed to be for about 10 miles however I along with half of the other riders did not see the sign to the next rest stop and missed the turn. We ended up 5 miles down the trail. The trail dead ended into a bike store. We all parked our bikes and went inside. We thought it was strange b/c we didn't have our usual 8-10 support vehicles. Finally Mike (from NY the ride coordinator) shows up and tells us we missed the turn. We get back on our bikes and ride the 5 miles back to the water stop at Hamilton EMS station.

In the town of Hamilton we had to load the bikes up - it was getting late- 5p and we still had 35 miles to Woodstock, VA were we are to stay the night. Woodstock EMS provided a lovely dinner of BBQ chicken, homemade mac-n-cheese and green beans - with homemade dinner rolls and homemade apple butter! Homemade cherry cobbler and large cake decorated with bikes.Yummy! Thank you Woodstock!

We are now in the South - the first little town in Virgina we saw a gun store and a trailer park.

Despite the hills we had an average speed of 12.7 mph before lunch and increased to 14.9 after lunch. The weather again was perfect. Mid 60's at the start and by the afternoon mid 70's.

Again the scenery was gorgeous. Farm land, horses, dairy farms, and old old old houses. The water stops were well timed at every 10-15 miles at different ems stations. The mayor of Clear Spring, Maryland was on hand at one of the water stations. He proclaimed today EMS Memorial Bike Ride day- read a nice speech about the ride, EMS week and the EMS memorial.

The riders all seemed to be in better spirits today after the long and hard day on the road yesterday. There were a few riders that had to sag out b/c of knee injuries but for the most part we all completed the day.

I talked to Scott Parker today and was informed that Vaughn, from Marble Falls was involved in an accident and will not be able to join us tomorrow. Vaughn if you are reading this - we will be thinking of you and you are in our prayers. We hope you make a speedy recovery.

One last thing to post.......................we have meet some really amazing people on the ride. There is a group of medics from Maine, NorthStar EMS. These guys are killing us - they are doing the ride on their mountain bikes! They are all very nice and a lot of fun to ride with. Their bike medic program is very well funded. They have a dedicated bike trailer, SUV and 6 custom bikes! Needless to say we have bike medic envy.

It is late and tomorrow is another early and long day on the road- we will be in the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains - More HILLS! :) Two more days and we will be in Roanoke!