Day 5. We are so close but So Far Away!

This will be a short entry tonight…..as you can guess from the picture of the road rash was me. The front wheel of my bike got caught in the rail causing me to take a little spill. The right side of my body has some nice road rash and chipped a bone in my finger.

Prior to the fall the day started out great. We began much earlier today. We were in the rolling hills of the Shanadauha (sp I'm too tired to look it up)valley. The hills were not as bad as the past few days but after 4 days of riding my legs were spent - done. Each peddle stroke took all the energy I had.

The group got inspiration from a group of paramedic students from Minnesota. They took off ahead of the group and painted the route with words of encouragement. They also wrote the names of EMTs and Paramedics who we were riding for- when I passed Eric’s name all the emotions seemed to over take me. I returned back down the hill and joined Aaron and Dave Page from Minnesota. Dave took our picture next to Eric’s name. We took a few minutes to regain our composure climbed back on our bikes and hammered out the next 15 or so miles to our lunch spot. This simple gesture by the Minnesota students was very thoughtful - and will be something I will always carry with me.

When we arrive at the designated lunch spot I was physically and emotionally drained. My quads & hamstrings were killing me, 4 ½ days in the saddle were beginning to take its toll - I didn’t think I could go another mile much less the next 30 or so miles to the hotel. But for whatever reason I rode off with the group.

We were in a small college town of Hendersonberg. On the outskirts of the town I laid my bike down- this ended my day of riding and produced my 22nd broken bone and lots of road rash. The bike is in pretty bad shape but Mark seems to think he can fix it enough for me to ride tomorrow, though I don’t think I can ride the full 90 miles tomorrow I will ride the last few miles into Roanoke!