Tour De Friends 2003 - Day 2
Warrenton to Richmond, 116 Miles - Theme: Death
Woke up Friday a bit cranky. Around 2:30 in the morning I woke up to go to the bathroom and couldn't fall asleep because of the trio of snorers providing a nice chorus of snores in SurroundSound. I couldn't complain too much since I woke up without feeling sore - last time that happened on the ride!
Because of the long mileage on day 2, we set the alarm for 5:30a. We got ready, packed up our gear, ate breakfast, then sat around for a half-hour until they let us on the road. It didn't take us long to reach Virginia. The threat of rain hung over us, which pushed us on. Afraid that if I took it easy I wouldn't make the miles, Troy and I broke away from the group and began riding at an average of 18-20 mph.
As I passed people, I took to making comments along with the requisite "On your left". I said hi, asked how people were feeling, noted nice jerseys, helmet/bike decorations, and bodies. The terrain was nice - lots of rolling hills that required lots of shifting. It was fun.
At one point I stopped to take a picture of a particularly steep hill and who comes up next to me but Aesha, hill-climber extraordinaire and "Rope Lady". Aesha often stops at the top of hard hills and encourages people up them by pulling an imaginary rope that's attached to their bike. So she and I were clapping, cheering, and encouraging people up the hill with promises of Salmon Mousse and Creme Brulee for lunch. Also at the top of the hill were two children outside of their house cheering the riders on. That was one of my favorite moments of day 2.
It was a long day and there was constant pressure to keep going to make sure we were able to finish. When we got around mile 90, we had a really nice surprise. By this time, I had joined back up with my riding group and we noticed that our teammate Nirali's parents were out cheering for her! That was really uplifting.
Michelle at one point asked Troy what was one his socks. When he told us it was skull and crossbones, we decided that today's theme had to be Death (it didn't hurt that it was the longest day any of us had ever ridden, except Mark).
We were very happy to make it to the last pit before the end of the day. Our friends Kate, Akiko, and Amy were crewing and it was so good to see them!
After that pit, we arrived in Richmond over the bridge and proceeded in to town. The only problem was that there were lights every 250 ft so we were stop and go through the town. It was very frustrating after the long day we had had and how tired we were.
We finally got to camp around 6 or 6:30p, exhausted but exultant, after 116 miles. Because of the threat of rain, we camped out in the Richmond International Raceway in the garage! The nice part was that we didn't have to set up our tents. So after showering and eating, we decided to cheer in the people who were arriving to camp. It was so incredible watching people's faces as they entered camp - joy, pain, tears. I've never clapped or screamed so hard, or been so proud of people. Watching the last group ride in and having the moto crew escort them into camp was the sight of a lifetime. It was great.