Tour De Friends 2003 - Day 4
Bealton to DC, 65 Miles - Theme: Redemption
With the camp being a virtual mud pit and not sleeping well, it made for a sort of depressing start to the day. And Will didn't help by ruining my idealistic impression of myself and telling me I snore. But it helped knowing we were headed home! Paul, Mark, and I recognized the first 11 miles to pit 1 from last year - it was slightly downhill and we zoomed into the first pit.
I guess Glenn was bored because he came up with a team cheer:
Oh yay, you say, we're Agrodolcewhich we sort of over-sang.
We're quite a sight in blue and yellow and white!
There were many memorable parts of day 4:
- Snow Cones - Pit 2 had snow cones - grape and cherry, yum!
- Glass Path in Vienna - The path through Vienna was horrible. It was small, lots of
gravel and glass. It was pretty scary. Luckily we only had 1 flat in our riding group and
that was after we pulled in to the next pit after that bad section of road.
- Small Bladder - So sometime during this ride my bladder shrunk! I had to pee so
badly after that path through Vienna. So we're inches from the pit
and the crew stops us to let a bus back in to a spot. I'm practically crying at this point and the
crew takes pity and lets me through. I throw the bike down and run to the bathroom. Ah, sweet, sweet relief.
- Electric Slide - At pit 3, they were playing 70's music and the Hustle came on.
Not knowing the Hustle, Tria, Jim, Russ, and I improvised and did the Electric Slide!
- Uncrustables - All throughout the ride, they had been offering these snacks called Uncrustables. They
are PB&J sandwiches in a little circle with no crust, hence the name. Everybody loved them and there
was a rush as soon as people got to pits to get the Uncrustables. I will never like or want this food again, except
it tasted like heaven while riding!
- Riding the hills with Nirali - The section of the route that led into Arlington was littered with hills. Nirali and I
rode them together and it was great to have her with me.
- Java Shack - After lunch, we rode a team to the Java Shack and had a coffee drink.
We rode as a team through Rosslyn, down the Whitehurst Freeway, and into Georgetown. People were clapping and cheering. After taking a group picture and parking our bikes, we cheered in the rest of the riders. Watching the last two ride in to DC was so beautiful and emotional, especially since one of the last ones was one of our teammates, who had gotten lost.
I had so much support at the Closing Ceremonies. My friends Jenn and Christina, my mom, stepdad, sister, aunt, uncle, and close friend of the family all came down, some from NY. They had a sign they held up and my entire team saw it and got so excited to be recognized in the sign. It was great.
The ceremony was so moving. The banners of those being honored were walked down the aisle again and I just cried buckets. Michelle and I locked eyes, held hands, and it wasn't enough. We shared a big hug and a personal moment. It was so special.
We collected my stuff, I went home, showered in a real shower, and went for dinner.