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I managed to scrounge up a few more photos from Friday for your viewing pleasure. And by scrounge up I mean I heisted them from my teammate Jeff! (Thanks, Jeff!)

Here we are getting ready for our Friday morning ride.




Here we are on our ride!









Here was the welcome crew cheering us on to our Inspiration Dinner. Side note: I TOTALLY do not remember the red carpet, but that is awesome!




Here we are actually at the dinner.







And here we are getting a pep talk at the end of the evening with information on the ride the following day.

Miles Logged: 21

Total Miles Logged So Far: 1,021

FRIDAY:

(This is the whole crew from L to R: Sharon, Diane, Stacia, Terry, Rhonda, Janine, Caitlin, Brent, Pamela, Jeff, and myself)

Friday started off pretty dang early: a9 a.m. ride! Okay that's not really early compared to the 2:45 wake-up the day before...but I was still playing catch-up dangit...I nearly slept through my alarm too!

We were going to go out and just do whatever distance wefelt like doing. Sharon and I, who both were pretty under-trained forthis thing considering she was working pretty much full time on herdissertation and me with my surgery and all, decided that 20 mileshould do the trick.

Let me tell you what, I have never seensuch beautiful riding conditions. Sunny, cool, beautiful scenery inthe country-side. And most importantly: FLAT. Oh so very wonderfullyflat. Sharon and I had a good time. I was SO thankful that I hadsomeone to ride with, because let me tell you what, if you have 8hours of riding time on your own you will lose your flippin mind. Butanyway, it was awesome we laughed and talked about the tall, skinnytrees and crazy-big birds. And just had a nice, casual, smooth rideon a portion of the metric century route.

Here I am trying to stay upright while biking and smiling for the camera. I'm not good at bike-eye-smile coordination.

When we got back from our ride a bitlater we were standing outside the hotel when a women approached usand asked us if we wouldn't mind being interviewed for the Channel 7news. Sharon and I agreed...and i'm sure we looked just TOTALLyawesome what with all the sweat and whispy hair we had going onpost-ride. But we gave it our best....spandex and all. Sadly, we wereboth at our “Inspiration Dinner” that evening and couldn't catchthe coverage of it. Probably for the best.

In any case...after our ride Stacia,Caitlin, Pamela and myself hopped over to Jimmy's Cafe for some lunchwhile quite a few of the others went to Ocean City to catch someBeach waves. I would have gone too, except I was waiting for mycompany to arrive!! But truthfully, I was more excited about thecompany than the beach, and I kinda wanted to wait for the followingday when I biked to the Ocean rest stop to see the beach! It wouldjust make it all the more special.

My brother Andy, sister-in-law Darcyand my ADORABLE niece Delia were the first of my entourage to arrive!We hung out for awhile and Delia was super excited about seeing mybike and insisted on sitting on it. It was super cute. She also madefaces at me like she usually does including the latest one I taughther, the monkey face. While making that face at me she was trying notto laugh but gave in after a few second and, because the poor thinghad a cold, accidentally blew the most massive amount of snot I haveever seen out of her nose. It was truly unreal. haha, but she wassuper cute anyway

She was also pretty damn excited about seeing my bike...but she felt my helmet was inadequate because it didn't have an Elmo sticker like hers.

Laura arrived shortly after that and weall hung out for a bit until I had to go grab my race registrationbecause the geniuses that run the Seagull Century Ride neglected tosend out the team-in-training packets until just a few days beforethe race...they all arrived on Thursday back in Lincoln and Omaha.Greeaaaat. But they made us make-shift numbers anyway!

7275 BABY!

After that was finished I parted wayswith Andy, Darcy, and Delia for the night as they were headed tocheck into the rental house they got on the Ocean and I was preppingfor my “Inspiration Dinner”

We all met in Stacia's room beforeheading down to the lobby to go to the dinner which was in theconference room part of the hotel.

Immediately when we got off the elevator we heard hootin' and hollerin' and a bunch of noise maker kind of things and were all just like “what the deuce is going on??”

When we turned the corner there wereTONS of Team-in-Training people dressed up in a bunch of wackyTeam-in-Training gear forming a channel by which all participants hadto pass. And as we all walked by they were shouting and cheering “GOTEAM NEBRASKA!!!” and congratulating us on making it. It was somoving. Even beyond what I would have expected. It was just such anice way to start off the evening, with a lot of noise and fun and itjust made you feel so good to be there and receive this giant pat onthe back for all that we had accomplished over the last 5 months.

The inspiration dinner was just sowonderful too. And i'm not even talking about the food...though thedelicious pasta carb-loading dishes were AMAZING....but it was justsuch a touching and motivating evening with all the speakers they hadlined up. Julie, not Nebraska Julie but the national Team in Trainingdirector, gave a talk in the beginning about how much we all raisedand what it all meant.

There were 192 Team-in-TrainingParticipants for the century ride. And as a group we raised....

Wait for it.....

Wait for it cause it's real good...

Over $550,000!!!!!!

Wow. I would not have guessed it wasthat much! But how awesome to know that this room full of people had,in a time of economic paranoia and depression, we were able to pooltogether over a half of a million dollars for this cause! I justthought that was phenomenal.

Then National Julie listed off thenames of the Top 5 Fundraisers. After number five was announced at$6000 Nebraska Julie turned to me with a frown and said “You werenumber 6!” haha. I don't care, I still think it's totally awesome Imade the Top 10! I felt honored! And besides, as I said before, Idon't need no stinkin' recognition!

The top winner for the evening was amiddle-aged, cancer survivor who had managed to raise over $22,000!!!WHAT THE WHAT??? That is just SO awesome! As a reward, he was given abrand new Schwinn bicycle that was decked out in Team-in-Trainingcolors and logos. It was an AWESOME bike!!

Next we had a speaker with an Insurancecompany who has encouraged his company to have their sole donationsgo to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society and encourage theiremployees to participate in the TNT events. He gave a cool speech andslide show presentation on what you should expect on the road thefollowing day for all the newbies in the room like myself, which waspretty entertaining. Full of crazy pictures. And then talked abouthow he NEEDED team in training because it makes you matter. What acool way of putting that. I could see how it could easily bemisconstrued as a selfish thing, but being on the other side of thiswhole experience now, it's easy to see what he means. It's good tofeel like you're making a difference, that what you do for somethinglike this totally MATTERS. So often in life the fact that “wematter” gets swept under the rug. So it's nice to have somethinglike this organization that gives you that in life.

The next speaker was the uncle of thenational honored hero for the event, a young girl named Olivia who at4 years old was diagnosed with Leukemia. Two and a half years latershe is now cancer-free! Her uncle talked of the struggles throughoutthe process and about the happiness and strength that came out of it.It was followed by a really moving slide show of pictures during her2 years of cancer treatments. Pictures of her with stuffed pony's andtiaras, having chemotherapy injections, dance recitals, and picturesof her port. A girl who was equally beautiful bald as she was withhair. After the presentation TNT presented her with a GIGANTIC pandabear with a team-in-training t-shirt and she comes running up, hertwo front teeth missing, a gigantic grin on her face and just grabsthe panda bear and is so excited and happy. It was absolutelyadorable.

The dinner was just so much fun, soinspiring and a perfect reminder for why we were here, why we weredoing this and why we should go out there and have FUN the next day.

After the dinner is was off to ourrooms to prep for the ride the following morning. I immediatelystarted packing my camelbak with all essential biking needs! Here's a look at all my gear:

100 oz of water

Tons of Power bars, energy jelly beans,and an emergency packet of energy gel (so very nasty)

My camera

My cell phone

Some money for food and incidentals

A mini bike pump

Several bike tools in case of flattires

Sunscreen

and my Sunglasses

Plastic bags to put our cell phones,cameras, etc. in for rainy situations

I got my biking shorts, jersey, socks,shoes, gloves and helmet ready to just throw on in the morning. Itwould be an early rise: 5:45 a.m. wake up call so that I could getready and get down to the lobby to meat my team at 6:30.

But first! My brother Matt and mysoon-to-be Sister-in-Law Joy needed to arrive! They rolled in around10:30 and we chatted it up for a bit. Joy brought me cookies forafter the race which was awesome because they looked delicious! Joy was also SUPER excited to meet Laura, of puke-catching, pee-dumping Denver fame!

Then it was off to bed!

I'm sitting on the plane on my way backto Omaha at the moment, reflecting on the last 4 days. It's hard tobelieve that it is already over. But let me tell you what, I had thetime of my life. Every moment of it. Except those ten miles rightaround 75. Those were rough. ha but I got over it.

I guess the only way to tell this storyto all of you is to begin at the beginning...

From the dawn of time...

just kidding.

Thursday:

Man, thursday morning came far, FAR tooearly. I had to wake up at 2:45 to get ready and head out the door by3:15 to drive an hour up to the Omaha airport to catch my 6:00 a.m.flight. It was fun to see the whole team together. Everyone was soexcited and the energy even early in the morning was motivating. 

Of course that only lasted a fewminutes once we were on the plane and everyone was fading in-and-outof sleep.

But anyway, it was cool because it wasthe first time the whole Seagull team (Omaha and Lincoln)were able toall be together. Some of the people I hadn't had the chance to meetand others I hadn't seen since before the Gall bladder incident of2009. Here are the players:

Julie: Team-in-TrainingDirector, and a hilarious and motivating person!

Brent: Our coach and fearlessleader

Jeff: The soon-to-be Lincolncycling coach and also the father of our honored hero Kirsten

Terry: Hilarious guy with awicked dry sense of humor. He's married to Janine Zimmer...

Janine: Janine is Terry's wife,she's such a wonderful person just really personable and always has asmile on her face. Terry & Janine's son has Leukemia and isfighting like a champ.

Caitlin: Caitlin is Pamela'sfriend and just really a genuine person. She is a fan of ElizabethGilbert's book “Eat, Pray, Love” so i knew I'd like her!

Pamela: Pa mela was qutie thecharacter. She joined TNT because she'd always wanted to do BRAN butcouldn't convince anyone to do it with her so she opted for the 100mile ride instead after convincing her friend Caitlin to join. Shealso had been reading about the Ponies on Asseteague Island since shewas ten and wanted to make it there to see them.

Stacia:This girl is a riot. She's hilarious and motivating...always the onewho is cheering everyone on the loudest.

RhondaThisgirl is a MACHINE!! She totally rocked out on the bike ride andfinished first on our team!! She enjoys her Captain Morgan's, hencewhy we refer to her as “The Captain”

Diane: Diane is so sweet. She'ssoft-spoken and wonderful but such a champ man! She can move likecrazy on a bike!!

Sharon: Oh,Sharon. What the heck would I have done without this girl??? Shebecame my riding buddy when we both discovered we rode at the samespeed...thus forming “Team Slow!” She's hilarious and fun to talkto.

They were all such a cool group of people! I adore them all!



Here's a photo that Caitlin took of Pamela, Stacia and myself beforeshe realized that I was with the group (we hadn't met before.) She thought I was just weird or something making my way into her shots. It was kinda funny.

 

And here's one after she realized who I was...I was named Athlete of the Week the day before...I was KINDA a big deal! haha. Caitlin is on the far left.

I honestly don't remember too muchabout the flight...as I slept through large chunks of it. The parts Ididn't sleep through involved the sever turbulance we experienced. Itwas crazy. There was like a monsoon or something going on in St.Louis.

Here we are sitting around eating bagels and such in the St. Louis Airport, Coach Brent is the one sitting next to me:

 

In any case, I think we were all relieved when we touched downin Maryland!! It seemed so surreal to me...and i know it did to atleast a majority of the others on my team, that we were actuallyhere! THIS was the weekend!!

From the airport we made our way to thecar rental place and broke up into 3 groups of 4. I joined “TeamAvenger” which consisted of Jeff (our chauffeur), Rhonda (thecaptain), Sharon (the navigator) and myself scrunched into a DodgeAvenger with all of our luggage! 

Speaking of The Captain, here she is!

Someone had the brilliant idea of goingout for seafood since we were on the shore! And brilliant it was! Wehad heard rumblings of this restaurant that was a local favorite andevidently it was only 5 miles away from the airport. Well, and houror so later when we finally found the place we discovered it was wellworth the wait...You probably saw something about this in my earlier post.

Everyone loaded up on crab legs,oysters, clams, muscles and shrimp. It was awesome and a perfect wayto start out this trip! I order their award winning lump crab cakewhich was literally the size of a baseball. It was SO good.

Here are Stacia and Sharon having a puppet show with the clam shells:

 

 

 

From there we made our way to our hotelin Salisbury, MD, home of the Seagull Century Ride!! We checked intoour rooms and immediately went downstairs to unpack our bikes thathad been delivered earlier. And lo and behold, my bike was in perfectshape! Excellent start to the trip!

Now, let me explain something abouttraveling with Nebraskans. Travel plans need to be made to fit aroundfootball schedules. The Nebraska V. Missouri game was Thursday nightand it was essential that we found our way to a sports bar promptlyso that we didn't miss the game.

 

When in Maryland, do as the Nebraskansdo!

So, someone asked the concierge behindthe front desk where a local sports bar was and said that it was justabout a half a mile down the road.

Half a mile my arse.

I swear that we had to have walked atleast two miles to this place! And BTW...I was wearing flip flopsbecause I figured we weren't traveling far. My feet hurt SO bad! Butanyway, we got into this sports bar and they gave us the sweet setup:our own room with a HUGE projection screen TV and about 8 other 42inch TVs surrounding the room so you could watch it at every angle.It was CRAZY! We stayed there until about midway through the 3^rdquarter when the score was Nebraska: 0, Missouri: 9. Little did weknow that only moments later the game would take off and Nebraskawould crush Mizzou! Dangit! But we enjoyed our drinks and food! Then it was off to bed for our ride the following morning!!

Part II coming soon!

Total miles logged: Zilch!!
Total miles to go: 100, baby!!
Total times I might soil myself thinking about those miles: many

Okay, so I have spent the last hour or so getting ALL of these photos ready for a clever ditty about my ride and it is NOT WORKING!! The photos won't load.

It's 10:00 p.m. and I have to get up uber early to drive to the airport!! Yikes. I think I am going to give up on this post for right now. But I will post it eventually. Just mad that I spent an hour doing it when I could have been sleeping!

But! I am off to Maryland tomorrow!! YAY!!!

I'm so excited!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated!!! I've raised over $5,500!!!! And today, I was named Athlete of the Week for Team-in-Training!!! YAY!!!

Okay more to come tomorrow evening from my hotel!

Miles logged on exercise bike: 29.5
Total miles logged: 1,000 BABY!!!!


So tonight was a monumental night! I crossed the 1,000 miles biked mark!!

Whoa!

I know when I originally signed up for this I was supposed to go about 1,800...stupid surgery...but still...I am totally content with the 1,000 I have done!

That is nuts!

So to give some perspective on exactly how far that is, I've taken a clue from my super awesome future sister-in-law, Joy, who sent me an email after my update about the 950 miles I had already done. She basically let me know exactly how far that is. So here are some of the things she said as well as a few additional ones.

What 1000 miles is

1,000 miles is the distance between Lincoln, NE to Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania
1,000 miles is the distance between Abbotsford, British Columbia (Wash/Canada border) to Grenada, California
1,000 miles is the distance between Miami, Florida to Fredricksburg, Virginia
1,000 miles is the distance between Vancouver, British Columbia and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan  (which is arguably the coolest/dorkiest name for a place ever!!)

Or internationally speaking:

1,000 miles is the distance between Madrid, Spain and Milan, Italy
1,000 miles is the distance between Messina Italy (the very tip of the peninsula) to Munich, Germany.


It is, however a few miles shy of making the "long journey from Milan to Minsk" (if you sang "Rochelle, Rochelle" after that you are AWESOME. if not, you should go watch Seinfeld right now!)

Anyway it's a LONG, long distance! Pretty exciting stuff!

I hear there I get a goodie back along with my jersey. I am excited about this! I might have to track said goodie back down tomorrow afternoon! Oh the excitement!

ONE WEEK TIL TAKEOFF!!

Total miles on my recumbant indoor bike: 20!!

Miles logged Saturday: 20
Miles logged today: 40
Total Miles logged thus far: 950.5 (holy crap i'm so close to the 1000 mark!!!!)

Okay so admittedly I was supposed to ride with the Lincoln and Omaha group this Saturday, but I didn't. I would have loved to. And, if I hadn't had a major surgery in the middle of my training that prohibited me from getting my necessary amount of saddle time that would have provided me with the ability to go faster than a slug, then I totally would have gone.

But alas, I didn't.

The course was a super hilly one. I knew because the last time I was on it I did it with my breaks on..

It's been hard since my surgery because I missed out on so much of the group fun because it was like I got so behind that I couldn't possibly ride with the rest of them who were already twice as fast as me to begin with.

I didn't go on Saturday's ride because I knew that I would just get 1000% pissed off because I'd be behind everyone and people would be waiting for me or something dumb which would just piss me off more. So, because I was quickly losing touch on why I enjoy bicycling anyway, I opted not to stress myself out.

Did i go the 80 miles I was supposed to?

No.

Do I care? Not really. I know I can complete this race. It was never about coming in first. As a matter of fact if I come in anything above last place in this thing I will be SHOCKED.

But today I went out for a ride, and for the first time in a long time I decided not to give a rats arse about how fast I was going or how far. And for the first time in a long time, I really enjoyed the ride.

I saw some strange things, too! Including two separate men walking around with metal detectors! Who uses those anymore, anyway??

I also saw a black squirrel! I haven't seen one of those for years! Nor have I ever seen one in the city limits of Lincoln!

Here's the funny part though. I've gone on this particular path of the trail many times in the last few weeks and always I pass this one area where I thought a bunch of fruit had dropped from a tree.

Now, when I ride over the top of fruit it usually just smashes and I don't know the difference on my mighty perch. BUT! As I was going by this particular area with what I thought was fruit on the trail having dropped from the tree above...I noticed something different.

And i realized it JUST before I was about to hit one of them.

BUCKEYES!!!!

Now, let me take you back a bit. When I was a little kid and my parents would take me to the farmer's market, I was OBSESSED with lucky buckeyes. This was largely due to the fact that the first time my mom let me pick one out of one of the vendor's baskets and purchased it for me, I walked maybe 100 feet and found a $20 bill. Oh man, I was SOLD. I thought they were the answer to all my monetary pre-teen troubles! (I didn't have allowance after all, I had to be creative!) And by-and-large those buckeyes did come in handy! I was ALWAYS finding money in vending machines, newspaper machines and just lying on the ground. It was insanity.

Back to present day:

I screeched to a halt just before I was about to hit one of them!



This picture really doesn't do justice...they were ALL over.

CLEARLY these buckeyes had to be lucky because poor, clutzy, accident-prone-on-a-bicycle me did not in fact hit them and fall to her ultimate demise.

Here's the cool part about buckeyes...they come in these crazy potato-like pods!

Maybe I am the only one who thinks this is cool because I'm a huge nerd and all....but the rest of you are going to have to suffer through this demonstration because i think it's wicked cool.

So here's what they look like in their pokey pods:




Notice the potato like qualities. Here...i've taken it upon myself to photograph an actual poatato to prove my point.




Anyway, the next few photos feature the buckeyes at various states of undress. So avert your eyes if you must...

Here we demonstrate how the pod peels back off in thirds. Look how they fit perfectly into their little pod places!!



There can be one, two, or even three buckeyes to a pod!! WHOA!


WAIT A MINUTE! THat one had FOUR! Double whoa! (yes, I am a dork)


I even took the liberty to take an artsy shot. I call this one Yin & Yang. Come on...you'd have to be a total square to not think this one's cool!!!



I might have gotten a smidgen carried away with my buckeye scavanging. But look! They're SHINY!!!



Anyway. I thought they were super cool!

You're probably asking yourself, "What does this have to do with Cycling, Sawatzki?"

Absolutely nothing. (Just like what war is good for! )

But! It was a super cool diversion on my bike ride!

My bike race is in less than two weeks now! Oh man!

AND more importantly, my bike gets shipped off on Wednesday! Yes, THIS wednesday! I'm thinking about renting a bike just so I can get over the 1000 mile mark before my race!

More to come on those details.

I will leave you with a pick from last weeks 76 mile ride:

Total miles yesterday: 20
Total Miles Today: 76.5!!!!!according to the map it was 78 though...
Combined miles in 24 hours: 96.5!!!
Total miles so far: 890.5!!!!

Okay sum up of Friday's ride: Gross like the last one. I swallowed I don't even know how many bugs. It was worse than the day before but I decided I just needed to suck it up and deal with it. But i swear that at one point a bug flew in my mouth and crashed against the back of my throat and I came so close to puking on my handlebars. But, I got 20 miles in while my adorable niece that is visiting was napping. I didn't want to miss out on Auntie/Niece time!

Then today came.

I'd be lying if I said I was excited about today's ride. 75 miles. The most I have done in the last 5 weeks since my surgery has been 31 miles. Come to think of it, the total miles post-surgery that I have logged totaled 75!!

Anyway, I started out on the ride with the idea that if I needed to stop I could. But I really didn't want to resign myself to that.

My century ride is in 3 weeks from today!!! 

I told myself that if I could make it the 75 miles today, there is NO way that I would not be able to make the 100 by my ride.

I had to do it.



When I started off this morning from my house to the location where my team was meeting, it was still dark out and was hovering around 50 degrees. And when you get moving on a bike in that kinda condition, it feels FRIGID. Luckily, the sun came out soon enough and by the time we got to Bennet I had to take my jacket off.

We rode on until we got to Palmyra and then we took 66 south, which turned out to be an accident. My coach had remembered a ride that she had gone on earlier this spring that was beautiful and quiet. Turns out she got what city it was located at wrong. This road was supposed to connect back to Hwy 2.



Although it was absolutely stunningly beautiful and so much nicer than having semi trucks rush by, it did have one drawback: HILLS!!!!

I know everyone believes that Nebraska is totally flat....heck I used to believe that myself...but all of you nay-sayers, I challenge you to get on a bike and see for yourself.

If there is anything I have learned from this summer it is that I now know what it felt like when suddenly the earth they had become to know as flat, was, in fact, round.

Anyway, I struggled a bit. Moreso because I haven't done much in the way of hills lately (just been sticking to the trails) so it was a combo of the longer distance and the hills that was near lethal.

But like I said we took the wrong road. It ended up leading to absolutely nothing but dirt/gravel roads.

So, we rode back. I will say this: the ride back was fantastic. Almost all downhill (the only time gravity is my friend).

And when we made it back to Hwy 2 we rode on out past Unadilla and turned around and came back. I struggled around the 55-65 range. It was rough. I don't think I was eating enough. I was tired. I wanted to curl up in bed and take the world's longest nap.

So my coach and I decided to make another stop at a gas station in Bennet and on the exit ramp I had to get off my bike and walk for the last part of it. I hurt all over.

But I refueled and rested for a bit. Escaped to the bathroom so that I could sit down. I very rarely have to actually use the bathroom because despite the fact that I drank over 200ml of water and gatorade, I tend to sweat equal parts.

After the brief brake we jumped back on and rode off. I decided I needed to mentally just focus on the fact that I had gond 65 miles already. Nearly 10 more than I had previously ever gone!

At the beginning of today's ride my coach said to me that if I can't bike with my legs, I should bike with my heart. Well I took that into account those last 10+ miles. It felt good to watch my odometer pass over the 70 mile line. And the 71. And 72, and all the way until the end.

I had briefly contemplated riding some extra to get to 80, but then my better judgement got the best of me. Thank god.

I've never been so happy to finish a ride. And the shower I took afterwards, never felt so good!

And neither did the chicken salad sandwich(es) my mom made for me. Oh man. That is THE best recovery meal.

So, I had my beer, I ate my sandwiches, and somehow I managed to muster up enough energy to play with my neice all evening! Probably because she's the coolest.

It's nice though because I totally feel like I can actually accomplish those 100 miles. Especially considering that the terrain in Maryland is really flat. Or so they tell me ***eyes narrowed suspiciously****

Also on a huge news note:

I REACHED MY FUNDRAISING MINIMUM!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a little less than $1,000 to go to my goal!!! Awww yeah!!

Coming in the next day or to is a Thank you email to all of you who I haven't yet sent thank yous out to! They are coming. But Also you get a shoutout here!

Also coming in the next day or two is a post on how Chamois Butt'r (aka Butt Butter) is THE best invention ever. As is knowing that you aren't supposed to wear underwear with bike shorts! I'm sure you are all looking forward to this possibly distrubing post! hahaha.

....especially when I am forced to inhale or ingest them either through my mouth or my nose.

That pretty much sums up today's ride.

9 miles.

Total so far: 774.

I was literally covered in swarming gnats. I had to brush several hundred off of my shirt.

They were plastered onto my arms.

They were in my hair.

And I don't even want to talk about how many of them I managed to trap down my shirt.

It. Was. GROSS.

But the 9 miles I got in was a fast 9 miles. I think I averaged at least 14.3 mph. I was riding angry because of medical bills. Grrr.

Hopefully the bug fog will have lifted for my next ride! Because this just isn't going to fly.

Bah dum...tssss. That pun was totally intended. Deal with it.