Wray, Colorado

We woke up today around 5:30 and got ready for our ride to Wray, Colorado. It is crazy how we are starting to think that 85 mile rides are no big deal like today. We had our breakfast sponsored this morning by the Elks Club of Fort Morgan, which was great! Being able to enjoy a warm breakfast rather than a bagel makes a huge difference.

I rode today with Reggie Quaye from Iona College and Jason Milliken from Miami of Ohio. Although I have rode with Jason before, today was my first time riding with Reggie so I was excited. We started at a great pace, and that continued throughout the whole day. My Project Manager set rack points for the team and everyone absolutely blew them out of the water. We ended up keeping a pace of around 19 mph and finished the 86 miles in about 5 ½ hours with stops. It is a great feeling to have such a good day on the bike, and all three of us did awesome. When we arrived into Wray we went straight to our lodging, the Wray Recreational Activity Center. Because everyone went so fast today Mark had lunch waiting for us here rather than on the road and then we got changed and went swimming next door to the Center. It was very refreshing to go swimming and everyone enjoyed it.

After getting showered up I had about 1 ½ hours to do what I pleased until our friendship visit and dinner at 5 so I read a little bit and then took a nap. I woke up at 4:45 got dressed and we had dinner with a group of boy scouts from Wray. The kids were very eager to hear about our trip and we had a blast hanging out with them. The visit started coming to an end so we all said our goodbyes and then were given the rest of the night to relax and get ready for our near 100 mile day tomorrow. I feel like at this point the riding itself isn’t hard, but the lack of scenery change and boredom is what gets to everyone. Today all we saw was farm land and a lot of cows and tomorrow is supposed to be the same.

During my down time I have started to read my favorite book again, The Ultimate Gift. There is a quote in the book, which reads, “Some people are born into wonderful families. Others have to find or create them. Being a member of a family is a priceless privilege which costs nothing but love.” These lines really shot out at me and made me think of my own life. I was born into a very loving and supportive family and I am extremely thankful for that. And throughout this trip I have really missed them and being able to see everyone but I realized I have gained a new family, this group of 34 guys who I have the privilege to spend 24 hours a day with and I cant think of any other way I would want to spend the summer. I am making countless memories and family is really the most important thing in life.