Hagerstown, Maryland

After a very fun night with the team, waking up this morning and realizing it was our second to last day of cycling was a surreal feeling. We have come so far and grown so much as a team and I couldn’t believe in just two days that I will be saying goodbye to them. Wake up was at 5:30 and we got ready for a ride like a normal day and then racked our bikes on the vans to drive to our starting point. Although cycling has become enjoyable, at this point in the trip I would rather skip the riding and just go straight to the next city and hang out with our team. The ride today was taking us to Hagerstown, Maryland. My pace line for the day was with Mike Jones who is a native of Maryland, and Chris Stubel, someone who I have come to love riding with. After driving to the launch area we had our breakfast and then started the ride. Yesterday I dropped my bike and it landed on the drive train side and screwed up a few components. I rode through the problems yesterday, but right off the bat I could tell the problems had gotten worse. We made it about 6 miles and I ended up racking my bike and finishing the day off in the van to avoid further damage.

It was pretty depressing not being out on the road with my teammates today. While driving past them in the van it looked like they were having a blast, and missing out on that really bummed me out. About three hours after racking, and a nice nap we arrived in Hagerstown to the Potomac Center where we would be staying and having our final friendship visit of the summer. I got showered up and once the other cyclists arrived a few of us made our way to the bike shop. The mechanic told me that everything looked fixable but I had to leave the bike so we went back to the center to have our friendship visit. Knowing it was our last I was very excited and although it was fun, it didn’t compare to the majority of the visits we had this summer. We went up to some of the residence houses and pushed the clients that were in wheelchairs down to the gym where we ate dinner. I brought a woman named Lizzy down and once we were in the gym I also helped her eat her dinner. The staff at this center were a lot different than those I have seen before in their lack of attention. I was kind of blown away, but all in all the visit was pretty fun.

Being at our last friendship visit made me think of all the ones thus far. This picture is from our second friendship visit of the summer. Crazy to think about how much has happened and see how much I have changed! 

As the visit was coming to an end I made my way over to the bike shop to pick up my bike and I made it out with only a $24 bill. I was glad to see that the part could be fixed, and that I can finish my ride knowing everything will be okay. We are spending the rest of the night hanging out together knowing that tomorrow will be a busy day. I cant believe tomorrow is our last full day of cycling especially after seeing how far we have come. What a summer it has been!