Dinosaur Land

Today was a special day, and really meant a lot to my family and myself. Everyday a team member researches a disability, and then in our morning circle up they describe it to the team. Today I volunteered and I told the team about Tuberous Sclerosis, the disease my amazing sister suffers from. After telling the team the disability, I explained Lexie’s situation and then asked the team if they could ride for her today. So after our morning prayer, everyone got on their bikes and headed towards Dinosaur, Colorado and everyone did it with Lexie in mind.

I rode with Matt Docimo from the University of Houston, and Alex Eplan from Georgia Tech. Alex is a very good rider, and I have never rode with him so I was excited to work through the 95 miles with him today. I’m not going to lie, todays ride was absolutely miserable, and the only thing that got me through it was thinking about Lexie. After starting the day with a hill that had close to a 12% incline, we had to go over two mountain passes, and ride through the desert, which was no fun. To make the ride even better, the temperature got over 115 degrees which made riding that much harder. When talking to my project manager who rode last year, he said that today was his least favorite ride of the entire summer and I can 100% percent agree with that. To make it even better, about 3 miles outside of town I got a flat tire, which made the day even worse. Towards the end of the ride the sun was really getting to me and my only thought was “Lexie cant quit living with a disability, so I cant quit riding for her”. After a long, hot, miserable day we arrived in Dinosaur, Colorado with only a hill to conquer before lodging and Alex, Matt and I hit it at full speed. We walked into the school and the first thing I did was collapse to the floor. It was such a nice feeling to get into an air-conditioned room and let my legs relax.

After showering, some of the guys went over to an ice cream shop and I got what I was craving all day; a milkshake. It was the perfect way to cool down the body after slaving through such hot weather for 6 hours. Once we got back to lodging everyone chilled for a little bit before having dinner made by a woman who has been sponsoring the team for 17 years now. It is always so nice to have such supportive people along our journey and delicious meals! After having a team circle up, our PM told us we had the rest of the night to ourselves to relax and prepare for the next couple of days. Here we come Denver!