"I Want It That Way"

Wake up this morning was at 4:30 A.M., which was the earliest we have woken up by far this summer. The team got ready and rode in a double pace line over to the Children’s Museum of Carson City to enjoy a pancake breakfast by the Kiwanis Club of Carson City. It was a neat experience, and was very humbling to see the sponsors so excited to spend an hour with the team.

From the museum we left to start our 65 mile ride to Fallen, Nevada. I rode today with David Iles from the University of Iowa, and Chris Steubel from Georgia Tech. Chris is a very skilled cyclist so it was nice to have him push me a little bit. We had a very clean ride, with a  lot of rolling hills. The worst part of the ride being that it was so dang boring, with the majority of the terrain consisting of the desert.  

Because everyone finished the ride so quick, our crew chief waited to give us lunch until we got to th high school we were going to stay at. After eating everyone went into the gym, and some guys played basketball, napped or showered. After showering I laid down and ended up falling asleep for about an hour while waiting to leave for our friendship visit. The team left at 5 and went to meet up with the organization Humbold Shredders and enjoyed a huge dinner and some dancing and karaoke. Some of the clients there were shy at first to dance, but once they saw all of us goofy guys on the dance floor without a care in the world, we quickly filled up floor and had a blast. It was so much fun to let loose and sing our heads off. Some of my favorite songs to sing with everyone was “I feel like a Women” by Shania Twain and “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys.

After the wonderful friendship visit we headed back to lodging and everyone wound down for the night. I got to bed pretty early in preparation for our first century day the next day. 113 miles to Austin, Nevada was going to be a tough day regardless of the terrain, and it being in the desert doesn’t make things easier.