Today was actually one of my top ten favorite rides of the trip. We split into groups as usual and headed off on what we knew was a climby first half of the day. Within the first 8 miles, all of the groups had somewhat dissipated into one giant stretch of riders climbing together. After the majority of the climbing was done, I passed up a few groups until I could see Em's red helmet in the distance and decided that catching her would be my goal. I rode alongside Natalie for a bit and laughed at her awe of the greenish-grey ocean of trees that surrounded us.
When we got to lunch, there was a pretty nice creek or river or something that we could climb down to. Eventually, the majority of the team had jumped in and then found a sunny rock to sit on. It seemed that everyone was going to stay at lunch forever and just lay silently in each other's presence. There was an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't mention that this is our last lunch together, and that we wouldn't mention that this was our last full day of just us together, and that we would just sit in awe of the beauty that we were experiencing right then and that we had experienced all summer. Apologies for the run-on sentence, but it was a run-on moment.
Eventually we left the waterside and I continued riding with Drew, Dan, and Aaron. A few miles in, we stopped to join Sam while he changed his tire. Sam's tire had blown hours ago, however no one except for Dan and sweep carries an extra tire, so Sam had been stuck there all day waiting. He might have been slightly aggravated, but at least he got to use a cool American themed tire... By the time he finished changing his tire, we had also added Natalie to the group. We continued on toward the host until we saw directions to some cool falls and decided to head that way. Then Dan had some issues with his chain. Then I got a flat. Finally, Sam had had enough so Dan, Sam, and I gave up on the falls and went onward to the host.
In the evening, we gathered to read our final snaps and to give out paper plate awards. Each of us drew a random teammates name to create their paper plate award. I had chosen Aaron's name and decided to give him the "Type A-Aron award" in honor of his networking skillz, his numerous detail oriented questions, and as a ironic note of his completely opposite of Type A organizational skills. Many times throughout the trip, Aaron would try to bust it to get to host early so that he could meet with some random contact in that city. I spent a lot of the afternoon trying to find a set of lost keys that he carried with him in order to tape it to the paper plate in honor of a long and drawn out prank that some teammates had played on him. In Jackson, Aaron had ridden up early and then rented a car for some exploring. Later, Jay found some keys on the side of the road and hid them in Aaron's bag to convince him that he had forgotten to turn them into the rental company. Later, Aaron was determined to find the owner of the keys. He even passed them around town hall. He never found the owner. He never learned it was Jay. Unless he's reading this now. Hi Aaron.
Joey had drawn my name. He turned on "Love on Top" while he presented the award for Beyonce's biggest fan. I'm a pretty big fan of bumpin to some Beyonce in the mornings, and I guess this was a noteable characteristic. Woot!
Had our last meeting as a full leadership team to discuss the logistics of getting to our final destination (eek). Went to get groceries with Jay and Natalie. Went with the majority of the team to some random bar to play cards against humanity. All in all, a wonderful last night together as just CUS. Days like today will be sorely missed.
When we got to lunch, there was a pretty nice creek or river or something that we could climb down to. Eventually, the majority of the team had jumped in and then found a sunny rock to sit on. It seemed that everyone was going to stay at lunch forever and just lay silently in each other's presence. There was an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't mention that this is our last lunch together, and that we wouldn't mention that this was our last full day of just us together, and that we would just sit in awe of the beauty that we were experiencing right then and that we had experienced all summer. Apologies for the run-on sentence, but it was a run-on moment.
Eventually we left the waterside and I continued riding with Drew, Dan, and Aaron. A few miles in, we stopped to join Sam while he changed his tire. Sam's tire had blown hours ago, however no one except for Dan and sweep carries an extra tire, so Sam had been stuck there all day waiting. He might have been slightly aggravated, but at least he got to use a cool American themed tire... By the time he finished changing his tire, we had also added Natalie to the group. We continued on toward the host until we saw directions to some cool falls and decided to head that way. Then Dan had some issues with his chain. Then I got a flat. Finally, Sam had had enough so Dan, Sam, and I gave up on the falls and went onward to the host.
In the evening, we gathered to read our final snaps and to give out paper plate awards. Each of us drew a random teammates name to create their paper plate award. I had chosen Aaron's name and decided to give him the "Type A-Aron award" in honor of his networking skillz, his numerous detail oriented questions, and as a ironic note of his completely opposite of Type A organizational skills. Many times throughout the trip, Aaron would try to bust it to get to host early so that he could meet with some random contact in that city. I spent a lot of the afternoon trying to find a set of lost keys that he carried with him in order to tape it to the paper plate in honor of a long and drawn out prank that some teammates had played on him. In Jackson, Aaron had ridden up early and then rented a car for some exploring. Later, Jay found some keys on the side of the road and hid them in Aaron's bag to convince him that he had forgotten to turn them into the rental company. Later, Aaron was determined to find the owner of the keys. He even passed them around town hall. He never found the owner. He never learned it was Jay. Unless he's reading this now. Hi Aaron.
Joey had drawn my name. He turned on "Love on Top" while he presented the award for Beyonce's biggest fan. I'm a pretty big fan of bumpin to some Beyonce in the mornings, and I guess this was a noteable characteristic. Woot!
Had our last meeting as a full leadership team to discuss the logistics of getting to our final destination (eek). Went to get groceries with Jay and Natalie. Went with the majority of the team to some random bar to play cards against humanity. All in all, a wonderful last night together as just CUS. Days like today will be sorely missed.
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