Day 80 - Tying it All Together

Light filters in through the windows of the church, casting intricate shadows on the ground as it shines through the spokes of our overturned bikes. A door hangs open and I can see our trailer in the parking lot. Its blackboard is chalked with some of our outdated statistics: "3,217 miles ridden! $150,000 raised! 76 days completed!" But that was almost a week ago. 

I look around the room at my teammates, some sprawled out on their thermarests, others talking quietly, their heads close together. Cindy plays a haunting melody on the piano and the music floats in the air like breath on a cold morning. We're so close to the Pacific coast that we can almost taste the ocean. The proximity has cast a strange mix of emotions over the group: elated to have almost completed our journey, heartbroken knowing that we will have to say goodbye soon. 

The ride today was very easy. We had a climb early on and the rest of the ride seemed downhill or with a tailwind. We rode in a large pace line. Unfortunately at one of the stoplights, there was a miscommunication in the line about whether we were going through a yellow light or stopping. Josh, the leader, stopped and Austin, the guy behind him, continued riding. Austin locked up his back wheel attempting to stop and fell over (on his non-deraillieur side thank goodness.) He was okay but a little scratched up. He's been wanting to crash all summer so today was his day. 

We rode easily into San Jose, stopping briefly at a farmer's market and a burger place to grab milkshakes. We told anyone who wold listen that we were on our way across the country. It's so fun to see the look of disbelief on their faces!

We saw our first road sign to Santa Cruz today. It put everything into perspective, how far we've come and how little we have left. Thank God the coast is close and we are all still here in one piece!

We're riding 60 miles into Santa Cuz tomorrow. It is supposed to be a tough ride, taking us over some passes before we descend to the beach. We will be going through the Redwoods and I can't wait I see them!

We finally finished painting our trailer. The front has all of our favorite sayings on it!