Today’s theme was to remember to play and be joyful. It was a long day after a long day before. One of our riders, Bob, decided to playfully ride up the hill beside another rider, Caroline, who wears a white head cover under her helmet that flows of the back of her hair and protects her hair and her neck from the sun. We refer to her as ‘Mother Superior’ because she looks like a nun while riding. Bob, during a stretch of riding in the last few weeks, shared that he wears underpants under his cycling shorts. We were all astounded when he shared this because it’s not the norm. He promises that he’s never had saddle sores as a result, so maybe he’s onto something.

Today’s ride was another century ride, but one we’d known was coming since the moment we signed up for the overall trip. Well, maybe not that early – but as we begin to receive updates and information regarding our route, we could see the daily distance and elevation profiles. Today’s ride was to be perhaps the most challenging of all the days we would be riding. The day itself is a century ride – meaning 100 miles (sadly, not a metric century which is roughly 62 miles and 100 kilometers). That in and of itself is a challenge. We will be doing those back-to-back, but the ride on day eighteen also includes a sizable climb of roughly 20 miles along which you will gain an altitude of 6000 feet.

The theme of the day was ‘wind’. We were faced with wind no matter what direction we rode. The ride itself wasn’t the most beautiful we had as there was much riding along the side roads of the interstate and the interstate itself. It was, however, still beautiful, but more open and impacted by the winds whipping between the mountains. I rode the first 20 miles with my wind breaker on because it was in the 50s.. and, well, wind.