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Every day we are out riding on this epic adventure is a gift and a blessing. I offer up prayers of gratitude for that every day – and for the strength and mental fortitude of the riders. I ask for it to continue every day. Not every day, however, will have you feeling fantastic. Today’s ride from Holland to Marshall was that for me.
I felt flat and somewhat challenged. I’m not sure why or what caused it. Maybe it was riding through the rain and feeling cold and unprepared for it as I didn’t have my rain jacket on. Maybe it was the hilly 93-mile ride with roller after roller after roller for what seemed like forever. It’s odd – climbing, I like. Hills, less so. Maybe it was knowing that we have 120 miles tomorrow. Whatever it was, I just felt flat and lacked energy. I did my best to maintain a positive attitude and to continue to pull my weight in our group. It really was, other than the first few days early on when I was struggling with keeping myself properly fueled, the only day I’ve felt like this in a long time.
I was able to get my rain jacket from the van at lunch. I was kicking myself that I didn’t get it an earlier rest stop because it had been available to me then. In any case, I wore it all afternoon as I was already soaked and wanted to keep warm as it does an exceptional job of keeping both the wind and the rain off my body. It’s a simple $35 jacket I purchased from Amazon, but it’s been the best purchase I’ve made in terms of gear for this trip.
We arrived at the hotel, and I took a long hot shower. I needed it to warm up. I had a 1/2-hour nap before heading to dinner which was at a local brew pub. Fairly ravenous, I tried the pre-ordered appetizers (super smart to have food ready there for us!) and had a delicious burger for dinner as well as a pizza. A group went for ice cream after dinner, but I had laundry in the washing machine that I needed to get into the dryer, so Myrna graciously offered to bring back a scoop for me. It was chocolate and was delicious.
My plan is to be in bed early, pray for a really good night’s sleep, and then get next door to Denny’s for a non-powdered egg breakfast in the morning! Ultimately, it will be to put feeling flat behind me, brush it off and ready myself for an awesome 120-mile ride for day 35.
Tomorrow, as they say, is a new day and a new beginning.