Man Down

My phone was stolen from the campground at Lake Tahoe, so I'm most likely not going to be able to communicate well until San Francisco; it's only half a week and I don't mind all that much...it's annoying to lose money of course, but other than that, it's really not that big of a deal. I just wanted to put the announcement out there so no one thinks I'm ignoring them.

The other news is that I crashed yesterday - we had a 3 bike pile-up and I used a fence as my bumper. My face and arm are kind of busted up (pictures soon, I promise), my neck is really sore, and I have a beautiful pink and purple bruise on my leg. Everyone is fine though, and even the bikes survived, so no real harm done.

We had our longest ride a few days ago; it was 110 miles and I got in with the first group of riders, averaging around 17mph - I was really proud and excited and the whole day was definitely one of the best I've ever had. After getting in around 1, we went to a bar and had three beers, watched the Olympics (the men's bike race!), and consumed a huge cheeseburger. Then, we went to the town pool and swam, and I swear at dinner that night I ate more than I've ever eaten before. We slept outside and watched the stars and I'll use the level of contentment I had that night as a measure for a long time to come.

We're now on our descent to the Pacific Ocean. We're crossing the Sierra Nevadas and the scenery is beyond gorgeous. I was grumpy this morning due to the phone loss and busted up face, but the afternoon's ride made me (once again) remember how lucky I am to be doing this. Only 5 more days and we'll be in San Francisco. I'm not at all conflicted about it and there are no mixed emotions - I am 100% sure I don't want this to end.