Bethesda, MD – 70 Miles

August 13, 2010

Today’s ride was the “last” ride of the summer because tomorrow’s is so short. We pushed it at a pretty steady rate, but just weren’t given enough time to make it on schedule. It was slightly heartbreaking when the whole team had to rack up on the vans and drive the last leg of the day. We did as we were told however, and headed in to shower up, and pack up our things to ship off to DC. With only minutes to wash my jersey, I barely made my way into the van as it was ready to head out. We were to have dinner with the other two teams as a way to unify before our ride together into DC tomorrow. We arrived about a half hour early, followed by the Trans team who were on time, followed by the South team about a half hour later. I don’t like to promote the separation of the teams, but I have to say there was a clear cut difference in the way the three teams conducted themselves. Without going into specifics, I will only say that I was proud of the level professionalism I saw in my fellow teammates.

After dinner, we said our goodbyes, and headed back to our lodging to prepare ourselves and our bikes for the big day tomorrow. I can’t believe that the end is only a day away!