Today was a very sad day for NC2SD 2010. One of our number left the trip and headed home.
May I first just say, Sean Delaney is the man. He has ridden for the past 2 weeks with a set of achilles injuries that would have sidelined any one of us the very first day. Sean decided yesterday that because of how inhibited he is, he just couldn't continue on the trip and enjoy himself the way he should (or run the risk of causing permanent damage), so he said goodbye to us all this morning. It was rough. We did this thing called the "compliment train" to say our individual goodbyes...you could count the number of dry eyes on 1 hand. It's pretty unbelievable how heartbreaking it was when we've all only known each other 3 weeks. I would rather climb 4 more sets of Appalachian mountains than see Sean go. I wish him all the best, and hope to see him back on the road with us before the trip is over.
After an emotionally distressful morning, we headed out to meet the steepest climb we've had yet at only mile 4. No time to warm up the legs, and Daus Mountain is a beast. It also started pouring just as we reached the beginning of the climb. Everybody owned it though, pushing through like we knew Tri-Sean would. After the ridiculous climb to about mile 9, things flattened out and we had a really good ride. I rode the whole day with Kelly and we had a pretty awesome bonding session. Jordan joined us also, and he is awesome. We rolled into Winchester just before it started raining. Unfortunately, the showers were cold for the 5th day in a row. I guess I'm just getting used to it, or it's getting hotter outside...maybe both, but it really doesn't even seem that bad anymore. Tonight we had to provide our own dinner, but we had an awesome burrito bar. By far the best meal we've made for ourselves the whole trip. We wandered around town a little bit, and when we got back Kelly took a few of us through some bedtime yoga. Then I lathered on some Icy Hot and now I'm hitting the hay in preparation for a long day tomorrow. There's a road sign you can see from the front of the church we're staying at that says "Mephis 251." It's wild to think we're going to do that in the next 4 days. We're also over 900 miles total, so the big 1K is coming up here in the next day or so...
oh and Happy Birthday to my big sister Lee :)
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