Jacob Lake Arizona

We all knew this was going to be a tough day, right off the bat. At route meeting that morning, we talked about how at mile 97 of 110, we would start a 13 mile climb up to the camp site that we would be staying that day. This ride was definitely a ride to remember, for me. I started with Greg but at mile 10, his derailleur broke off his bike and he wasn’t able to ride so I had to get to first lunch alone. I moved on with Micah, Molly and Josiah from there, trying to outrun a huge storm that was blowing in and creating a huge crosswind. Molly kept getting flats along the way but urged us to go on so that we wouldn’t get caught in the storm. At second lunch, as soon as I was ready to roll out, I found out that I had a flat and that delayed me enough that I told my group to go on without me while I changed it. Second lunch was at about mile 80 and I could see another huge storm rolling in. It was so dark that it was blocking the view of the mountains so I stopped and tried to wait it out for a little while with JoBeth, Hannah and Charlie. The weirdest thing about being in the west where there are only some mountains is that you can see the storms all around you and you can tell if it’s about to roll your way or not. It’s good and bad because I get to prepare for the storm but I also have to stare at it as I’m biking into it. Eventually, we decided that there was no way to avoid the storm and we would have to bike through it so we made our way to the climb. By the time we got to the bottom of the mountain, JoBeth, Charlie and Hannah had all decided to van. I had gone back and forth the entire way trying to convince myself to keep biking and eventually I just decided to get it over with and I did it alone. It was extremely boring and it took me FOREVER to get to the top but, eventually I did and I was able to go straight to a café and get some hot coffee and cookies to warm up! The whole way up was freezing and wet and lonely but I’m super proud of myself that I decided to make my way up and finish it off. I was the last one to finish biking that day and I arrived at the camp site as the sun was going down, but luckily the tents had been put up and everything was ready for me to just relax. That night, we all hung out by the fire and enjoyed each other’s company before we got to ride to our first big destination: The GRAND CANYON!!!

This is a joke...