My apologies for taking so long to get updated. I have either been too busy or too tired to write anything. Also, I have taken quite a few pictures which I hope to include in these posts as soon as I get the chance…

I woke up at Mike’s place wondering if this would be my last chance to sleep in a bed for quite some time. I decided to try and soak in a few extra hours, because I thought I had everything ready to go. When I finally got moving, I realized getting out the door required a lot more steps than I had thought. After double-checking every little thing, I moved all of my stuff out of his place and on to the road, and I was officially ready to hit it at 11. I took a last look at Adams Morgan and started pedaling.

It was a little windy, but the sun was out, so I was happy. Headed out of the Park and across the Memorial Bridge into Arlington. I took a minute at the bridge to drink it all in…Then the glove I had removed to take some picures blew into the road. I tried to get down to reach it and my trailer toppled, and I almost followed. Being graceful, smooth, and pretty has officially gone the way of the do-do bird.

A guy in a gray ARMY t-shirt was running by. He stopped, handed me my glove and smiled. Exhibit A for “people who I don’t even know yet” who supported me on this trip. I have a feeling that I’m going to run out of alphabet.

I took a left before the Arlington gates. My grandfather who had received the Medal of Honor is buried in Arlington. I know I’ll never be able to fill his shoes, but I hope that I’ve taken a step in the right direction. I thought about Arthur Murray Preston and his courageous story–they don’t make ’em like they used to.

I dropped into the Mount Vernon Trail and started gunning it. I figured that if I could open her up now, I’d make up for lost time from the morning. It was a big test for the first day, 62 miles, and I hadn’t exactly gotten off to a flying start.

The Mount Vernon Trail is amazing. If you live in the DC area, I HIGHLY recommend grabbing your two-wheeler and checking it out–especially on a nice day. After a couple wrong turns, I finally arrived at the Mansion. It was already 1:30, and I had almost forty miles to go. I stopped for about five minutes, shoved an entire cliff bar into my mouth and kept pedaling.

The day was full of stopping, pulling out my map, and trying to figure out if I was going the right way. Quite a few times, I wasn’t. At the beginning, I would turn around and make sure I would get back on the route exactly as planned, but by the end of the ride, I realized I needed to get to the destination-that’s all that matters. Obviously, I am not going on any dangerous roads, Mom.

The 4 major points of the ride itself: Hills, Wind, Sidewalks, and Cold. I was blown away (almost literally) by how many hills I had to climb. And thank God the sun was out, but man it was cold, and I had to deal with a nasty headwind the entire time. Also, because I was in the city or in nearby suburbia, I had to manage on sidewalks–the ka-chunk ka-chunk of the sidewalk never quite becomes melodic, and my rear-end was not all too happy.

With the trailer and hills, it was slow-going. I knew it was going to be a close call with sunset, so I put my head down and kept chuggin. In my research, I found out that the campsite itself was another 12 miles from the campground entrance, on winding and hilly roads. But on their maps, I noticed a service road that lead straight to the campsite from the backside, and I called ahead to see if I could use that road to reduce my first day from 74 to 62 miles. The friendly ranger said I could, and to just move my bike around the gates.

By the end of the ride, my legs were screaming at me on every hill and I felt like all of the fluid in my body must have flowed out of my nose.

Finally, I made it to the back-side road, and then to the service road entrance. As I swung my bike and trailer around the gate, I realized that this was no road at all–just a mixture of wet and dry leaves, dirt, and thigh-high grass. The sun was very low in the sky, and I knew I was running out of time. I took my biking shoes off and dug through all of my neatly packed gear to find my normal shoes. I put them on and took off running/walking next to my bike. Of course, that was even tougher than normal, and sticks were getting caught in everything. It was about two miles of this, and I couldn’t have been happier to see that second gate which let me know I made it to the campsite.

My dad was planning on meeting me there, and I hopped back on my bike in my walking shoes and pedaled around the site until I found him. I turned the last corner to see my car sitting in a parking spot, and I heard my dad smile and say, “Boy, am I glad to see you.”