This is incredible!...

This was the last day of the ride. There has never been a day when I felt like "not doing it" although there were many times when I wished I were already at the motel when I still had umpteen miles to go and huge hills to climb and more headwinds to face. 

So many emotions today--the tears were rolling down my cheeks as we went in a motorcade led by Policemen to the beach for the ceremonial "front tire dipping".  This is really happening today!!!

The day started very early--up at 4:30--breakfast at 5:15 as we all had 48 miles to go before 11:30 when we gathered at a high school three miles from the beach.  I was nervous about this day as we have come so far but the pressure is really on now to get to the finish or my dream would be shattered.  I have felt this pressure for the last week since I crashed into the bridge railing.   

I knew I was emotionally fragile after the despicable ending for our "love machine" and all of it's contents and it takes constant attention to keep yourself safe from potholes, traffic whizzing right by your derriere, weather conditions and all of the other decisions you have to make instantly while on a bike. To say nothing of keeping track of where you are at all times while following direction of left, right, go .07 and turn etc.etc.etc.--40 to 60 separate instructions on each of our daily route sheets.

Today had to go like clockwork in order to get "to the school on time"  because Mike had already told us if we were not there, they would go to the beach without us This meant I had to ride like crazy to keep up with everyone else and you all know I'm not good at that so I was really pushing. 

About 15 miles into the ride, my chain started making the most awful "clanking"  while I was climbing a steep hill so I hopped off and someone rolling by me said it sounded like I had broken a spoke or possibly had something caught in the chain.  My heart almost stopped right there.  A broken spoke would have put me out completely--we always said if I had a serious problem I would hop on Gabriel's bike which was always on the back of the van and continue.  That was, of course, no longer an option and I guess someone was still looking out for me as a few more rolls of my bike and the noise stopped and I was able to continue.  By this time almost everyone had passed me by and don't know how but I missed a turn and had an eerie feeling there was no one else on the road I was on. 

Luckily, two more bicyclists had missed the turn so they came up behind me so now there were three of us lost.  We started stopping cars to try to unscramble where we were; took off again; and hit a detour with a bridge out.  I just suggested we go for it and try to get through and luck was with us that it was closed to cars but we were able to get our bikes through. 

When we got to the Sag stop, there were others still there--I had visions of getting there and everyone else already down the road.  Also, my odometer conked out two days ago so it's almost impossible to read the directions without any way to measure your distance so this was surely a "knot in the stomach" day.  From the sag on, I rode like crazy to keep up and did "get to the school on time"--the tears were also tears of relief that I made it.

The day is absolutely gorgeous and when we got to the beach, it was crowded, sunny and the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.  Gabriel had arranged for the local ABC TV news to be there so they interviewed me as I was dunking my front tire in the Atlantic--what an awesome feeling to know I had pedaled 3,622 miles to get to this point--I was able to do "the impossible" by sheer determination to never give up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Love You One And All!

Patricia