We dipped our back tires in the Pacific Ocean today. It was amazing.
Starting out bright and early this morning, in a rather “chilly” SD day (probably around 50 degrees – but a welcomed change from that of Columbus, Ohio…), we all donned our sweet stripes (shouts to Maggie for designing an amazing uniform!) and headed out to start our journey. There really is no better way to begin a day. After a gorgeous ride down to the ocean, all 23 riders “dipped” their back tires in the Pacific Ocean, to officially begin our coast-to-coast journey. I say “dipped,” because some people were actually soaked by the Pacific Ocean. While we were all standing in a line in front of the ocean, waiting for a friendly stranger to take the “token starting picture” of the ride, an unexpected wave attacked our line. Quite a few people ended up mid-shin deep in the Pacific Ocean (along with their bikes!). So some riders, and their bikes, had more of a tire bath than a tire dip. But all of our tires touched the ocean, one way or another. 
After this, we went on a beautiful ride up Highway 101. We only went for approximately 30 miles, which was a great way to get ready for our first leg across the country (which begins tomorrow). I am so incredibly excited!!
All of us are of different talents and abilities. We have some incredibly natural athletes, who surge up a hill as if it is nothing. And we have others who haven’t really been on a bike before, but are excited about the challenge. The amazing thing about this group, however, is everyone’s sense of camaraderie and looking out for one another. Everyone is willing to help each other out, with little tidbits of information and helpful hints to make our journey a little easier for everyone. Even though I don’t know everyone on the team that well (yet), everyone is really amazing in their own way. I can’t wait to get to know them even better over the next 3300 miles. Here we go!
We ended the rest of our day with a review of our Coast-to-Coast lectures (thanks, Lenore!). Maggie, Megan, and I participated in our own version of “Supermarket Sweep.” We were able to get enough food for 25ish riders for the next few days for less than $150. Talk about bargain shopping. We were quite proud of ourselves. We were also able to convince the friendly bike shop man to give us a discount on bike pumps (since all of our pumps – except one – seem to have broken…). We definitely worked some magic this afternoon. The afternoon was topped off by ice cream (yummm) and dinner at a Mexican restaurant, complete with a delicious Margarita. After all, you can’t be this close to Mexico and not eat the delicious food. We are now getting ready for our last night at Scripps clinic. Good bye Torrey Pines, good bye San Diego. Here we come East Coast (in a few weeks…)!
All of us are of different talents and abilities. We have some incredibly natural athletes, who surge up a hill as if it is nothing. And we have others who haven’t really been on a bike before, but are excited about the challenge. The amazing thing about this group, however, is everyone’s sense of camaraderie and looking out for one another. Everyone is willing to help each other out, with little tidbits of information and helpful hints to make our journey a little easier for everyone. Even though I don’t know everyone on the team that well (yet), everyone is really amazing in their own way. I can’t wait to get to know them even better over the next 3300 miles. Here we go!
We ended the rest of our day with a review of our Coast-to-Coast lectures (thanks, Lenore!). Maggie, Megan, and I participated in our own version of “Supermarket Sweep.” We were able to get enough food for 25ish riders for the next few days for less than $150. Talk about bargain shopping. We were quite proud of ourselves. We were also able to convince the friendly bike shop man to give us a discount on bike pumps (since all of our pumps – except one – seem to have broken…). We definitely worked some magic this afternoon. The afternoon was topped off by ice cream (yummm) and dinner at a Mexican restaurant, complete with a delicious Margarita. After all, you can’t be this close to Mexico and not eat the delicious food. We are now getting ready for our last night at Scripps clinic. Good bye Torrey Pines, good bye San Diego. Here we come East Coast (in a few weeks…)!
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