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…)!
We averted a major bike crisis on the side of the highway (one of the bikes was literally hanging off the roof) around 8:30am. We passed the "mighty Mississippi" around 2pm (I was driving). We ran in to a hail storm in Missouri around 3pm. We stopped at Panera for dinner in Oklahoma around 7pm - here we met an interesting woman who was running for President of the United States. We had an awesome 80's dance party at 11:00pm. After this point, things begin to blur together. I remember passing a giant baby in a field playing with a tractor (hopefully we will get pictures of this in the future - we pass through this town). We also were stopped multiple times by Border Patrol - we were within viewing distance of the US-Mexico border multiple times. The last thing I do remember, however, is arriving at our resting location for the next four days. We are staying at an old physical therapy gym. We can see Torrey Pines (the famous golf course) and the Pacific Ocean outside of our window. It's amazing. 
After talking to/emailing with everyone from the Ride over the past few months, it was great to finally meet everyone. I am incredibly excited to be spending the next two months with these amazing individuals. After getting to know each other a bit, we all passed out on the floor and had an amazing sleep.
Maggie and I are now taking a short hiatus from the rest of the team. Everyone else went out for dinner, but someone needed to stay behind to let everyone else back in to the building (it locks us out at night...). Maggie is working on our video. I'm blogging (obviously). I hope you enjoy this blog and continue to follow my journey across the country. Get excited for the next two months. I know I am!!!!!
