FINAL DAY OF RIDING - 66 miles, 60 before 2pm
Why they scheduled the press conference for 2pm on a 66 mile ride day (also the last day) I will never understand. My group of girls had been arriving at about 4 to 4:30pm into camp, which would mean that we would have to 1) leave at first light and 2) keep a good pace to make it in time for the ending press conference on the senate lawn. I was definitely annoyed.
We got up at 5:30am to find our tents covered in heavy dew and the sun still not risen. We got ready, disassembled our tents, ate breakfast, and left shortly after the course opened (about 7am). I learned in the morning that Senator Cantwell canceled, so I didn't feel as pressured to arrive by 2pm for the press conference. Chrissy, Christa and I were exhausted from the very hard day before, but we were excited to have made it to the last day and determined to get through it. At this point, we heard the terrain would be hills in the morning and flat in the afternoon. Little did we know that the ratio of hills to flat wasn't quite what we expected.
Setting out from Baltimore was pretty intense - the drivers in Maryland aren't very bike friendly! I almost got hit by a car trying to inch up on me because they were annoyed that I was in the intersection waiting to turn left. To be clear, I wasn't doing anything wrong. They were just impatient. The hills were definitely present. I just had no legs left for hills at this point. Chrissy and I walked up a GIANT hill that we couldn't believe just kept going. We cursed, even more than the day before, every hill before us.
The water stop was much appreciated, but we were encouraged to push on as quickly as possible. We still didn't know just how many miles of hills we were facing and kept hoping for things to flatten out. I got a flat tire when we were on a fairly busy rode, and the girls and I jumped into action. Chrissy used a dollar bill to patch the hole in my tire and we put in a new tube. The support van came in time for us to use their pump, which helped my tires feel much more full.
We pushed all the way through to Silver Springs, MD where there was a stop at a mall. As soon as we arrived, a staff person said, "Okay, they are waiting for us in D.C. to gather and ride up to the capitol, but we have to leave now and we're going to have to push." I was livid. We were killing ourselves already, I had experienced a flat, and we had barely eaten. Chrissy felt way beyond her physical limits, and we were all on edge. I told them we would go on our own. They said we could take the train to D.C. to catch the press conference, but we refused. 20 miles short of our goal there was no way we were giving up!
We scarfed some PB&J and headed out again. The Capitol Crescent Trail turned out to be packed dirt for the first 3 miles - miserable. When we finally got to pavement it was fantastic - very slightly downhill and a perfect trail like the Burke Gilman. They had a speed limit of 15 mph and we were definitely pushing it. As it turned out, we arrived in D.C. just after the main group. This meant we had to ride from the river to the capitol on our own. I navigated us down Pennsylvania Avenue and we passed the Washington Monument. It was pretty crazy city riding, and we were beyond exhausted. We made it before the press conference and in time for everything. A couple of riders hadn't finished and a couple pulled in after us, so we weren't last.
The talks were good - Alex Tinker from Focus the Nation was excellent, as were Earl Blumenauer (OR) and Lloyd Doggett (TX). We took a photo of riders for 350.org. I have a nice background on my phone from standing on the senate lawn. :)Then we gathered for the final push to Georgetown University - our official ending point. I was just trying not to hurt myself at this point. Apparently I rode by the White House, though I have no recollection of doing so! Dave and I thought that was pretty funny.
Once arriving at Georgetown, I almost immediately rode BACK out of campus to the UPS store. They disassembled our bikes and we left them for shipping. It was way more expensive shipping out than getting to New York, which was no fun. Eventually we got that set up and I walked back onto campus. I ran into Christa and Chrissy and said goodbye - very sad. I found my luggage and picked up some awesome Nike running shoes they donated to riders. Then I had some food, called Dave, and waited for Sarah. I was very glad to see her!
That night I took a glorious shower, had a great vegetarian dinner with Sarah, her roommate Meredith, boyfriend Gavin, and friend Kate. They were great. We watched some tv, and then I passed out. I woke up on Thursday morning amazed that I didn't have to get up and disassemble my tent, or ride!
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