Mileage: 30 miles
Largest decent: 9 miles long, about 3500 ft.
Max speed: 40mph
Views: Incredible.
Yesterday we had the day off, so we woke up around 8 (weird to say I'd ever call that sleeping in) and went stand up paddle boarding. It's like standing on a thick surfboard with a paddle to move yourself. When we arrived at the rental place, we asked the manager how the water was, and he proceeded to tell us that it was a "warm" 64 degrees. I guess he thought we like to swim in ice. The objective of stand up paddle boarding, or SUP, quickly became not falling in. However, it was a lot harder than we anticipated since there were waves. One by one we all fell in. I did pretty well until a wave hit the broad side of my paddle board and I lost control. I plopped into the water and was back on the board in like .75 seconds due to the temperature of the water. I then resorted to kneel down paddle boarding for more stability. The day went well, and I got a few needed parts for my bike. I volunteered to be in the puppet show that we would put on for the boys and girls club that we visited today, so I practiced with some other guys at night and we had some great laughs.
Today, we woke up refreshed knowing that we only had 30 miles to go. I rode with Saurabh and Alex. Alex is on the Georgia Tech cycling team and works at a bike shop, so he's pretty much a pro. He's extremely considerate on the bikes and gives a lot of tips while riding. He pulled a lot of the distance so we went extra fast when we drafted off of him. We had about 800 feet of climbing to do before the big downhill. Once we hit the downhill, we soared. Alex pulled us and we were hitting speeds close to the speed limit. Fun, but terrifying. Eventually, the views got so amazing that I was literally laughing out loud because they were so breathtaking. When we finally reached the bottom, we had passed all but one pace line. For one reason or another, my pace line and I were feeling great, so we took turns keeping a steady but fast pace, and eventually passed the next pace line to become the first pace line. We finished the ride first, and it was a mix of feeling like a champion and being weirded out by the fact that I wasn't right in front of the sweeps for once.
After the ride, we staged up and rode with police escorts to the Boys and Girls Club to meet with the kids and put on our puppet show. The kids at the Boys and Girls Club do not have disabilities, so the puppet show was centered on teaching them about people with disabilities. The three other guys and I had only practiced once, so it was all new to us. We put on quite a show though. We made so many minor mistakes that we were dying of laughter behind the screen because of things like the main character making subtle changes to his accent. Going from Bronx guy, to Bostonian, to gangster, all in the span of about 5 minutes.
After the Boys and Girls Club, we staged up again and went to a local children's museum to put on another performance. There were only about 10 kids in the audience, as opposed to the 100 from the Boys and Girls Club. This time, though, it was my turn to voice the puppet. I had to imitate a girl's voice, and tried at first to say hello, but it just ended up sounding like a 50-year-old smoking addict, so I reverted to a girly-ish man voice. The play went well and we got a lot of participation in asking questions form the kids. It was cool to see them actually interested and talking to the puppets.
We had diner at a home of a member of the Carson City Rotary Club. They had so much food it was insane. I ate 4 slices of steak, a chicken breast, three brownies, an ice cream cone, one heap of fruit, a heap of pasta, a hand full of chips, and a heap of tortellini. I was challenged by my brother to eat as much as he did his year, but I don't think I made the cut.
Overall it was a great day. Tomorrow we head to Fallon via the Loneliest Road in America. 50+ miles of straightaway desert.
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