Done

This one is late too. I'm writing this Saturday AM, and we finished the ride Thursday at noon.

The last ride was amazing. Primm to Vegas 39 miles. The first 12 were slightly uphill, but with a strong tailwind. I left late with the last group, "The Speedy Boys". I felt amazingly strong that morning. It was as if new legs had been transplanted. I took the lead after about 5 miles, we always start slow to warm up, put in the headphones and turned up some Stevie Wonder. Soon I was pushing 27 mph. It was too fast too soon though. I forgot that we had picked up Sean's friend Eric that morning, and he hasn't been riding like this before. So I slowed down and rejoined the group. I also saved energy for the upcoming gradual descent, which was a good thing.

At mile 12 we had to exit the freeway to get onto Las Vegas Blvd. This is where the fun began. Initially there were some rolling hills and we were taking turns in the front of the pace line. We were cruising along at about 30 mph. After about 5 miles of this it became just a gradual descent with the wind at our backs. The first part of the "real" descent was a little bit steeper and I tried to beat my 44 mph max that I hit earlier in the trip. I matched it, but couldn't get 45 mph :(.

As I coasted recovering from my attempt I was passed by John, Mike and Travis. The were in a tight group and moving fast. I jumped on the pedals to join the group. It was the most fun I've had on a bike. The four of us took turns at the front and kept a tight group going about 38 mph for probably 6 miles. I really don't know how far we did it. We only stopped when we ran into construction and it got too dangerous to continue.

As we started to reach the outskirts of Vegas we started to catch the other riders who had started out earlier. We reached the rendezvous point, for all the cyclist to get together so we could arrive a the Flamingo together at about 10:45, only 2 hours after leaving Primm.

We waited around for an hour and then the group went the last mile or so, taking up a lane on the Strip. A big crowd and a news crew was waiting for us. An amazing end to an amazing ride.

My mom had shown up to greet us and provided some comic relief. She put her bike in the trailer before I left and rode the last mile with us. Unfortunately she put her tennis shoes in the trailer and flew into Vegas wearing sandals with heels. Of course Tim didn't know where her shoes were so she had to ride in her sandals, jeans, and with the pedal hitting her drooping kickstand every revolution.

Last night at the NAF reception Kyle presented a slide show with pictures from the ride. (I'll post more pictues later). All of the riders were recognized and given a medal of appreciation. Kyle announced that as of yesterday the ride had raised more than $110,000 for FA research! I want to thank everyone who donated to my part of the ride, it was much more than I expected.

A very special thanks to my friend Tim for helping make this ride possible. He pulled my camping trailer, with all of the rider's luggage in it, up and down the path for 6 days. He must have driven 600 miles while I rode 300. Thanks Tim.