Week 7, June 2 - June 8

For the week
Distance ridden: 400 miles
Time riding: 37:23:56
Ascent:  12,154 feet

For the tour
Distance ridden: 2608 miles
Time riding: 240:38:17
Ascent: 75,309 feet

For me the week was filled with the excitement of getting close to home. Several times I felt a familiar rush of exuberance as I saw signs I was returning to the West: sage brush, sandstone buttes, the Mountain Timezone, US Highway 26.

As far as riding goes, we managed to hit 400 miles for only the second time, despite a zero day. That was mainly because we rode a century one day, my first, and of course my longest ride ever. 

I also feel stronger than I have in a long time. I After the century, I felt fine, despite sleeping on a sidewalk in a park. We rode almost 50 miles the next day, a day shortened only by lack of places to stay if we went further 

The week also brought meetings with and sightings of other trans-continental cyclists for the first time. They are our tribe now, and it was uplifting to see them, even if it was for a few fleeting moments as they met us on the road going the other way.

I think John and I are working well together, too. We have our moments of irritation, of course, as any two people will when living and working together like we are. But we try to improve on the things that tick each other off.

More importantly I feel we are in sync with each other on how we approach the tour. We have very little trouble reaching agreement on all the day to day planning we have to do. And while he's a faster cyclist than I, we both have the stamina to ride the distances required to reach the end.

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