My days after that consisted of getting up at 5:30, eating breakfast, packing up the tent and riding out with my riding pals Ania and Chris. We covered anywhere from 65 to 90 miles a day, with pit stops ever 15 miles or so. The mantra for the ride was, "Drink drink drink, pee pee pee!" Dehydration was our most pressing concern, with knee problems close behind. A typical pit stop saw people filling water bottles, eating oranges and bananas, waiting in line for the porta-potties, and icing various parts of their anatomy.

Being a train buff, I enjoyed Day 3. Most of it was on "rails-to-trails," old railroad rights-of-way. This included 3 tunnels, the longest of which was 3/4 of a mile. As hundreds of us walked our bikes through total darkness, we ended up singing!

By Day 5, I was tired. Among other aches and pains, my lips were sunburnt to the point that I had to do something about it. The zinc-oxide looked a little strange, but it protected my lips from further burns.

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