Day 2 - done! I need to correct last night's blog; the amount raised so far is $175,000, not $275,000, darn! Too rummy last night.

Our day started at 7:55am as Susan dropped me off outside Bob's Cycle Shop in Longview, WA to wait for the shop to open at 9:00am. As I put my riding stuff under the overhang a car stopped and the man called out "Whatcha doing?" so I replied "I'm waiting for Bob", to which he replied "I'm Bob"! He let me in, got me coffee and we talked about his store, FA and Ride Ataxia for some time while waiting for his bike tech. A really nice guy and a really nice store! So Genece arrives and whips through my bike! In only a short time she's determined not only my shifter cable is broken but also the cable holder in the shifter. Whip, whip and there's a new shifter with cable, brake adjusted and front shifter better aligned. Now you might think I was outta there spiff-spot but first I talked more to Genece and Paul about the ride and FA. So now there's 3 more good people in the world aware and informed about FA! ;-) I even met Bob Sr. the founder.

So I get on the road at 9:45am! 43.2 miles to go and I"m behind the pack. I've decided since I'm way back I might as well let it out to see what I might do; usually I'm in the back giving help and support. So I give it my best for 21.9 miles to lunch. 1 hour and 49 minutes, and average speed of 12.1mph. I did catch one good downhill for a max speed of 28.3mph. Can you believe I only burned 950 calories?? Felt like 4,000. Yesterday's forecast was "rain" and it rained 80% of the day; today it was "showers" so it only rained 50% of the day! Cold (46 degrees at 9:45am, 63 degrees at about noon and 50 degrees at 2pm), so cold. The rain suit kept the rain out but I sweated right through all my clothes which then were chilly. But if I had not worn the rain suit the wind and rain would have frozen me.

Last night the crew said today would be rolling hills through the morning; what they forgot to say was each suceeding rolling hill was higher than the last! lol We worked hard today! The second 21-ish miles was easier than the first, but after lunch I stayed back with the groups that enjoyed the outdoors and weren't in much rush to finish the ride. We got in at 3pm. PM stats: 21.23 miles, 2 hours and 9 minutes, average speed 9.9mph. Day's calories - 1776.

Dr. Lynch arrived about 5pm to claim his bike and will ride with "us" tomorrow he says. We ate in an operating train station this evening with Outback once again. Here are a few pics from the first two days and an Utube clip a friend of ours, Donald, took at the ride start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPAkq2D3ucE&feature=email

Let's see if I will survive 62 miles tomorrow! lol