We went down by the water and there was a really cool Jack Daniels bar where some of us had a drink and chilled on the swings by the water. We had a few hours to just chill and hang out in the town until dinner so we found various things to do around the area. I was driving so around 6:15 we hopped in the van and headed to Applebees for dinner. Dinner was great. My table, consisting of Matt, Rachael C., Erin, Dana, Lauren, and Steph, played a game where one person walks away from the table and you identify a tick or habit of them and if they do it, they lose. I was one of the last three people and we called it a draw after that so the last few won. Apparently, I tilt my head sideways and nod when I agree with people. Interesting, I know because I had no idea I did that. Anyways, dinner was great overall and I enjoyed myself before we headed back to the church for our second night there. We found out the plan for the next day and got everything organized so we would be all ready to roll. I know this is a short blog, but the day was just a fun time spent as a team, which I very much enjoyed and was much needed. Tomorrow we’re moving – not on bikes but nonetheless, we’re moving.
Leaving the Hope Lodge, I was excited to get biking again even though it had only been one day! Back at Elli’s grandma’s I found myself rushing around and not at all ready. My chain needed to be cleaned and re-lubed and my back tube was flat so I needed to either patch it or change it AND my clothes were still wet and hanging all over the place. I’m not one to freak out or get super stressed but I was on edge at this point for the first time in the trip. I ran over to dedication circle in the middle of changing my tire and then joined my Superman group. We had split into groups in what I thought was super heroes and villains and I thought I was in joker but clearly not…so my group became me, Evan, Adrienne, and Jess King.
We were doing fine riding along and made it to the first water stop. While we were eating we hear this huge release of air pressure, someone’s tube had popped. We look at the bike and it was Jess’ so she patched it up and we got ready to finish our break. Maybe 3 minutes later we heard the same sound…same tire. This time Jess got a tube from a different group and changed the whole tube. But, kid you not, it popped AGAIN. So Jess had to hop in the van until she could figure out the tire situation and the three of us pressed on. We literally killed the next 10 miles to the lunch stop. There was huge gusts of wind coming at us and we still crushed it. We even named our team “Team Eat My Gust”. We got to lunch and didn’t eat much because we had just had the water stop so we got going pretty soon after. We were moving so fast and had passed all the groups shortly except for Chey, Bailey, and Shelby. But shortly we came upon them.
They were frantically waving us off the road and telling us to get off our bikes. They then had us call the other teams and have them pull off the road and wait to be shuttled as well. Evan, Adrienne, and I had no idea what was going on...it was kind of scary and frustrating at the same time. We ended up waiting a long time. I was concerned for my team at first. Kyle had returned to the hospital but he was doing okay so I thought it might have been a different teammate but we were calling all of them...so I talked to a friend on San Fran and he said their team was all okay but hadn't heard anything yet. Eventually, the van reached us and we packed our stuff up into the van. People were crying in the van and there was an air of general confusion. Sobs were the only sound to break the general silence as we drove on to the host in Sandusky. We arrived at the Columbus Ave United Methodist Church and our hosts immediately embraced us and surrounded us with kindness.
I had found out about Jamie’s accident from a friend but we were called into a team meeting and the directors went over what had happened. It was quite tough for our whole team and many people seemed unsure how to handle it. I decided to journal a lot after that and think over what was going on. It is a lot to take in and I was not only thinking about Jamie and her family but my own teammates and my family. I could not imagine something like this happening to my own team and my heart ached for Team Portland and the Roberts family.
The rest of the night was kind of a blur, we weren’t sure what the plan was and were told we would be joined by a member of the Ulman Cancer Fund tomorrow. I was so happy to hear someone would be joining our team during this time and especially happy to hear Laura Scruggs would be joining us. Thank you Laura because you were a welcome person in a tough time. Our team hung together for some of the night as people drifted off to sleep at different times. I’m finishing up some journaling and blogging upstairs with Eric but feel so distracted it is hard to write. I know this will go up later and I can only hope that the main takeaway from this post is how much Jamie was loved and how far her own love spread. The amount of support I felt from other people who knew Jamie and wanted us to continue in her name is unbelievable. The entire Team Seattle extends our love and support to all those who knew Jamie and were touched by her. We continue to ride in her honor and those she rode for in addition to our own. We will ride to Seattle with Jamie alongside us. Although we are not riding tomorrow, Jamie will still be in our thoughts. Time never stops and we will keep going, but so will Jamie.
