What a day. Here are very few pictures:

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Today I dedicated my ride to my grandparents Oma and Opa because it is Opa’s birthday today, they are HUGE supporters for me out here on the 4k and also HUGE supporters for me in life! Happy Birthday Opa!

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This morning started out rough. We all had only one bathroom to share and then someone clogged the toilet and neither plunged it, nor admitted it. So a lot of people biked in their street clothes to Starbucks where they changed into their biking clothes and brushed their teeth and stuff. Meanwhile, I noticed that the toilet was clogged with what had to be an ENTIRE roll of toilet paper so I just plunged it and the bathroom was mine! Then we were waiting on our laundry to be done by our host, so we didn’t get to leave until really really late.

The first part of the ride was humid, buggy, and smelly and I was really hungry and got a headache because of it. This was not going to be one of my better days. So at the first water stop, I inhaled food and water and hoped for the best. Next I got super tired and drowsy. To the point where I literally couldn’t keep my eyes open and I felt sick because I forced my legs to keep pumping. I was losing it and my team could tell, but they helped me through it until the next water stop. At the next water stop I immediately took a nap in our now fly infested van (it’s super buggy here). I started to feel better after that besides my butt hurting and half of my right hand not working because my handlebar tape has lost it’s cushion. Who needs those last two fingers anyway? (Hint: You do. Pictures are really hard to take now, and I’s O’s and P’s are really hard to type.)

In any case, we were running from a storm for a while and had the most glorious lunch stop with fresh fruit, donuts, and chipotle! On the down side, the lunch break let the storm catch up to us. With about 5 miles left to the host, my group had to stop to let the rain pass. After three of the five of us had our wheels slip out from under us (Yay! More wounds in all the same places!), we found out there was a flash flood warning and they were NOT joking. Here’s some pictures and a video to prove it:

CLICK ME FOR THE VIDEO!

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My news reporting skills are the bomb. We found shelter in this nice man David’s garage where he let us have some free beer while he boogie boarded in the “surf”.

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Simon is missing from the picture, but I rode with him, Lisa, Jackie, and Allison. I really wanted to finish the day and the last 5 miles. I wanted to be patient and wait out the rain, and wait for the flooding to go down enough that we could walk/ride the rest of the way. Ask anyone who knows me, I’m more often than not, REALLY patient. I think I get it from my Dad. But others aren’t as patient as I, so when David offered to drive us to our host in his pickup truck, we as a team decided to accept.

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Upon arriving at our host, three teams had already made it, and two of them didn’t even get wet! One team found a way through the rain, and the last team (pictured above) patiently trudged/pedaled through the flood until they arrived. To say the very least, I was peeved that we were the only group that didn’t make it through the storm, but you’ve got to play with the cards you are dealt and be patient through the impatience. At least I got a free beer out of it! Thanks David!

Here’s the GPS route and data for today: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/556717596. Our pace was relatively fast, and the ride actually totaled about 93 miles. We saw a TON of what we think are apricot trees. They look like palm trees but they aren’t. They’re also clearly being grown on farms and their fruit harvested. Another fun fact: Notice how we’re actually getting farther away from San Diego! We’ve had some long days of riding and because of that we have to go out of our way to visit more places so that we don’t arrive in San Diego before everyone else!

Our host today is Palm Springs Boys and Girls Club in Palm Springs, CA. They said that the monsoon is very atypical and that the last time it happened was six years ago. Just our luck. Riding through Palm Springs on the ONE day in six years that it monsoons. Although I have to admit, I had a great time playing in the rain! I took a nice hot shower at the host, and we ate pasta and salad. While others went to get ice cream and see a movie, Haley, Taylor, Allison, and I cleaned out the van full of flies. We even got a shop vac from our host and vacuumed and organized the whole thing! While the rest of the team went to see Guardians of the Galaxy for a discounted price, Kirk, Taylor, Allison and I wanted to see a different movie, so we went and got our own discount at a different movie theater! They quickly realized that you can’t take me to a funny movie and expect me to sit in my seat quietly. I get a little out of control. When the movie ended we packed it in for the night in preparation for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we ride to Rancho Cucamonga, CA. It’s an 85 mile ride and we get to climb a 3000 foot mountain pass! The mountains here are really close and really pretty. I’ll have to get a picture of the one right across the street in the morning. I hope I feel better biking tomorrow than I did today. A friend of mine from college lives there and she helped to set up our host and we’re going to get to hang out with her tomorrow! I can’t wait! Until then, comment away!