It has been a crazy day and I am desperately in need of some shut eye.
The climb yesterday was not easy. 18 miles at 4% grade and then a 7 mile downhill nd then another 7 miles up at a 4-5% grade. We climbed over 4,000 feet in 32 miles. (During this trip we climbed over 8,000 feet!) Then it was downhill to finish the 50 miler.
This morning we left at about 730am from Primm Nevada. We left so early because we needed to get to the Flamingo no later than noon. It was an easy 39 miles and we arrived ahead of schedule. We gathered about a mile from the hotel then cruised as a group (21 of us) into the hotel. It was pretty powerful to travel with the team, taking up a lane along a busy street amongst these huge hotels.
When we got to the Flamingo we had great support from many Ataxinas, families and researchers. The NAF did a great job orgasnixing the event. Check it out on Las Vegas News 8. (there's a video to the left of the page)
I appologize that the blog is not the same as it was last year. The ride was way more intense this year and it left me with no time or energy at the end of each night. Last year there were only about four of us and I could spend all night writing a blog. This year I was busy enjoying the company of my teammates and then getting up early every day to get on the road. This year we had no rest days so we rode through pain and fatigue. I left out a lot of details but you can be assured that we had a lot of fun and made a huge impact. For now our team gets to bask in the glory of our victory and we look forward to our next challenge...stay tuned for updates about the research that we will be funding.