Voice Post: 2010 PMC Sun Wellfleet

[ornoth]

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well I'm here in Wellfleet, which is the last rest stop before the finish, and it's always bittersweet. Even today after 260 miles in the saddle, it's still bittersweet: I hate to see the weekend end. I guess it would be safe to say that I enjoy biking, because it's really been a beautiful weekend and I hate to see it end. Even the riding, despite all my aches and pains.

But beyond the riding, there's something about this weekend that... Since I've been doing it for ten years, I guess it has some particular meaning for me. Every part of the ride, every few minutes you go past something that will bring tears to your eyes. It's really just moving; you see the pictures of the kids, you talk to the other riders and hear their stories, you see the signs and the people on the side of the road, and it's really just... You know, you're with literally thousands and thousands of people who all share the same feelings and the same purpose, so it's really important.

Sorry about getting choked up on the voicemail, but that's part of the ride, and it's an important part of the ride.

So we'll keep going... just got a little more riding to go. There's definitely some extremely hard parts of the ride still to go: the hills through Truro, and then the long haul on Route 6 against the wind, the dunes out at Race Point -- up and down, hilly, in the open sunlight -- and then the finish line, and then we'll give you a call from there.