May 8 -- Topeka KS -- Half Way

I started composing the following message into an email and sent it partway through by mistake -- rather than resend it, I'll just finish up in the blog -- I've inserted some more thoughts into the body as well as at the end, for those of you who received the email.

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Well, we're half way. it is hard to believe. I know that many of you have been following my blog and have sent comments and best wishes -- thank you very much -- it's great to have the company on this journey !!

The trip is everything that I expected and more .... and less.

The days are long -- not just the biking day, but the entire routine. From early morning until late evening you are occupied with getting ready to ride, riding, cleanup, and, as important as the riding ... eating. In the blog I've stated that we are eating and biking machines ... consuming 4-6000 calories a day is as much a chore as the biking. The liquid intake is also key - I'm probably drinking 200-250 oz of liquid a day -- water, orange juice, coffee, gatorade, chocolate milk, V8, diet pepsi -- I may even be understating the liquid consumption.

The staff are wonderful -- their days are longer than ours, if anything, and their responsibility greater. From food shopping to organizing, to mechanical, to planning, visits to police departments, constant weather monitoring -- always cheerful, always helpful ... and ... most important ... always there. If we ride 100 miles during a day i'm sure that the mechanical van travels 300-350 or more. It is constantly ahead of us, behind us, beside us, ready with water, an air pump, picture taking -- monitoring the spread of riders which can be up to 50 miles apart from slowest to fastest.

How is it less ? -- I expected to have more time to myself -- to read, for example. I should have known better and have no regrets about this aspect. I am carrying two books in my bags that I have not even cracked. I expected the riding itself to be more difficult -- but difficult is the wrong choice for words. I expected the riding to be more exhausting and cumulative -- perhaps that is the correct word / phrase. Every day is a new day -- that seems trite, but the effects of this type of marathon after marathon can be cumulative and do you in ... my recovery time after the ride and for the next day has been great. The training paid off. Never having done this kind of thing before I had no idea whether or not I was ready.

We have 16 more riding days ahead of us -- some days you wish that you are getting less for your money ... but it's all part of the deal. It is an incredible experience and I both want it to be over and never to end. I don't know that I could or would ever make the same time, mental and bodily commitment to anything so enormous again.

Thank you all for being so supportive. I miss you but know that you are with me. I've never been away from family and friends for so long -- clock time is only two weeks but it seems like six months at this point because the days are so full and you live every, every minute -- I cannot begin to explain -- every day both rushes by but goes on forever. The miles themselves zoom by -- it's hard to explain how quickly 80-150 miles can go by at bicycle speed but they do. The daily experience though, is rich. It is never boring -- whether climbing a hill at 8-12 mph or going down a hill at 44 mph -- or grinding away on the flat with Kansas fields all around.

I will post some more pictures later today.

Cheers !!

Dave.