Before you read this, go read Katie's post below. I'll wait, no worries.

So yeah. Katie touched on many of the points I'd make -- the rain was pretty crappy, though time flew for the first hour cause I was really only aware of how much I hated the rain as opposed to, say, worrying about where I was going. This was something I frequently thought about later as I wished for some sort of distraction from the endless swaths of pine trees that comprise the South Jersey landscape. Not that I was wishing for more rain, mind you, but something, ANYTHING would've been nice.

Really, though, you know it's not too bad of a bike ride when the only thing I can find to complain about is the entertainment. Prior to signing up for this, my longest ride to date had been 34 miles or so last fall, and while I was pretty certain that we could handle the distance, there was a nagging doubt in my mind, a thought that I might just keel over at mile 60 & have to be bussed back to Philly in shame.

Also, we owe a huge thanks to all of the volunteers at the various rest stops, who despite having awful taste in music (who even KNEW there was a dance cover of "Sweet Caroline" out there?) were amazing, were awesome enough to come out & dish up enough crappy food & faux-Gatorade to keep us chugging along.