Day 4 Seattle

Our first taste of life on the road for the summer was today, as we had our practice ride just outside Seattle.  After a 6:00 a.m. wake up, we loaded the vans and drove about forty minutes to Lake Sammamish.  We unloaded and the vans set out to mark their turns and crew stops along the route.   This was my first experience of what it would be like to wait alongside the road for the cyclists to arrive at my crew stop.  Since I am the third stop, I am normally around ten miles down the road and the first stop for the cyclists to get water (the first two vans normally mark turns out of the starting place).  Although the waiting time may be boring this summer, I am fortunate enough to have a companion with me.  His name is Zach Morris and he is from the chapter at Marshall University.  Yes, his name is really Zach Morris, and you better believe I made a Saved by the Bell reference to him when I learned his name. The practice ride went extremely smooth with only one or two flats, and we were back at the park we started at in about four hours. 

Once we were back at the park, Dean Peterson knew of a Velodrome located in it.  He took the cyclists over there and began telling them how to maneuver it.  If you do not know what a velodrome is, it is possibly one of the coolest things ever. It is sort of like a racecar track but for bikes.  The turns are almost a thirty-degree angle, and cyclists never have to turn the handlebars to make the turn successfully.  They essentially ride straight the entire time and let the track do the work and turns for them.  This experience for the cyclists seemed very weird at first, but once they got used to it, they loved it because it was a blast and doubled as a training tool.  Then it was lunch and back to the hotel.

That night was the kick off dinner for the trip.  Some parents and friends joined us at Buca di Bepos for a delicious meal.  One thing I will never forget about this night is that one of the cyclists, Chris Hamilton, whom I have started to get pretty close with already, had been on Semester at Sea this past semester and came straight to Seattle.  He did not go home to Colorado to see family beforehand because he did not have time.  The day before the trip, he unfortunately lost something of his, and his mom was going to send him another one in the mail before we started the trip.  What he did not know was that his mother was flying into Seattle for the kick off dinner and to see him ride off the next morning (and to bring him what he lost as well).  It was really cool to see him so excited.  Tomorrow is Day 1 of cycling and the first step to DC.  Getting to DC is going to be very special to me because, although I will see most of my family in Indy in late July, I am going to be able to see my sister, Katie, and her husband, Justin, for the first time since Christmas.  She describes it has their present to me for my birthday which I will gladly accept.  Thank you everyone who donated for making this trip possible – tomorrow goes out to all of you.  Words cannot describe how thankful I am to have all the people in my life who care enough to help me go on this trip.