Today was a rest day that was actually very productive and full of many activities. While usually it is quite easy to sleep in and lay around, our day today actually was quite fun. The first of our activities though were errands, which not quite as fun still needed to be done. Parker and Max started the day out by visiting 3 Urgent Cares. Due to their crash about 2 weeks ago they just wanted to double check and make sure that everything was healing well. Their results were good and they are both recovering well.
The team split up into a few smaller groups to see the sights around town and get done a few things we needed to do. Aadit, Vedang, and Tada went to watch Backrooms (a movie) in theaters. They said it wasn’t the best but still worth the watch. As we were in a long stretch without a bike shop, many of us took our bikes to Mcu Sports, which was able to give us a sizable discount on our repairs. They were also extremely helpful and the mechanic I talked to even had biked across the country 4 times! Lauren went to the zoo and saw lots of exotic animals. Today we were also joined by Anna Williams who was a very exciting edition to the team. She was originally going to go on the ride this year but had some health problems last minute. Anna has been very supportive of the team though, and will even be Portraits Director this next school year! The team spent the day exchanging stories and appreciating the presence of another person we knew outside of the 13 of our teammates. 8 of us all went out to get brunch together. Honestly I cannot remember the name of the diner, but the food was wonderful and raised all of our spirits.
Last night as Max was walking around town he talked to a local and got some great information for an activity for today. The local gave us some popular spots for bridge jumping. We gathered up some brave souls and took off to go check it out. When our group got there we discovered about 20 people also doing the same thing. Interestingly enough throughout the duration of our time there, 100s of people floated by down the river on inner tubes and rafts. Anyways, this bridge was probably 15 feet in the air, but it was definitely deep enough for us to jump in safely. This did not fully prevent us from being slightly nervous, but when else would you get an opportunity this fun. Everyone who came: Parker, Anna, Max, Nishk, Lauren, and Maaike all built up the courage to jump in. Some even doing backflips!
After an amazing day spending probably 2 hours in the most crisp cool water, the whole team met back up to go to In-N-Out for dinner. For some of the riders this was their 3rd trip to In-N-Out in 24 hours. Honestly I cannot blame them as the food is delicious. As the day started to wind down most of the team went over to Anna’s hotel room, as she generously offered the team to use the shower. This was awesome as we definitely were in need of a shower. I think after 50 something days together we all start to go a little nose-blind at times. Anyways the team will definitely be sad saying goodbye to our new addition, but Anna will be back to send us off in the morning.
