Good evening all,

For those of you who have been following my blog on a daily basis, I want to start with an update on John, our English friend who had the accident yesterday. I sent John a couple of messages this morning and got a very quick reply. His sense of humor is still very much intact and he is also in a lot of pain. I understand they operated on his elbow and pelvis today but don’t have a update on how the operation went. One of John’s comments to me was “So near and yet so far…” and he also said something about not changing the cue sheet unless he was stationary. I also gather that he is a tremendous amount of pain – he told me as much. all of usage pulling for him and miss him quite a bit. It won’t be the same without him.

Tonight at dinner, the topic came up about at what point we wanted the tour to be over. I have had some bad days and some injuries but have always bounced back.

Going Skydiving

My response though was yesterday after John was injured. The prize at the end does not seem nearly as illustrious but the friendships will definitely endure. However, I am confident that John wants all of us to go on and finish. One of the reasons though that i am doing this is to raise awareness and hopefully some money for The Wounded Warrior Project. For those who have seen military action, and see a fellow soldier go down, there is no luxury of saying, “I don’t want to go on.” You are all in and committed. the lives of the wounded and the other soldiers depend on teamwork and relying on their training to pull them through.  I am sure many of the brave men and women of our military have seen their comrades injured severely or worse. They suffer greatly  but consistently exhibit the courage, strength and determination to forge on. I feel that by going on, in a small way I honor them and John.

Today’s ride was only 70 miles with some moderate climbing. It was cool and cloudy all day long and that was a welcome change. I experienced a few drizzles but nothing of consequence. Much of the ride was along the Mohawk River. The scenery was very beautiful contrasting the lush eastern mountains with those of the dry west. We went through many small towns and a few larger ones. There was a lot of traffic in and around Albany but it wasn’t too bad.

Tomorrow and Thursday we have over 10000 feet of climbing and a lot of descents. the last 2 days will not be a piece of cake and there are more dangers with the narrow roads, construction sites and fast descents.

Tailwinds

Chuck

We had views like this all day long

Going sky diving the day before the accident