The Plague

Rough breakdown of how I have spent my last few days:

Sleeping: 75%

Vomiting/Wishing I Were Dead: 10%

Biking/Wishing I Were Dead: 10%

Biking/Not Wishing I Were Dead: 5%

That's right! The plague has struck again with such a force as has never been seen, thus far taking down five Bike and Builders and sending two, Keef and Myself, to the hospital. Luckily, the bug lasts only about 24 hours and we spent a large part of this morning Cloroxing everything in sight to hopefully stop it in its tracks. Even though the last few days have been rough ones, they have shown me once more how awesome of a team we have here. A special shout-out to Keef who took care of me all afternoon on her day off and went with me to the hospital until the wee hours of the morning despite the 6AM wake up to ride out of Boise the next morning.

I missed the 60-mile ride out of Boise (including the epic lunch stop that included both a slip-n-slide and a mud fight), instead spending my day drugged in the van. Yesterday's ride, Ontario to Unity, was 85-miles and definitely one of the most difficult of the summer for me: Keef got sick on the road (which ended her ride and thus her EFI [Every Flipping Mile] status, which really meant a lot to her), we ran out of water at lunch, I got my 11th flat, and the post-lunch ride was ridiculously hot. Despite my after-lunch crawl pace and overall despondent disposition, Ryan, Mike, and Kareem stuck with me throughout the 12-hour ride, their mischief-making helping to keep the day bearable. 

Gloriously, today's ride was only 49 miles with about a 1000 foot net loss in elevation. I rode with The Peloton for much of the day, making the wind practically irrelevant and keeping the ride rather lively. Tonight we are staying in John Day, named for the settler on the Astor Expedition who was stripped and robbed by Indians while fording the nearby river. We had a fantastic taco dinner and a handful of us spent the evening cruising around the countryside in the back of a local's pickup truck. Overall, a grand day indeed.

Once again I'm beholden to Ryan for pictures. I'll stop being lazy and upload my own soon. Until then:

Riding around in the back of the truck tonight.

 This was actually en route from Boise to Ontario so I missed it. Also, this is rather unsafe riding on all counts. Still, I like it.

During the ride from Unity to John Day today.

-Lacy