R4WH 2009 wraps up in Washington DC & Bethany Beach, DE

Pictures I posted below & others can be seen on Facebook by clicking here.

OK, I'm home & R4WH 2009 has wrapped up. Hope you're still checking in. As promised, here's 1 last post to recap our last few days, post some pics & vids, and give you my editorial closing thoughts.

For starters,here's a video from West Virginia/Appalachia...


We left Front Royal, VA on Friday morning stoked to be riding the last 90 miles to DC. All's well that ends well, they say. But we did have some tough time along the way. The 1st 25 miles were beautiful, green rolling hills. We were warned that a 4 mile section after the rest stop would be rough crushed rock & gravel roads. Unfortunately & has been the case the last week or so, things changed & support needed to plan on the fly. It seems that overnight, construction road crews milled our route & obliterated our arrows. This got us a little off track & turned 4 miles of rough riding into 10 miles of mostly really ugly riding. Gravel is 1 thing, gravel with climbs, downhills, big holes & shade trees that make it tough to read the road is other. If we had mountain bikes, this would have been great fun; on our road bikes - not so much.

Now it get better, though. We stopped for lunch at 50 miles. I gave myself an attitude adjustment (thanks Dan!!!) & we set out for DC. The final leg was 100% off road, flat, paved bike paths all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a 180 degree opposite of what we'd just come from. We even stopped to rest in Herndon, VA next to a Dairy Queen. Ta Da!! The day definitely got better.

Team regrouped about 7 miles out of DC to ride in together. Most of the support team rode back out of DC to meet up & ride in. The final few met us just across the Potomac so we were all together & all riding on arrival. As we got there, I really felt the sense of the team. We were together & riding well along the winding, sometimes crowded paths. We are a real spectacle; 20-some orange jersey riders. At 1 point, we went down this tight S-turn on the path & we filled the entire length of those turns. I wish we had a pic of that moment, it was really cool. Here's a couple of others.

Riding up to the Lincoln Memorial was in the words of my teammate... AMAAAZING! DC is a site itself. Having people there cheering bumped it up a level. Having some of those people be my wife, my kids & my closest friends topped it off. You could see it in our faces. I felt it. Joy!

Here's a video from our arrival into Washington DC...


Here's a few more pictures from the Lincoln Memorial.

Eventually, we left & went off for the evening. It was time for me to spend some time with my family & friends. We had a great Italian dinner & a glass of wine near our hotel.

The next morning was, as usual, an early one. We had a 20 mile Solidarity Ride planned & needed to drive about an hour into Maryland to get there. Margie & Alex rode with me & we enjoyed the scenery & some exercise together.

Early again Sunday morning, we met the team at the church in Alexandria where they were staying for our true final ride into Bethany Beach, DE. This was just a fun, short ride to get to the beach & Atlantic Ocean to cap off our coast-to-coast bike tour. To keep it short, we drove about 120 miles, got on our bikes & rode about 25 miles. Twenty five flat, hot but easy miles where we could stay together & move fairly quickly although there was no urgency & we just enjoyed chatting along the way.

We once more met up with our support team a few miles out. We poured champagne into our water bottles & toasted the trip & ourselves. Classy, eh? Totally fun.

When we got there, our families were again waiting for us. Another celebration, another chance to lift our bikes in the air & time to jump into the ocean.

Margie shot this video from Bethany Beach...

From here, the team stayed in amazing beachfront condos. After showering & some quick dinner, it was time for me to say my goodbyes :-( & head home. I'm sure the party that extra special.

Closing thoughts...

Wow. It's over. I biked across the United States from San Diego to DC & then some. At the end, I biked about 2500 miles. The team in total biked about 3300 miles. We did average about 80 miles/day on the bike. Our total journey was indeed about 3700 miles.

It was everything I expected. It was hard, it hurt. It was fun, it was beautiful. It was a physical & emotional challenge unlike anything I've ever done. I learned & taught about healthcare disparities across our globe. Poverty, access to clean water & disease burden mean more to me now than they ever would have if I hadn't taken part in this trip. I had lots of time to reflect & think.

With the help of my personal donors, I raised about $3600. Thank you all. My teammates were a fantastic diverse group of committed people who will forever be in my memories. Good luck to you all. I'm in the best shape since I was a kid & look forward to a great summer of cycling, aikido practice & just working out. This oughta be good! :-)

Besides the beauty of our country, I was awed by the generousity of the people & towns we visited. They welcomed us, fed us, housed us, fussed over us & made sleeping on mats on hard floors easy. I don't think I'll ever have an opportunity like this again, but who knows? For now, this is my "once in a lifetime" thing & I'll never forget it. "A journey across the nation to meet needs across the world!"

Steve

Pictures I posted above & others can be seen on Facebook by clicking here.