08.07 Eureka/Austin, NV

We have been hit by the plague. It’s 7:30am and only about 10 riders are setting out for the 70 mile day. We are going to have to play some major van and trailer acrobatics to get 17 riders, bikes and bags to Austin, NV today. We have no idea why everyone is sick…it started last night. People, including myself, began to feel nauseated and then everyone started throwing up. I haven’t thrown up that hard in a long time. ick. It didn’t help that we had eaten tuna sandwiches for dinner either. I’ll tell you a little about yesterday which actually was a pretty good day overall.

I was sweep with Delilah yesterday. We had a really good day, though long and hot. The day started with a fabulous breakfast in Ely, NV from the pastor and his wife. I ate 3.5 pancakes, eggs, 3 sausages, and fruit. yummmm. It’s possible that the breakfast is the culprit for our sickness but it was still delicious all the same. The ride was only 80 miles but it was pretty difficult. Around mile 13 Delilah and I had to give some inspiration to Lauren, Emily and John who were just not feeling the ride. We broke out some music and I danced around in my uni-shorts. We did some cartwheels and chalked ‘Lonelyestest Highway’ on the road and took pictures hugging each other. The rest of the morning was alright…Emily had some hip issues so we walked our bikes up the big hill to lunch and pretended we were protesting. After lunch Delilah and I didn’t see anyone but we took our time because it was hot, dusty and WINDY. We had good convos all day so it was entertaining. J It was another day of firsts…my first #2 on the side of the road; I hit 3000 miles; and I reached 39 mph going downhill. Once we reached Eureka, NV we stopped at a little diner for some smoothies and sandwiches (also could be the culprit for sickness because I lot of people ate there). The diner had dollar bills on the wall signed by people passing through so we made a Bike & Build SUS ’07 one. After this, the day started going downhill. We got to the elementary school around 5:30pm and then Delilah, Carly, Emily, and I (all of whom got in really late) had to make dinner for everyone since we’re dinner crew. So we had to make these tuna sandwiches and a three bean salad while everyone who had gotten in early afternoon sat around and napped and watched Seinfeld. It sucked but that’s how chore groups work I guess. Around this time I started feeling really ill. I ate a tuna sandwich thinking maybe I just needed more in my system after such a long day. I lay down around 8:15pm and puked my brains out around 9. I felt soooo much better afterwards and fell right asleep. Overnight lots of people got sick and in the morning we all looked like zombies. My stomach feels okay right now but I’m really weak and achy. Some people who decided to ride really shouldn’t but we can’t force them to stay. It’s funny how we think we’re invincible. Just because I can ride 100 miles when healthy doesn’t mean I can or should ride any distance while sick. And we have two centuries the next two days. So right now all us sickies are hanging out in Eureka, napping, resting, etc while our bikes get taken to Austin and soon we’ll begin the shuttling craziness. I feel bad because all 4 leaders are sick too but they have to drive the van. Keep us in your thoughts today J