Day 4 Annapolis, Maryland to Manassa, Virginia 65 miles (but really 30)... Tree

Four days down, three to go… As usual, the day started with my alarm going off at 5am. With less than six hours of sleep, that little pill from last night left me unable to operate heavy machinery. Luckily, Susan told me that the team was staying behind at the hotel so that we could dress and head over to the Capitol and meet Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett. Unfortunately, two vehicles were broken into last night in the hotel parking lot. All that was stolen were two GPS units and one cell phone – easily replaceable!! The bad news is that this stuff was stolen but the good news is that the news picked up on the story and apparently we were in the news several times today. So much so that a woman driving a car started honking while we were riding. Gary, one of the riders from Ireland, stopped to talk to her. The rest of the story which I heard secondhand is that she first asked him if he was with the EMS bike ride (yes!) and then said she had seen us on the news and how fabulous and proud she was to have heard about the ride… This wonderful woman just started going on and on and complimenting Gary on the ride and how great it was and asked about where she could donate money. Can you believe that??!!!

The ride did only 30 miles today. The weather was a high of in the 60’s with scattered showers. Oh, and the hills. Yes, there were plenty of hills. Hills, hills, and more hills. Traffic lights at the bottom of hills, traffic lights at the top of hills, traffic lights in the middle of hills. The hills were everywhere. Yay, hills! Not only were there hills but there was plenty of wind on top of riding the whole day with a very narrow shoulder and LOTS of traffic. (For a cyclist, this is called character building!) Mark and I only got to do the last twenty miles due to our visit at the Capitol. The rest of the bike ride participated in a special ceremony on the Capitol grounds (photos of that in the future, I hope…). Team Texas met up with the lobby group EMS Advocates. There is a bill right now in Congress extending benefits to line of duty deaths to EMS personnel of non-municipal agencies (e.g. private EMS services, hospital based services, and volunteer squads). Kurt and Lisa Myer of the lobby group graciously locked our two bikes in their office as we walked over to meet Congressman Lloyd Doggett. This was a huge honor for the team and we are so thankful we had this opportunity. He met us outside of the Capitol due to the fact he was in a recent bicycle accident while crossing railroad tracks (behind Medic 6 in Austin!). Unfortunately, he broke his leg in the accident. He even gave a huge kudos to Austin/Travis County EMS paramedics Bill Needles and Elizabeth Campbell on their excellent care!!! Way to go, Bill and Eli! While we were meeting him, Team Maine was invited to meet a Maine Senator! They were taken inside the Capitol and had a little mini tour!

So, as you can imagine body parts are really getting sore. (Huge understatement). Even sitting in this chair is a bit uncomfortable. Hands, neck, shoulders, back, toes, you name it, it is sore. There are a quite a bit of biker anatomical issues that begin to arise after being on a 8 inch by 4 inch saddle for six hours a day several days in a row. There are various creams and ointments that must be applied in various personal areas before riding, during riding, and after riding. As you are plugging along, hill after hill, mile after mile, you talk to your new friends (you can start with when you were born because I did say six hours a day on a bike), you think about why you are riding and mostly you consider the sacrifice individuals like Joe, Allan, and Eric have made in the name of EMS. You also think of EMTs and paramedics like Kyla that only five months after becoming a paramedic, she became permanently disabled from an accident probably to not return to working on ambulance again after three years of paramedic school. So, our small sacrifice of this one week is small… Very small…. You look forward to that massage when you get done with the ride and you are back to home… These individuals I speak of, don’t get that. I really hope I am making sense, we are all quite exhausted, myself included.

We have 65 miles ahead of us tomorrow with the last fifteen miles or so being a 3,000 foot climb. Susan is having a meeting in our room right now about working out a bunch of logistics of making it easier on the riders to climb this mountain, not only nutritionally but also motivationally. This is a fine example of how great our support team is!!!!

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to post comments and read the blog everyday! David, of Rainbows Raiders of Ohio, told me last night at dinner that his wife told him that she enjoys our site better than theirs (lol!). Then, tonight at dinner, he told me that his wife is so impressed with the site she forwarded the address to everyone back home. Rainbows Raiders is a special team to me, very dear and close to my heart. I met a flight medic last year at the Memorial, Warren Anderson of Ohio – his kindness, empathy, and selflessness is quite rare. He and I have kept in touch over the past year. He began to go to the Memorial when his partner, Kelly, was killed in the line of duty, when the helicopter she was in crashed. Warren and I have become very close and as much as I have encouraged him to do the ride (Warren, are you reading this?!), he gave me instead three fabulous new friends!!

Thank you to Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad for a fabulous dinner!!! It was great meeting you all tonight and touring your station!!!


Be safe out there!