Today was a hard day.
Not a bad day. A hard day.
The kind of tired where even taking off your shoes feels ambitious, your brain is foggy, and you collapse at the end thinking, Wow… we really did that.
This was the good kind of tired—the tired that comes from tackling something big, uncomfortable, and a little bit ridiculous… and then seeing it through.
Let me explain.
Originally, today was scheduled to be 119 miles. Which, on its own, is already in the “who approved this?” category. But then the weather forecast showed up like, Oh hey, mind if I make this worse? with a solid Texas headwind.
Our guides—Dennis and Daryl, heroes of logistics and patience—saw what was coming. After guiding us on yesterday’s 50-mile ride into Sanderson, TX, they offered a solution: ride the first 40 miles of today’s route yesterday, so today would “only” be 80 miles.
I almost wrote only without quotes. I’m concerned about myself.
This plan meant a ton of extra work for Dennis and Daryl—shuttling 14 riders, 14 bikes, and an alarming quantity of snacks. If you’ve never watched someone load and unload bikes from the top of a van and trailer multiple times, just know it’s part strength training, part Tetris, part miracle. Huge thanks to both of them for making today survivable.
So this morning, we lined up for our “shortened” 80-mile ride, starting with a 10 mph headwind that gradually cranked itself up to the 20-ish mph range by the end. Because Texas.
John wasn’t sure he’d do the full route today, so he told me to head out with the fast group and finish it. And yes, this is absolutely my OCD talking, but I’ve been fortunate enough to ride every scheduled mile so far—and as long as it remains reasonable and feasible, I want to keep that streak alive. I really want to see every mile I can.
So off I went with the fast group, while John rode in his own strong, steady way. Before splitting, we exchanged our now-standard rally cry:
“WE ARE RIDING OUR BIKES ACROSS THE COUNTRY!!!”
Naturally.
We met back up at the 50-mile lunch stop, and John was riding strong. Strong enough that he decided to keep going and finish the route. I headed back out with Karl just as John sat down to eat, and a few hours later… we both finished.
That alone made today a win.
It was the first day we were both on bikes but not riding together. I much prefer riding together—more music sharing, more singing, more laughing, and more enthusiastically telling strangers (and people who definitely didn’t ask) that we are, in fact, riding our bikes across the country.
Tomorrow looks like another 80-mile day with—you guessed it—a headwind.
“It is what it is,” right?
Nope.
It’s what you make it.
You want miserable? That’s an option. You want fun? Also an option.
We don’t get to choose our circumstances, but we absolutely get to choose our response to them. We choose perseverance. Gratitude. Joy. And above all—Love.
And yeah… we’re tired.
But it’s the good kind.