More on Day 5:

Day 5 with 117 miles of riding and 5000 feet of climbing is supposed to be the hardest day of the trip. Unfortunately it comes pretty early on and was very stress making for many in the group-- John and I were among those who had never done a century (100 miles); in fact for both of us our longest day ever was the 75 miles we rode on Day 2. After "Route Rap" we went right to bed (at 8:30) but I found it hard to sleep. We got up at 4:15 and I was on the road by 5:45. The staff suggested that those who thought the route too long should sag to the first rest stop at mile 29.5 but I preferred to start out with the possibility that I might make the whole thing. The day followed the usual dynamic. I start early, driven on by fear of being the slowest. After a few miles the other riders begin to pass me. That goes on for perhaps an hour. Eventually I am behind all the fast ones and ahead of the very few who are slower than I am. On this day, however, four of the slowest had chosen to sag so there were fewer slow boats left. There were two huge climbs and two very long descents with a long moderate climb for the last 36 miles. I eventually ended up third from last and was terrified that those behind me would give up and I would be out there alone (not really alone, of course, because the staff was driving back and forth along the route constantly to make sure we had water and were otherwise okay). John was long gone, needless to say, and made it the whole way two hours ahead of me. My original goal was to get to 100 miles and then see if I could keep going. At 102 Jeff stopped with a van and gave me water and although I was in floods of tears, he said the two behind me were still riding so I decided to go on. At 108 miles Jim was waiting with the other van so I got more water and he said that since I only had a few miles to go and there was a slight tail wind, I should try it. I caught up with Philip, a librarian from California, who is also one of the slower riders and we talked each other in the rest of the way. I nearly fell over faint when I got off the bike but was okay within a few minutes. I had other problems like sore hands, cold shower, really tacky hotel but toppled into bed about 7:30 without even undressing or brushing my teeth and slept well until 5:00 am this morning. The entire route was on 26 east.