Day 9: Newberry to Greenville SC

Wake up call for the morning was 5am so naturally Nyx and I woke up at 4:45am to avoid the bathroom line. My chore group was also pretty excited that we only had one big gym to clean up. 

Since I am not constant with my pacing, I was determined not to see sweep that day. I stuffed my breakfast down to the point where I was uncomfortably full and booked it out of the church. I guess I must have been exhausted because made it put and about 50 feet down the road, I just fell right over on my bike. I was pretty cut up so Cindy asked me of I wanted to go back to get first aid. But I was determined to keep going so I just said, "I'm not getting in the van!" And biked away. 

The morning was my favorite ride yet! It was rolling farms and cows. Check out the pics Kat took:

I rode by myself for about three hours which was so peaceful and relaxing to just be able to enjoy the quiet morning. There was a skunk smell for a good five miles. It reminded me of my momma since she would always roll down the windows of the car whenever there was the skunk smell and say "mmm good ole country air!" Her logic is that people in the city don't have the privilege to smell the aroma so we should embrace it. So naturally I dedicate this chalking to my momma. 

There was also a Curry road and lake. The spelling was close enough. 

So from my fall earlier in the day, I went about 25 miles without realizing that my legs were bleeding. I stopped at a red light and some power line guys flagged me over and gave me first aid and cleaned up my battle wounds. It was so kind of them that I almost reared up. Everyone's kindness to us on the road has blown my mind and I'm so appreciative! 

The second half of the day is always the hardest. The way into town was pretty hilly and had a crazy road into town with a lot of lanes. After making it through the traffic, Kat, JD, Cassie, Mike and I stopped at a pond to relax. 

I continued down the road and saw Hawa and Chris stop for ice cream so naturally I stopped too. Melanie and Amanda also caught up. We were biking together until the red lights separated us. At the light, I clipped out both feet and stopped. And out of nowhere, my saddle jammed into my back. A driver (who was texting) ran into the back of my bike and then drove off. Luckily and gratefully, I was perfectly fine. However, I went into shock/survival mode and decided I needed to keep going to get out of the busy interestion/road.  Amanda and Melanie caught up to me and I told them what happened. We were about three miles out from the host so we decided we could make it back. This was before I knew my bike was seriously messed up. We got to the next red light and my pedal kept falling out of rotation. Amanda and I shared a look of deep concern but we had to make it off the road. We got to the next road and my pedals locked up. Immediately, I pulled off into a driveway. I was so overwhelmed that I started crying. Amanda and Melanie couldn't hear me over the cars, but Hawa and Chris stopped to help me. The back left of my bike had been bent by the car. 

Ethan came to pick up my bike and me. He got out and hugged me, while I was crying, I couldn't stop saying, "I smell so badly." Priorities, right? 

But I am super grateful that I was untouched and besides the incident it was my favorite ride yet. Also, I got a care package from my family which was a nice way to end the day.