.: Prelude :.

I actually got a decent sleep on Dave & Selene's basement couch, using the two small pillows as my blanket. Dave and I got up early, and headed over to Taylor's house to get him. We found him, and then headed the few blocks to South Mountain Cycles to get a couple things, and pick up Keith Plunkett, who lives above the shop.

After a few minutes of loading the van, we headed out, but quickly stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get breakfast. After a few minutes there, and a half hour drive through rural Lehigh Valley, we arrived at the church in Palmerton.

The blocks surrounding the church were crowded with bikes, people milling about, trucks being loaded with bikes and supplies, and a charter bus waiting to haul people to Erie.

I went in and registered, and got my bag of stuff, which included a jersey, more ride info, some nutrition samples, and other useless literature. I came back outside, and saw my mom who came down to see me off.

Since my Eurovan was not in shape to drive out to Erie and have Taylor drive it back and forth between riders during the whole ride, I had to pull it out of commission. Thankfully, Hans Kneller offered up his Subaru Baja to fill in. Since the Baja is basically a modern version of the 1970's Subaru Brat, and the fact Hans and his brother Heath are of German descent, I renamed the vehicle, "Der Brat". With "brat" sounding like "bratwurst".

Once my bike was in the bike truck and my bins were on the support truck, everyone went in to the church to participate in a service for the ride. I'm not a big churchie, but my mom was stoked to be there, and it gave me some time to read up on the printed bios on all the riders and support staff. I do have to say that the service was quite nice.

Service was over and we headed out for a few group photos for family, friends and the press. Then we were off. Hans, Heath, Taylor and I loaded into der Brat, and most everyone got on the bus.

Like all good roadtrips, this one included jokes, stories, too many bathroom breaks, and at least one meal at a Sheetz. The ride seemed to go quick, and it's been a while since I've been that far west on interstate 80. It was comforting and interesting to see how familiar that stretch of road is. I've traveled it hundreds of times going to and from college.

Erie and the whole northwest corner of Pennsylvania was the one area of the commonwealth which I have never visited. So I was stoked to finally get there. One of the support vans, der Brat and the yellow support truck were the first to arrive at the Junker Center on the Erie campus of Penn State. We unloaded the truck and soon the bus with everyone else arrived.

The gym, where everyone was supposed to sleep, was hot as hell. Still, just about everyone set up their bedrooms in there and scurried about getting final preparations ready for tomorrow's ride. Very soon after I arrived, I decided I was going to sleep outside. If at all possible, I much rather sleep under the stars...without a tent or a roof. Just me, my bag and my Thermarest. A few people who didn't like the gym, set up tents outside.

The next couple hours were spent getting things ready, hanging out and playing some basketball. Instead of HORSE, we deiced to play the shorter PIG. I lost first, of course. But let's see those guys play some soccer! The Junker Center was really nice and clean, and had a nice pool, though I chose not to go for a dip.

We had some dinner, which was pasta, small meatballs and bread. One of my favorite dinners, and much needed for tomorrow's adventure. Thankfully, and wisely, I chose to move off my vegetarian diet for this trip. Not only is it easier when traveling in places like this, I really need the protein to supplement my carb intake.

After dinner, we had a long meeting on the hillside outside the Junker Center. We discussed what to expect, what to do, what was going to happen, etc. The business of everything. But then we got into the first of many emotional parts of each night's meeting.

The Freed's, who started the ride in 1982, talked about why we're doing it, and why they're doing it. All of us first timers also had to get up and talk about how we heard about it, and why we're doing it. The whole meeting was extremely moving, and made each and every one of us realize the importance of what we're doing. Many people let the tears rip. We were each given a red ribbon and card, on which we were to write the names of the people we were riding for. We then pinned them to our jerseys each day.

After the meeting, eleven of us hopped on bikes, and headed out to a bar for a beer. After getting a bit turned around, we finally found a place. Ordered 32oz mugs of Lager for $4. We only needed one round of those, and then we headed back to the Junker Center, where most people were already asleep.

I got my sleeping gear, and headed up the hill, to the back of the building, where the grass met the woods. There was less light back there, which gave us a better view of the clear night sky.

Despite my ideal sleeping conditions, it was still a little tough to get to sleep. For starters, I had a lot of anxiety about the next six days of riding, and if I would be able to really handle it. Plus, I also got to thinking about the seriousness of the earlier meeting, and how fucked up things can get with people. My mind continued to move at a rapid clip as I thought about home and everything going on there. And just to make things fun...I thought about how, if an animal came charging out of the woods in the middle of the night, I had about 200 feet of doorless wall to run into.

But soon enough, I fell asleep.