Day 38-Lamar CO to Garden City KS

It was another very early morning, 5am wake up, I look outside to see it is still pitch black but we get up, pack our things, deflate our sleeping pads put on our chamois and get on our bikes just as the sun is rising. With 100 miles ahead of us we got on the roads just before 6am. I rode with Brandon again and David who I have hardly ridden with all summer, last time we tried he could only go the first 30 miles because of asthma but we have dropped down a lot in altitude which helps a lot, started at about 3700ft and ended at 2800ft, we haven't been this low since we left Washington. At about the 35 mile marker we finally left Colorado, sad to leave because it has been such a fun state but border crossings are always fun and we are into Kansas now. Kansas has easily the least exciting state sign we have seen so far though. Colorado was the top one by far, giant wood sign, Kansas has a tiny little metal one and two rotten pieces of wood, might be a good indicator of how excited we are for Kansas, soon after the border we also crossed into the next time zone, now in central time, loosing an hour is not good for our sleep schedule. Up until about 70 miles we were moving real fast, it was all flat or slightly downhill some of the time with a tail wind so we were averaging over 20mph for the whole time, could hardly feel how hot it was because the wind was cooling us off. at 70 miles we hit some awful rolling hills that took a toll on us, David's feet started killing him and we were getting tired, we made it another 15 miles over the rolling hills until we hit rack time at noon 15 miles out from arrival so we had to rack the rest of the way in. David tried to say that Brandon and I should just keep going and push to get to the end but it was my goal to ride every mile I ride with my whole pace line and Brandon was on the same page so we couldn't just leave David, we all racked and got to our stage up point together.

Our arrival was great, we rode into Mosaic of Garden City to see them out front waiting for us and cheering. They have a huge facility, looks like a converted warehouse but theyy have made great use of the space. We ate lunch and cake with them then of course had a dance party. One of the members who told me to call him cowboy was having a blast, we danced together for a while and he had a huge smile the whole time, despite the tough day he was the reason I had the energy to keep dancing. After our visit we had to ride a few miles to lodging but well worth it because we had an incredible sponsor put us up in a hotel and take us all to Golden Corral buffet for dinner, we were beyond thankful for a real bed, air conditioning and endless food.

Tomorrow is a short day, only 55 miles to Dodge City and 6:15 wake up which means we get to eat the hotel breakfast instead of crew chief breakfast. yipee!

A couple additional notes for this blog. I found a website to track all the cities that we stop in to give you a rough idea of our route so far, as you can see we don't take the easy way across the country, that's why thay call it trans route man's route. Secondly and most importantly we are trying to make a big mid summer push to reach our total goal this summer for our combined JOH fundraising total between all routes. We are at $534,000 and aiming for $650,000. It has been incredible that random people we meet that ask what we are doing donate, we have had a family walking out of a funeral make a donation, a random lady we met on the road who knew Pi Kapps when she was in school donate, a cyclist my pace line ran into  on the road coming into Boulder, a traveling gospel musical group we ate dinner with at a church in West Yellowstone donated their profits from the show they did that night to Push America. The genorosit and kindness we have seen is shocking. If you are able to make a donation or can help me spread the word please do. To donate or share my message visit my fundraising page at http://support.pushamerica.org/goto/sammargolis

Day 37-Pueblo to Lamar CO

Today was, I think, the first day that we were up and eating breakfast before the sun was even up, 5am wake up was early. We hit the road at 6am on the dot, I was sweeps with Scott and Joe, very glad they decided to join me because I knew it would be an entertaining ride with them. The morning started off great, it was pretty cool temperatures and we were moving really fast. We fell behind a bit from some flats from other pace lines we had to wait for and bathroom breaks so we were making up the time and ended up cruising at 23-25mph on flats for maybe 45 min, it was crazy how easy it was for us, such a huge improvement from when we started the trip. Eventually we caught another group and rode behind them until lunch at about 75 miles which was a treat, lunch meat and hummus wraps, so good. By that point it was really hot out, approaching the mid 90's, it kept get hotter the rest of the ride. This is the first ride we have had in this heat, I am a little more adjusted to it because of training in AZ but a lot of the guys weren't used to it at all. Luckily we were all hydrating really well and no one had any problems with the heat. The worst part of the ride was not the heat or boring landscape but the smell, we passed so many cows and the wind blew the stench right at us, to add to it we had at least three dumpster trucks come by us and leave a horrible smell for us to ride through for a mile every time, at one point Scott was about to puke it was so bad. After lunch we started to slow down though, tired of being on the bike, sore and exhausted but we caught a few pace lines and were able to ride with them for a while and just being around more guys and yelling jokes between pace lines kept us in a good mood and distracted from our soreness and exhaustion and able to finish the ride.

To celebrate the 127 mile ride we went to Sonic after showers to get giant slushes, so perfect for such a hot day. Our dinner was right after sponsored by a family in town who was so nice, allowed us to hang out in her house, had a ton if food for us and we watched the incredibles while we ate. They had so much food donated by the community to help us, it was so amazing how much they supported us. It was great to relax for the evening and destress to prepare for another similar day tomorrow. Another 5am wake up and 105 miles to cross into Kansas with an arrival and friendship visit, best part is we get a hotel tomorrow night!

Day 36-Colorado Springs to Pueblo CO

Started off the day a little rough, didn't want to wake up, accidentally turned my alarm off and woke up 10 minutes after wake up call when I was trying to wake up 10 minutes early to do some last minute packing. Rushed to pack and change into Chamois to get on the bike, grabbed my things and was downstairs ready just in time. I rode with Brand again and Jeff who I haven't ridden with in a while. Jeff said the whole 60 miles was downhill so I was pretty happy with that. Turns out that he was definitely wrong but it was still one if the best rides we have had. After we got out of town and onto a state highway it was rolling hills for about 20 miles but the best kind of rolling hills, long climbs and long descents, it was a blast and we had great mountain views the whole time, we could see Pike's Peak clearly for most of the morning. Finally we get to the top of a climb to start a descent that went on for most of a 12 mile stretch. At the bottom we turned onto a different highway and suddenly we had a strong tailwind, first time in a while it was going in our direction and we started flying. We were cruising on flats and taking on hills at 20-30 mph with ease and kept it up even when the wind died down and turned into a cross wind. I did accidentally forget both water bottles at the crew stop before the tailwind but was able to pick up a spare at the next crew van. We all made it to lodging early including our first crew ride along, Ruby was the first crew member to get on a bike with us, it was fun to have him on the road and awesome to see him push through a 60 mile ride for his first ride on a road bike. A couple more crew are going to hop on a bike pretty soon too, can't wait for them to get a taste of what life ia like for us cyclists.

Dinner was supposed to be a friendship visit but the sponsor wasn't in town so we still met at the pizza restaurant and were fed pizza after pizza until we couldn't take any more. The area was also really cool despite being warned about how ugly Pueblo is. It was a very artsy, nice downtown with lots of cool fountains and behind the restaurant was a fountain running into a canal that had little boats going through the whole time.

Tomorrow is a real early and long day wake up at 5:00am and ride 130 miles in up to 98°, supposedly all downhill but we will see if that is true this time and the wind could be less than helpful, can't wait though, excited to log another century ride with the team.

Day 35-Colorado Springs, day off the bike

The day started off with breakfast sponsored by a family with two sons who are both Pi Alphas, it was delicious. After breakfast we had some time to relax before our friendship visit with Stellar Care. We met them at Memorial Park to play games. It was a huge park with a lot of space, the area we were in was a massive open grass field that had a beautiful background with the Rockies and Pikes Peak, I loved it. There we played kickball and tossed a frisbee with the Stellar Care members. They brought out their entire day program group and a lot of their residential care members so we had a huge group, we had so many people we had to start two separate kickball games. When we finished up we learned a little more about Stellar Care, they are a pretty new organization but have been growing very rapidly. They started as solely a day care facility for people with disabilities but expanded to residential and assisted living. One of the programs I have never heard of was host homes. Families with extra rooms and beds will host a person with disabilities to help them live independently, one of the staff that I talked to was saying that in most cases the host families welcome them like they are part of the family and eat and hang out and do activities with them. They also have many members that live on their own and will meet with Stellar Care groups for activities.

 After our friendship visit we went strait to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs where we got a private tour from a staff member who is a Pi Alpha from 1988, the first ever official Journey of Hope with a team of cyclists and crew. It was so cool to see the training center, we got to tour the olympic pool, and gym then we got to go into the athlete only area that has all the dorms that athletes stay in while they are visiting the training center. Many athletes will stay temporarily to train while there are some that are there full time. For lunch we got to enjoy the all you can eat dinning hall the athletes use, it was quite the treat, I got to eat grilled salmon for the first time in too long, it was incredible, they also had soup and pasta and stir fry, we filled our plates and more and got desserts and coffee. While we were eating we were joined by some Olympians, they had a couple guys from the Paralympic Cycling team, a Paralympic Snowboarder and a women from the Olympic Cycling team. I had to take the opportunity to talk to the women about racing and getting into racing and she had some good advice, she recommended starting as soon as I can, she didn't start racing until graduate school but started winning races and earning points to move up categories until she became one of the best in the world. After she left I sat down at a table with a bunch of guys talking to Keith Gable the paralympic snowboarder who won a bronze medal in Sochi. It was so fun to talk to him about what the Olympics are like, he was telling us hilarious stories. At the Olympics each team is given commemorative pins for their country, Keith started trading pins with other countries and filling his lanyard with cool pins and they became like currency, some were more rare and worth a lot more than others, at a bar one night he ordered a bottle and gave the bartender a pin rather than cash and seconds later the bartender came back with two more bottles. He also was able to trade pins for a police officers badge and a medal of honor from a security officer who was ex Russian military, that is just how treasured some of these pins were. It is safe to say that Keith won the pin war and a Bronze medal in Sochi. On our way out we got a special treat, the paralympic cyclist brought out his bike and gear and gave us a demo of how his bike works, he has a special modification to fit his right leg that attaches to the seat post and he uses just his left leg to pedal. The shifting and breaking is all done with his left hand as well, the one brake lever brakes the front and rear wheel and he added a special shifter so he can shift both front and rear derailleurs with the same hand. To top it all off, Keith went and grabbed his medal to show us, it was so cool to hold an actual Olympic medal, when I asked if we could get a picture together he said sure but only if I wear the medal!! I got to wear an Olympic medal around my neck! I think that makes me an Olympian. After they had to leave we stopped by the team store so I could get a sweet shirt and sticker.

Our dinner was with the Dean of Students at Colorado College, we ate at his house, the Dean's College which is very cool because it is just about done being converted to a completely off grid home, using no electricity from the power grid. The Dean Mike Edmonds is a really nice guy and has been sponsoring this dinner for the team for 13 years. He was a very entertaining guy and his laugh was the most contagious laugh I have ever heard, he was making us laugh from opposite corners of the yard, he didn't want us to leave but we had a leadership meeting to have after dinner. The meeting took a bit longer than expected which was frustrating because I wanted to see Emily before I left. Finally when we were done I got to hang out with her, we just hung out at a park nearby for a couple hours before I had make curfew. I was so happy to see her one last time to say goodbye for now until we get back to Arizona August 10th, always hard to say goodbye but a memorable 4 days it has been that I have gotten to see her. I think about it sometimes how cool it will be to be able to look back on these times with her later on, it is so amazing, I am so lucky.

Day 34-Denver to Colorado Springs CO

This was an incredible day. In the morning our project manager pulled myself and Brandon aside and asked if we would like to ride with Bruce Rogers today, it was an instant yes, I would never pass up a chance to ride with the man that inspired the Journey of Hope by riding solo across the country in the name of Push America to raise money and awareness for people with disabilities. We rode 86 miles with Bruce and it was a tough ride, about 4700 feet of climbing and some good headwind, I think we may have been riding a little harder and faster than Bruce was ready for. We started in the back of the group so we could help direct everyone through a bike path that we rode on for about 15 miles to get out of the city so we could avoid busy city streets and a ton of turns and lights. It was a lot of fun being on the path, followed a creek for a while and over a dam before we got onto the roads again, it reminded me a little of the bike path I trained on in Washington over winter break, the Burke-Gillman Trail that goes all the way around the north end of Lake Washington. We had great conversations the entire ride. Getting to know Bruce for 86 miles, talking about his first ride, Pi Kapp, our lives and what we have taken away from the summer already and sharing stories from past friendship visits was great. He is also a very skilled rider so I learned some new things, most importantly a better position for descents to get out of the saddle but stay in an aerodynamic position, very excited to use that, even though we are about to hit some very flat lands for a while.

After we arrived I showered real quick ate lunch and got to hang out with Emily before dinner. She came and picked me up from lodging and we went to go walk around the garden of the gods which was so cool, it is this area with amazing natural rock formations. After that she dropped me back off with the team and we were going to head to dinner but our sponsor thought it was tomorrow so we got free time earlier which means I got to spend the rest of the day with Emily! We headed over to her neighborhood of Colorado Springs to eat dinner then go to her house where I finally met her mom. The last few days that I have been able to hang out with her have been so perfect. I am really glad that I was able to see her half way across the country on my trip and spend so much time together, it is never long enough but every second was the best. I will see her again tomorrow because we have a day off the bike but a busy day for the team and then we are out of Colorado Springs.

Day 33-Denver, Day off

It was an amazing day today. To start the morning we had a breakfast with KRG capital with Bruce and a bunch of KRG employees and lots of families. Got amazing food, got to check out their office which is on the top floor of this high rise and had great views of the whole city, the Rockies stadium and the Rockies mountains. When we got back I met up with Emily and we spent the rest of the day together walking around the 16th street mall and hanging out in at the park near the capitol building. We picked up a Colorado sticker to add to my bike and grabbed so coffee, it was great to hang out with her, I missed her so much and miss her already but it's a good thing we ride to her home town of Colorado Springs tomorrow and have a day off their so I get to see her for another 2 days, in between our friendship visits at least. Any second I can see her I will take. After she headed back home tonight the team had a sponsored dinner at a taco shop called Moontower Tacos, by far the best tacos I have ever had and their Queso dip was incredible. The owner of the restaurant is a Pi Kapp from the Boulder chapter and amazing guy. After the dinner the Parent Ambassadors surprised us with goodies bags of snacks and candy but the best part about them were a pair of cycling socks! They seem like a real nice pair.

The ride tomorrow is only 85 miles and coming back from a day off with legs well rested I think it should go pretty smoothly. Wake up is 5:30am, and leaving this awesome city for supposedly an even better one according to Emily. I have a feeling she is right about that, Colorado Springs sounds awesome.

Day 32-Boulder to Denver CO

Today was unbelievable. I could not wait to get to Denver, I woke up early packed and got my bike ready before most of the guys and ate breakfast super fast, I was very anxious to get on the road and get to Denver. I rode sweeps with Hayden because I knew I was going to be too excited and would have ended up riding way too hard and getting too far ahead and red flagged waiting for the vans to catch up, plus we thought it was a good idea for us to because even though we only had 35 miles we really wanted to make rack and push everyone to get there and meet the north team at stage up at The Mile High Stadium, and we also wanted to ride at the front of the pace line for arrival at the capital building. It was a really easy ride, went by pretty quick and we had awesome roads to ride on, Denver is so bike friendly. Towards the end of the ride we ended up running into the North route on the road, we only caught up and passed their sweeps line but guys ahead of us passed some more of their team. The only problem this caused was that for some reason our teams were taking different routes to get to the same place, so what happened was the front 5 groups on my team came up to a intersection that the north team was turning left but our crew wanted us to go strait but the north crew turned our groups left and off our route so we had to contact them to turn our cyclists around and get back on our route, luckily it wasn't too big of a detour but we had to get red flagged to wait for them to get back on track with us. It was a quick ride from their to the stadium after that.

When we got to stage up I got to see the guys from ASU on North route, KQ and Aaron, Chris was still gone. It was awesome to meet the North guys and talk to them about how their trip has been going and swap stories. While we were there we also got to get a private tour of the stadium and walk out onto the field, it was very cool to see the stadium from that perspective, something I have never done. There we also got a sponsored lunch that was catered by Chipotle and so delicious. When we finished lunch we had to decide which route was going to lead into the capitol, the competition was an unusual cookie eating contest, 5 guys from each team were given a cookie, they had to place it on their forehead and without dropping it maneuver the cookie into their mouth, unfortunately we tied 2 to 2 and settled it with best of 3 rock paper scissors and lost, it was so sad but not too big of a deal. Hayden and I still got to lead the Trans rout in our massive double pace line. Because of how big Denver is this was also out first police escort, we had at least a dozen cop cars and motorcyclist with us, one in front and behind our pace line and the rest were blocking off roads for us so we could just cruise through the city and up to the capital rolling through all the lights, it was so fun and having 40 or so cyclists in a giant double pace line was so much fun. When we approached the capital I was looking everywhere for Emily and seeing her right in the front at the capital steps was the most amazing thing in the world, we had to stand with the team while some people gave speeches but the whole time I wanted to drop my bike and run over to her, I eventually did when they were done. I am so happy that I was able to bike half way across the country to see her here and meet her sisters Sarah and Hannah. After a very stressful hotel check in we showered and headed to our friendship visit with Denver Special Olympics and their event Peddles for Pennies.

The friendship visit was so fun, Emily and her Sisters came with and got to hang out with everyone. I was partnered with Cole and Kade who rode a tandem bicycle and we did laps around the lake at City Park. They did 9 laps and were so proud, it was great to hang out with them and learn about the sports they compete in and chat while we cruised around avoiding all the geese and other riders. After the riding we had a big BBQ, a bunch of awards and stories from each route and then the best part was the dance party!!

After our friendship visit I got to hang out with Emily in Denver for the evening and go out to get some drinks and meet more of the North route guys.