Team Awesome Hits Our Stride

Bo here posting as Nikki in the hopes that some of you will actually read this if you don’t know it’s me. Team Awesome is holed up in Tupelo, MS for the night, trying to stay up late so we can be on a good schedule for tomorrow’s 6-midnight shift.

Today could not have been more spectacular for us. We had a little bit of consternation as we tried to track down Team Polka Dot for the 12PM switch. We’d been hearing horror stories all morning about temps in the 20s, brutal climbs, and bone-chilling descents, which really brought our internal whining about our “difficult” 3-hour shift last night into perspective. So, we were ready to get on the road and eat up some miles to do some justice to the suffering that teams white, yellow, pink, and polka dot had endured to get us where we were.

We hooked up with Perry, Jeni, JD, and Ed just in time to transition, and the look on their faces told the story: they were shredded by those three Paris Mountains in a row. I know that I was super-motivated to ride hard for them and really move the ball forward in our stage. Nice job, Team Polka Dot.

We set off fairly sedately, as we had some directional issues with unmarked turns (hey Tedd: where were all the Nellies?!), and Nikki’s bike was MIA on the Great Escape van. Before long though, Master Jonathan got us organized in a rotating paceline and we started gobbling up the miles. I can honestly say that I have not had a more satisfying group ride than I had today with the Mean Green Machine (aka Team Awesome). With a crystal blue sky, rolling Tennesee countryside and perfect riding temps (55-65) all day, we rolled down the road like a steam engine. Before long we grabbed Nikki, bum shoulder and all, and kept the pace set to “SLAY.”

Gratuitous proud husband moment: I gotta give props to my wife for EATING THE ROAD ALIVE with a bad shoulder and not once batting an eyelash. It’s that type of heart that reminds me why we’re doing what we’re doing on this ride. Way to go babe, you did the entire P3C3 crew proud!

Anyway, I could keep babbling about how awesome Team Awesome’s ride was, but I don’t have the words. 85 miles later Team Mellow Yellow, caught us, took the baton and sailed on. Hope they had an awesome ride as well. Keep riding strong and safe everybody, and check out Jonathan’s video of our day if he ever gets it up!