lifecycle: Day 37. 10.11.2013. 75 miles from Summersville to Johnson's shut in state park.

Today was a thriller through and through. We knew setting out that it would probably be one of our toughest days of riding on this trip... It did not disappoint. I would say it ranked in my top 3 days of bike riding experience. It was extremely hilly, straight up for a mile then straight back down then repeat again. The difference between today and the past two days was the grade of the hills, but even more of a difference was the length. Here is a shot of our elevation chart for today. We started in Summersville and ended near the right end of the picture.

The hills were incredibly rewarding though. The fall colors were really starting to come out. And as leaves were falling I tried to catch them. WIth my less than ideal gear-set the (sometimes 14-16% I would bet from past hill knowledge) grades almost got the best of me. But we were able to climb every single hill with joy and perserverance. The road was not very busy, and it just felt like home, albeit a much hillier version of home.

Today I was taken back by the ability of our bodies, which God gave us, to do these seemingly impossible feats. And the cool thing is that he created us all with extraordinary bodies. I also was amazed at what I can do now as compared to 5 weeks ago. Part of me wants to go try to climb Sonora again with my bike haha. But really I am just so thankful to have the ability, both mentally and physically, to do this. Today reminded me of the true magnitude of the frat we set out to do. God is just so good.

We also passed some beautiful rivers today. The only unfortunate point of crossing a river was that it meant you were at the bottom and about to climb straight back up. But like I said, somehow I was able to thoroughly enjoy the climbs today.

We finally pulled in to the blessing of Johnson's shut in state park. The showers were so refreshing and the park is just very nice and well kept. Plus is was right on our route so that made it even better. Thank you lord for a great place to sleep.

There is a possibility that tomorrow we would change another time zone, which seems absurd to me. I feel like we just got into central time! It would be our fourth and final time zone. We are going to try to make it to murphysboro Illinois tomorrow which is quite far. But if we get up early enough we might have a shot. We hope to take Sunday off in murphysboro and maybe find a church we could attend and hang out with for the day. It just seems like it's about time to take a rest day.