TEAM WASHINGTON BLOG SITE:

http://emsmemorialrideteamwa.blogspot.com/

MY Personal account of my incredible 7 day Journey

Hi there! Well I am finally back from my 7 day 650 mile bicycle ride on the East Coast! WOW! What an experience! I can't even put into words the feelings, emotions and experiences that I had.

It was THE best thing that I have ever done and am already looking forward to next years ride. The friends that I made along the way are as close to me as my own family and the emotions and experiences we shared have forged an everlasting, unbreakable bond. This was the last year that the National EMS Memorial will be held in Roanoke Virginia, the birthplace of EMS. The temporary memorial finally found a permanent home in Colorado Springs CO and will be moved there sometime in the coming year. As of this time we do not know exactly how the ride will be conducted next year.

Many of you followed along with TEAM WA in our blog thanks to a friend who we checked in with on a daily basis. The last 3 days were so busy and hectic that the blog didn't capture the last few days of the ride. Below is an accounting of my experiences:

Day neg 2 Thursday May 14th: Caught the plane for NYC bright and early in the morning. I had a layover in Chicago O'Hare airport that lasted 3 hours instead of 45 mins due to heavy thunderstorms east. All flights east of Chicago heading into LGA in NYC were delayed. BORING sitting in the airport not knowing when the flight would resume. Instead of getting in at 630pm, I got in at 900 pm. I was picked up in style by Capt Will Merrins of the FDNY in their battalion rig. We headed over to TJ O'rourkes for a fundraiser that FDNY was putting on for the bike ride. I met some of the FDNY riders and we proceeded to play darts, eat hot wings and drink moonshine--yes I said moonshine!! =) I also met up with the only other Washington state riders Nick and Gabe. They both work for Mukilteo Fire as well as the Evergreen Speedway and Providence Hospital. We made it back to our hotel in Tarrytown NY courtesy of Will and the Batt rig again. It was about 1am NYC time.... we met up with Deanna from North Carolina and Dean Trombley from Maryland (Surgeon General's office). We stayed up late talking and getting to know each other. Deanna, myself, Gabe and Nick shared a room and it was one big slumber party. We finally made it to bed about 3am.

Day Neg 1 Friday May 15th: We woke up at about 10am (7am WA time) and headed into Tarrytown to pick up my rental bike. It was about a mile in the warm and humid air. I had forgotten how wet and humid the east coast could be--so different from Seattle weather. The 5 of us walked into town: Deanna, Gabe, Nick and Dean had their bikes with them so we could ride back together. It was a long walk in that weather lol. We picked up my bike-a green Cannondale that was as light as a feather compared to my mountain bike. We then proceeded to explore Tarrytown and headed down to Dunkin Donuts (which by the way is on every street corner on the east coast, much like our coffee stands over here on the West Coast). It was interesting to say the least.

We were in flip flops, shorts, and no helmets riding our road bikes. Which if you have ever ridden a road bike is difficult to do in anything other than your biking shoes. The pedals are minuscule and not flat. Before we could even get to the Dunkin Donuts Dean had a flat tire heading down a steep hill. We helped him change it. The first flat of the ride and we haven't even started. It was so much fun riding around Tarrytown. I was getting used to the gears and shifting which is totally different than my mountain bike. Going up a steep hill was a piece of cake!! I was starting to get less nervous about the dreaded 17 mile Skyline Drive on Day 5. We stopped in at a local firehouse and took some pics. Finally found a place to eat lunch and headed back to the hotel for our orientation session. After our orientation session we ordered pizza and headed to the hotel pool where the 5 of us relaxed for a bit. We helped Nick and Gabe put their bikes together and decided to jazz up my boring green bike with hot pink duct tape around the top of the handlebars and on the left crank which we then wrote in black sharpie SEATTLE. Both Gabe and Nick put pink duct tape on their left crank and handlebars too...gotta represent! lol


Day 1 Tarrrytown to New Jersey: Woke up bright and early for a start time of 7am. Ouch! We had a continental breakfast provided by Tarrytown Volunteer Rescue Squad. We lined up after George Rice (So. Carolina) gave the morning prayer and words of support. We ended up standing in the parking lot for close to two hours because the state police did not show up on time and then they decided they did not want to close down part of the roadway for us. There was some "political" hashing going on and from what I understand one of the FDNY higher ups told the po po to close the "damn" road. We ended up going a different route into NYC to pick up the FDNY bikers at Jacobi hospital.

It started to rain-a warm sticky rain. The ride all through NYC-Manhattan, Da Bronx, Times Square, Ground Zero was one of my favorite days. I had a near miss with a pothole that was not shouted out by one of the forward riders, I swerved to miss it on the wet roadway going down hill and the back tire slipped and started to slide into a van. I somehow managed to keep me and the bike upright and not crashing into the van. But my heart was beating a mile a minute. I'm used to at least an inch of mountain bike, deep tread tires on the pavement, not barely 1/4 of an inch of slick road tires. Needless to say, I was extremely careful and slow heading down any hill from then on out. Finally met up with the FDNY bikers about 2 hours later. We were greeted by the Chief of FDNY and the pipes and drums band in their pleated kilts. We then loaded up and hit the road. About 150 riders strong and many many support vehicles. Riding through NYC was fantastic-I had whiplash straining to see everything around me at the same time trying not to crash into the rider in front of me. lol We caught the Statten Island Ferry after a lunch of Subway sandwiches and Cliff bars. We were suppose to get on the FDNY fire boat, but due to the late start we couldn't make that happen. While waiting for the ferry, dog tags were passed out of all our fallen brothers and sisters, as well as the inductees. We were all tasked to wearing these for the entire ride in memory and honor of their life. We will hand them off to the families in Roanoke. We will keep one dog tag while the other goes to the family member. We finally crossed into New Jersey and stopped at a firehouse for a great lunch of pasta. After leaving the firehouse and heading up the steep hill I had bike problems-my chain came off and we couldn't get it fixed in time due to having to get to a bridge and cross it at a certain time. A lot of the roads and bridges were closed for us and we were on a tight schedule every day to get there at a certain time to meet our police, fire and ems escorts. I was pretty upset that I had to get in one of the FDNY busses and couldn't ride. But as soon as we pulled up to the bridge and I noticed that the riders hadn't crossed yet, I yelled at the bus driver to stop! I wanted to get out and grab a bike and ride over with my fellow muddy angels. I borrowed Amy from Delawares bike as she wasn't riding at that time. YAY!! I was so excited!! Until I got on the bike and realized it was too small for me!! lol That's ok though because I made it over the bridge and at the next rest stop Nick fixed my bike for me.

Our next stop was Perth Amboy Fire where we had a very touching memorial for a fallen EMS worker. They had two ladder trucks on the side of the roads with a big American Flag unfurled between the two ladders that we rode under. It was amazing!! We were greeted by another pipes and drum band and people lined up on the road. This would also be a re-occurring event throughout the week as we rode into local firehouses, as well as taps played by our very own George Rice on a bugle that was played on for the fallen on 9/11 at Ground Zero. By the end of the week we knew the names, bios and history of all the fallen intimately.This was the first memorial service of the ride. The Mayor of the city opened the ceremonies as the Perth Amboy EMS Honor Guard presented the colors. The names of all 91 EMTs and Paramedics that are to be inducted in the National EMS memorial were read. After the reading the Bag Pipes played as a medical helicopter flew overhead. A member of the Perth Amboy EMS talked briefly about his brother, Paramedic Dodridge who was tragically killed in the line of duty. More than 200 people stood in a pouring rain to honor this man and his family during this event.

Most of the day we rode in Parade format-which is a long line of 2x2 bikers. The last 2 hours was in touring format. Me and Deanna hauled a** for the next 2 hours-about 25-30 miles to the hotels. That night we had dinner at a local hospital sponsored by a fire dept.

Day 2 New Jersey to Pennsylvania: Woke up early again. Too early! We have to wash our jerseys every night and this morning mine wasn't dry so I put on a wet jersey. It was cold and overcast outside so we pulled out our warm weather gear. This was a day of wrong directions, incorrect maps, closed routes and misleading painted markers on the road. But it made for a very interesting day.

I had a rough go of it immediately starting out in the am. My inside right knee was killing me and for every pedal, my knee felt like it was on fire and I was in agony. Ibu and tylenol was not working. I told my group to go on with out me, that I was going to take it easy and slow. I stopped to help another rider change his tire and at that time Dave Page (one of the board members of the ride) and Andy Glasgow (New Jersey) stopped to make sure we were all right. It had started to rain at this time with very gusty headwinds and side winds. The side winds were the worst as they came out of nowhere and could knock a rider off their bike if they weren't careful. I told them that I needed to "SAG" to the next rest stop because of my knee. They asked if I had knee problems, I told them no and then they said well it's probably because of your seat placement. Sure enough!! It was. They checked my knee flexion, and leg extension while on the bike. We did some adjustments and I was on my way again with 99% of the pain gone!! Amazing!! My seat had somehow slipped down into the post.

So with Andy leading, me and Dave started off. We rode for about 15 miles till we came to Route 202 and there was our motorcycle support guy with a neon green EMS vest on it telling us we were "miles" off course. WTF?? How did that happen? We followed the painted signs on the roadway, how did we get off course??? Without going into too much detail about it--there were problems with original routes being closed for construction, bridges closed and the painted chalk on the street getting washed off from the rain.

I turned around and realized that somehow we had lost Dave on the way. Mark (motorcycle support) told us that we needed to get onto route 202 and stay there until a bus came to get us. Apparently most of the riders were also way off course. So Andy and I crossed 2 busy lanes of traffic carrying our bikes because the median was all gravel. Then we waited and crossed over 2 more busy lanes of traffic and proceeded to ride South on Route 202. We rode for about an hour and still no signs of a bus. We caught up to two other riders and waited for another. We decided to stick together. We came upon another rider who had a flat and had been walking. We helped her change her tire-but it went flat again and now we had no spare tubes. So we stayed with her and walked. I got a few texts and voice messages from Gabe and Will asking where I was and if I was ok.

We came into a small town and decided to grab a bite to eat in the pretzel shop. We had Sam (Pennsylvania) stay outside with our bikes watching for the support vehicles to take us into the next rest stop. We finally got into the next rest stop-late and I barely had time for the bike mechanic to do some more minor adjustments on my bike. The rest of the bikers lined up in Parade format to head out to Washington's Crossing. They couldn't wait for me. By the time I got back on my bike I was hauling butt to meet up with them. I barely caught them in time to make the river crossing into Pennsylvania. At one point I was on a main road while they were on a bike path next to the river and no way to get to them. I thought for sure I was going to be all alone on the wrong road and would have to call for help--but fortunately right before the crossing a road appeared and I was able to catch up with them--out of breath and panting hard! lol We crossed the road and headed up a steep hill where my bikes chain came off/bound up again. Every time I tried to shift into the granny gears, the chain would come off. (This would be a re-occurring event on a daily basis-more later). One of the guys stopped to help me and we were off again. Now we were in touring format (spread out at our own pace).

We came to our first mighty hill-long windy and steep-my first big challenge of the ride. I was able to make it up the hill without stopping like so many others! I felt accomplished! Made it to the next rest stop where another bike mechanic told me that my drive train was stripped out-and my highest gear wouldn't work and the lowest gears wouldn't shift without it coming off. Great! Just great!! And I am only on Day 2!!! Grrrr. We rode parade style into the next town escorted by EMS and Fire and Police vehicles. The Fire personnel also rode with us-about 20-30 of their bikes led us into the next town where we had another memorial service at a local firehouse.

By this time I was feeling a little punchy and realized I hadn't eaten enough and kept up with my hydration, and caloric intake. At lunch I think I ate too much and became pretty sick afterwards. I had to get on a SAG vehicle the last 20 miles of the day because I was so sick. I think it must have been the greasy meatballs and should have stayed away from them. We ate so much we could barely move. There was the most amazing pasta dinner waiting for us at the Collingdale Fire Department that night-but I was still feeling under the weather so I ate a light dinner.

Day 3 Pennsylvania to Delaware: This was my second favorite day of the whole ride!! We did a whole 105 miles today across the state of Delaware. It was pretty flat most of the way and we rode in Parade format because we were on major freeways. This was a day of memorials one right after the other. Firefighter/Paramedic Michelle Smith ( Our first stop is in New Castle at the Wilmington Manor station to honor Michelle Newton-Smith, who was killed by a reckless driver while attending a patient involved in a motorcycle accident) and Firefighter/Paramedic Stephanie Calloway. The Delaware Muddy Angels rode in the front of the pack all day and wore matching "memorial" shirts for them. We were escorted the entire way by police, fire and ems. We passed by the crash site of Michelle Smith only a mile down from her station. They had an ambulance at the crash site with 2 personnel standing at attention saluting the riders as we passed by. Throughout the rest of the day, and week for that matter-we passed by many fire/ems/police personnel who stood and saluted us along the route. How humbling and amazing. There were also many amazing people along the route who did the same thing. We came to the only hill of the day about 2 hours into the route. A fairly good sized hill leading up to a bridge across the river. Again there were two ladder trucks with their ladders extended over the freeway with a big American Flag unfurled over the freeway that we went under along with many more vehicles and people saluting us as we passed by.

Here are pictures of this: http://www.dcfc15.com/gallery.cfm?id=254

Halfway up the hill, my chain started to come off as I tried to change to the lower gears-I quickly changed into a higher gear which made the climb that much tougher. Once I got to the top it finally changed into the lowest gear and then when I went to go down the hill and change into a higher gear the chain came off again. Beau from New Jersey stopped to help me which put us in the back of the pack and we had to haul butt again to get caught up.

My knee had started to hurt again during the ride but couldn't stop to try to adjust We had another rest stop at a local fire house where they had PB&J sandwiches!! Whoo Hooo!! We were all getting sick of pasta day in and day out.

After that we stopped in Dover Delaware and met up with Firefighter/Paramedic Stephanie Calloways husband and two young sons who rode their bikes to the next stop where we had another memorial for both Stephanie (first line of duty death in Delaware) and Michelle which was attended by the Lieutenant Governor. Here is a link of the ceremony in video.
http://www.emsresponder.com/video/index.jsp?bcpid=1670081537&bclid=1659906854&bctid=23759258001

This is a 2 minute clip of us riding into the ceremony: I'm actually the rider in front of the person taking this video with the day pack on. I rode most of the day next to Dave Page.
http://www.emsresponder.com/video/index.jsp?bcpid=1670081537&bclid=1659906854&bctid=23766417001

Delaware video: http://muddyangels.org/?p=556 The names of our fallen were read again followed by Taps. The memorials are starting to take a toll on the Muddy Angels. We are on day 3 and they become tougher and tougher as the ride progresses. Watching the video again brings tears to my eyes.

"The second remembrance of the day would be in Georgetown, about 50 miles away. One of the impressive things about the trip through Delaware was that at every station and what seemed like almost every intersection, there were emergency vehicles on the side of the road and crews wishing us well. The icing on the cake was entering "The Circle" in Georgetown. We entered the circle to find the inner area full of people cheering and the perimeter ringed by ambulances from over a dozen different services."

It was inspiring and we all were simply awestruck! We entered the circle going in the opposite direction as Stephanie was known to go the wrong way a time or two. We rode the circle 2.5 times in her honor. We passed so many emergency vehicles in the circle and every single person was standing at attention saluting the riders. But the real reason we were all there wasn't as much to honor us as to honor Stephanie L. Callaway, who was killed while attending a patient when the ambulance she was riding in swerved to miss a deer and struck a tree."

The day ended with a fantastic BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs!! The first time we had "meat" and not pasta!! WHOO HOO!! I ate 2 cheesburgers, 1 hot dog, 1 helping of baked beans, 2 helpings of pasta salad, a cupcake, a "mystery" dessert bar, chips, gatorade, peanut butter cookies. And I could have gone for a 3rd cheeseburger! That was the best dinner we had had so far! We loaded up our bikes on the penske trucks and were bussed to our hotels for the night.

Georgetown was out of our way on our route as we had to backtrack the next morning. Georgetown wanted us to come so much that they promised to bus us back on our routes the next morning. We were 2 hours off our route and had to be on the busses on 0545 the next morning to get bussed into Maryland for another memorial.

Day 4 Georgetown to DC: Up bright and early to catch the busses into the next stop for one of the biggest Memorials we will see on this ride. All of us on the bus took this time to catch up on some sleep during the bus ride over to Capitol Heights where we will be paying tribute to 4 lives lost on Trooper 2 (Maryland State Police).

While transporting two MVC patients on their helicopter, the pilot of Trooper 2 Helicopter decided to turn back due to bad weather. Ground Crews lost contact with the helicopter around Midnight of September 28, 2008. It took close to 2 hours to locate the crash scene and the lone survivor, Jordan Wells, and to this day 8 months later she is still recovering from her injuries.

Pilot Steve Bunker, Paramedic Trooper Mickey Lippy, EMT Tonya Mallard and patient Ashley Younger all died in the crash. We started off at the Ritchie Fire Dept and rode in silence to the Memorial Service about a mile down the road. We were joined by a dozen new riders from the Maryland State Police Aviation Program and were escorted to the crash site by an equal number of troopers on motorcycles. Imagine about 200 cyclists in complete silence. Instead of saying: slowing, stopping, hole, grate etc down the line, we used hand gestures and all you could hear were the movement of the tires on the road.

4 of 5 Maryland media outlets were there to film the memorial service. As I write this, I am brought to tears still by the tragedy and find it hard to write this. We rode to the memorial in complete silence and were greeted by pipe bands. We rolled in and fell in behind the Maryland Riders in formation. We listened to several speeches as well as the 91 names of this years inductees being read off. Taps was played and the honor guard was there with colors. After a flyover by another Maryland State Trooper helicopter we rode into the park to the actual crash scene of Trooper 2. The silence was eery. All we could hear again were the tires on pavement and the birds in the trees. Upon arrival at the scene all the riders lined up on the path on both sides. A wreath was placed at the crash site and the riders one by one walked their bikes by the memorial fashioned out of one of the rotor blades of Trooper 2 to pay our respects. As I walked by Jordan, the sole survivor of the crash, I leaned down and squeezed her shoulder for a moment. I can't begin to describe the anguish and agony that I saw in her eyes. To have survived a car accident with her best friend, and then to have survived a helicopter crash where her best friend died cannot be defined or put into words. I believe that Jordan is destined for great things and one day we will see her name again.

Video of Muddy Angels riding to Memorial for Trooper 2:
http://www.emsresponder.com/video/index.jsp?bcpid=1670081537&bclid=1659906854&bctid=23967817001

Memorial Service May 19, 2009 Video: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Sole_Survivor_Returns_to_Scene_of_Helicopter_Crash_Washington_DC.html

Maryland State Police Trooper 2 Memorial Video Tribute: http://thenationstatepolice.top-forum.net/memorial-videos-f53/maryalnd-trooper-2-memorial-video-t575.htm

Articles: http://www.flickr.com/groups/marylandfire/discuss/72157607550143796/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121503181.html?sid=ST2009020301299

After the memorial service we continued on into Washington DC with our Maryland escorts. This is where we broke off into 3 groups. One group continued on to the next hotel, another group met with their respective State's representative/legislature about death benefits for EMS LODD, and the third (me) decided to play tourist in the city.

For those who stayed to meet with their legislature, hopefully you have brought awareness to the fact that those who are in EMS only do NOT received line of duty death benefits, unlike Fire and Police. This HAS to change! This is the FIRST time ever that anything related to EMS has ever been talked about on Capital Hill! Let's hope that this helps to bring about change!

Gabe, Mallory and myself had just a little over 3 hours to tour DC! No small feat! We headed out from 300 Independence to the Library of Congress where we took some pics and then onto the Capitol. Somewhere every pic that Gabe took of us ended up with him cutting off the top of the Capitol. Not to mention that half of the "pictures" he took, ended up being actually video shots......somewhere he hit the video button instead of camera. Since his camera was on his wrist, we ended up with a lot of videos of his, errr, ummm crotch. Good thing he was wearing his cargo shorts and NOT his biking spandex shorts!!! lol We then moved on to an ice cream truck where Gabe and I ended up eating a huge Sundae with EVERYTHING On it and I mean everything-chocolate, pineapple and strawberry sauce with nuts, cherry, whipped cream etc. Yummmmm!! We shopped for some souvenirs-t-shirts and hoodies then made our way into the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Flight for a quick 10 minute look see. We then walked down to the "Shopping Mall', and to the Washington Monument where we took some pics. We then turned around and made our way back up to 300 Independence where we were getting picked up and driven to our next destination. It drive to the next hotel ended up taken us 3 hours in rush hour DC traffic!! It was crazy! We finally made it to our destination where I noticed that I now had Cankles!! I could no longer see my ankles! My legs, calves, ankles and feet were incredibly swollen. I thought maybe this had to do with all the walking I did that day...but it seems like a lot of other people had the same problem which has to do with all our water and electrolyte intake-and the foods that we were eating. I tried to ice it that night to no avail. We had another awesome Southern Style BBQ at the fairgrounds put on by the Woodstock Rescue Squad. There was another memorial service and a flyover by a helicopter. This is the night that we all took an American Flag that was attached to an inductee and were put in charge of making sure the flag, bio and dog tags got to the families in Roanoke. Tomorrow is the dreaded Skyline Drive so we all need to get to bed and get as much rest as we can to tackle the ride into Shenandoah National Park. I am not looking forward to the 17 miles of all uphill. I have been dreading it since I learned of it 2 months ago. Little did I know that I would have given anything to do only 17 miles the next day.........


Day 5 Woodstock VA to Shenandoah Natl Park: The morning started out clear and bright and warm. I knew that my bike would not make it up the trek due to the problems with the chain slipping while trying to shift into the granny gears. Luckily Jennifer Frenette, the President of the Muddy Angels, was not doing the ride and allowed me to use her bike!! Awesome! I made some minor seat adjustments before the day began. I should have changed out her seat to mine............but alas I thought hers would be fine-it was cushy. And we only had 17 miles to ride. 17 miles of uphill that I really didn't think I would be able to make so no biggie. We biked the first 25 miles over rural roads to the Parks entrance. It was a very warm and humid day with lots of up and down hills....and we hadn't even started the climb up Skyline. I knew that there were 65 miles on the days agenda and when we got to the park after only 25 miles, I started to do a little math.....hmmmm 65 minus 25 still leaves 40 miles.... Hmmmm interesting. If Skyline is only 17 miles, what about the other 23 miles??? Little did I know that this year was to be different than last years climb. A full 40 miles up to the resort! Gulp!! WTF??? Oh geez what have I gotten myself into?

I started out in the front of the pack and was soon passed by most other riders. There were still quite a few behind me and I figured I would go at my own pace and when I couldn't go anymore I would pull over and "SAG" the rest of the way. My partner on the ride was Sam Yoder from Pennsyvania, who if you remember I met on Day 2 on Route 202-the day of wrong maps/directions, etc. We gave each other support going up the hill. We would ride for awhile and then stop for a 2-3 minute rest to re-energize. Those 2-3 minutes rest stops really helped. We passed many outlooks of the Shenandoah Park and some pretty fantastic scenery. We had one rest stop where we took pics and then on to the next rest stop which was lunch. About 10 miles up. Peanut Butter and Jelly uncrustables never tasted so good!! At this point I am still thinking that there is only 17 miles total so we are all excited that we have hit the half way point and about 7 of us leave the lunch stop full of smiles and cheers.

We started to go downhill, then quickly noticed we were going uphill again. We also knew that the resort was at 3500 ft. And information started to trickle into us about there being a total of 40 miles that day. One of the riders said they had driven it and it wasn't so bad....the audacity!!! Ha!! Not that bad? Maybe in a car with AC not that bad. As we started to climb we noticed the signs with the elevation on it, 2200, 2400, 2600. We would get so excited because we were getting closer to the 3500 that we needed to get to. Then all of a sudden we were let down in the worst possible way.....a nice downhill stretch would greet us. Now, while we loved the downhill portions because it allowed our weary legs and body to rest....we also would lose most of the elevation that we had gained!! We would get to the bottom of a hill and see an elevation sign that was little more than 100 ft more than the last uphill climb. So basically for every 500 feet that we may have climbed on that last uphill, we would lose about 400 on the downhills. It was very disheartening!

I knew I was towards the back of the pack with about 5 others. Sam had sagged out on the lunch stop and wished me luck on the rest of the way. Just as I would think about giving up a downhill would greet me and allow me some recovery time. I had a love/ hate relationship with the downhills in more ways than one. One for the obvious elevation that we would lose but also because it was very hard on the wrists and hands. I am scared to death of going down these steep hills on these light road bikes. Most people would fly by me going somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60mph!! My top speed was 47 mph. Now the speed in the park was 35 mph and now I understand why the park rangers told us to obey the speed signs. I thought they were joking and being sarcastic!! NOT!

Of the 5 of us in the back of the pack, there was myself, Andy from Jersey who is in his 50's, Deanna from No Carolina who is 38, another guy in his 30's with a bum knee and Travis in his 20's. A bunch of people around us started to "SAG" out. Andy and the hurt knee guy was now in front of us and we were getting further and further apart. Deanna and I stayed together to give moral support. We kept talking about how much pain we were in and that we might "SAG" out on the next rest stop. But we never did. I don't think either one of us wanted to be the first one to SAG out..although we talked about it! Boy did we ever talk about it. Finally we came to the last rest stop. About 10 miles from the top. Don't ask me how I managed to stay on the course for this long...but I did. It was now about 6pm and we had been biking since about 830am. We started in the park about noon. We stopped at the rest stop and the two support ladies said they had sandwiches and drinks for us! We said great and went into the bathrooms. We came out and they had left!! Talk about a major let down. By this time we have eaten all the Cliff bars, shot blocks, gel, etc that we have packed on us and our water/gatorade is about out. I had already finished off the 2 liters in my day pack miles before.

Dan from Delaware was in the support vehicle that had been following us the whole way. Talk about intimidating! To hear that vehicle right behind us was hard. He was great though!! He called the support ladies back and told them they needed to come back with sandwiches for us. Who knows why they had left before giving us food!! We asked how much further we had to go-no one really knew. One driver said we had to get to mile marker 48. At this point we were only at mile marker 30. Another support vehicle with DJ from Virginia stopped and told us that we only had 10 more miles to go! WHOOP WHOOP!! That is better than the 18 we thought we had. At this point Deanna and I decided we were finishing! We had seriously considered giving up, but then we thought we had made it this far and we are going to make it to the top, even if it kills us....which is just about did!

We went through a tunnel and saw another support vehicle coming down the hill!! She had more PB&J sandwiches for us!! Yay to Diana!! We pulled over at the outlook and downed 2 sandwiches and some water. At this point we see Andy from Jersey!! We thought he was long gone already. He stopped for us to catch up and said he thought that everybody had forgotten about the last few on the drive. He was out of water and energy bars. I gave him some left over shot blocks and Dan supplied him with more water. 9 more miles--and they were some of the longest in my life. My body felt every single inch of those miles. My butt hurt, I was chafed because Jennifer's seat is wider than mine. I was dreaming, or hallucinating-whatever you want to call it by this point, of the bag balm I had in my bags at the hotel.

Deanna and I started joking around about they better be playing the national anthem when we come rolling in! We were getting worried that they would pull us from the course as it was starting to get dark. The sun was on the other side of the mountain. DJ came back down in Rescue 2 and rode in front of us while Dan stayed behind us. DJ and his co-pilot shouted encouraging words to us.

At 3 separate points along the last 10 miles we three got off our bikes to walk a bit. Which was almost as painful as riding was. My right outer leg hurt so bad and felt like a ripe tomato ready to split open. I was limping as I was walking...so was Andy and Deanna. My feet hurt, I was swollen from the knees down, exhausted, etc etc. I kept my eyes glued to the ground instead of looking at what was up ahead. It made it easier as the road looked flat if you stared down at it instead of up. Now I'm not a very religious person but I am spiritual.

When we started riding again, I pulled out the two sets of dog tags that I had: Leroy Shelton and Sekou Turner and let them clank against my chest as I rode. I recited both of their names as well as Erin Reeds, Lois Suzuki and Steve Smith's to give me strength and wind at my back to make it the final miles to the top.

At another point on the last 10 miles a FDNY bus passed us going down the hill as we were walking and we heard them ask Dan if we wanted to get in the bus. Dan said, "HELL NO! They have made it this far, and even if they wanted to, we aren't letting them get in. They are going to the top!" Thanks Dan! We needed that as we were getting sick and tired of having people ask us if we wanted to SAG. We had maybe 4 miles to go when we came to another steep decline! This time it was very much welcomed because we knew that flying down the downhill would eat up some of the 4 remaining miles.! It was a good descent but this time my hands, and wrists and fingers were numb and swollen from the jarring of the road flying down it, and so it was hard to squeeze the brakes. For some reason I had taken off my gloves miles and miles back and put them in my day pack which I ended up shedding and putting into a support vehicle. So by now my wrists and hands were in agony as was the rest of me.

We had roughly 2 miles to go and it was the longest 2 miles of my life. DJ told us to look for the big sign that said Syland Resort and we would know that we were there. At one point we saw a sign up the hill right before a turn and we got a little excited and asked him if that was it. He said No........sigh....... When we did finally see the sign we cried-literally. It was such a relief. The three of us got in front of it while Dan took pics. In all of those pics, none of us are smiling and you can see the miles and pain etched on our faces. We knew that we had maybe a football field length to go to get to the resort. At this point we see a support guy in our bright neon support shirts waving us in up ahead. DJ and Dan turned on their lights and sirens and brought us in. The three of us rode side by side the last little bit with Andy in the middle. I can't begin to describe the next few minutes. But when I looked up all I could see were my fellow Muddy Angels all lined up on both sides of the road clapping and cheering us on. There must have been about 100 of them standing out there. What I didn't know was that DJ kept radioing in to them at the top our progress starting at 3 miles out. When we got to the sign he radioed that we were at the entrance and every single Muddy Angel left their dinner at the resort to greet us as we came in. I'm sure the waitresses were freaking out when everybody left like that. We finally rolled in about 8pm that night. At this point I am crying from relief, from pain and from exhaustion. We rounded the circle and had to literally be taken off our bikes. We couldn't get ourselves off the bikes. Julie (my roommate and friend) gave me the biggest hug and held me while they took the bike out from under me. They wrapped us in blankets and handed us all a beer. Now, most of you know that I don't drink beer. I'm not fond of the taste...but I can tell you that that was the best damn tasting beer I have ever had and drank every last drop of it. There was many hugs and congratulations to us. Amy Corcoran (another new friend from Delaware) asked us what we wanted to eat so she could get our orders in to the restaurant. I ordered a big fat cheeseburger! We made it into the restaurant where they brought our food to us. Deanna was cramping up pretty bad and I was feeling a little of that myself. We ate and then found a ride to our rooms-which was still about 1/4 mile down and nobody wanted us to have to walk to our rooms. I can't honestly remember the ride to the rooms and have no idea who took us or in what vehicle. Julie helped me up the stairs to my room and all I could think about was getting into the shower to get all the grit, and grime and sweat off me. I washed my hair, got my sweats on, took a muscle relaxer and got into bed.

About midnight one of the riders knocked on our door to return my day pack to me...well for those of us in EMS, when the tones go off you wake up while still sleeping and before you know it you are at the call before you are truly awake asking yourself where you are and what is wrong with the pt. This happened to me when they knocked on the door...I woke up to the knock and proceeded to flip myself a** over end at the foot of the bed on the floor. I somehow went to get off the bed at the foot of the bed and my feet got tangled in the sheets and I ended up on my hands and face on the floor with my a** in the air and my hands planted on the floor in front of me. Woke Julie up and heard her asking what happened and are you ok........ Sure Jules! I'm ok...I took a muscle relaxer so I really don't feel anything right now.

Going back to bed for the early morning wake up. While this was one of the hardest days ever for me, it was also my one biggest accomplishment. One I will not soon forget.


Day 6 Shenandoah Natl Park to Staunton VA: Woke up sore, swollen and tired. I sagged the morning as I was not ready to get back on the bike. The first half of the morning was the riders coming down off the mountain. I figured I would do better to miss that. I rode in with one of the support vehicles where we proceeded to McDonalds and coffee and McSkillet burritos!! Ahhhh.... a little slice of heaven.

The day was very hot and humid-high 80's and low 90's. A rider from Delaware, Eric took a bad fall coming down the hill. He hit some gravel going about 50-60 mph and flew off his bike. He hit the pavement with his chin first then his helmet. He cracked open his chin all the way down to his mandible, dented his helmet, road rash on his chest through his jersey, as well on his entire left side. He was more concerned about his bike and being able to ride into Roanoke our final day. He was backboarded and c-collared to the hospital where he required 43 internal and external stitches to sew up his chin. Way to go Eric! I got on my bike at the first rest stop at the bottom of the hill and could tell that I was still pretty much exhausted from my efforts the day before. The next 20-30miles were hard on me. We were in touring style for the morning. There were some pretty close calls with cars and riders as it seems that Virginia drivers don't give courtesy to bicyclists. I had a car literally brush my legs going about 55 down the road. It was scary. For some reason the little hills today seemed like huge mountains which is strange considering the one I climbed yesterday.

I was finding it hard to make it up even the littlest hills today. I wasn't used to the heat or the humidity and still was feeling the effects of the day before. I started to get a little dizzy and sick right before our lunch stop. Most of the riders sagged the rest of the way to the hotel as it was too dangerous out on the roads. The remaining riders rode in Parade format to the hotels that night. Since we got in so early most of us got into our swimsuits and hit the outdoor pool! Ahhhh what a relief! A couple of us jumped in with our cycling clothes on. It was nice to get back to the hotel early and be able to relax a little. I was suffering from a little bit of heat stroke and dehydration as I made my way back to my room to shower. I was feeling extremely nauseous and lightheaded. Dave Long (MN) told me to drink some gatorade watered down with half water and lay down with cold towels on my neck and forehead. It helped a little, enough for me to get dressed and head out to dinner with the rest of the group.

That night we went to Staunton Rescue Squad for another amazing dinner with hot apple pie and ice cream for dessert!! Jennifer presented all of us with a Muddy Angel Coins, speeches were made etc as this is the last day that we will all be together as tomorrow night we ride into Roanoke to meet up with family and friends.


Day 7 ROANOKE OR BUST!! What a bittersweet morning this is. The last morning of having to wake up before the sun rises. Last morning of continental breakfasts and morning rider briefings. Last morning to pack and unpack our luggage every night and morning, last morning to load our luggage onto the Penske trucks. Last morning of watching the sun rise with my new friends. The day proved long and hot and everyone was feeling the effects of that last 6 days of riding. A lot of riders sagged today as most had reached their endurance. The temp was in the mid 90's and very humid. Sun was beating down and we had to get to one memorial and then onto the finale in Roanoke. The sag wagons were full all day today. I would ride the route and intermittently sag, then ride, then sag. I was also feeling the effects of the past 7 days. Right before the lunch stop we had about 15 miles to go. There were 5 of us "drafting" off each other. It made the miles go by much much quicker, otherwise I'm not sure myself or some of the other 5 would have made it to the next rest stop without passing out. There were no words spoken, just teamwork and knowing what we needed to do for each one of us to make it to the next stop. We had a memorial service for Johnny Carson at the lunch rest stop. He was instrumental in last years ride but had fallen ill a few weeks before the ride and died without having had the opportunity to meet any of the riders he had spoken to during coordination of routes.

The news was there filming us as we left and interviewed Sarah from Canada, Gary from Ireland and Byron from NYC. We met up with our two lone Kentucky Riders for the last stretch into Roanoke. Every single rider got back on their bikes and we rode in Parade format into Roanoke. It was very bittersweet. I rode next to Nick up front. Team Excellence, as we called ourselves, were all up front. This consisted of myself, Gabe, Nick, Mallory, Beau, and Dean. All of us rode together the entire week and we were a family riding into Roanoke together. It was a very emotional experience to make that final right turn into the Hotel Roanoke and the circular driveway. The rode was lined up with the familes who have arrived to see their son, daughter, wife, husband, mother, father, friend inducted into the 2009 Memorial. The driveway a rainbow of names written in colored chalk. Among the cheering, hugs, clapping and tears... we circled the driveway twice and then laid our bikes down to meet the families.

They thanked us, hugged and kissed us and shook our hands. It made me remember why we are here and it saddened me because they are the ones who have made the true sacrifice of losing their loved one, not me. For the next hour or so we made contact with the family members to give them their dog tags, the flag and bio of their loved one. Neither of the families of the two dog tags that I wore were there. I will get their addresses and mail to them the dog tags and bio with the flag. Some families cannot make it to the memorial due to financial reasons. This is one of the reasons we raise money for the "Fallen Angels" Fund-to assist those families financially so they can make the trip to Roanoke to see their loved one inducted into the memorial. That night we had dinner at Cave Springs Rescue Squad where they had more desserts than dinner! It was bittersweet as it would be the last dinner together hosted by a local rescue squad. Afterwards a lot of us went to the bar in the hotel to mingle with friends and family. It was an early night for me. The cigars and cigarettes were really bothersome to me as I am used to not having to deal with that back home. I hit my bed at 10pm. Video riding into Roanoke: http://www.emsresponder.com/video/index.jsp?bcpid=1670081537&bclid=1659906854&bctid=24299466001


Saturday Roanoke: As much as I wanted to sleep in on Sat morning my eyes popped wide open at 8am so Jules and I went to the executive lounge for breakfast. We lazed around drinking coffee with our other roommates then managed to get a car and hit Best Buy for a portable external hard drive so we could upload all the pics from other peoples cameras. We had lunch at IHOP then I treated myself to a massage back at the hotel. It was very spendy but well worth it.

We all got ready for the National Memorial that night at 6pm. We dressed in our uniforms and made our way to the church. They read the names of the 91 inductees and for the families who attended, they were presented with US flags, white rose and a medal. There was not a dry eye among the Muddy Angels. It felt like these names were real people to us. And in a way they were. We rode in their honor every day, we listened to their names being read 2 sometimes 3 times a day and their bios were put up at every rest stop and hotel along the way. We saw their faces everyday and read their bios everyday...so yes they became like family to us. So for the 91 names that were being read, it felt like I was losing a family member. The pipe and drums, the colors and honor guards were an experience I will not soon forget.

There were inspirational singers and gut-wrenching emotion as we watched the children of the lost loved ones walk to the stage to accept the medallion and flag that represents Mommy or Daddy's surpreme sacrifice. After the memorial inside the church all of us in uniform were asked to leave the church first to line up in formation outside. Taps was played again and a flyover of 2 helicopters took place. There was a small reception afterwards where we got to see the Tree of Life and the National Memorial Wall where this years inductees were listed. Me and my roommates stayed up till 1am talking and reflecting. Jules said her goodbyes as she was leaving at 445am. It was very hard to say goodbye to them as well as to everyone else. We all started out as acquaintances, then we became friends as the ride wore on, then we all became family at the end. I know I will never forget any of my fellow Muddy Angels, the support personnel who was fantastic in what they had to put up with on a daily basis. If it wasn't for them, we could not have had a ride.


Sunday: I woke up to Jules being gone. I had breakfast by myself and said my goodbyes to Jennifer, Robin and Michelle, my other roommates. I was riding back to NYC with Ed from Colorado and Al from Tennessee in a rental car. It was a long 8 hour drive and we finally got in at 9pm that night. I rented a room by the airport and it was one of the hardest nights I have ever spent away from home. I usually like my alone time but this was so much more than just being by myself. It was so quite.

There were no yelling by Dave Page of "5 MORE MINUTES". No more frenzy of early morning wake ups and trying to pack your bags and decide what the day was going to be like so you could wear the appropriate clothes. No more sharing of the bathroom or eating together. It was just quiet. Too quiet. All my new friends were also on their way home or already home. I was pretty sad and depressed and couldn't wait to get home. I thought about the events over the past week. The glitches and problems. The rain, the cold, the heat and most of all the people I got to meet and the friends I made along the way. I hope to never see another Cliff bar, powerbar shot block, GU gel, bananas, apples or pasta for a very, very long time!!
1-2-3 MUDDY ANGELS!
http://emsmemorialrideteamwa.blogspot.com/