Saturday, June 21, 2008
Sorry for the Delay
Looks like its been about 6 days. I haven't been near a computer, and I apologize. I've decided to change the route a bit to maximize efficiency and comfort, as some of you may have deducted from the tracking website. Currently, I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee, relaxing after a gruelling 85 mile day. I say gruelling, but the 8 hours during which I was skating were actually pretty fun, much better than just sitting around. In the past 6 days, I've skated 4 days that were about 47 miles, give or take a few, a 33 miler that was rough due to 15-20 hour headwinds and a big climb, and the big one today. I've pretty much ridden between the ridges of the Appalachians on Route 11, so the past few days have been downhill. I stayed with a bunch of great people, including Scott and Elissa, who gave me the idea for this route and were extremely hospitable; Jan and Sam, who kindly put me up in a guest suite at Hollins College; Eric, who is an ultra-marathoner(he does 50 and 100 mile races), provided me with A LOT of recovery products and advice, and shot a ONE UNDER in the round of disc golf that we played at the Emory and Henry College Course(Congrats!); Wendy, who introduced me to Philip, with whom I hung out and played tennis; and my second cousin Joey, whom I will spend all day tomorrow with. I'm not sure I mentioned Bruce and Sunny MacDonald, who put me up for two days and were EXTREMELY hospitable. I've met a bunch of people along the road who have been supportive-two instances of guys in trucks giving me smiles and thumbs up. I'm figuring the best way to do this thing is to just go day by day, and taking the advice of Danny Dannels(the world record holder for inline skating accross the country), to celebrate every victory and to push through the pain. The roads have been great, my legs are pretty sore, yada yada nothing new on that front. The good thing is that they're holding up. I'm rambling...sorry for the length of this post-thank you for reading if you even get here, and I'll try to find more computers in the future so you don't have to sift through long posts like these. Also, Golden Corral is a fine dining establishment.
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4 comments:
You're doing really great! Makes me feel like a lazy wimp reading about it, while psyching myself out for a 51 mile skate tomorrow. It's nice to hear that the roads have been good and that you've had great people for support on your stops. Keep listening to your body.
Don't apologize for your writing - this isn't an English class. It's just good to hear from you.
John
You're doing great! You're learning about the other part of the cross-country adventure. It's not just about the skating and the scenery. If you are doing it right, the best people will come out of the woodwork. Good people will flock to you. These people are you support crew. Expect to know them for the rest of your life.
A close friend of mine, Johnny Chen, told me once, "There is no room for apologies, especilly in something like this." This is your show now, Jack. We are just lucky enough to have you share your life with us.
Be safe. The farther you skate, the more dangerous it gets.
Danny Dannels
jack, keep crushing. We keep talking about how you're doing and where you are back here in NC. Best of luck and keep us updated.
Greg M.
ive been tracking you all the way and it sounds like youre doing great and having a great time. stay strong, itll get harder but im sure you can do it, i have no doubt!
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