Day 1: Baltimore, MD to Sykesville, MD

• Distance: 31.89 mi
• Elevation: 2,011 ft
• Dedication: Tim Seelbach
• Ride group: Maggie, Chase, Bailey, James, and Sophia
• Host: Komiske family

Hello from Sykesville! Team Zion is officially on the road and made it safe and sound to our first host. Today was a relatively short ride but a very long day, starting with a 4:40 wake-up time. We all met at Ulman House at 5:30, loaded up the vans, and then drove to a point closer to the Inner Harbor and rode in from there. Our send-off ceremony went very well (shoutout to Glenn for bringing top-notch chant leader energy). I surprised myself and got very emotional saying goodbye to my friends and family, but I was so happy they were there to see me off!

I dedicated my ride today to my Uncle Tim, who has been fighting cancer for several years now. He had really hoped to attend the send-off ceremony today but his radiation treatment was more taxing than expected, but I was reminded of him every time I looked down at his name sharpied on my leg (side note: I need to figure out how to stop my sunscreen from melting off my dedications).

We all dipped our rear tires in the harbor (we will dip our front tires in the Pacific) and not long after we were on our way! Navigating out of Baltimore wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be– my Garmin Edge was definitely a good investment though!!! It took a lot of the guesswork out of navigating.

Our route was generally nice, although a little traffic-y, but we had some great scenic views too. The day went pretty slowly because we had an abundance of water stops (every seven miles), which will not be as frequent and will hopefully be a little more efficient starting tomorrow.

Speaking of water stops: HUGE shoutout to all of the 4K alumni who rode with the team today and handled our vans and food donations!!! They were all so kind and helpful, we literally would not have gotten through this day without them. Special thanks to Sophia, who rode with my group and taught us so much :) One being that that spotting chalk directions on the road is an acquired skill– everyone in my group missed the markings for our first stop except for her!

The day was honestly pretty uneventful for my group– no flats, no falls, no real problems! James twisted his ankle yesterday and struggled to bike up some of the hills, but he was determined to ride today and pushed through like a champ.

Things I did today that I knew would be inevitable but didn’t think would happen the first day:

• Had to pack a bunch of wet clothes in my duffle (not sure if that was better or worse than starting with dirty clothes from yesterday)
• Peed behind a bush (first water stop, 7 miles in)
• Hand-washed my clothes with a hose
• Got to use my hammock!

Until then!
Lauren