Days 4 & 5: Bedford, PA to Confluence, PA

• Distance: 64.20 mi
• Elevation: 4,452 ft
• Dedication: My great-aunt, Carol Krush
• Ride group: Eli, Maggie, MJay, and Julia
• Host: United Community Church

After a rough day getting in to Bedford, we were ready to seize a new day on our way to Confluence. It took us way too long to get on the road, but after a great breakfast and sweet goodbye with the folks from Bedford Presbyterian we were on our way. The route wasn’t as harsh as the previous day, but still challenging:

The good news was I had a great ride group and we all really motivated each other up the climbs. I shared a story about my Aunt Carol cheerily cruising past me as I walked up a hill during RAGBRAI in 2014 and it was a good motivator for my team. After two really tough days, it was awesome to have everyone in our group make it up the climbs with zero walking. In some cases we physically helped each other– my teammate Eli is a really strong cyclist and actually pushed Maggie up some of the tougher climbs!

We also had a lot of beautiful views:

And startled some cow friends!

Our route was pretty rural today, although we did have lunch at a nice park that even had a bathroom building. It was really chill, especially because we were there on a weekday afternoon so there was no one else in the park. We had a few more hills after lunch before hopping on a gravel trail. Julia and Eli chose to assert their extreme athleticism and bike up even steeper hills along our route just for fun– today I learned that Julia is an absolute beast and will literally push up a hill until she falls over, and then get back up and try again.

When we arrived in Confluence we ate dinner at our host, United Community Church, and were then shuttled to a nearby campground for showers. We were also taken on a very comical detour to see a nearby dam, which I think I will laugh about forever. After my group got back to the church we got hit by a pretty big storm, which knocked out power at the church, sent some water in under the doors, and stranded our second group at the showers for a bit. We went to bed with no power but it wasn’t a big deal because today was our very first rest day!

I “slept in” until the late hour of 6:45 and had a really nice morning. I actually claimed one of the side rooms in the church for myself, which I only felt a little guilty about because it was easily the best night’s sleep I’ve had on this trip. After breakfast a bunch of us moved outside to do something we had been looking forward to for days: cleaning the vans!!! You would not believe how dirty the vans got in five days, but they were disgusting and very disorganized. Our water van smelled especially awful because a lot of things were damp from our shuttling on Day 3. It took a while but we finally got everything clean and organized.

We had some grand plans for the afternoon but only managed to grab lunch at a Mexican restaurant (generously covered by Mike’s mom) and make a trip to WalMart. Back at the host, we circled up and told our “why” stories– why we chose to do 4K– with the group. Some of my teammates have very heartbreaking connections to cancer and there was a lot of crying, hugging, and supporting going on. As sad as it was, it really was a beautiful moment for our team and I already feel like we’re so much closer.

We went straight from crying to dinner, where we also celebrated Glenn’s birthday. We bought a pinata at WalMart and had Glenn attack it with a muscle roller while wearing my sleep mask as a blindfold… Eli interfered a little and I laughed harder than I have in months. We then spent a while outside hanging around the church’s fire pit and getting to know each other a little better. Overall it was a relaxed and lovely day, and it was nice to get to know my teammates off of our bikes :)

Until tomorrow!
Lauren