Day 4: Jackson to Lake Tahoe

What goes up, must come down! That was the motto of today's ride as we did over 11,000 feet of climbing over the course of 90 miles. Past Journey of Hope participants claim that the Kirkwood ride into Tahoe is the most difficult day of the entire summer, so we were all nervous and excited. I volunteered to do sweep again today and vowed to get as many people across the finish line as possible. Last year's sweeps finished the ride in 13 hours, so we were uncertain going into it if we would beat the sunset. We set off at 7:30AM after a delicious pancake breakfast at Mel's Diner and immediately hit the hills. Though the most challenging, this ride is also the most beautiful as we were surrounded by pine trees and redwoods in our hours of climbing. About 50 miles into the ride, my derailer on the bike broke, and I thought I was done. However, another cyclist who was sidelined let me use his bike so I finished the last 40 on one that was far too small. 70 miles into the ride and reaching the summit, we finally got a downhill where we cruised with the mountains and lake by our sides. I'm not going to say how fast I was going because I know my mom reads this but it was as fast as I have ever been on a bike. Us sweeps finally arrived at our church lodging at 6pm after doing around 11 hours of biking. Peep the awesome pics!