..."it sho am good!!"

Somewhere out West as Judd, Rob and I sat at dinner...we saw this old advertisement for flour. It was an African-American man saying..."it sho am good!". We quickly adopted this as our catch-phrase throughout the trip. If the road (or weather, or scenery or whatever...) was particularly good...one of us would say.."It sho am good"...and the others would chime in..." it sho am"!

I really had a great time! I went into this thinking it would be a "cycling" adventure. In reality...it turned into a "life" adventure! The thought of jumping into a group of 27 other cyclists was a bit scary for me. Those of you who ride with me know I can be a little picky about the people I surround myself with in "the pack". This group had all skill levels represented. There were strong, seasoned riders and there were relative newbies....some of which (because of the weather up north) had only trained a few days outdoors ( a few only on a trainer in the basement!)...with zero work in a paceline. They all ended up impressing me! When someone was having a bad day there'd be a crowd around them trying to cheer them on. People who had never met before became instant friends. And, I suspect...friends for life! We were all in this together. And you had a sense that the "group" would have done anything to get you to the end! It was pretty amazing to be a part of this experience. To the entire group and ABB staff...Thank you for an epic adventure! To my buddy's Rob and Judd (and Iain) ...I miss you already! My stomach isn't hurting today...the first day I haven't had to laugh thru a 10 mile climb (try it sometime...it's not easy!). I'll never forget this trip..and I thank you for making it so memorable. Rob couldn't resist and gave us "Moon over Kingston"...right down Main Street! I'm afraid that town will never be the same!! Stay safe out there my brothers!!!

To my beautiful and supportive wife, Katie: THANK YOU! Thank you for being so supportive and for insisting this was a "must-do" dream to fulfill. I could not have done this without you! I can't wait to see your beautiful face!

I hope everyone has enjoyed following along on this adventure! I had a bunch of photo ideas that I let slip...in favor of not turning this into "work". There were a few nights that I'd have rather gone to bed...but, I knew you were out there and I knew that you cared enough to check on me. For that I thank all of you!

See ya! dd