Day 8

"OMG! I have never experienced such a brutal day of riding in my life. 105 miles of riding into STRONG headwind and crosswind for the entire ride AND 6800 ft. of climbing mostly from mile 65 to the end. I had a flavorful vocabulary by the end of the ride. The ride was so windy at over 30 mph that it took 8 hours to complete the ride. This was actual time on the bike. Our rest stops were moved up several miles each time to give people time to recover a bit. Many people sagged (for those of you - students who may not know this means something to do with support assisted- basically got a ride the rest of the way) portions of the ride. Miraculously I made it through the whole thing. I rode in with Hans from Sweden and we were following one of the crew that was riding today and missed our turn into the hotel. We ended up riding over a mile down a very steep hill which we had to climb back up to get to the hotel. Hans the gentleman said as we were climbing back up the "mountain" that he was not happy. I on the other hand was not so gracious. By that time, I was close to tears after the day of riding I had.Tomorrow is "supposed" to be an easier day of 97 miles of riding with less climbing. Of course today was supposed to be easier too. I hope there is NO wind.That's all for now. Too windy to stop and take any pictures today. Len should be writing up the day on his blog tonight so be sure to check it out. Susan took a bunch of pictures today as well. All are on the pactour.com website."