So every fifth day, it is my teams’ responsibility to provide support. Instead of riding, we operate the three vans. We mark the route in chalk and spray paint, set up water stops, set up a lunch stop, and give the lecture for the day. Today, it was my duty (along with Jody) to give the lecture in our destination city of Buckeye AZ.
I got up super early at 4:55am and left the gym of Dateland school at 5:45am with Jody. The morning desert is a very nice place, cool and crisp. We drove east to Buckeye Elementary school (K through 8), the place of our 8am presentation. The presentation went very well I thought, considering we presented to 150 7th/8th graders and got them to ask 15 questions. They weren't incredibly interested in our global health lecture, which consisted of a lot of information about clean water, AIDS, malaria, etc. However they were incredibly fascinated with our ride, especially the logistics (how we shower, where we sleep, etc). Still, I feel like we did a really good job of opening some eyes regarding how lucky we are in America.
Afterwards we did our support duties, including chalking out the end of the route and setting up a water stop about fifteen miles from our sleeping grounds (a high school gym in Buckeye). It is in this high school that I currently sit after a couple of margaritas, pondering the day.
I look around the gymnasium of medical student cyclists at 10:23pm, the lights soon to go out. I see these people and I reminisce about my teen years, about my best friend Erin Daman (RIP) and his view of the world, how he saw people, how he saw me. Things seem suddenly to have not changed, long after I thought they had.
After setting up our water stop in the desert today, Jody and I relaxed, sharing a unity of frustration over unnecessary stresses in our support duties. The desert was awesome again, a neat place to just sit around in the van for a while. We came back to Buckeye at about 4pm, when all the riders had arrived.
Then our team cooked dinner, which was a hit (enchiladas). There was a bunch of drama because our team sort of has trouble working together (the five of us). We communicate poorly and everyone thinks they are the leader. So I argued with one of my group mates and got nowhere, but it made a nice little scene. I left afterwards on foot to a nearby drinking hole with almost all the other riders. Twenty of us sat watching Duke win the NCAA Mens’ Basketball Final, enjoying margaritas.
It is sleepy time now and tomorrow sounds like a nice ride, a shorty at 35 miles or so, to Phoenix for a mid-day event.
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