The braggiest brag post I've been dying to write!

Okay, dear readers. I finally get to write the blog post I was hoping I'd get to write! The post where I brag about how awesome we are...cause we're freaking awesome.

A few days back, I found a shortcut on the map that allowed us to cut out 8 or so miles. It put us about half a day ahead of schedule...which turned out to be an incredibly good thing.

Because of a campground being unexpectedly closed, we ended up at an RV camp one night. I was tired, I was cranky, I felt numb with exhaustion. All I wanted was to curl up and get a really good night's sleep.

Which would have happened, if it weren't for the sprinklers that went off at 230 and 4 am, setting off car alarms and waking up half the camp. At least we know our tent is watertight...

Anyway, we were both tired and dragging the next day. So when we stopped for lunch at the Standish-hickey state park for lunch and realized that we had reached by lunchtime the campsite that was our stretch goal for the day, we decided to take a half day and press on - and more importantly, tackle the 1800ft mountain - in the morning.

And this is where the bragging comes in. Our favorite apogee kids ended up at the same campsite again, but due to an ill teen, were going to be down a camper and counselor the next day. Zac, being the awesome person he is, offered our company and assistance in the morning, particularly since there was The Mountain to deal with!

So we got up a little earlier, hustled ourselves out of camp, and joined up with the group right at the base of the climb. Zac and I hung out with the "back pod," as they call the last group of bikers. We climbed a couple hundred feet, and then I realized something. Zac is much better at mountains and hills than I am, and he often has to stop and wait for me to catch up. But this time...I had a group of 5 awesome chicks to keep me company. So I told Zac if he wanted to blaze on up the mountain at his own pace, I'd keep chugging along with the apogee girls and meet him at the top.

And you know what? It was the most fun either of us had on a mountain! Zac was able to fly up it without having to wait for me, I had a great time chatting with the girls, and thanks to their distracting conversations and amazing attitudes, I only stopped for two water/rest breaks.

Did I mention this was the highest mountain of our trip?

We got to the top in high spirits, proud of ourselves and each other.

And it was only 9am!

We had two potential stopping points for the day; the first was 43.5 miles away, the second 60 miles away. Not only was there the 1800ft mountain to deal with, there was another climb, 500 feet this time, only 5 miles from the base of the monster climb - plus another 6 climbs of 200ish feet before we got to our first campsite option. I knew 60 miles was a hell of a stretch goal, and I kept telling Zac "I'd like to get there, but no promises."

But about 5 miles from the campsite, I knew. I knew we could do it - and make it to camp before 7.

And so we did.

Which means...

We biked 60 miles, which was our longest day of the whole trip.
We conquered the tallest mountain, and the 4th tallest mountain, in the same day.
We tackled a total of 12 hills that were minimum 150ft climbs.
We got to camp by 630 (at the beginning of the trip, we'd often pull into camp between 7 and 8).
And while we were physically tired...We both got to camp in a good mood with smiles on our faces.

And I am so FREAKING proud of us and how far we've come since Canada!