Day 1- Setting off from The Nation's Capital

MS Great 8 Cyclists Viewing Lincoln Memorial

Finally we were ready to begin our epic bike journey! I had done many miles of training over the past weeks and hopefully was ready for the challenge. The prior evening everyone arrived in Washington DC with lot's of nervous energy.

This was the first time to meet everyone. I sensed it was a good group of folks committed to the mission of the ride - increase awareness for MS and do significant fundraising. Riders came from different MS Chapters in Maryland (Dave Bethel), Greater Delaware Valley / Philadelphia area (David Johnston, Betsy Wolford, Lorinda Yorlano and me), New Jersey Metro (Dene O’Connor) and New York (Mike Zimits, Catherine (Cat) Tsigakos, Paul Hasenfus) and Suzanne Perry from Ireland.

The prior evening we had our first group dinner. We were to be led by Destination Cycling (Joe, Jimmy and Line from Denmark). We reviewed safety, signed waivers and other logistics information re our bags, time to start, etc. Doug Rodriguez was our resident mechanic and gave every bike a once over before we set out and found many issues to our surprise. Howie was to drive a 36 footer truck to transport our belongings and bikes when it was not possible to cycle in and out of NYC and the bridges into Newport, RI where cyclists are not allowed.

As we ventured outside early in the morning, you could barely part the humidity. We started with a unique tour on bike stopping at the Washington Monument where we had a spectacular view of the Reflecting Pool and all the monuments. We then stopped at the National World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial, and had a very informative tour courtesy of David Bethel, our retired Officer of The Marine Corps.  The last stop was the Lincoln Memorial before we set off along the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway as we left DC and headed into Maryland.

The extreme heat of 105 ° F and humidity was challenging despite proper hydration and plenty of snacks. After 60 miles we arrived at the Maryland MS Chapter, with David Bethel leading us in to his home chapter and we were hosted to a late lunch. Joe, our biking leader, proposed calling it a day given our long ride over the next 6 days. He noted that the riders were slowing down and if we continued, it would take another 4 hours to do 30 miles plus having to contend with traffic. So we were transported to Bel Air, MD and then enjoyed a good Italian dinner.