We were unsure how long it would take us to ride to the top of Big Savage Mountain, so we woke up early. As is typical, we ate a big breakfast. We left the hotel and started riding by 8 AM. The forecast called for a chance of rain, but we weren’t sure how it would turn out, so we decided to get as many miles in as possible before the sun baked us.

A little before 10 AM, the rain came. At first it was a slow drizzle, then it came down pretty hard. We got under a tree, and Natalie put on a raincoat, and then we just rode through it. I think riding in the rain is so much easier than riding in the hot sun. I’ve had a few bouts with heat exhaustion, so I’ll take a rainy ride over a sunny ride.

We were carrying about 25 pounds of water because the well at Frostburg was broken. We ended up not needing all of it because of the rain – riding in the rain doesn’t require one to drink as much water compared to riding in the sun. Weight matters, but given our overall weight the extra water wasn’t noticeable.

I know this is going to sound trivial, but one of the big unlocks for this trip has been metal water bottles. They are insulated in a way that keeps cold water cold. We often end our rides with ice still in our water bottles. It makes such a huge difference to drink cold water when riding. I used to struggle to force myself to drink after a few hours, but now I look forward to it. Hooray for cold water.

As we planned our day, we really didn’t know how long it was going to take us to get to the Eastern Continental Divide. We built our schedule around it taking between five and eight hours. It took five — we were at the top by 1. That meant we were a little ahead of schedule as we came down the other side and into Myersdale, where we’re staying tonight.

There are pros and cons to having prearranged accomodations. It is nice to know we have a place to stay, but if we hadn’t made a reservation, we would’ve kept riding today and added another 10 to 20 miles. Because we had reservations, we had to stop where we had reserved a room — Meyersdale. We stopped riding before 3. We had extra time to clean up and relax.

We are staying in an Airstream trailer next to the trail. An Airstream is a very unique stay for us. It doesn’t have a shed or a garage, so it is also a unique stay for our bike, locked in a pavilion on the property. It’s the first time on this trip where our bike will not be in a garage or a dedicated bike shed. The Airstream trailer has two air conditioners, a reasonably sized shower, a nice kitchen, and it is very comfortable (it is small compared to a hotel room, but huge compared to a tent).

We are dinner at a buffet. Nothing but the finest when I’m in charge. The food was what you would expect for nine dollars per person, all you can eat. We ate $9 worth and then some. I need to start tapering my food intake as we wind down this ride. Currently, I am used to being able to eat as much as I possibly can at each meal. That doesn’t work when I return home.

As with the detour and the Paw Paw tunnel, we had worried about what was in front of us today. And in the end, it wasn’t that bad. I think there are some important life lessons there. It is easy to focus on the challenges that are coming and lose site of reality. In hindsight, I had a good idea for how things were going to turn out but spent too many brain cycles working out the contingency plans. I forgot that everything works out for us, always, all the time..,

Tomorrow’s ride is about 60 miles, similar in distance to Wednesday. The trail conditions look good, and we should be slightly downhill.

We only have two days left on our ride. I am already starting to get sad that it is coming to an end.