6/16 63 118mi 9:17 hindman,KY

Woke up and the tent and ground were wet. Had a chai tea at a coffeshop where we filled up our bottles and rolled out. Started riding pretty hard from the start. The first 20 miles were fairly flat and weaved through residential/farmland. It was nice. Stopped to eat some peanut butter on crackers and mike said he wanted to stop at a sit down place in the next town. I told him that I wasn't going to stop and he seemed o.k. with it. Got to the next town and he gave me 2 spokes and my book back. we wished each other good luck and off I went. I rode hard for a bit and there were some steep climbs. I just decided to go as hard as I could and see where I ended up. Mike caught up to me, but I was trying to get to hindman which was over 30 miles away and I had around 3 hours of daylight left. I stayed on 80 which cut off 7 miles. I got rained on for about an hour and had to deal with rumble strips on the side of the highway. Got into hindman and asked where the historical society was. Got directions, followed a couple of signs and then a wall rose up in fronst of me. I swear the grade was over 15%. It only lasted for about 100 ft but it was still tough. A couple of cyclists who had gotten there earlier cheered me up the last couple meters of the climb. Got a shower which was nice to wash the road grime from, well everywhere. Ordered pizza and sat around and ate with max and kevin. It was one of thier birthdays and dave,the owner, brought out some cake with a candle in it. Legs were tired, but i wasn't exhausted today. Hope that I won't be sore tomorrow. Went to sleep in a huge coleman tent.