May 12 - This Team Rocks!

Today was a relatively short day for us.  The ride from Safford to Miami was about 85 miles.  It did include a couple of hills but they have become old hat.

We stopped about three miles into today's route at the Safeway in Thatcher.  Safeway donated 60 gallons of water to help keep us all hydrated.  The Store Manger, Robin, had coffee and donuts waiting for us and about 15 employees were present to learn more about POP's Ride and our goals.  Thank you Safeway for your donation and keeping us hydrated!

Susan McEntyre, a co-worker of mine from Safeway, met us in Safford last night.  Susan loaded up her truck with water and snacks and Mona joined her to become our second SAG vehicle.  Those two are a hoot together and provided great support for the riders.

After lunch, we rode on some newly resurface road.  The oily tar collected on our tires which also brought gravel sticking to our tires.  We had to ride on this new road surface for about 20ish miles.  Once we got off the new road, we cleaned our tires and rode into Miami.  Once we arrived in Miami, some of the guys cleaned all of the tires and bikes while others helped get setup for the night.  Mona and Susan made homemade meatballs to go with bow tie pasta for dinner.  This was Mona's final meal for us and it was incredible.  No one went away hungry.

Mona, thanks for supporting Team POP's with your awesome cooking for the last three weeks.  We appreciate all of your hard work in creating meals we would all enjoy. 

After dinner we had a quick Team meeting to discuss how Shannon, Kyle and I have planned to attack Friday.  Friday is a 118 mile day and we must be at the Bicycle Vibe a little after 4pm.  Shannon and Kyle explained the plan.  Everyone was on board with the plan (as we had no Plan B) and agreed it was acceptable.  Carl and Dad both shared their appreciation for what all of the Riders have done and the effort they exerted to make POP's Ride a success. 

Now, it was time for Shane to crash as we were going to start riding at 5AM......again, no one complained when the start time was announced!  I want to ride with this group everywhere!

Finally, but only because the picture was taken at the end.  This morning, Carl presented all of the Riders with new Jersey's.  The Jersey's had the Knight Transportation and POP's Ride logo on the backs.  Very Cool.  The seven of us rode all day as an organized crew.

Here we are showing off our new jersey's at the end of the day.