Yesterday evening I left Worcester and drove to Portsmouth (NH). I checked into the Motel 6. It was a very hot day and I was sweating all day. In New Hampshire it was also hot and sticky. The hallways in the Motel were hot and uncomfortable and the Snickers bar that I got out of a vending machine in the hall was liquid. I was looking forward to a nicely air conditioned room. The room that I got was air conditioned and cold. I mean really cold. The thermostat was set to 75 F but the thermometer showed 55 F and that was how it felt. I switched the AC off and let the outside air heat up my room.

I got my wakeup call at 5 AM today. I reached the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Campus in Durham shortly after 6 AM and checked in. I was so tired that I had to run many times back and forth from my car to my dorm room and back to my bike until I had everything I needed for the night in the dorm room and for the ride on the bike.

The bicyclists started in intervals, first the 100 miles then the 75 miles, 50 miles and last the 25 miles groups. The start of the 75 miles group was at 8 AM and about 100 bicyclists started. We left the campus as a big throng. The police was regulating the traffic and made sure we could ride safely. After a while the field got spread out and it was possible to ride single file. The route went via back roads to Rt. 1A along Hampton beach to Odiorne State Park and from there via back roads to UNH.

Before we reached the first rest stop I met Josh. We were going at about the same speed and rode together for a while. He is originally from Utah and this was his first ride for MS. He was doing only todays 75 miles tour.

The distance between the rest stops was very well thought out. There were spread apart further in the beginning of the tour than towards the end. This makes a lot of sense. As the day got hotter the riders needed more water, and towards the end some were feeling fatigue and needed to stop more often. The rest stops offered a variety of fruits, crunchy bars, Cliff bars (a Power Bar like thing), water and Powerade (Gatorade like drink). This was a great selection.

The lunch stop was well after the half way point. It offered the same selection as the rest stops plus peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and subs from Subway. Light food for a hot day. Speaking of a hot day. The weather was great, it was warm but not hot and humid as the few days before. It was cool at the coast and there was a strong wind. Towards the end of the day it got warmer but not too hot. At the lunch stop I met Michael from southern Massachusetts. He was riding the 75 miles on a mountain bike. These big tires provided him with an extra level of work out (He is in the lunch stop picture, front right). We rode together for a while afterwards.

At the finish line every rider got an medal. I finished around 2 PM. There was a Barbecue, Massage and lots to drink. I met Sharon and her sister whose name I forgot from Boston. They wanted to go for the 75 miles tour but reached UNH so late that they could go only on the 50 miles tour. Philip from Boston, who completed the 75 miles tour today is still thinking about whether to bicycle 100 miles tomorrow or none. He was working for a 5 people ".com" which went belly up. He got frustrated with job hunting and is going back to Hong Kong at the end of September. His friend Summer from Manchester, NH could not finish the ride today because she was feeling not well and went home in the evening.

At 5 PM dinner started, provided by UNH catering. The food was really good, I found this quite surprising for a university catering service. Later on this evening was a raffle and awards for veterans and teams. The DJ was playing till late.