We are only spending 1 night in NH, and it will probably be the coldest, wettest night of the entire trip. We stayed at Jigger Johnson Campground last night about 10 miles up Mt. Kancamagus. Half of the group woke up to sleeping in puddles or flooded tents. My hip and knee ached all night long and I could barely sleep. Despite wearing nearly everything I brought, I shivered all night and was thankful to have a mummy style sleeping bag. It's rated to 45F, but it didn't quite get the job done because it was probably 40F with the wind chill. Pretty quickly I knew that I wouldn't be able to climb the 2 mountains today, riding 80 miles total, in the cold and pouring rain while being in pain. Part of the problem is that I can't wear my cycling shoes to clip in and out because it shoots severe pain from my foot all the way up to my hip. It really seems like my psciatic nerve is being pinched. Oddly, it is directly opposite where I fell on my right hip just over a month ago. So, instead of it being truly knee pain, I'm wondering if my fall misaligned my hips and is pinching my psiatic nerve when I ride. It had been feeling better after being off my bike, but today it's just constantly hurting and ibuprofen has stopped working. As heart broken as I am about not riding with the group today, I am more concerned about not making it worse and also risking falling if I can't unclog (or slipping off my pedals on the ascents or descents while only wearing sneakers). Emily is a massage therapist and is kindly going to work on my pyriformis tonight to try to loosen the pressure on my psiatic nerve.
The group is doing amazingly today. They all have such fantastic attutudes, despite all the frigidity and wetness they are experiencing. Though most didn't have smiles on their faces, 2 guys (Will and Zach) actually gave us in the van a smile as we passed them. After a 12 mile steep descent into Lincoln (slippery and in the cold and rain), everyone stripped down and went into a local laundromat to dry their gear (sleeping bags and some tents, too!) before having lunch and hitting the road again.
The rain let up a little bit as the group headed across state lines into Vermont. A few folks had falls coming down the mountain and someone who broke both of his rims, so we are up to 4 riders total in the van who had to give their bodies a break.
The rest of the day included a few more stops in the rain and our final destination in Thetford Center, Vermont, which is where we had a great host named Meg who has MS. She rallied the community to bring all kinds of wonderful food for dinner, tents, showers in their homes, and let us stay inside in their Community Center. This is one of the nicest towns I've ever been in. This is also one of our riders' (Ryan) hometowns, so we said our goodbyes to him tonight, as well. Most people were able to get showers, and we are all set up in the same room, so we will quickly find out who snores tonight!
I'm so bummed tomorrow is my last day of riding (until late July when I rejoin the group for the last 5 day!) and I'm going to try to bike, despite my knee. We are in a warm room tonight and I'm really hoping that helps my knee feel more loose by morning.
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