Start Day-Underway And Working out the Kinks

Finally we’re underway! Yesterday was my first leg of the ride to game number one, at National Park in Washington D.C. There was a big send-off party at Whole Foods. The amount of media coverage was amazing. I had three microphones on me at one time, one reporter taped a GoPro camera to my handlebars, and another reporter drove past us on Riva Rd a few times with a camera guy hanging out of the back window. Awesome!

The first leg was a success! It was definitely a learning experience. One issue yesterday was that the media really wanted to film me "riding out" from the Send-Off party with the riders from the Annapolis Bike Club and my brother Nat and his girlfriend Kat. With all the excitement and attention and riding with other people, I never got changed into my cycling clothes! I didn't get a chance to get my heart-rate monitor on or get my speedometer working either. 

Oh! And my cousin Jack, the chase van driver, didn't have a good route on his phone, so he literally followed us to National Park (it’s supposed to be the other way around).... this has definitely got to be fixed!

I glad that we don't leave my home turf until Sunday for Philadelphia. There are still so many last-minute things to do! Here is something else frustrating: I can't do much to organize the van right now, because it's in the shop!  It might seem ungrateful to focus on the negatives but I’m thinking how to make the other games run more smoothly and avoid the issues we experienced yesterday.  I can't write an authentic blog and sugar coat everything. But despite the frustrations, there’s no doubt yesterday’s start to Jacob’s Ride was extremely positive.

I'm going to take some pictures of the people I'm mentioning (Jack, Noah, Kat), and I'll take some pictures as the van is getting organized today. I want this blog to be interesting, with a few small posts a day. Thanks for reading this!

Some feedback I've gotten from the ride directors is that I need to write more about the cause, and and how I love hearing a certain specific sound. I do want to write about the cause of the ride, and I will get there. When I'm done with my riding in the middle of the day, and it's just me and Jack, I can write about anything and everything without feeling "foreign" to the readers.