Our ride today got off to a good start as we were all super excited for the last day of the trip and our arrival into San Francisco. About 10 miles into the day our small riding group of myself, Ben, Leigh, Mark, and Kathryn had a small wreck fiasco that scared everyone on the team. We had an accident where myself, Ben, and Kathryn fell - Ben and I ended up with some road rash on our hips and elbows, but Kathryn probably suffered a minor concussion as she doesn't remember everything that happened. Luckily for us, an EMT was driving by and offered to stop and look her over - she was deemed OK to ride and finished the trip to San Fran!! After arriving, for safety measures, Kathryn went to the local hospital for a CT scan and she was deemed OK - PHEW!! Needless to say the whole team was a little shaken, especially our small group who were all there at the time.
After we hit the road again we started to get some glimpses of our ending from afar. Kathryn and I smelled the salty water before crossing the last hills into San Fran and we could see the famous fog over the mountain as we were riding though vineyard after vineyard.
After arriving at our final biking destination (Vallejo, CA) we wandered through the farmer's market and picked up a bag of fresh grapes to munch on. We were scheduled to catch the last Baylink ferry that would escort us to San Francisco. I would say that most people considered this the first end to the trip because we were basically done biking - we all loaded our bikes onto the ferry and went inside to hang around and talk about the trip. We also got some awesome views on the ferry ride (about 1 hour long) of the Bay area, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge from afar.
(see if you can find the bridge in the left part of the photo)After arriving at Pier 1 in San Fran we walked off the ferry to a hero's welcome from the friends and family of team members. We took a wonderful team picture at the ferry terminal after arriving. This photo was later presented to Don from the group along with a $110 car detailing gift certificate for him to get his car cleaned up after getting back to Blacksburg. From there we were shuttled to an MS patient conference that was scheduled on Pier 2 - we arrived as one of three special guests at the luncheon and were treated with special care as we received lunch and much applause.
The second special guest at the conference was Maureen Manley who's story can be found on her website (the hyperlink) - she is a highly respected cyclist who as a member of the US Cycling Team won a National Championship, set a national record, earned a silver and 2 bronze medals at National Championships, competed in 3 World Championships and won a silver medal in the 1990 World Championships. Maureen's cycling career came to an abrupt halt at the sudden onset of Multiple Sclerosis and she has been battling the disease with vigor and determination as she has been able to get back on a bike and start riding again. She was a very good motivational speaker and gave us yet another wonderful perspective on MS and how people are battling it with all their heart and soul.
The third special guest at the conference was Susan Steen (Leigh Graziano's mother) who is a neurologist that deals with MS a lot in her profession and has good connections with Teva and the drug Copaxone (for MS). Susan went through a brief power point presentation that brought everyone at the luncheon (patients and bikers) to the same level in their education about MS. We learned about the different types of MS, symptoms, and ways that people are dealing with the disease. All in all it was a great talk and everyone left with a bit more knowledge than they came in with.
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