Tonight we met at the Nichols School and set up our tent city. We camp out tonight and begin the ride tomorrow morning. We leave Buffalo early in the morning and cycle a mix of surface streets and canal path to Medina.
When I signed up for this ride, I arranged to meet with four friends from last year’s ride on the C&O/GAP. I was hoping it would be easy to find them when I arrived. Amazingly, Rich was one of the very first people I saw here at the school. Over dinner the others all convened as well. It was a nice meal to catch up since we had left each other last summer.
This ride group is pretty big my my standards. Around 575 riders in all. Many are doing this ride for the 2nd or 3rd time with this tour. The oldest rider is 89 years old. Wow! The average age is 52. There are many young kids and families riding together.
I am definitely missing my family already. Three years ago, Anne Marie and I rode this route together on a self-designed ride with Stephanie supporting us. I have great memories of that time with Anne Marie and wish she were here to ride again.
As the sun has gone down, I am settling in – trying to remember the best way to situate my belongings in my tent and bags. Stephanie bought me a really nice air pad and it feels about as good as I could hope for :). Thanks, Steph!
Time for bed. Blessings to my family and friends!
Peace,
Deacon Matt
Deacon Matt's Blog 
Matt, sounds like your ready to try GOBA next year.
Bill Dennehy
Hi Matthew, We thought of you around 3:00 a.m. when we had a real DOWNPOUR! Hope you didn’t experience anything similar, keep that tent floor dry! Thinking of you and praying for safety and good riding. Love you, your Mom & Dad
It did rain most of the night. I had just re-waterproofed my tent a couple of weeks ago and it worked pretty well. But at 4am, there was a puddle that had accumulated on a vent flap that I left unzipped, and it poured down upon my head. I got woken up and cold 😉
Overall, not terrible but I could have done without the unexpected shower!
Love you all!
The pups had a shower with me this morning, too. Keeping up with their master!
Love you, Mom