No Chain: Bethany Beach, Delaware

"A ship in the harbor is safe. But that is not what ships are built for."

-William Shedd

The ride to Bethany beach was more ceremonial than an actual day of riding but it was great to be together on our bikes for 3 more hours before the group all went their separate ways. After driving away out of D.C. due to traffic and over the bridge that crosses Chesapeake Bay because cyclists are not allowed on it we ended up riding about 50 miles for the day. The vans were parked a mile out from our final destination so we knew when to really begin the celebrations. Champagne was toasted, a ton of pictures were taken and we rode in together as a group of 25 right up to the boardwalk bordering the Atlantic Ocean before everyone took off on a dead sprint for the water. Jumping into the ocean with my helmet and jersey still on with all of the other riders definitely go some interesting looks from the other beachgoers but we were all having so much fun it didn’t matter. People had to start heading home for graduations, weddings, etc as soon as we finished up so the goodbyes began way too soon; I hadn’t really prepared myself for it all to come to a close so quickly. Once we got the people on the road who had to go we road the 1 mile to our accommodations for the night. We stayed at some very nice condo’s just down from the boardwalk that overlooked the ocean so after one last team dinner we spent the night down on the beach watching the sunset and telling stories from our amazing trip. I don’t think anyone really wanted to go to bed because we all knew that would signal the end but after 2 months of constant traveling and a big day of driving back to Columbus ahead of us we all hit the bed pretty early.

I plan on posting one more blog to try and put the whole trip in words, we'll see what I can come up with because it's going to be hard to cover everything that needs to be said. No Chain!