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| A honor guard greeting the riders at the Princeton Rescue Squad. |
"Day 5
Today Adam and I were joined by 4 riders from my perdiem medic job at Virtua Health. They also brought a vehicle to be a sag wagon. At 7am today we were bused to the Princeton Rescue Squad for a breakfast & service. Much to my surprise,my Chief and 2 fellow MSO's were there to greet Adam & I. It was nice to see some familiar faces. Princeton had a line of duty death last August. It was Michael Kenwood, the person I am riding for. After the service we were able to ride in touring format.
The 1st rest stop was at the Titusville Fire department 15 miles in to the ride. There awaited another surprise. My fire department (Cherry Hill Fire Dept) sent an ambulance, with several of my EMT's and the rehab unit. The rehab unit provided a well needed rest area and food & drinks. So hats off to the Cherry Hill Fire Department for making the hour drive and helping out the Muddy Angels!!
We crossed into Pennsylvania at Washington's Crossing. Its starting to get hot under the bright sunny skies. 34 miles in we had a rest stop at the Doylestown EMS. There are a lot of hills in PA. Adam was struggling with all of the hills, but he pushed on. We added several more riders from PA at this stop.
At mile 51 we regrouped to ride 2 miles to our lunch stop at the Second Alarmers. What a nice spread, sandwiches both with meat and vegetarian, Pasta & salads, brownies & CUP CAKES!! Good stuff. Several of us tried talking Adam in to sagging out for a leg. He is really having issues with the hills. We had him ok with it until he picked up his bike and rode off. Maybe he tries to hard when he rides with me, so I let him go on his own.
This next leg I rode with my friends from Virtua Health. More hills!! The temperature was steaming, humidity in the 80% + range and temps in the 80's. Several people becoming dehydrated. The final rest stop was at mile 71 in Valley Forge State Park. The local squad had 2 trailers that had air conditioning for us. When we got there Adam was not there, so he didn't sag out so he was on the course. I drank 4 bottles of water and spent time in the trailer. I started getting worried, then he came riding in. He completed this leg. Once again i tried to convince him to stop.
I hooked up for the last 13 miles with Tim Perkins, our public information officer. He had trouble last year so Adam & I pulled him along. This year he said he would make up for that so he did a lot of pulling today. 4 major back breaking, leg killing hills in this section. Everyone was wheezing. Several had to walk their bikes up the hills. Dark clouds approaching. Rain coming down. Finally the finish line at our hotel in Lionville PA. Then dad starts worrying again. Is Adam OK? Should I go back out and look for him? Then about 20 minutes after I arrived he rode in. Whew!! Then the skies opened up. Some major thunder storms came in after everyone was finished riding.
My Virtua friends had a blast. They want to ride more days next year. I will try to hold them to it!!
Adam is now nauseous, muscle cramps and spasms. He has now agreed he will not ride tomorrow. I hope he sticks to that in the morning.
Today we rode 85 miles, 6 hours on the bike, climbed 4500 feet, top speed of 41 mph, and burned close to 6000 calories.
Tomorrow we arrive in Gettysburg Pa. More hills!! Oh boy...
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- Dave Milsted"
