On the wheels I'm heading for the ocean

Together with a sweet couple, Meg and Marty, a cute mechanist and cyclist, Eammon, and other seven students from Duke and UNC, I had fun both on and off my bike during the three days' ride.

Day #1
from UNC Chapel Hill to Campbell University, 55.5 miles, 10:30am~3:40pm
First day on the bike and my legs got fully stretched. I took Farrington Rd wrongly for Farrington Mill Rd and got lost at the very beginning. As a result, I was almost alone for the whole day's ride. We stayed in the dorm hallway of Campbell University. Eamonn checked everyone's bike while we were playing games. My expectations for this trip are mostly met because people are fun and the ride is well organized, exactly what I wanted.

Day #2
from Campbell University to White Lake, 72.8 miles, 9:25am~4:50pm
Second day on the bike and my bottom got really sore. I had to change the position or stand up frequently. I did not stop for lunch since my speed is not fast. It was really nice to have the van support and I ate lots of oranges at every cookie-stop. Victoria finally made it and I felt happy for her. Long distance and unfriendly wind conditions were somehow not worth to mention when this beautiful White Lake came into my sight. I spent most of my time on the lake and I enjoyed it.

Day #3
from White Lake UNC Wilmington, 63.7 miles, 9:15am~1:55pm, 3:10pm~4:15pm
Last day on the bike and there were seldom hilly roads. I fell off my bike on a bridge, with my right hand holding the camera trying to take pictures, and my left hand on the front brake trying to stop the bike. Fortunately the speed was slow and nothing was seriously hurt. There were black stripe "bumpers" occurring approximately every meter on the road and because of them my hands got totally numb at the end of the day. I even had difficulty to push my conditioner out from the bottle when taking the shower. Then I found that for three days I forgot to take a picture of myself and my bike. UNCW's recreation center has a big indoor climbing wall and they have the book "Mountaineering" and a box of ropes for exercising knots. How I wish we had this in Tsinghua. Jam took me to a dancing club that night and it was interesting.

Day #4
In the morning I discovered that my right-side face and the upper region of my ears got sun burn. We went to the beach at noon and Victoria got very excited because it was her first time to see the ocean. For me this was the worst day of the trip. The beach did not change but the water was too cold. I was not brave enough to jump into it and swim, like the guys did, although I had my swimming suit on. The worst part is that my Optio S4 was dropped down to the sand with its lens open and sand got into its lens system. It is now blind and accidental damage is not covered in the manufacture warranty. This nice cute camera has only been with me for one week and I loved it. However, I tend to break anything brand new :( Fortunately, it broke at the last but not the first day of the trip and at least I got all the pictures.