Day three riding - San Carlos to Penomme 75km

Bike short moment of the day = Walking into the cafe after riding through the rain for the alst hour, in our shorts, and jerseys, stinking, and orderin lunch. Some interesting looks from diners. Apparently biker shorts adn jerseys arent a common outfit for people at this particular diner.

So I woke up this morning, with the top of the sleeping bag draped over me, the chilly morning air maknig it necessary, and to the sound of roosters cockle doodle doing. I had heard afew roosters doing this over the last few days as I had ridden across the countryside, and I would think to myself, how cool is that. So when that rooster started his morning routine, and waking me up, I couldnt help but laughing, and thinking to myself, its not all that fricken cool now. About two seconds later, aArons alarm went off, and I knew it was time to get up. Waking up, I saw the most amazing sunrise. It was beautiful. The sun worked its way above the clouds, and as pretty as it was, it made things hot and humid as hell almost immediately. So while getting the bikes geared up, and strapping on my bags and all that stuff, i think I drank a liter and a half of water. We're doing our best to stay hydrated. We got everything together, and did some stretching, and were on our way. I was concerned with how my legs, and my ass were going to feel after the pain I had experienced the day before, but apparently my stretching and all that really did wonders, because it felt fine. That and the padded biker shorts, they helped as well. We stopped and got some food, and I noticed my heels were hitting my bags, so I needed to adjust those, . aarons handel bars were loose also, and he needed to adjust them. The food wasnt as good as the other meals we had, but the cofee was ok. We at a meal, and had three cups of coffee each, and it was only 4.90. Adn by three cups each, I mean little tiny ass 6 oz cups of some home made coffee. I love my coffee back home, love it. Its one ofm y favorite things. And I get it regulaly. so to drink this weak, home made stuff, just doesnt do it for me. Not to mention that I was expecting panama to have some great coffee. It wasnt to be this morning. Aaron adn I got his handle bars squared away, and away we went. the road today was so much betterthan the first two days. There were some hills, but nothing like the ones from the day before. Or the day before that. WE kept up a good pace, and made great time. We stopped and got air in one of my tires, and always stopped every 45 minutesto an hour to get some water, or eat a cliff bar, or eat one of these energy gu packs I brought wiht me. Those things kick ass by the way. They work almost instantly. I should write and ask for a sponsorship. Anyway about an hour and a half away, it starts dumping rain. Not just a little, but a lot of rain. Hard. We stop for a bit under a tree, and try to think of what to do next. It subsides a bit, and away we go, but then we come into a strong ass head wind blowing right at me. I was in front the whole way, and took the brunt of the wind. It was still raining, the wind gusting right in my face or from my left, and it made it hard as hell to pedal for that last hour or so. I was going down hill, and still couldnt put it in the highest gear, and get going, I had to make iteasier so I could ride, cause the wind was blowing so hard. Through the mud, and puddles, and all that we made our way. Finally after about four hours, or so, we got into penomme. It took us a while to find a plce to stay, and once we did, I got all the stuff in, and Aaron went to fill up my tire with air. He noticed a piece of wire sticking out of it, and when he removed it, all the air came out. Damn. My first flat. Now I hadnt changed a flat tire in myentire life. My dad had shown me how to do it many times, but he always eneded u doing it for me. Well,today I fixed my first and second flat. After fixing hte first one, Aaron took it over to the gas station, and filled it up. Apparently he filled it up to much, ad blew out the tube, cause when he came back, it was flat again. Rather than get pissed, I laughed about it. and went to work on the next one. I fixed it, and Aaron said he wasnt gonna take it, cause he didnt wantto break it again. We laughed about that as well. WE also patched up the one tub,e and will probably patch up the next when we get back. I washed my sox, and my biker shorts, and my jersey in the sink, I think that is a first for today also. I dont remember ever handwashing anything. A huge plus today, our hotel had hot water!!! OMG how fricken amazing was that.
Gonna go and eat some dinner tonight, and depending on what time it is go to a bar or club. My legs held up great today, towards the end of hte ride, I strained my knee again a bit, but Its not anywhere near as painful as it was yesterday, so thats a good sign. Tomorrow we're going to NATA which supposedly has the oldest church in all of panama. It was built in the 1500s and we're gonna check that out. We may actually double up our day tomorrow and 90 km but we'll see how we feel when we get to NATA.
Keep the notes up, and please done forget to let everyone know about the fundraiser. We're five percent of goal already!!! thats awesome. Aaron just got word that the funds are going towards building a new school for children in Guatemala!!!! How incredible si that.
I love my life!
MT