*tweak*

48 hours and we'll be most of the way to Nashville. My brain is remaining impressively useful, only drifting off 60-70 percent of the time, but I'm sure that's coming to an end. I offer apologies to my employer, as I do every year.

Anywhoodles, hey, look, maps and cool stuff!

Indiana road projects and conditions
Kentucky road info
Tennessee road whosawhatsis

I love map.

Weather: Kinda looking a bit meh for Saturday - solid chance of rain, temperatures in the mid-upper 70s. It'll still be awesome; the glow of 500 determined and wonderful riders and hundreds of volunteers and supporters will keep us warm and dry no matter what, and it totally doesn't matter how far you ride or how fast you do it or even IF you ride. I'm not sure what the Nashville equivalent of this standard speech is, but the Death Valley version is "if you take off and turn left instead of right and go spend the day at the pool, you're just as successful as the monster who rides the 100 miles in 4 and a half hours."

(Please tell someone if you do that, though, so we don't go looking for you.)

I'm sure a lot of our activities will center around the Bike Room; let's keep an eye out for each other Thursday afternoon and evening so we can do whatever planning we want to do. Your bike will stay with you in your room, in case you were wondering.

Man, do I ever envy the first-time riders! Make new friends. Be with your people. It's a firehose of an experience; all you can do is open yourself up and soak in as much of the emotion and power as you can. Just BE.

See you in Nashville!