Hopkins 4K for Cancer

July 16, 2006

Cedar City, UT
75 miles

Many people cried today. Call it physical exhaustion, emotional longing, or simply annoyance with beeeees!!!

You see, today we faced the never-ending climb. It was long, hot, and just kept going and going and going. Just when you thought you had reached the summit, BAM, another huge hill. But by far the worst part of this climb were the bees.

Apparently this mountain was home to a very special breed of insect: the "Chases-humans-on-bikes-for-miles-and-miles" bee. As I climbed, I noticed something hovering over my right shoulder when I looked at my shadow on the road. I focused my attention to that spot and found a bee. I swatted, my instinctual response, receiving three seconds of solitude until the bee returned.

After several swattings failed, I attempted to communicate with the bee telepathically. Unfortunately, bees respond to telepathy by increasing their numbers. I now had four bees flying around my head. I learned that it was impossible to sprint away from these bees because we were climbing. If it had been a downhill, that might have been another story, but you can't sprint away from a bee on a Utah mountain.

At one point, a bee had landed on the inner lens of my sunglasses, just an inch away from my eye. I threw off my sunglasses biked away. Then I came back. I apologized to my sunglasses and put them back on. My last ditch effort was yelling at the bees. Later, I started to believe that I was actually yelling at myself. "Go home!" "Why are you here?!" "Who sent you?!" So metaphorical. Wow. Thanks bees.

Anyways, the end of the climb was one of those moments where frustration was the sole emotion governing my body. I kicked a garbage can and cried without appreciating the stunning view of the valley below us. Thankfully, Garrett was in high spirits as usual, and kept me cheered up.

We reached Cedar City and stayed at the local University, Southern Utah University. We were graciously hosted for dinner by a member of the community who has been involved with helping us out for years. Thank you.

-Raffi