The physics just don't feel right

I swear the gravity works differently in Germany. There have been large stretches of road that appear to be downhill and yet we almost seem to be moving backwards. Conversely there have been stretches that seem to be up hill and we've gotten over 40km/hr so it's clear the universe doesn't hate us yet. Actually that should be very clear from the fact we all keep managing to find our end destinations and the fact there haven't been any major injuries.

For those keeping track at home I am currently writing this from the city of Goslar in Germany. Today's ride was supposed to be our first 100km day and as per usual our mapping was off by at least 10-20km. My pod, pod rocket ship, only had to do 120km and we arrived here in about 6 hours. As I am currently writing this at 6pm we haven't seen another pod yet and it's been 3 hours.

Once again I have nothing but amazing things to say about the hosts we have had. They really are making our trip so much more special and incredible. Last night we got to head down to the fire hall in Hoxter and try on fire gear and play around on the trucks. I think it is safe to say that no one in our group has any trouble accessing their inner child!

We also had a wonderful experience in Gutersloh the night before. We were staying with a family who had what can best be described as an amazingly cool campground. It backed onto a river, had beach volleyball courts, and even a band playing when we all rolled in. Keeping with one of our values of inclusivity we very quickly managed to coax some somewhat shy Germans off their blankets and up to their feet to make a rocking dance party. We also learned the German version of the game 31 which they call Kanuck. I thought it was rather appropriate as it was Canada Day that the Canadians won, so score one for our country.

Of course no story is all rainbows and candy and we are no exception. The last couple days have been hard on some of our group with riders arriving quite late into the evening. Luckily those of us that have been there for longer welcome them with lots of hugs, smiles, and food and we've been able to cheer everyone up in seconds.

I also had a rather unfortunate experience the other night. I really have no one to blame but myself but I was running on 2 hours of sleep so I didn't properly put up the fly on my tent. Mother Nature then took it upon herself to flood my tent at 3am and I had to do some very quick thinking to save my stuff from getting totally soaked. The net result was that I wound up sleeping the rest of the night with my rain pants on inside of my sleeping bag and wearing a hoody for upper body warmth. It clearly wasn't the ideal situation but it was totally my fault.

We have another 100(ish) km to ride tomorrow so it will likely be an another attempted early night and 6:30am wakeup call. After that we get a day off though so our bodies can rest up for the rest of Germany.