MORRO BAY, CALIFORNIA - Today's route, shorter than yesterday's but much more difficult with heat and hills, tested our colleagues and riders. I'm happy to report that everyone finished, happy to take a celebratory dip in Lake Nacimiento!
"Getting into that lake was what got me through those last hills," Kelly Ansaldo, Agricultural Territory Manager at Rehrig Pacific Company, exclaimed, forgoing food, water, even the cold beer the support team had waiting at the finish line.
The challenge gave the riders a beautiful scenery though, as Axel Merckx shared with me while we celebrated a successful close to day two. "It's just so beautiful up here," he said. "These are some rough hills; the gravity really gets to you, but it's still a lot of fun."
And his and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg's presence proved a huge morale boost to the riders, who despite the grueling heat and inclines, still chatted and smiled with the riders.
The opportunity was even a close on an amazing circle for Ty Burns, who used to own a bike shop and had the opportunity to ride with Axel's father on a trip to Belgium a few years ago.
"I'll never forget; he asked me if I could do 20 mph, and at that time I was riding regularly, so I said yes," Ty told me. "When I saw where we were riding I assumed he meant kilometers, but he didn't. He's still in great shape and great to ride with. Afterwards he invited me back to his office for beer and ham and a wine that was named after him. It was a great experience and I'm very excited to revisit it by meeting Axel today."
This is one of just many amazing stories heard as these amazing members of our industry take on the road, rocks, wildlife, and vehicles for salad bars in schools.
On that note, through the efforts, focus, and a lot of sweat, the fourth Tour de Fresh has raised $155,241, enough for 50 salad bars to be made available across the U.S.
