So we had our final day in the saddle pencilled in as a 45miles procession into D.C. Unfortunately D.C. is the nation’s capital and not so conducive to cycling from a long way out.

Out came the maps and we had a look at our options. We decided to aim for the Chesapeake Bay by taking a route between D.C. and Baltimore to the north, hopefully avoiding the two big centres.

We set off and despite being so close to water, we met similar rolling hills to the past few days. We met the support team to have an ice cream in Ellicott City and figured out directions for the rest of the day. We got lost a couple of more times but eventually made it to Chesapeake Bay by 4pm. We dipped our wheels in the saltwater of the Atlantic and popped some champagne to celebrate our achievement.

We then jumped in the car to take the 30mile trip south to D.C. where we were met by a great reception in the Doyle Dupont Hotel, organised by Scott Dawson the GM of the hotel, and Shane Young of EirChamber – an networking group for Irish-Americans.

The party when on until the wee hours and it was surreal in many ways to think of how far we had travelled to get to where we are. Nearly 6,000kms in 7 weeks. What started as a casual idea had come to reality thanks to a lot of hard work and the help of hundreds of people.

On behalf of the Cycle of America 2010 Team, I’d like to say a massive thank you to anyone involved in our journey, no matter how small a role you played. Every contribution made a difference. Go raibh mile maith agat!