"We're going to DC, we're going to DC!" Those were the words sung by Nan, high up on Ben's shoulders, at 9pm on Friday night. The catering gig was finished, and we were about to get in the volvo 240 with 300,000 miles on it, loaded down with a full trunk and five bikes on a bike rack made for three.

As General Manager, Nan was allowed to choose our team name. I wanted something to represent my disdain for DC and my foreigner status, so i proposed The Burning of Washington. But Nan wouldn't have any of it, and when presented with the option of naming us after her favourite train engine, Gordon, she jumped. So we became "Gordon is the Biggest and the Fastest and the Strongest..."

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Day 1

Things went really well (fast interstate sailing, beautiful sunrise) until we got to West Virginia. Then in the space of 20 minutes, our would-be-head coach and friend from NYC called to cancel, and the muffler fell off. Nan was instantly promoted from GM to head coach, which basically meant hanging out with the local kids on the swing set, and eating lots of candy.