Catch Up.....

Very frustrated with my computer. Tonight I finally have time, and WiFi, but it will not connect. So, I'm back to trying to use my iPad, with no way to download pictures until I can figure out something.

Day one, Sunday, to Greenland, NH, about 45 miles. I was sweeping with our trip leader, Allen. We also had three local riders from their biking group, "whiners club." One rider rode up front with the fast group, one in the middle, and one with us and a few slower riders. They biked to meet us from the end of our ride and then rode back with us--just more of the love that we experience every place we go.

Day two, Monday, to Hudson, MA, about 82 miles.

Day three, Tuesday, to Willimantic, CT, about 73 miles. I had fun riding with the faster kids for about the first 20 miles. Then I just had to drop off and get back to my comfort zone. I just can't keep up when we come to a hill.

Day four, Wednesday, to Norfolk, CT, about 93 miles. I was riding mostly with Tonya. I am a little stronger rider than she is, but she keeps me within myself, and strong. We stopped after we went thru an intersection, and we were unsure if we were on the right course. As we were going over the maps a guy in a pickup came down the side road, and I asked him if we were on the correct road. We were, but then he asked us what we were doing, and his mouth dropped open. Then he simply looked as us and said to "just throw those bikes in the back of my pickup and I'll drive you there." Later we were riding through a depressed area, and two teenage kids were riding toward us on the wrong side of the street. As we approached each other, Tonya told them "hey, you're on the wrong side of the street." The startled look on their faces was cute, but I caught up with Tonya and told her she might be careful telling two kids wearing gang type hats how to behave. We were able to laugh about it, however, since they were too shocked to bother trying to turn around and catch up with us.

Day five, Thursday, to Short Hills, NJ, about 69 miles. We are at St. Rose of Lima Church, and they have provided a table full of riding type food like Clif bars, etc, and a fridge full of food for us to devour, and said to take with us what we don't eat here. Fantastic! Another great day of riding. I wanted to ride faster for the first 20 miles today, and it was great because we had a lot of city to ride thru and not many hills for them to lose me on. I was planning to wait for Tonya at the stop, but we were there for a long time when our group decided to leave. We had phone info that they were close, but if I had waited for them to get there, rest, and refresh, I would have been too stiff and it would have hurt too much to get started again! We have a wide range of riding ability which spreads us out too far to maintain support for the lead riders and the last riders without creating a wide gap between the groups. This should start correcting itself as the slower riders will get stronger as we keep riding. We rode through New York, the Bronx, and Manhattan, VERY carefully, the traffic being very challenging. Riding over the George Washington Bridge was really neat. I am not sure how long it will take to clean out my mouth and lungs from inhaling all the smog and car exhaust. It felt like I was eating dust, and it was hard to keep my mouth clean. However, that made me drink more water just to be able to keep breathing.

This first week we are riding six days without a rest, and we are looking forward to a build day this Saturday, and then a day off Sunday. The weather has been great, with a mixture of sunny days, hot for this time of year here, and then overcast days with just great riding. I will try to keep the blog going on a much better schedule. However, we are a smaller group, so more chores for each core group, which means less time. Also, getting to the church each night much later than last year, waiting for the van and our gear to arrive, means much less time to blog.

This is another great group of riders, and we are meeting great, loving people. Well, maybe not the New York drivers. However, we did get love from a Manhattan city employee trying to protect us from traffic while stating very loudly that we can't be from New York, and to be careful because these cars will just run over us. Ya gotta just love it!

Peace....