There's a first for everything

Day 3 of riding

Before I get to today’s riding, I should probably touch on the first two days.

Day 1- With not so promising weather, we left Providence after dipping our tires in the Atlantic.

We proceeded to immediately get lost in downtown Providence, lovely. And unfortunately, when we got out of Providence, we took a beautiful 12 mile “scenic detour”. A trip that was supposed to be 42 miles turned into 54 miles. BUT it wasn’t all bad. Despite the hills and my lack of hill intensive training, the ride was gorgeous. As we entered Connecticut, the rolling hills grabbed my full attention. Colonial style homes lined the roads reinforcing that New England feel. We arrived in Pomfret around 4:30 to a filling meal provided by the church.

We jumped fences to be one with the sheep, paddled around in hippo shaped boats, and I saw the biggest pig of my life. The weather was iffy for a majority of the trip, but it just so happened that right when the sun came out, so did the rope swing. Not being cautious enough, we swung into the water one-by-one proving there were no massive rocks and the water was not freezing cold.

Arriving in Pomfret, Connecticut we stayed at a church that set a standard of hospitality that many churches would compare to or even exceed in the future. The salad was made with fresh greens from the garden and the eggs for breakfast were free-range. Across the street was Pomfret School, a massive boarding school that put The University of Montana to shame.

After finally painting our trailer white leaving a blank canvas for the artists in our group, we hit the sack stuffed into two little rooms uniformed with our sleeping bags and Termarests. I woke up about 20 times that night to the sound of sleeping bags rubbing against Termarests, but I will get used to it, I have to.

P.S. There’s a first for everything mainly refers my luck of having Jake find a tick on my face. No bites, just creepy crawly legs.

Day 2-

From Pomfret to Granby, CT, we rode a total of 55 miles. The hills had no sympathy for our aching muscles. And our aching muscles had no directional ability when it was time for lunch, because we passed it by 5 miles. Luckily, we have a few amazing cyclist who brought us our lunch stuffed in their Camelbaks. The ride was beautiful and the weather was perfect.

The church we stayed at in Granby welcomed us with massive amounts of food and shelter from the lightning storm. When everyone partook in the evening yoga session, a small group of us checked out a nearby farm where our fellow rider Jake worked at. They donated two big boxes of fresh veggies and we got a little tour for the farm.

At night, we had a hair cutting party and gave Raj a Mohawk (it only lasted two days.)

Day 3 (today)- Donation magic at its best

65 miles to Kent, CT. Despite the steep hills, they gave way for some amazing down hills getting me up to a whopping 45 mph (any faster and I would have died.) Within the first five miles, we ran into the dinosaur tree as I like to call it.

We saw a reservoir with a Scotland-like castle perched on the bridge (a great photo-op.)

And we worked our donation magic to get something we would soon learn to love.

The overcast weather we had for the majority of the day cleared up just in time to swim in the freezing cold waterfalls a couple miles outside of Kent.

We stayed at Kent School, another ritzy boarding school. Another wonderful dinner followed our arrival and a heavy night of sleep.

P.S. I have a theory. On average, every 5 miles is a cemetery in New England.