What the Hill?

I'm posting during Day 2, but let me just catch you up (briefly) on Day 1.

Prior to the trip, we were warned by the veterans of this journey that there was a hill in Connecticut that was to be feared. At this point in the trip, I'm not sure I'll have the ability to make it to the top of that hill based on the hills we've seen that were not to be feared. We've pushed through some tough ones, we walked our bikes up some even tougher ones, and most importanly, I got us lost with about 10 miles to go in our day. (P.S. I'm an idiot). Granted the signs were a little deceiving, but still, it turned into a huge mistake that found us climbing Bear Mountain with very little left in our proverbial gas tanks. Once we reached Bear Mt. Bridge, I called Mr. Bova to make sure we were headed in the right direction only to find out that we weren't. Therefore, our options were to double back or die on Bear Mt. Bridge...ok, our third option was try to call a taxi which we did. We made our way to the Bova's exhausted, demoralized and seemingly defeated. But it's amazing what shower, a nice dinner and a good night sleep will do for one's psyche.

(Note: HUGE thank you to Mr. Bova, Kat, and Jimmy for their hospitality. Staying in a hotel just wouldn't have refreshed our spirits the way a home cooked meal and conversation with other people did...So again...THANK YOU!)

Day 2 has been up and down, literally and metaphorically, with some tough stretches that have wreaked havoc on my back and some incredible stretches where the view was breathtaking and the downhills were so long, we easily coasted over the uphills. At this point, it's not even a matter of finding a way to sit on the bike that is most comfortable, I think we're all just content finding the position that is the least uncomfortable.

So far I've only fallen off my bike once. It was while riding around in a circle in a diner parking lot. Fortunately, I fell into a bed of wood chips, so I'm A.O.K.

I'm sure the others will report something similar, but from what I've experienced so far this is going to be the worst, the best and one of the most memorable experiences of my life to date. Beyond the phyicallity, the mental toughness necessary to complete this journey will come to pay huge dividends in the future.

In Closing:
While driving, please slow down.
Don't honk your horn or flip the bird to people on bikes.
And don't throw trash out the window.

We're 1/3 of the way there...

So it goes.