It's been a long, hard 4 days\

So my last update left me in Andover, MA. Now this update finds me in Poughkeepsie, NY after 4 days of hard riding. We climbed the Berkshire mountains Monday and Tuesday and finally crossed the state boarder 9.5 miles into our 88 mile ride today. For the sake of keeping this short and collapsing into bed, I'll do brief summaries of the last 4 days (or what I can remember).

Sunday: Andover to Fitzburg ~41 miles.
~first long ride
~RAINED ALL DAY
~tough but not too bad
~stayed at the First Parish Unitarian church
~did a bike clinic and a presentation
~day ended pretty late but it was good overall

Monday: Fitzburg, MA to Amherst, MA ~54 miles
~This was a series of steep climbs before lunch and long, slow climbs after lunch
~It took awhile but we got through it, stopping at the top of each long slow climb to rest
~Amherst was pretty. I got a key lime pie at the bakery and a bunch of people went to get pizza from the famous Antonios.
~We stayed at the Hillel center for UMASS-AMHERST. We couldn't bring any food into the dining hall because of kosher stuff.
~We were all in bed by 9:15

Tuesday: Amherst to Pittsfield, MA 54ish miles
~4100 feet of climbing over the first 35 miles. UPHILL. We were rewarded with a long downhill at the end though.
~Took FOREVER
~I was alone a lot of the morning but the view was GORGEOUS and I took my time.
~Johanna and I took on the second half and collapsed into the YMCA at 3:30.
~It was probably the hardest day just because of the constant uphill but I got through it.
~Skip(a trip leader)'s scoutmaster made us a delicious dinner


Wednesday: Pittsfield to Poughkeepsie, NY ~88 miles (yowza!)
~LONGEST DAY YET-11 hours from start to finish
~The first part of the day was hilly but we were rewarded with some more great views
~we cheered each other on during the tough hills. Lenny did the toughest one about 3 times to help me and some others up it
~the first day I didn't walk any of it
~My shifting mechanism wasn't working so I had to keep stopping to fix it
~about 7 miles from the end it started raining. We then spent about an hour getting lost and I got pretty cranky.
~We have a build day tomorrow so I don't have to ride

Overall, the riding has been really tough but I'm enjoying myself and we've met some great people. This next week is going to be the hardest riding of the trip but if I can make it through today, I can make it through anything. I don't know when I will get the internet again but feel free to call.

Hi Mom!

Oh, and Tim, I got your post but this computer won't let me on Facebook. Thanks :)