My friends told me that cycling across America would give me buns of steel. Days like today make me wonder when exactly this transformation is going to take place. Apparently not this soon. Today, day five, was by far the hardest and best day of the trip. We left the town of Poughkeepsie, NY and planed on riding the 73 miles to Roscoe, NY. 85 miles later we made it to Roscoe. You might say we got lost but I prefer to call it an unplanned scenic detour that was a bit painful. Many of us have quickly learned that getting lost is just part of the Bike and Build challenge and it tends to add just a little more excitement (and pain) to the trip. This ride was the toughest for most everyone in the group because: 1.) it was the longest many of us have ever done 2.) it was mostly up a mountain with a 1000 ft elevation gain. 3.) we got lost. This day was also one of the most amazing for me as well as rest of the group. This is mainly due to the sense of achievement we all felt after climbing that high and possibly the loopyness that came with being that exhausted. Counting lunch breaks and ride breaks I biked a total of 11 hours. But it was so much fun! After about mile 62 miles me and the people I was with couldn’t stop laughing. In tough situations like that, that’s all you can do. The highlight came when we arrived at the great town of Roscoe. The hosts went way above and beyond. We had an absolutely amazing meal at The United Church. I’m pretty sure our group of 31 can eat enough to feed 100 normal people. Then the top 10 best surprise of my life came afterwards. We are used to sleeping on the floor at gyms and churches (which are great!) but this time we were handed keys to a resort! You might think that the bus ride to the resort after an exhausting day like this might be filled with silence. But it was just the opposite. Everyone was so amazed at what we accomplished and at the awesome beds to come that I’m sure the bus driver wanted to throw us out. This was the perfect end to the perfect day.


# of miles we were lost: 11
# of times people complained about this: 0

# of people just a little loopy at the end of the ride due to exhaustion and disbelief: 31
# of graveyards passed since start of trip: 21

Fastest speed down the mountain (for me): 42ish
Fastest speed up a mountain: Ha!