Powdery Relief

Day 6 - June 8, 9:45pm

Turned out today was only 53 miles to Danburry, CT. I didnt think it was possible but the hills were even WORSE than yesterday. It was just ridiculous at some points but we kept on beasting. My quads are not happy right now, but we have a Build Day tomorrow and we get to recuperate.

Lunch was particularly magnificent today as we were all exhausted by the 30th mile. I personally ate a peanut butter sandwich, 3 cups of tuna salad, and then 3 more leftover pancakes slathered in more peanut butter. This brings me to an important theme of this trip. FOOD. There is so much. Everywhere. Our great hosts have just been throwing it upon us and we have tons of leftovers every day. Honestly I have never ever in my life been so satisfied after meals. You're guaranteed to never leave a bike and build meal less than stuffed. Seriously I walk in every night thinking who in their right mind would agree to feed 32 ravenous emaciated cyclists. And every night i end up rolling in stomach pain from having gorged myself. In short, I love food and I have never been so irrationally happy over such a simple pleasure.

After lunch we came across a sweet pond and took the liberty of a full hour chill sesh and did some dipping. It evetually turned into tossing each other by the arms and legs into the water which was SO refreshing. PS - It was pretty hot today. While my forearms are developing substantial bronzed goodness, the non-exposed chestal area is a bit paler to say the least.

On the home stretch to the church, John treated three of us to ice cream in his store. We needed it, thanks John!

This church as usual was great. They had Bike and Build t shirts and banners set up to welcome us and have had our profile pictures up on banners since February. Their turkey burgers and dinner were also substantially delicious as was their hospitality. We walked into our room to find it filled to the brim with inflatable mattresses. How nice are these people!

Upon arriving the first thing they did was shuttle us to someone's outdoor swimming pool. We got to ride in the back of pickup. So fun! PS - Creating whirlpools in a pool and then stopping suddenly is great.

Today was also my first experience with Gold Bond Powder. I decided to skip the minor leagues and went straight with the extra strength. Lets just say I'm not used to experiencing sudden cooling sensations in that particular part of my body. All in all though it was chalky fun and I think i might become a repeat user. It apparently really helps avoid rashes when biking.

Post dinner was a great game of Big Booty after which the kids lit up some fun fireworks for us. Also i literally stood by this dip in the kitchen eating it for like 6 minutes before I realized that my hand was controlling me.

Since the build site can't accomodate all of us tomorrow, I'll be serving breakfast at a homeless soup kitchen from 6-9am tom. Never done and think it should be enlightening. Overall, am very happy with my stated objective of trying out as many new things as possible on this trip. Off to bed for 5:15 wakeup!