Laying over in Binghamton, NY

Quite a lot has happened over the last few days. We are in Binghamton, NY for today to do a build day with the local Habitat affiliate, but since this region of New York knows nothing but rain, we might end up doing something inside (they've been saying something about cleaning a zoo). Anyway, I stole away for a few minutes to complete a blog entry.

Day 5 (Thurs), Poughkeepsie, NY to Roscoe, NY, was our first major test of the trip. We woke up to pouring rain that morning and it didn't let up. As long as it isn't lightning we are on our bikes, so we took off around 8:30 and started a 70-75 miler to Roscoe, NY. After 30 minutes you had to just resign yourself to being soaked the whole day. It was all about your state-of-mind. Despite the heavy rain and cloud cover, the ride was gorgeous; we passed through the Catskills with multiple reserviors that serve as watersheds for NYC (you should see how much hostility some locals have for the city, since these reservoirs have flooded out multiple towns and caused the state to relocate a bunch of people).

I started the day with a group towards the back and enjoyed riding with them for a little while, but then around mile 25-30 I was starting to get a little antsy. We hit some pretty big climbs through the "mountains" (we ain't seen nothing yet until the Tetons and Rockies, I'm afraid), so I wanted to get up and go. I left that group after a much needed hot chocolate break and pedaled on my own for about an hour and a half. I was starting to get somewhat miserable and losing my edge, but then I came down on the lead group, who had just stopped for lunch at a deli in Grahamsville. They were incredibly upbeat, just dancing and messing around in the deli. Their attitude really got me back in the right mindset: "You know what? We're wet, there's nothing we can do about it, just enjoy how hardcore it is and how crazy everybody thinks we are." I pedaled with Shawn and Peter out front for the rest of the day, and we did some creative revisions to our directions to cut off a 3-4 mile loop that got us to the church in Roscoe around 4:30 PM. By that point, we were on our last legs, hungry, and cold, so seeing that church was an amazing feeling. The rest of the lead group got in around 5:30, and people continued to trickle in to about 7:30 that night. It was a great experience though, as we were hugging and celebrating when people came in like we had just finished the whole trip in Seattle. There was so much that went awry throughout the day that people were just so happy to be finished. We all slept very well on Thursday night. We're pretty confident we'll be talking about the Roscoe day for the rest of the trip.

The ride to Binghamton yesterday was gorgeous. Lots of slow rolling hills with minimal climbs that allowed you to maintain a pretty steady pace. I started about 20-30 min later than everybody so I spent most of the morning cycling alone until I caught up with the group just before lunch, which was nice again. I'm really enjoying mixing things up, between biking alone and riding with groups. However, when you are with a group for awhile, you get antsy and want to pick up the pace a little, especially on these hills. It was quite sureal to come into Binghamton, since it's only about 40 miles south of Ithaca and I drove through it many a time when going to DC or to Jess's house in PA. With about 10 miles left yesterday, I flat hit a wall though. My right knee tightened up and I lost all energy, so I just coasted to the church last night. We got to attend a Habitat house warming ceremony for a new homeowner, which is always fun to see. The Providence to Seattle group last year worked on this house, so they were excited to have us.

Today's "build day" couldn't have come at a better time. I'll enjoy spending the day off the bike. Later today I have to hit up some AmeriCorps applications and check some email/news. I'm completely off the grid. I did see that the Rox have won 14 of 15 (thanks Ma!), but that things are on fire at Dove Valley. Crap. Anyway, we pedal to PA on Sunday I think, and from there things are supposedly more flat. The knee feels better this morning, and spirits are still very high. Hope everybody is doing well, I'll talk to you soon.

Pops, Happy Father's Day!