It's all down hill from here

I have heard this a lot recently, and it turns out it's not true. At all. When people say 'it's all downhill,' expect hills. And big ones too. You could probably work this into some life metaphor or something, but I'm too tired right now to do that.

It has been a little bit since I lasted posted, but I think I'm still good on my commitment to post once a week. We just completed our 4th riding day and have now done 2 build days: one in Portland, ME, and the other if Fitchburg, MA. The last few days have been intense. After kicking off our trip with a ceremonial back tire wheel dip in the Atlantic, we have covered a lot of ground. Three states in four days. Maine and New Hampshire are behind us, and Massachusetts is home for now. We had one 46 mile day, and the rest have been 60+. And lots of hills in that stretch. Especially the last couple of ride days. Today we had a re-route that took us up Mountain Road, which ended up living up to its name. Those hills kicked my butt. And this was coming off of yesterday's build day where our group dug a massive trench and shoveled and wheel burrowed 60 tons of gravel. While the physical energy exertion is taxing, it is also rewarding in that we get to see the pile of rock disappear, or the big hill conquered and behind us. Tomorrow is supposed to be a pretty tough jaunt through the Berkshire Hills, and then we get ready to cross into New York in the next couple of days.

So far, the highlight for me has been all the people we have met along the way. We have now stayed in an Episcopal church, a Unitarian Universalist church, and a Methodist church (where I am writing this), and everyone has been so welcoming and excited for what we are doing. It's been really encouraging to meet people who are eager to take in complete strangers and feed them, all because they believe in the cause we are working for and want to take part in it with us. It's been really neat to see the wider community of people involved with affordable housing, and to realize that, really, Bike & Build is much more than just the riders and personnel directly associated with the organization. The awesome people at the Habitat sites we've been at, the amazing people at our host sites and the churches we've been staying at, the other people we have met along the way who have supported us in one way or another--all of them are as much a part of this trip as we are.

Tonight we will go to Pittsfield and stay in a place that another congregation has generously allowed us to stay in, before working with an affordable housing group in that area for a build day on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm going to go climb some hills. Probably big ones too. And if anyone says it's all downhill, well, maybe if I keep repeating it to myself the hills will seem a little less steep. We'll see...

Matt