I don’t remember the last time I’ve been so happy for an extended period of time. I was smiling ear to ear for at least an hour straight upon leaving NYC, until our group had to stop and reroute because of a bike race that blocked off a large chunk of New Jersey. I had no clue that New York was so beautiful. Living in the suburban bubble of Illinois my whole life, all you hear about is Time Square and the rest of NYC. Never about how beautiful riding along the Hudson River is, how breath taking the mountains/hills are, how there are actual mountains and hills in New York, something which Illinois severely lacks. In particular, Bear Mountain was probably my favorite sight of the first two days. It sits right on the Hudson river and it looks like a scene straight out of Jurassic Park, my group sang the theme song a lot that day.

I’m very sore, my butt and legs aren’t used to the 3600 feet of New York’s rolling hills we got to experience on day one. So even though it really sucked riding up those hills, it was incredibly fun to whip down them. I maxed at 38.7 mph, in a speed limit area of 35 mph, so that was fun.

All in all it’s been an incredibly rewarding first two days. Even though I’m going to be sore, dehydrated, and without enough sleep for the next 75 days, I know it will be an experience that I will never trade for anything. I’m excited to see what the rest of the country has in store for us and to build upon some already pretty great friendships I’ve created because of this incredible organization.

Phil “I don’t know if I’ll ever stop eating” Kagebein