Day 3: Brutally Beautiful Little Falls

Today the team rode 67 miles from Albany to Little Falls, New York. The day was hot with tons of hills and beautiful views. We rode through lush green valleys that made the 1 kilometer climbs well worth it. Today our elevation gain was 3,350 ft. Something that seemed so daunting, turned out to be rewarding as we stood at the top of the hills and looked down.Everyone on the team can agree that today was extremely tough but we all pushed through the grueling hills that from the bottom seemed impossible. Some of the team shed a few tears up the hills. Eric and Mike cried tears of joy thinking about the pb and J’s as motivation up the hills. We were all very relieved to learn that these hills will be the largest until Colorado!We would like to thank the YMCA in Little Falls for hosting us tonight. We would also like to thank Sandra (I4K alum from 2007) for making us a delicious meal and driving an hour to deliver it to us, it was very appreciated!! The team can agree that the brownies and pasta were delicious :) It is so great to meet past riders and hear stories about their ride. They are truly the only people that understand how special the experience of being on Illini 4000 is.With three days down this is starting to feel like a routine, I'm excited to see what the next 75 days have in store!MandyFlat count: 3Song of the day: Breakeven ( still alive but we are barely breathing)- how we felt after each climbMemorable story: Sam, Aaron, Caroline and I went to a random house in the middle of nowhere to use the bathroom. The women seemed extremely hesitant but eventually took pity on us (might have had something to do with how exhausted we looked) Conclusion: we all officially conquered any fears of stranger danger!