Day 6, July 25, 1999



Ride info: From Albany, NY to Greenfield, MA. 78 miles ride distance.

Breakfast at Friendly's, ate off the menu. Pancakes and sausage. Today was the ride over the Berkshire Mountains. 4 climbs with grades of 6% to 9%, for a total of 5,200 feet.

  • First climb, 1.2 miles
  • Second climb, 9.2 miles with a 4 mile descent
  • Third climb, 5.2 miles with a 6 mile descent
  • Fourth climb, 5.8 miles with a 20 mile descent

This was definitely the most challenging day. As I was doing the last climb and approaching the eastern summit, I thought to myself, "why am I doing this??" and also noticed for the first time that most of the other bikes had 3 chain rings, whereas I only had 2. Definitely something to consider if I ever do a mountain ride again! 300 yards before the eastern summit, a large black bear crossed the road in front of a biker 5 minutes behind me. These climbs were tough but the downhills were great.

I arrived at the Candlelight Resort Hotel at 3 pm., did the usual bike stuff, and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant with my roommate and a business litigation and bankruptcy lawyer in Orange County, CA. My fortune cookie message was:

"You are a traveler at heart. There will be many journeys."


Back to Day 5! Ride For Alzheimer's Home On to the next day!


This page written and maintained by Ed Bareiss