Day 1: West Hartford. Miles 0-20

Today’s ride was a soft welcome into life on the road. We’ve been training and riding solo from our respective quarantines, so the opportunity to finally see each other and bike together was a long time coming. Even better that our route brought us through familiar places to see familiar faces. 

Since none of us spent the last few months very close to school, we got to experience together that West Hartford is a very bike-able suburb! Cars were kind to us, shoulders were wide, and roads are fairly flat. Occasionally, we would even get a bike lane. 

Our stops brought us to visit students in our year, professors, and two of last year’s bikers. Most waved us off to our next destination, and a few hopped on to our next stop. At its longest, our train grew to six bikers! 

In total, our 20 mile loop trip took us about 5 hours. Most of that time was spent catching up with class mates, and chatting in driveways. Most of us hadn’t seen each other (except virtually) since February. And we reflected on our collective experience of survival— through the block, through the isolation of the lockdown, through the shock COVID brought to our normal life of spending all of our time at the health center. 

It’s not yet clear when and where our class and professors are all going to reunite. We’re all hoping it will be this fall in our “home” at UConn Health, and in person— though we don’t know what shape that will take yet. Regardless, I finished the day with a rekindled love for the community we have here, and the roads that weave it together. 

Cheers!

Sarah