Northeast AIDSRide 2001 journal (3 of 14)

day zero - back at the hotel
When we reached our hotel, we spontaneously hooked up with about 7 other riders and ordered pizza for dinner. Eating in one of the rooms, it felt like a gathering of old friends who hadn’t seen each other for years, instead of a room of strangers who just met. This was very common on the ride. There is an openness and compassion between riders that is not seen in our day-to-day interactions with most people. This is one of the things that I miss most about the experience.

By the time we had eaten and gotten our gear ready for the next morning, it was almost midnight. We had to be up in 4 hours to shower and catch a bus to take us back to where the ride would begin. Needless to say, I did not have the energy to write in my journal that night, and all of this is from memory.