Morning began with a pancake breakfast at Jeanne’s house. Everyone was well rested and well fed. Looking forward to a scenic route up to Wisdom House in Litchfield. Perhaps finding and cycling in some areas that we did not recognize were faced with poverty.

Experienced many rolling hills throughout this western part of the state. Midway through, we had a discussion regarding the “group” riding together as a “group” through these hills for emotional support. At this point, some of us were able to experience cycling these hills as a unified/united group. The hills seemed less painful riding them this way. This was an experience that the “new” riders needed to experience – how a group of people can work together to solve problems.

Had lunch in Winsted – nice shade. Good sharing about our hill climbing experiences.

The next part of the trip was indeed the most difficult for some of our riders. We experienced a monster hill on rte 118 to Wisdom House. With a lot of prayer and support from all of our team, we made it to the top.

We celebrated Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Torrington. Fr Stephen allowed us to do some faith-sharing about our experiences thus far. For many of us, this was very much needed and very emotional. As a group, we are one. We have come together for the same mission. We learned more about why some of us were riding and what we were experiencing on the way. Fred, one of our support crew, summed up our faith-sharing with a simple, yet tear-filled revelation that last year 14 people connected and this year 22 people are connected. We really needed to share our experiences. Two of our own team members assisted Fr Stephen.

Following mass, we were greeted in the church basement by members of Sacred Heart and St Peter’s parishes for an unbelievable feast of good food and company.

We changed our presentation dynamics prior to this meeting. The team encouraged the new members to do the bulk of the presentation, which went exceptionally well, with every member having an opportunity to talk.

Part of the program was to gather into small working groups. This encouraged people to talk about what steps they could take to help alleviate the problem of poverty. People seemed to connect and brainstorm well. We find that incorporating these small group talks is important to our discussions because it allows us to hear many different perspectives on the poverty problem at hand.

The day ended with all of us back at Wisdom House for a positive discussion on our cycling, our faith-sharing and our presentation. Everyone had an opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas. It was a much needed critique session.

With that, we all headed off to our rooms for good night’s sleep with thoughts of “downhill” for tomorrow.