FINAL BLOG! (I think..)

I've definitely been putting this off for some time now. It's been just about three weeks since we reached the Pacific Ocean and dipped our front tires in, thus concluding our cross-country journey.

I'll try to recall as much as I can from our final three riding days before recapping the trip, overall.

Our last build day was in Palmdale, CA. Every ride day after that was 40 or less miles. We hadn't seen this kind of mileage since our shake-down ride in Revere during orientation.

We were excited to head for Santa Clarita, especially because most of us wanted to go to Hurricane Harbor (Six Flag Magic Mountain's water park).

The ride started out with some climbing. This was kind of frustrating. Here we were looking forward to this short and sweet ride, but now it looked like we were gonna have to sweat a bit, or so it seemed. Once we got passed mile 15 or so things started to look downhill (literally; thus, a good thing). We flew down hills and weaved in and out of valleys. It was a warm day, but we'd occasionally hit cold pockets. The traffic was pretty non-existent, too. All in all, we coasted for the remaining miles and were in Santa Clarita in no time. Everyone was looking forward to going to In N Out and we knew there was one on the way, so we waited outside its doors when we got there around 10 (didn't open til 10:30). Despite it being a Christian organization, the manager did not feel inclined to give us any discount. Whatevs.

Shortly after getting in to our host site (a church) we shuttled over to Hurricane Harbor. It was only ten minutes away. And the water park kind of sucked. There weren't many rides and most had annoying waits. The coolest one was this taco slide where you flew up the walls back and forth while in a big tube with three other people. I got legit scared at points, but all in the name of fun. I also got a scar on my elbow from some damn water slide. So after riding across the country on a bike I can point out my awesome little scar... from a water slide. Sweet.

That night the group had our final affordable housing meeting where we decided which grant applications we would allot money to. It went smoothly.

Later that night my friend from LA, Alexa, came up and visited. It was great to see her. We went to a local bar where we were celebrating Sadie's birthday. Fun times ensued.

Second last day of riding: Santa Clarita to Santa Paula.

Despite it being short, I remember it being a somewhat frustrating day because of winds. I rode with Nathan and we made a pit stop at Starbucks and chilled there for a while.

That afternoon Alex's mom took us all out to lunch at a local place. We definitely overwhelmed their small staff and small kitchen, but it was good food.

I was on everyone's case that day to get their "Bike & Build is..." done (you'll understand later), so did that for a while. Also, this guy took four of us back to his ranch to shower. He had this homemade swing in the backyard that was probably one of the scarier things I've done (just ask Andrea, Christina, or Lesley). He gave us some fresh grapefruit from his trees, though.

The church community all gathered for a huge dinner that night and it was really our last host provided dinner on the trip.

After dinner we all went out to a local bar. People filled out superlative forms for the banquet the next night and, more importantly, we did our MUSTACHE SHAVING! You see, the whole trip all the guys grew out mustaches for the "Molestache" contest. Some got pretty sketchy. It was great.

Later that night everyone gathered back at the church and we did the leader roast. People had some good material prepared and most of it was taken well by the leaders.

I don't think anyone was annoyed with waking up the next morning. I mean, it was our last day of riding. How could people be anything but excited?

Brendan (a program director) flew in from Philly so that he could drive the van the last day and all the leaders could ride. We all met him in a gas station before leaving Santa Paula where we listened to Trey and Goose's awesome rendition of "I'm on a Bike" (remake of "I'm on a Boat").

Amary, Nathan, and I made a quick pit stop after that to pick up some champagne to pop when we got to the Pacific.

Meanwhile, it turned we wouldn't be able to ride on the 101, so we had to pull over and wait for Brendan to reroute. The weather had been gloomy most of the day, too, and we hoped it would get nicer soon.

Pretty soon we got into Santa Barbara and took a bike route that was right next to the coast. It was weird to see the ocean right there next to us. No one was about to run in before we hit our final spot, though.

The plan was to rendezvous at a park five miles from the beach. We did so and then started riding all together. That got a little stressful. 31 people riding in a group can definitely feel a little dangerous.

Sarah was going to meet us a mile from the beach and we were planning on walking our bikes to the ocean with her. Sarah is the one who broke her elbow. Little did we know that they planned on getting Sarah one of those tri-bike-beach-cruzer things. We turned the corner and there she was waiting to lead us in. Everyone went crazy for her.

As we neared the beach spot we saw tons of family and friends holding signs and cheering us on. The group responded wildly and, after avoiding a car or two, we reached where the sand met the concrete. I don't know who set them up, but there were flags set up on the beach leading us to the water.

Everyone dropped their bikes before the sand and RAN. We ran straight into that ocean and celebrated for fifteen minutes. Hugs, cheers, songs (Build Me Up Buttercup), and popped corks resonated up and down the coast.

We. Made. It.

It felt amazing. It felt so amazing it really didn't sink in right away. We got our bikes and everyone lined up to dip the front tires in. Pretty soon after everyone had calmed down a bit and got ready to head to the host site.

After getting settled at the church we got ready for the banquet. It was at a local golf course's restaurant and they had a buffet set up.

Highlights of the night included: speeches from each leader (including a lovely poem by Megan and a nice slideshow by Ali), version 2.0 of Frustrating (this time the whole crowd knew the chorus), superlatives (best tan lines, most likely to give you a heart attack, etc.). We all went out to get drinks after and had a great night.

The next day people were already leaving. I woke up to some already gone. We had breakfast, took inventory of the trailer's contents, said goodbye to more people, slept a lot, played some foosball, and then went out in Santa Barbara.

Finally, the next morning we went to a cafe and returned to clean up our stuff. Pretty soon the van was full of eight of us heading to LA. I was going home, four were driving the van back to Philly, Brendan was flying back the next day, and three were staying with me a few days.

And then we left Santa Barbara.

I could continue with my last few days with Bike & Builders, but it's not relevant to the trip. Santa Barbara was our final destination, so that's where I will leave it.

Oh, and, also, here are pics from New Mexico, Arizona, and our final stretch in California.

Now, to wrap up the whole trip...

Haha, yeah right. Words can barely do this trip justice!

I say if you're young enough, then get out there and do this. It is amazing. Any person can do it. When you're out there with 31 others on a nasty cold rainy day or a hot long one, you just feel the strength of the people around you and it pushes you. And knowing that so many people have donated to your cause and believe and support in you. It just motivates you. Most of the trip is mental. Once you believe in yourself you're set. There might be hard days and your body might talk to you other days, but you should be too busy having the time of your life to notice.

Personally, I did have the time of my life. This was exactly what I needed at this point in my life. Things became clearer and I returned to LA with a greater sense who I want to be. There are so many places to go, so many adventures to still be had.

I don't know if I'd do Bike & Build again. If I did it would as a leader because I don't think I'd be able to top my first experience as a rider.

I've taken away so many great memories from this trip and have met some truly amazing people. I've even managed to learn a life lesson or two.

So, to sum it up, summer of my life. And, hands down, best experience of my life (thus far). Does that mean I should get out more? Doubt it. Just go do B&B and you'll understand.

Until next time, the wheel keeps on spinning...

Hell week

Here I sit in Palmdale, CA, three days away from Santa Barbara (and about 60 some miles from LA right now...weird). INSANE. We just had our last build day today and did some roof repairs, weeding, and driveway work on a bunch of different properties. The one woman at our host site is so great. So kind and so impressed by what we're doing.

Anyway, yes, hell week has ended.

After leaving Prescott we headed for Salome. The beginning of the day started out amazing. There were a few climbs and then there were the most breathtaking descents we've had the whole trip. They were down around the mountains and it was seriously like a roller coaster. The first major mountain we went down was scary because it had traffic going both ways, so going around tight tight turns at 30mph not knowing if a car was coming the other way was pretty f-ing scary. But the second mountain had separate roads going down and up, so we were able to fly freely down the mountain. Like I said, breathtaking.

Then the day started to suck. The people of Prescott had warned us we were finally entering the desert and, pretty soon, we knew they weren't lying. While I was riding with Nathan I got a flat and the moment I stopped to change it I noticed how hot it was when not biking.

We biked on and it. got. so. hot. Picture 115 heat plus the heat coming off the black roads we're riding on. Add to that winds that feel more like hair dryers blowing you in the face and it makes for a miserable day. Some people got heat exhaustion. It was tough forcing yourself to drink HOT water, too, but you had to stay hydrated.

Finally, we got to the host site where it was still hot as balls. They had a nice dinner for us and we crashed pretty early.

The next morning we took off to go from Salome to ___. NOBODY wanted to get sick again, so most people booked it. The ride was about 60 miles and I got there in about 2.5 hours. Brandon, Ben, and I snuck into Best Western and enjoyed their continental breakfast before heading to the campsite. It was already getting warm at only 10 in the morning.

The campsite was cool. It was right on the Colorado River and on the other side was California. We hung out a bar on the water all day and swam a bit. Me, Larry, and Cali started talking to this guy on our way back from the bar and he ended up letting us take his jet ski out for a spin. That was awesome.

We all wanted a good amount of sleep that night because we had our 120 mile to Twentynine Palms, CA, the next day and were waking up at 2:30 to beat the sun.

The problem? It was about 95 degrees.... at night. We didn't even put up tents. No one could sleep cause it was so hot. I maybe got less than two hours of non-consecutive sleep.

Aaron and I volunteered to be sweep for the 120 day. It was gonna be challenge. I knew that from the moment we were packing up our camping gear in the darkness.

Going to first lunch wasn't bad. I got tired at one point and took a five hour energy and that helped. People had already gotten in the van by first lunch.

First lunch to second lunch started getting difficult. There was a gradual climb that seemed to go on forever. And, seriously, there was NOTHING around. There were mountain tops that seemed like they were from a video game. There was some haze around them and you couldn't see anything past them.

Second lunch to third lunch went relatively okay. We did a lot of riding with Tati and had a few descents.

Then third lunch to host site was rough. Winds picked up and we were starting to realize we had been on our saddles for almost eight hours. The heat was never as bad as it was two days prior, thankfully.

Finally, we got in. We went to a pool at one of the churchgoers houses. They had the three cutest kids, too, and I enjoyed giving them airplane rides. The town had a great potluck for us that night and then we all broke up and went to different peoples houses to sleep at. Me and Larry slept at this woman, Cynthia's, house and she showed us where the military base was and told us a lot about Twentynine Palms. I slept great on the couch, too.

Unfortunately, we got to the church a little late the next morning and had only a few scraps of food for breakfast. It was a 90 mile day and it didn't take long for everyone to realize we were all on the struggle bus. Especially when the winds picked up and made us miserable. Luckily, it was cool wind. But at one point me, Matt, and Aaron got so tired we tried to nap behind a big rock with a little shade. A trucker pulled over to ask what we were doing and he ended up donating ten bucks to us.

After a long day we got into this house in Victorville that the Lutheran church let us stay in. All of us were beaming that the next day's ride was only 54 miles.

I rode with Larry and we really took our time. Had a nice Starbucks in the morning, went to Barnes and Noble later and then got some McDonalds. We had some good conversations and the day turned out really well, overall. Palmdale, CA, feels a lot like the California I know. After our host provided dinner we went to BJs Brewery and had a few drinks to celebrate the week from hell being over. Definitely tasted good.

So yeah, back to square one. Only a few days left... sad. But it's been a great journey.

Ok, we're getting free Chipotle in a bit. Can't wait!

Until next time.. the wheel keeps on spinning.

"Look at the stars....."

Okay, back after that quick shower session at a local college.

Grand Canyon=awesome and relaxing.

Things we did:
Saw the sunset - GORGEOUS.
Woke up at 4:45 to go see the sunrise - GORGEOUS.
Saw five huge elk and got really close.
Hiked a trail and saw some breathtaking views.
Played mafia. I was a mafia member and won.
Drinking at the general store.
Six-person-one-shower-head shower. $2.00 per shower, so we saved money.
Star-gazed and saw a shooting star. This was probably my favorite thing of the whole GC trip. It was so amazing. I hadn't seen stars like that in years. You could even see the milky way.

One thing not so cool that happened before we got to the Grand Canyon? One of our riders, Sarah, got something caught in her tire and ended up going over her handlebars and breaking her elbow. Her and her good friend, Lesley, spent the past couple nights in Flagstaff. Sarah had a complicated surgery, but they have both returned to us now and we are a better group for it.

Yesterday we rode from Grand Canyon to Ash Fork, AZ. Larry and I were sweep. It was kind of crazy packing up EVERYTHING from camping, but we still made great time. First, we stopped and had some coffee with others. Yum yum. A local gave us Smarties.

On the way out of the GC I suddenly heard a loud POP. Sure enough, I had a flat. I pulled over and Larry helped me change it. As we started pumping the new tire, it popped...again. We changed it once more and started pumping another tire. That tire popped, too. AWESOME! I finally changed out that tire for the sweep tire we had and continued on.

At a gas station we met a young boy who was riding (with his mom, I think) from Seattle down the coast to San Diego and then over to the Grand Canyon.

The rest of the day went on and Larry told me his life story. We stopped at Pine Country Restaurant in Williams because we were told it had amazing pie. We tried the cappuccino one and it was pretty darn good, if I say so myself. The wind sort of picked up at the end, but it was pretty much all downhill for the last six miles.

We stayed at some school in Ash Fork, had our family meeting, and I changed my tire. Exciting stuff, huh.

Today was amazing because it was only 54 miles from Ash Fork to Prescott! We got here around 11:30 and ate some Quiznos. We had some amazing gelato after that we got for free (DM woot woot). I bought some more tubes at the bike shop after because my patch job on a different tube didn't work so well and it was flat after lunch.

Prescott, overall, is a pretty cool city. Used to be the capital of Arizona. People around here say it's getting a little too crowded, but I saw a sign that read, "Prescott, Everyones home town" and thought it was a good summation of the town. I would definitely spend more time here if I could.

Alright, now I'm all caught up. Dinner time and then it's Christina's 21st birthday! So we are gonna show her a good time.

The next three days will be tough. We are officially dropping 4000 feet tomorrow into...the desert. Not only that, but tomorrow is 99 miles, the day after is 120, and the day after that is 95. This will be fun. I'm not dreading that so much as much as the end of this trip. It is a week from Thursday we will be getting into Santa Barbara and I find that very hard to believe.

But I'm only living in the moment. And in this moment I am hungry.

Until next time, the wheel keeps a spinning.

Can almost taste the Grand Canyon...

Okay, a few quick updates:

1. Yours truly took home FIRST PLACE in the talent show. It was an act I was in with Aaron where we took Alanis Morrisette's song, "Ironic," and applied it to a lot of annoying situations we've all faced when biking. We called it, "Frustrated."

The chorus went like this:

"It's getting flats when you're all out of tubes,
Chafing up when you're all out of lube,
Toilets clogged and you all have to poop,
And who would have thought it figured..."

The whole video of the performance will be up online shortly.

Andrea pulled out of our act at the last minute. We had a Spartan Cheerleaders routine planned. Amary and I began performing Halo and then she choked up. Cali came through with her idea to read Gin and Juice as a poem. Good times. Tatiana got Aaron and I washrags that were embroidered with "B2SB Talent Show Winner!" She's so good at that stuff.

2. The ride from Spingerville to Sanders was fast. There was a LOT of descending in the first couple miles, so I threw my bike into third gear and cranked it out and caught up with the guys in front. Sanders was, um.. dot dot dot. There were about four buildings that made up the town (or so it seemed). Luckily, we stayed at a fire station and they were amazing. They set up a pool for us cause we were there so early. And they used the hose from the fire truck to shower us. When will I ever get to do that again? We played some games that night and relaxed. Little did we know what would happen the next morning...

As we were getting ready to leave, Trey realized his bike was missing. I could build the story up with great suspense, but I'll make it short and say that someone stole his bike, the cops found it later that day, and Terri (the fire chief) drove his bike to him at our host site in Winslow. CLOSE CALL. It was definitely sitting among other peoples bikes. We're not quite sure when and how the thief got it.

3. You know the song, "Take it Easy," by The Eagles? Well, I've officially stood at "the corner of Winslow, Arizona"! Kind of cool, no? They had a statue of a guitar player and a bunch of signs. The song played on repeat during the day, too.

Larry and I played on some cool railroad cars, too, on this nice little bike/walk path.

We all went to sleep nice and comfy, not knowing what awaited us the next morning...

We headed for Flagstaff (a "simple" 60 miles) the next day and here's all I have to say about it:

35mph CROSSWINDS.

Miserable ride. Absolutely miserable. People were crying. One person got blown over and cut up. You could not pace line. You could not ride next to each other for fear of being blown into each other. Trucks passed and would almost knock you off the road with their gusts of wind. At one point we were even going to get shuttled because of construction, but we found a detour that had lots of trees and cut down the wind a bit.

The good news is the town of Flagstaff was really cool. A lot of chill people. Maybe too many hipsters, but that's okay. We had some good Mexican food and beers before dinner. A Bike & Build alum, Kyle, who actually helped plan Boston to Santa Barbara last year, made dinner for us and even joined us for a ride the next day to the Grand Canyon.

The next day's ride to the Grand Canyon had many perks.

I rode with Tati, Cali, and Larry all day and we started out getting coffee in Flagstaff cause it felt FREEZING. Here is where I taped my new mascot, Herman, onto my helmet. He is a beanie baby frog from McDonald's. After getting lost, we finally found our way out of town.

We saw a couple forest fires from far away while riding, but nothing that put us in danger. Our elevation hit 8000, too.

27 miles outside the GC we stopped at this old weird kind of "theme" park based around the Flinstones. It cost five dollars to get in, but we used donation magic to get in free. Definitely wasn't worth five dollars, but we have great photos now.

The plan was to meet outside the GC entrance and then the van would shuttle us in (cheaper... kind of against the rules, but whatever).

Okay, I'm in Prescott, AZ, right now and have to leave to shower and put my laundry stuff in before dinner. I'll have to fill you in on the rest of the Grand Canyon adventures later.

Until then, bike on!

I'm looking for something like Mexico, but maybe a bit more modern

Long story short: New Mexico was awesome. So so so so so beautiful and amazing to bike through. I can't believe we've already gotten through the entire state.

Last I left you we had just gotten into NM. Now I'm writing from Springerville, AZ.

What happened since last time we talked?

Highlights:

Portales, NM: the mayor declared July 29th, 2009, Bike & Build day! We had a great dinner at their church. We were also able to talk to a local resident who was receiving a house from Habitat and saw her finished place. She was truly touched by what Habitat has done for her. Along with a great dinner and breakfast the city also provided us a police escort out of the city the next morning. It was a solid four miles and definitely put everyone in a great mood.

That day, particularly, turned out to be great. It was a century ride into Roswell. Century rides can always sound overwhelming, but, oh man, was that ride great. For once we actually had a tail wind and could easily hit 30mph! I pace lined with Sadie and Cali for most of the day (more Cali near the end) and we seriously averaged 21mph. We flew there. We stayed at ENMU Roswell and they had a pool to offer us when we got in.

Our time in Roswell was...um.. just kind of eh. The city was pretty blando commando besides all the alien stuff which is more just tourist bs, overall. Megan's parents took us to a Mexican dinner the first night we were there. It started storming like crazy right as we were about to leave. Seriously, just from running from the front door to the car we got SOAKED. We then waited twenty minutes in the van for the storm to lighten up and when we left it was like we were fording rivers with how bad the streets were.

After an early night (still was grossly sick) I ended up waking up at 5:30. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I listened to my ipod for a half hour until I finally did.

Like I said, day off in Roswell.... thrilling. Megan's parents took us all out to IHOP, but, due to the distance and lack of shuttling, breakfast took a solid three hours. After, we went to the UFO museum which was two dollars and a joke. A local coffee shop looked kind of neat, but was disappointing. We had to get back by 3:00 to get our laundry out and it seemed like no one in Roswell had ever used their bus system. It's probably because it was more of a van that came every forty minutes and had a bunch of crazy locals on it. Andrea's shorts were wet when we got off and we're pretty confident she had sat in pee.

The rest of the day we just hung by the pool until Christina's mom (also came to visit) took us all out to a buffet dinner. The shuttling and distance also meant a long night, but it was definitely appreciated.

Oh, I did get a few packages in the mail on our mail drop day! That was exciting for me.

The next day's ride was from Roswell to Carrizozo. The day didn't start so hot. It was just dreary out and really windy. Sarah got a flat and then Christina did. At one point we passed a stick in the road, only to realize it was some kind of bone (looked human) when we got closer. Then, we saw a dead dog...in a duffel bag. Yes, not a joke. Disgusting. Finally, at mile 30 there was a huge gravel patch at the bottom of a small decline. Christina was ahead of me and I watched her fish tail until she finally fell. I grabbed my brakes, but just slid over the gravel, hit her back tire, and fell, too. My elbow and knee are scratched up, but she definitely fell harder. We were both okay and kept riding.

A guy started following us on his bike and hung out at lunch with us. His wife worked at the ENMU Roswell campus and she told him about us and he wanted to ride with us a bit. Pretty cool.

Overall, the first 50 miles sucked. It got hot and hilly really fast. But once we made a turn onto a different road things got much better. There was still some up and down, but not nearly as windy. And after second lunch we had a few miles of climbing and then the last 14 miles were pretty much all down hill. Not only that, but it opened up to the most incredible view ever. It was sunny, but there were at least three rain clouds in the distance. And pedaling was effortless. It was such a high for anyone riding that day and it really is hard to justify in words. A stunning view and a great ride into the town.

The town, itself, didn't offer much. We stayed at the middle school, had our family meeting, and slept.

The next morning we took off for Socorro. A pretty uneventful ride besides the gorgeous scenery. There were some cool descends, too. We played this bandanna game where sweep started out with a red bandanna and the goal was to get the bandanna signed by every rider and to the front of the line by the time we got to the host site. Aaron stayed at lunch waiting for sweep and, once he got it, he took off. He came upon us and we signed it and he was off again. We found out later he was three people shy when he got to the pastor's house we were staying at. But he's a trooper.

It's funny how, now that we're getting in the desert, gas stations are equivalent to a tropical oasis. They offer water, snacks, and fountain drinks. I am totally hooked on fountain Cokes. NOTHING in the world tastes better after a 30 mile stretch in hot hot heat. This gas station we stopped at offered a variety of pins that I could add to my collection. I bought two: "Fantasy Lover," and "It's Not Easy Being a Sex Symbol." Rock.

The pastor greeted us with some amazing burgers and chili cheese fries. A group of six of us needed to get bike work done, so the pastor made some calls (because the bike shop is closed on Sundays) and they opened their doors just for us at 4:00. I got my bike fixed, but... we were there until 8:00. Not the most fun time in the world. Everyone had eaten by the time we got back, but the pastor was still at the oven making us some delicious burritos.

We were going to have an AH meeting that night, but, because of the bike shop detour, we pushed it to the next night. Everyone had one thing on their mind: this mythical hardest ride ever the next day to Pie Town.

The riders last year rated Pie Town as their hardest ride. People just started joking about how bad it was going to be.

Personally, all the hype was great because it definitely didn't deliver.

Sure, I got a flat at mile six or so, but big whoop. The first ten miles we gained 1700 feet of elevation, but after that it wasn't THAT bad. We hit some bad wind at the end of the day, but I would not classify it as our worst ride. One thing that is a pain is biking at such a high elevation. I can barely drink out of my Camelbak without getting out of breath. And just imagine how difficult it is to breathe once you start laughing really hard. That has happened a couple times. Poor Andrea was having a rough time with me and Larry because we kept farting so much. Talk about head winds.

Thinking back, I do remember getting really frustrated with the wind at the end of the day. I wasn't descending fast enough on a hill, so I stopped pedaling. Andrea caught up to me and asked, "What's wrong? What are you doing?" and I snapped with "GOING DOWN A HILL, WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE?!" I dropped from the front and then apologized when she dropped back. We laugh about it now.

Also, there was this nice gentleman at second lunch who segued his interest in the organization into how End Times might be coming soon... awk-ward.

Pie Town was very interesting. It's a community of less than 100 and we stayed at someones house. But it wasn't their house anymore. They turned it into a hikers lodge that was open to anyone who needed to use it. A lot of people hike the continental divide and end up there. The house, itself, was decorated interestingly with toasters in the front yard and random stuff all over.

The community had a nice dinner for us at their community center complete with pie for dessert! We did an AH meeting after and then walked back. I'll tell you, some of these sunsets I've seen in NM are breathtaking. Red and orange and crazy clouds. Pics soon!

People mozied around all night. Some watched a movie, some sang songs while Tess played the guitar. We ended up crashing early. I got to sleep in a bed upstairs (shared, of course) and it was so comfortable. I did wake up with a big bug on my chest, but I threw it on the floor (maybe on top of Jenna... my bad).

This morning we slept in until 5:15, had a nice breakfast at the community center (the yogurt expired two months ago; didn't realize that til after we ate it all) and took off to Springerville, AZ.

A relatively calm ride it was. The first 20 miles were pretty much all downhill and we went 21 miles in an hour. The gas station we stopped at had the cutest boxer puppy, Spot. Also, it had free Starbucks fraps because they expired in December. I was skeptical, but drank them anyway.

I jumped around from people to people during the ride. Sometimes I felt a fire under my ass, so I really booked it for reason. Some parts of the ride were worse than Pie Town's ride. There was the city of Red Hill which only had to offer a rest area.. and a large obnoxious hill (who would have thought?). We hit the AZ border, too, and, once we did, it seemed like they threw out the idea of switchbacks and just had straight up and down hills. There was a sweet descend into town and a nice McDonald's awaiting us with their fountain drinks... mmmmm.....

Okay, I have to get going now because tonight's the talent show! I'm in about four acts and still have to practice a few of them. Hopefully I place first or second. We'll see. There should be some tough competition.

Until next time, bike on, riders!

Texas was pretty awesome

After an early night in Wheeler we woke up bright and early at 4:30 the next morning for our century ride into Amarillo. We left before the sun came up and, let me just say, riding and looking over seeing Texas ranches and plains lit by a redish morning glow was just beautiful. Such a cool sight. It really felt like the morn was breaking and the cowboys were getting ready to go riding. I don't even know what that means, but I didn't see any cowboys.

Within the first two miles I had to pee, so I pulled over and told everyone I would catch up with them. When I started up again I came up on to a feed lot. Because I just ate breakfast and also because I am usually a bit nauseated in the morning it only took two whiffs of the nasty air and I vomited in my mouth. Good thing no one was around.

I caught up with the others shortly after. Then, we found a group on the side of the road. Annie and Emmy had fallen off and their bikes and cracked their helmets. They vanned it the rest of the day and are doing fine now.

Overall, the century ride was GREAT. We did a nice six person pace line and did simple one mile pulls and we flew there. Luckily, there was no hardcore wind, it was cloudy pretty much the whole morning, and it was definitely flat, so we got there in great time.

We stayed at the local Habitat office, but some Jewish youth group was also staying there for six weeks this summer. There were 16 of them, 32 of us, and not the most spacious living quarters. And we were there for two days. Great.

The youths (teenagers) made us grilled cheese for dinner and we hung out with them at the park. That was nice of them.

Later, we went to The Big Texan which is a popular restaurant nearby. They have a 72oz steak challenge that was featured on The Food Channel's Man Vs. Food. Basically, you have to eat a 72oz steak, potato, house salad, and three shrimp in under an hour. If you do, it's free. If not, you owe $72.00. Read more here.

One of our riders, Brandon, took on the challenge. He got soooo close, but didn't finish. He was only seven ounces shy of finishing it. It was fun to go out and chill with everyone. They even offer free limo service to and from the restaurant.

We woke up the next morning and walked over to the habitat site we'd be at for the day. Everyone got a lot done, but it wasn't the most organized. We put the sides up on the house while a lot of people put on tresses. The local news channel came, too, and interviewed some of us (me and Andrea included). The newspaper did a story, too.

I did a quick run to the bike shop after we were done working. They stayed open a half hour later for us and were able to fix my loose fork! Aaron had put a piece on backward when we tried lubing it last time, so it was a quick (and simple) fix.

The bike run gang (Annie, Tess, Emmy, and I) got back just in time for dinner. Annie's parents came all the way up from Austin towing their smoker so they could make us delicious BBQ. Chicken, pork, ribs, etc. It was quite an amazing feast.

We cleaned up and had so many leftovers after (great for lunches). That night we hung around. Some people got their last minute outifts because prom was the next night! Woohoo! We could barely sleep. Aaron and I worked a bit on our act for the talent show this weekend.

The next day from Amarillo to Hereford is one that many people were looking forward to. Mostly because it was only 50 miles! 50! So short. However, there was an optional detour that we were offered to take and Cali, Ali, Larry, and I did. It was Palo Duro canyon and it's the second biggest canyon in the US. We didn't get DM, so only had to pay 5 bucks. The lady was kind of crazy, though. We didn't go as far in as others did. Mostly because it said 10% Downgrade 2 Miles. I guess that downgrade was kind of cool/scary to go down, but (obviously) a pain in the ass to get back up. Pass. That detour only added 18 miles on.

There had been intense rumors that people last year got sick on the ride into Hereford because Hereford is the beef/feed lot capital of the US. I had been super scared because I have such a bad gag reflex, but, luckily, the smell was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Some of the locals said it was because it had rained lately and that holds the smell down in the ground or something.

The church in Hereford welcomed us and Tati had a big bouncy castle set up in the lawn in honor of prom. Everyone showered, laundry crew did laundry, the church fed us pizzas, the FC (fun committee) helped decorate the youth center room, and then people got ready for prom! Trey's a DJ and made an ultimate playlist. Also, I set up a B2SB Prom photo booth complete with bikes, balloons, prom sign, etc.

Everyone had AMAZING outfits. You will see them soon for sure. The shirt I had turned out to be one of those things wrestlers wear to sweat a ton in. I did not know that. I thought it was a Halloween spaceman costume. I sweated my ass off. I had to cut holes in it for ventilation. Andrea looked great, too. She had high heels that lit up. The prom ended at about 9:30ish because our wakeup was 5am this morning.

Oh, meanwhile, EVERYONE has started to get sick. Sarah got into Wheeler and within two hours had a sour throat and felt like crap. The next day the van was full of sickies, a rider with a broken bike, and two people from the accident. Andrea started feeling crappy the next day and actually didn't ride today. Me, Larry, Jodi, Goose, and a lot more woke up this morning with sore throats. I hope this goes away. I've been taking lots of vitamin C and ibuprofen and it's working well, but I was kind of annoyed about it all day.

Like I said, it was annoying to have a sore throat this morning, but me, Ravi, Lesley, Sarah, and Christina had a pretty solid pace line all the way til lunch. I gagged twice at feed plants before then. It was almost like the ten miles leaving Hereford were worse than the ones going in. There were supposed to be some showers, but, luckily, there were none. The sun wasn't too bad, either. We crossed into New Mexico, too, which is sweet. They had two Welcome signs about 100 miles apart. At the first one a family came out and asked what we were doing. It was really nice to hang out and talk to them and then they took pics, too. There was also this store we stopped at specializing in selling cowboy hats, boots, etc. and the owner gave us free t-shirts. Not just that, but, also, he took a group that was there earlier to a local Mexican restaurant that was supposedly amazing. Such great hospitality.

ENMU (Eastern New Mexico University) is our home tonight which means real BEDS! Tomorrow we have a century followed by a night and day off in Roswell. I can't believe it's almost August. I knew that the end of June would go slow, but once July hit it would be like blinking and it would be August. I've got to salvage the time I have left!

Until next time, the wheel keeps turning...

Oh, and here's my latest photo album. 200 pics (AND you can see my mohawk). Prom pictures will be in the next album.

I just did some more searching and found the video that I'm interviewed in. Unfortunately, I have no audio here, but it looks like they didn't use anything I have to say (just from watching the video portion, at least). Here it is.

Ciao ciao!

Oh, sun, how you are getting on my nerves

I'm in Texas! We crossed the border into good ole TX today. First things first: it's hot. Like, really hot. Like, I'm sort of worried about how we're going to survive Death Valley in August hot.

But let me bring you up to speed...

After our nice night in Joplin we awoke and headed for Vinita, OK. It was such an easy ride and we all could really appreciate it. Before arriving some of us stopped at McDonalds and we got some DM (donation magic). They even gave me my iced coffee free.

When we got in we all headed to the local pool and played around a while. Marco Polo, Sharks and Minos, and other such games kept us occupied. When it came time for dinner that night (what seemed like the whole church) arrived to eat with us. Before dinner he gave us a blessing and really told us how much he admired what we were doing. I sat at a table with a few local youths who were also interesting and fun to talk to. We did a presentation on B&B after dinner and everyone was SO interested in what we had to say. It was really touching to see people so intrigued.

After dinner we had affordable housing presentations. Alex and I did ours on the Department of Housing and Urban Development and talked about its history, what it offers for tenants, and where it is today.

The presentation was going great until.... Caroline walked right up to me at the podium and assassinated me with her spoon! Mine was in my pocket! I was so bitter I could barely finish. Turns out I was in the top six out of 32 so I guess that's saying something.

I had been planning something for the end of my presentation all day. We ended with asking trivia questions and handing out candy if people got it right. I said, "One final question.." and then proceeded to turn on my ipod into the overhead speakers. Sophie B. Hawkins' "As I Lay Me Down" began to play and I said, "Andrea, will you go to prom with me?" She said yes!

Now, I may have not blogged about this yet, but we're having a prom in a few days. Tatiana has been organizing it and it is gonna be pretty fun. Andrea is a good friend on this trip and she's also SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than me, so it will be a funny sight.

After the presentation I went out with Robby, Larry, Nathan, Amary, and Jodi to some Caboose bar. Damnnn was it smokey in there. Stunk up my clothes pretty bad.

The next morning we had this amazing breakfast provided by a local restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Biscuits and gravy YUMMMMMM. Delicious.

And then off we were to Tulsa! And it was pretty humid when we left. Gross.

The ride to Tulsa had some pretty cool things. First, there was this cool Route 66 "mall" (store), but it had some awesome murals and statues on the outside (pics coming soon, I swear). We goofed around awhile and even got to sign our names on some white brick on the exterior. Later, we got to see the infamous blue whale everyone had kept talking about. It's basically this wooden whale in a lake that people driving on Route 66 would pull off at and swim in. No one has swam in years, though, because the water is disgusting. Cool pictures from there, too.

With seeing cool things comes seeing something pretty disturbing, too. At one point there were two dogs walking on the shoulder on the other side of the street. As we cycled closer the one started crossing slowly toward us, but didn't see a car coming from the other direction. We all freaked out and I turned to see the car basically run over the dogs back legs. I flipped out a bit and couldn't look back. I had to pull off and when I turned to look I saw the big dog helping the smaller (hit) dog hobble off. I saw a tractor store (or something) nearby, so I biked over there and told a few men what happened. They said they knew whose dog it was and would tell the owner. None of them seemed that concerned, though, and I was nervous they were maybe just going to shoot it. It felt good to tell someone and hope they take action.

Now something funny: our cue sheet that morning literally started out by saying turn right onto Route 66 and stay on it for 60 miles. We get to lunch around mile 35 at Braum's only to find out the leader driving the van that day (Ali) had to go food shopping before lunch and somehow ended up driving 35 miles....east. 35 miles on 66 in the wrong direction. She will probably win the jackass award this week.

Tulsa welcomed us with heat. The lsat 15 miles got a little uncomfortable really quickly. Nathan's wire had come off his brakes and my bike had still not been fixed, so we dropped our bikes at a nearby bike shop and walked to the church from there (about a mile). We took showers at the local Y that had TVs and couches in its locker room.

That night in Tulsa was AWESOME. So I have this friend, Max, from LA* (*relocated to NYC :( ) and his family lives in Tulsa. Back when I told him about the trip he said his parents offered their house for me to stay at, but I didn't think I'd be allowed, so politely declined. However, when I realized it wouldn't be an issue I asked him if the offer was still there and, even though his sister and mom were in CA, his dad was home and was more than happy for us to join him. So Mr. Greene picked up me, Aaron, and Andrea and we went back to Casa de Greene (which is beautiful). We got to swim in their gorgeous pool and we each got our own bedroom. He took us out to Mexican that night where we had some great food and margaritats. Also, the sunsets in OK were beautiful. We saw it from downtown that night.

We got back and hung out for a bit, watched a little of 13 Going on 30, and then all went to sleep. I awoke at 3:30 to what was one of the craziest storms I've seen/heard since living in Cleveland. Lightning was lighting up the room every few seconds. I thought for sure our build day was going to be affected because it was intense.

I fell back asleep and we woke up, had some breakfast, and Mr. Greene dropped us off back at the church before we had to leave for the build site. He left us with some performance gel and even ended up giving me a tire we wasn't able to use. Very kind of him to do.

As you can see by the previous post (the video) we did a build day in Tulsa. It turned out to be the best build day we've done so far. Personally, I tiled a whole bedroom with Christina, caulked on the porch, and then helped lay sod, but between the whole group we gave the whole yard grass, tiled the whole floor, and built a whole shed. Oh, and Garth Brooks had helped out at this build site weeks before - just a random site note. We all felt so accomplished at the end of the day.

That night the church we were staying at provided dinner for us. It was probably the biggest potluck I've ever seen. Most people there were older and we sat with them and talked about everything we were doing. It was also Tati's birthday, so we sang and gave her the best gift ever (an arm grabby thingy - long story).

My chore group had to leave right after dinner to go do laundry. While we were doing laundry the woman running the place yelled at guys standing outside the door because she "didn't want anyone getting shot up inside." Awesome! Also, played some House of the Dead with Lesley while waiting and listened to some really awkwardly sexual movie playing on the TV. When we got back we found out the plumbing had stopped working in the church, so we couldn't use any water. I also found out my bike had returned, but it was not fixed. I paid them and it did not get fixed. I was not that happy. But I ended the night by getting a mohawk, so that was cool.

By the next morning the toilets worked fine which is very crucial to everyone's comfort before riding. It was a relatively fast ride from Tulsa to Chandler. About 70 miles and a few fun stops along the way, including two competeing Route 66 souvenir shops across the street from each other. One was older while the other was newer and flashier. At lunch I bought a fake tattoo and put it on my chest (it read God is My Judge). Combine that with my new mohawk and I looked pretty badass if I do say so myself.

The church in Chandler had a pretty sweet youth center. Ping pong, air hockey, Xbox 360, projector, Wii, good speakers, and pool were just some of the features. The local youth group came and hung out there all night. The one kid was a pretty decent guitarist/singer, too. They gave us amazing brisket sandwiches for dinner.

Chandler to Yukon the next day was also a good ride. There was this weird, yet surprisingly awesome, outdoor museum of Route 66 stuff. Photos do it more justice, so I promise you'll see.

Our lunch stop was at a place called Pops. It offers over 400 sodas for your choosing! Pretty cool, actually. I chose a local Cream Soda made with pure cane sugar. Delicious.

There was also this special historic round barn... not sure what else to say about that. It had these really awkward homemade cards for a dollar that were like, "They call my brother a little devil, but my older sister is a NIGHT MARE!" It was spaced out like that, too, so it almost read as Night Horse.

Then the last 15 miles came.... and they got a little rough. It was a good 101 degrees outside, yet pretty windy.

When we got to Yukon a woman took us to the local pool. They had an amazing slide that was pretty slick. I raced Caroline in Larry in how far you could walk on your hands in the shallow end and won every time* (* I cheated and Caroline suspected it, but everyone backed me up, so I think she thinks I'm really talented).

I don't remember much about our night in Yukon because all that's on my mind was our 82 mile ride yesterday from Yukon to Cordell. Oh, man. Endless rolling hills. Heat. Wind. Hot wind. Bumpy roads. Not fun. People were taking breaks to cry. By the end of the day people were cursing the sun, the wind, and Lewis and Clark for discovering that part of the country.

After our second lunch I was riding with Andrea and Christina and we started going over this terribly paved road. Because my fork is a bit jiggly this road started destroying my hands. Without hesitation I burst out with, " WHAT THE F**K!? THIS IS SO F**KING STUPID! F**K THIS! AAGHHHH!!!" Now, I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but, seriously, you'd probably be just as frustrated. Because of the wind Andrea and Christina didn't hear me, so Andrea asked, "What?" and I had a realization. I could either be alone and pout or stick around them and risk yelling at them just because I was there. I chose the latter, so I screamed out, "NOTHING!" and pedalled off as fast as a I could and did the last 22 miles solo. I got there pretty fast and there were no hard feelings. It was rough on everyone. After a delicious dinner provided by the church and after our affordable housing meeting, BAM, I was out like a light.

We woke at 5 today and did a nice (once again HOT) ride from Cordell to Wheeler, TX. I was sweep with Megan and the day was pretty great. The wind wasn't as bad as yesterday and, even though it got hot, the whole group moved at a good pace and Megan and I were talking the whole time. It really makes the day fly by. We got in around 3:30, showered, bummed around, had BBQ dinner, did a family meeting, and now I'm ready to crash soon. We're waking at 4:30, woohoo!

I'm a bit nervous about the rest of the trip. This heat is no fun at all. I worry about it prohibiting me from having fun, but I think I can push through. I just have to keep drinking water, that's for sure. I think I'll get used to these early early wakeups because it will be great to ride in the morning breeze pre-baking.

Oh, I've been meaning to post these links. I know I've posted a few pics before, but here you can see two albums I've already posted on a different site:

First album
Second album


Until next time, just keep rolling!
And I hope I don't fry like an egg on the pavement.

On the news in Tulsa

Will (hopefully) get around to blogging about the past week soon (in short: good, but today was 82 miles in wind, HEAT, and hills; not fun), but until then, check out us on the news in Tulsa. I'm the one in the hat doing some caulking on the front porch.

ROUGH WEEK

Ah, our day off in St. Louis. What a distant fond memory that is.

I'm not exactly sure the order of the following three days, but here are the bare facts:

We went from St. Louis to Potosi; Potosi to Houston; Houston to Springfield.

These three rides together were over 300 miles. That's a century ride every day.. three days straight. PS I thought Missouri was gonna be flat....SIKE! Hills.... everywhere. Ozark mountains, too!

The first day leaving St. Louis started solid. I loved riding through the city. It reminded me of doing my training in LA. I'm not exactly sure at what point that ride stopped being fun. I think it actually held up a while. I do remember feeling a bit down and then seeing a great church sign that said, "You can't change the past. And don't ruin the future by worrying about the present." For some reason that put me at ease.

The more I think about it the more I realize that first day to Potosi wasn't actually THAT bad. We did ride on a road that said something along the lines of, "You are riding on Missouri's most dangerous road: Blood Alley." AWESOME!

Some of us pulled over in a ditch to eat a snack and while we were doing that, Andrea was stretching near the side of the road. She was doing a crazy yoga pose sticking her butt out toward the street and, no joke, a truck almost near ended two cars waiting to turn left because he was staring at her caboose. She might deny it, but I saw it with my own eyes.

Oh, yeah, and at one point I was riding in front of Andrea and I hear her scream, "DOG! GO!" I turn my head and see her booking it as fast as she can with a dog hot on her tail. Now, Andrea is a small girl. And when I see her pedalling like crazy with a dog chasing her my first instinct was to laugh. And I laughed hard. The dog stopped running after a while, but I seriously could not stop laughing. And, sure enough, a few houses down when we were still laughing, ANOTHER dog started chasing us. And I started laughing...again. Too funny.

We stayed at a boy scout camp that nights (sans boy scouts). We got two cabins and the director made us a TON of leftover food from camp. When we first arrived we went swimming in the lake. Some claimed there were nibbling fish, but I never felt them.

Later that night we did some roman candles we've had since 4th of July and had Harry Potter battles with them.

A funny story is that I discovered the cabins had AC (really hard camping, huh?) and turned ours on before sleep. I put it on as low as it could go and didn't think twice. I couldn't actually read the different temperatures, though.

Flash forward a couple hours. I wake up and it is a freaking MEAT LOCKER in our room. I am shivvering under my sleeping bag. I creep out of bed because in my head I think, "Crap. People are gonna be pissed at how cold it is." I turn the temp up and go back to my bunk. Suddenly, Nathan's phone goes off. I see him pick it up and I ask, "Is it 5?" He says, "yes." Crap. Plan did not work. People wake up and, sure enough, are freezing. I was nominated for the Jackass award for this stunt, but did not win.

The ride started out rainy, but it lightened up fast. As we were riding we came upon the cutest little Beagle ever. I called him Simba and he was our new favorite pet.

Soon after that we turned on to what I call the scariest road we've been on. It was up and down, side to side, and semis were barreling around every corner. Some people didn't feel safe enough to ride on it, so they rode in the van. One thing was keeping me going after our first lunch (we do two lunches on every 90+ mile ride): the fact that there was a Sonic 20 miles away that we'd be passing.

I've never had Sonic, but I've heard amazing things, so I decided it would be best to try it that day. We got into town right as a nasty storm was hitting and chilled there for a while. I had a delicious Strawberry slushee and a burger. Soooo good. They also kept coming outside and giving us free food. Then, when we were telling a gentleman about what we were doing he called his friend who worked at the newspaper and had her come to interview us and take a picture! I'm keeping my eye open for that article.

After it lightened up a bit we kept going. We hit second lunch, ate briefly, and it was already 5:00. We were told if we weren't in by 5 the van was going to pick people up. Not as punishment, but because our bodies really do need time to recover after riding SO many miles in so few days. Because I wasn't all the way in the back I was able to finish the day. However, I overshot the host site and ended up at Pizza Hut alone looking for directions. When I came out two women in an SUV pulled up and told me I was supposed to be staying at their church and they were there to pick up our dinner. I was able to put my bike in the back and they gave me a lift back.

We enjoyed a good dinner and the hosts were sooo friendly.

The next day was our last long day. We left from Houston at 7am and it was already so freaking humid. The humidty has been a problem in MO. It leaves you feeling like you're wearing a wet towel alll day long.

After first lunch a rider found a "good" detour. Yeah, this detour turned out to be an extra 12 miles. This fellow rider, Goose, won the Jackass award this week because of it.

Around mile 90 of 107 I started feeling weird. I ate a Powerbar and drank a ton of water, but I was shaky. Everyone was so gung ho about finishing, though, so I went along. By mile 100 I was feeling better, but it still made me nervous I was going to bonk.

That night a group of us went and saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. A pretty solid movie, but the book was deifinitely better.

The next morning we didn't have to be at the build site until 10am! We slept til 9 and it was probably the most amazing feeling in the world at the time. We walked over to a Habitat site they had donated to them. Me, Andrea, Jenna, Cali, and Codde went to a different site where we loaded a pile of wood into a dumpster. It took all morning and we didn't even finish, but when it was time for lunch the other crew ate everything, so Nancy (the leader) treated us via Habitat to Subway.

After that me, Emmy, and Andrea went to the local pool and they let us in for free once we explained what we were doing. After an hour we walked to the local Sonic and had slushees. I am officially addicted.

We had dinner donated that night and had some chicken and then had a long family meeting. Aaron and I worked on my bike after that and it's still a bit wobbly. I definitely need to get into a bike shop soon.

Today's ride was AMAZING! 80 miles! 80 miles! Not 100! It felt so great. The rolling hills weren't even that bad. We stopped at a local tractor show where Christina and Caroline participated in a barrel pushing contest. Only took them 41 seconds. You'll see footage of that eventually.

One woman even donated $100 to us there!

The rest of the ride just felt great. Everyone was in such good spirits. Seriously, best day of riding for everyone in a long time. Perfect weather. Not too hot and a breeze every now and then.

We got into Joplin, MO, at 4pm and Tatiana arranged for a local news station to come interview us. I even got interviewed, so I'll keep an eye open for that video, too.

We cleaned our tarps by putting a ton of water on them, putting soap on our bodies, and then sliding on them ala Slip N Slides. Good times. We just ate a delicious dinner that was homemade burritos. They donated all the ingredients and we just had to make them.

Also, we're starting this game called spoons. Basically, everyone has to be holding a spoon in their hand and you pick a name from a hat. They are your target. You must assassinate them by tapping them with your spoon when they are not holding the spoon until only one remains. I destined to win. Wish me luck!

Until next time, the wheels keep on spinning....

A lil bit of building, a lil bit of crazy hurricane-like weather...

Last I left you folks we had just pulled into Bloomington, IN. We had a build day there that was a good time. They broke us up into two shifts (AM and PM) and also split us between an actual Habitat build site and at a place called Restore. I was in the day shift at the Habitat site, so I got to sleep in a little. Me, Trey, Amary, and Nathan walked to a Starbucks that morning and chilled for a while. We read some really good literature online and then headed back to get ready to leave. The humidity kicked up as we were walking over to the build site. We joined the AM crew and ate our free Chipotle burritos for lunch.

After lunch the Habitat group of us (me, Caroline, Megan, Trey, Brando, Matt, and Alex) did various tasks throughout the house (hung blinds, did caulking, painted doors, put on closet doors, etc.). It was a good day. We had a radio, thus we were able to break into the occasional dance party.

We headed back to the church after and found out they had a karaoke machine. After singing hits of Grease and Lion King we got ready for dinner which was, once again, free Chipotle burritos. I'm definitely not against free food and I'm definitely not against Chipotle, but having Chipotle burritos twice in one day was definitely something I don't care to do again for a while.

Some utilized the screen and projector once again and watched a movie. While this was going on I organized a ping pong tournament for whoever was interested. 16 people played and it went on until right before lights out. Annie surprised everyone by beating pretty decent ping pong players, such as Ben, Matt, and Trey. Some also played some billiards and PS2 during the tournament, too. And because the only CD available in the room was Britney's Oops I Did It Again album I called the tournament The First Annual Britney Spears Ping Pong Tournament.

After a pretty decent night of sleep... oh, wait. That's the night I was sleeping in the hallway and Cali didn't know I was there and basically walked right into me and made me scream because I thought she was a monster. But after that night of sleep we woke up and headed for Lawrenceville, IL. I can't remember the ride that well. I think I biked with Trey, Robby, and Codde the first half of the day. There were a few rolling hills and then it seemed to flatten out a bit. After lunch in a school's parking lot the humidity kicked in hardcore and it got pretty hot out, even though the sun wasn't out. People got really tired, too. We ended up stopping at a McDonald's and got some iced coffee. After lunch I biked with a different bunch of people and ended up getting a flat in my back tire after hitting some gravel. I changed it and we got back on the road quickly.

That night we stayed at a church in Lawrenceville that had its AC blasting. It felt soooo good.

For dinner we got to go to the local Hardee's and (no exaggeration) order whatever we wanted. Now, I don't really eat a lot of fast food because it makes me feel gross and fat (FLASHBACK), but it was pretty awesome to go to town on Hardee's. I got some huge sandwich, fries, soda, and a huge milkshake. I felt so full after. Also, on the walk home I dropped my soda and it splurted up on me. Annoying, but funny. Then, we had to walk in the street back to the church and some old dude in a minivan pulled up and started honking and yelled at us for being in the street. He proceeded to turn around in a driveway and, once again, come back to us and yell at us some more before driving off in the direction he came from. This makes me wonder if he made the effort to drive after us just to yell at us?

There was an epic discovery in the upstairs room of the church later that night. It was a full costume of something that resembled a frog, but had a curly tail of a chameleon. It was also female. I had to put it on and scare people. I got a good five or six people pretty good because of a lot of dark areas in the church. I will post pictures later.

Another group of people did an affordable housing presentation that night. We worked in small groups and it was an interactive session. They did well.

The next morning we woke up getting ready to head for Salem, IL. The funny thing was it was lighter out the time we woke up (6am) than it was when we were about ready to leave (8am). We could hear thunder as the trailer was being loaded and were told to expect storms most of the day. Christina realized she had a flat before we took off and we convinced her to change it there under shelter instead of on the side of the road in a storm.

Andrea, Christina, Ali, Jodi, Jenna, and I took off and it started to rain pretty soon. Then, we kept getting screwed up on the cue sheet. Then, Christina got another flat and we pulled off and took shelter under some house's porch. Thank god no one came out and got freaked out by seeing a group of us in spandex standing there. It stopped raining shortly after which was awesome. We stopped at a gas station and filled on some on sugary sweets. Little did we know sweep had gotten ahead of us somehow. They waited for us on the side of the road playing some card game.

A mile or two before lunch Christina got her THIRD flat and was, as expected, not too happy. She needed to change her tube then and there, but didn't have it with her. Sweep didn't have a tire, either, but some guy pulled over who said he's a cyclist. He offered to give us a ride to the lunch spot so we could get Xtina's tire, but we can't accept rides from people like that. He was so nice that he drove to the lunch spot by himself, picked up the tire, and drove it back to us. We got to lunch (last), ate, and continued on. The rest of the day stayed rain-free and actually got nice out.

That night we stayed at a community center in Salem. The bad news was that the part we were staying in (the gymnasium) was not air conditioned and SOOOOO humid. The good news was that a wedding reception was going on in the other room and later in the night the bride encouraged us to come join and dance. We did the Tennessee Waltz. It was pretty fun. Then, the groom brought us to the kitchen where he gave us leftover pork, corn, and green beans for the next day's lunch. It was so kind of them to do that.

For dinner we invaded a local "hot spot" called Chico's. All we had to do was buy a large drink and we got tacos for 50 cents. Some people went crazy and ordered like 14. I ordered six, but then ate a bunch of pizza we got for free and then felt pretty disgusting after eating all those tacos. I held it down, though.

The next morning we woke at 5 to leave for St. Louis. Actually, we woke at 5:20 or so because no one could hear their alarms going off in the morning because the gym fans were too loud.

After getting prepped and ready a bunch of us hit Hardees for free coffee they were willing to give us. We FLEW to lunch after that. We had a pretty solid pace line and kept at like a 20mph speed. We ate lunch at some little league tournament so cheered on some local teams as we enjoyed our PB&Js.

Overall, besides Sarah getting a flat on her Armadillo tires (and Lesley made fun of her; note that) the ride into St. Louis was feeling pretty good..... and then the clouds darkened.

Before I get into that let me just say before the storm we saw the most amazing cloud ever. It was this huge black cloud that was almost surrounded at the edges by a white cloud. But it looked like the white cloud was being sucked into the black cloud. It seriously felt majestic. A pic won't do it justice, but I'll try to post one later.

And then it started storming like crazy. And our first instinct was to get off our bikes on the bike path we were on, stand in a circle, and sing Kumbi Ya (spelling is way wrong). The rain was freezing and it even hailed a bit. It turned into a drizzle soon and we pushed through on our way to St. Louis. When we got to this one grated bridge we (maybe ten of us; girls and guys) all decided to pee THROUGH the bridge. Not off or on it, but through it. Definitely a great memory.

It was also funny when we got on the bridge to cross the Mississippi and Lesley's Gatorskin blew. As Sarah pointed out, "Karma's a bitch."

Me, Dennis, Andrea, and Christina kept going and soon after getting off that bridge Dennis got a flat (and, yes, he did make fun of Lesley's flat). At that point Jodi and Jenna found us coming from the other direction and I guess the last ten miles on the cue sheet were majorly screwed up. Because of others and taking the wrong roads we were able to avoid the ten mile detour and go straight to UMSL. Not before TONS of random hills, though. Needless to say, everyone was so thankful to be done with that ride.

Originally, some people had a pool party planned for us that night, but, because of the rain, it just turned into a little potluck dinner. They were friends of the Webbers and made us plenty of great food.

Some of us went out after that, but others went back and crashed pretty early.

Even though today was our day off, I still woke at 7am ready for the day. Goose, Cali, Ravi, and Christina were up, too, so we headed for the Metro to go downtown. We got breakfast at a local cafe first and hit up the bike shop and then we went downtown.

It was such good luck for us that they were having the Home Run Derby that night and All-Star game the day after. There were so many great booths set up. We got some free Budweiser, free tacos, Aaron got a free shave by Gilette. Swag is great. The rest of the afternoon we checked out the arch (which is really cool to look at) and walked MANY blocks to see the City Museum which turned out to be more of a playground for kids that cost $12. Aaron, Jbaby, and I decided to head back after and got some pizza along the way. A cyclist team provided dinner for us and Aaron and I worked on my bike after because of issues I was having hearing a popping noise.

Alright, early wake up and rough week ahead.

Just keep spinning!

Coshocton, OH, through Bloomington, IN (and our friendliest host site yet!)

After our night in Coshocton we took off for Columbus. Some people left early because they're from Columbus, but the rest took off at a normal time.

I have no idea why, but I was SOOOO tired all morning and we were hit with so many hills. I was so discouraged and seriously thought I might fall asleep at the handlebars a few times. It was an 80 mile day, so I was a bit nervous the whole ride would be like this. However, after our delayed lunch stop (cause Ali got lost with the van) we rode about ten miles into Granville where they had a little fair going on. One booth gave us some free delicious lemonade and then a ride operator even let us ride a ride for free. I passed on the upside down whirlypuke because I just ate a delicious free funnel cake.

After this very welcomed detour Sarah and I finished off the day together into Columbus. Someone did throw a water bottle at me, though. That was uncalled for.

We stayed at a church that was not very organized. There turned out to not really be any showers to use, so we walked across the street to some college and asked if we could use theirs. Luckily, they said yes.

One rider, Denis, is from Columbus, so we all went out that night to a local bar and then got some ice cream, too. They extended the curfew to 1am because of this, but I was kind of beat so headed home early. Overall, Columbus was a cool city. Oh! And we also got on the news! Check it out!

We woke up at 6 the next morning at a 6:45 we were told we had to be out of the church by 7. We ate lunch on their front steps...

The ride out of Columbus felt good. Flat land and people could ride next to each other. We had a short day going into Yellow Springs, OH. We were on a bike path for almost 30 miles which was half the day's distance. That was really cool and peaceful to be on, but it made me appreciate the excitement of riding in the road.

At our lunch stop that day we were hit up by like three different newspapers interviewing us and taking pictures. Here's one of the articles that I'm actually mentioned in: http://www.madisonpress.com/local.asp?ID=1723&Story=2

Most of us got to Yellow Springs pretty early and had a lot of time. We walked all around town and checked out some cool shops. The church made us an AMAZING dinner. SO much food! Later that night they took us to a dairy farm to get some amazing ice cream. Also, Andrea came back later that night! It was good to see her.

The next morning we left Yellow Springs, OH, for Rushville, IN. This was our second century (over 100 miles) ride. Overall, the first half wasn't too too bad. After our second lunch, though, we hit a few hills and the heat was really starting to take it out of us. I did the last 20 miles solo and suddenly had a burst of energy and found myself flying there.

We got there and let me just say this. The people of Rushville, IN, were SOOOOOO great. They were just so kind and the food they made for us was absolutely amazing. They even had people come in at 4:30 this morning to have breakfast ready for us at 6:45. Insanely nice. So friendly and so generous. They gave us a ton of food to take with us on our ride today. We're almost running out of room in the trailer.

When we cleaned out the trailer this morning we found some fruit flies and rotting fruit. Lesley and I may have gagged a bit a few times...

Ravi and I were sweepers today. I may have explained it before, but, if I didn't, sweep is the last to leave the host site and the last to arrive at the new one. The point is to carry extra tubes and a tire so that riders can never feel at risk of being stuck alone on the road. We started out at a little diner getting coffee with the vannies (Megan cause she was driving and Tessa because her ankle is still bothering her). The people of Rushville claimed it was a hilly day, but the hills we hit had nothing on Western PA. We managed to catch up with Larry and Emmy at lunch and then continued with them for the rest of the day into Bloomington.

A few of us grabbed some food and beers and came back and watched (or are watching) Breaking Free. It's a cycling movie that was filmed in and takes place in Bloomington. From the late 70s with Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern. Pretty good.

Tomorrow we're doing a build day here. Unfortunately, they can't take us all at once, so we had to split into an AM and PM crew. It's still good we're helping, but I wish we could all be working to get more done.

Until next time, just keep spinning.....

A 4th to remember

We woke up in Cadiz ready for the day. Some felt a little extra patriotic and sported some awesome flags. I had a red, white, and blue lei that I wrapped around my seat.

The first thing we noticed on our ride was how Ohio was flattening out for us. We couldn't have been more happy. I remember blowing through 13 miles in about an hour. Pretty soon we were nearing our mid way point (aka lunch stop) and then suddenly we saw the van and trailer on the side of the road with ALL the bags and other trailer belongings on a lawn on the side of the road. Aaron was quick to say it was trailer crew's fault that Megan hit a bump and everything flew out. I got extremely defensive since I was on trailer crew, but then the truth came out. I guess Megan (she was driving the van) saw a bunch of people taking pictures by a little tin man and thought it would be fun to pull over and say hi. Unfortunately, she didn't notice that it wasn't a pull-off and, instead, was a ditch, so she got the van and trailer stuck in a ditch. A group of riders helped take all the stuff out so she could get the van out. This is the second time Megan has got into an accident in the van...

Anyway, we enjoyed lunch and even cracked open the frosting.

I took off with Sarah, Tatiana, Andrea and Jenna. We were going at a good pace and occasionally stopping for cool pics with large patriotic eagles (pics coming soon). Then we came upon a small climb which meant a small descent, too. Andrea was behind me and Jenna was in the back behind her. Now, the white line had a rumble strip right next to it and then there was maybe two feet of road for us to ride on that had gravel on the other side. Basically, we only had a narrow strip of road for us to ride on. We were kind of trapped.

So picture that little strip of road for us to ride on. Now, picture a 25lb dead raccoon whose carcass takes up that ENTIRE strip. The first three of us riding swerved around it, but Andrea rode right over it. She grabbed her brakes cause she said her bike started freaking out (she even said she could feel its intestines move under her tire) and then she flipped and started rolling. Jenna hit her and also fell. I didn't see them fall, but I heard them screaming. We pulled over and I ran back to them. Jenna was sitting up and screaming. She had a bloody arm. Andrea was contorted under her bike, but said she was fine and told me to go help Jenna.

I'll skip to the end and tell you right now that they are both doing okay, but that is one sight I'd like to never see again. To see two friends lying on the ground and not know if they're hurt, can move or not, or worse, was simply agonizing. I called 911 and they had two ambulances come. A cop did a crash report and then I rode in the ambulance with Andrea to the hospital. They got x-rayed, blood tests, etc. Jenna got stitches in her arm. I was able to go to a nearby ice cream shop and get some donated cups for them to eat. There were a couple times I felt bad because I made Andrea laugh while she was strapped to the body board (or whatever they're called) and she said that hurt when she did that.

Andrea is just really sore and her parents came and got her that night. Jenna is bandaged up and has been riding in the van the past two days. Andrea should be returning tonight, but I'm thinking she might be riding in the van, too.

It feels good to know they're doing okay, but, like I said, it was a disturbing image.

Everyone was already at the AWESOME Kids Sports Arena we were staying at. The people ordered us pizzas and we watched some movies. We had our family meeting that night and then some of us went outside and did sparklers and saw two different fireworks shows nearby.

Like I said, definitely a 4th to remember.

Amish shits and our first day off

So it’s been an interesting past couple of days. Last I left you I believe I claimed it was our “hardest day yet.” I spoke wayyyy too soon.

Our night in State College was pretty nice. I got to sleep in a bed which is, obviously, always a perk. We woke up to rain, but when we were ready to go it stopped. However, I noticed my back tire was flat (something I’ve been having major issues with; I’ve changed both tires now and, hopefully, no more problems). I took off near the end of the pack with Annie and Emmy. Unfortunately, we got hit with rain right away. I had to pull over to throw on my arm warmers and rain jacket cause the rain was so damn cold. When I did I dropped my glove on the other side of a fence and, after minutes of figuring out how to get it back, Emmy had found a opening and just walked into the yard.

We caught up with some more people and continued on. And then we were hit with more hills (surprise surprise). Not just normal hills… switchback climbs left and right. We even got up to the Eastern Continental Divide. At one point I was climbing and my chain fell off. I pulled over and changed it and when I started riding again the nipple of my Camelbak came off and started spraying water all over me.

The day dragged on and on and the YWCA (our host site) felt sooo far away. At one point Megan almost got hit by a red truck that we saw in a gas station we pulled into. I asked her if she was gonna confront him and then he walked out. She kind of stared at him and then he asked in a friendly tone, “Whatcha guys doing?” “Biking across the county to raise awareness for affordable housing.” “Ohh, cool.” Then he got in the truck and Megan kept staring until she finally said, “You almost hit me.” He rolled his window down and dropped his friendly tone and said, “Get off the road.” She responded with, “Legally it’s ours, too.” “Get off the road.” And then he pulled away. Scary. Also, that same day Andrea was biking alone and a dog started chasing her. A car almost hit the dog and then swerved and almost hit her, but at least stopped the dog from chasing her. The owner called Bruce’s name and he ran back, but Andrea started crying on her bike for a minute. I tell this story because it comes in handy later.

Going into Johnstown was super crazy. There was a 14% downgrade that I went down alone. It ended really abruptly with a stop sign. I basically had my fists clenched the entire ride down.

The folks at the YWCA made us a delicious pasta dinner and we had an affordable housing presentation that night. Aaron, Jenna, Larry, Denis, and Jodi presented that night. Some went out to a bar after, but the others (including myself) just crashed. We had a 5:30 wakeup to head to Pittsburgh the next morning. This is something I was really excited for because my parents and friend, Liz, were gonna be waiting for me!

So we wake up the next morning and leave. I start the day with Megan and a gaggle of people. The terrain wasn’t too bad. We knew we’d be doing a little more climbing before entering Ohio and it, eventually, getting flatter. We were kind of hungry and thirsty, so planned on stopping at a gas station. However, we saw this cute little Amish grocery store on the side and decided to pull in. I browsed the aisles and settled on a Reese’s Nutrageous and a little bag full of Peach Rings (basically the same as Peach-Os, but sugar-free and homemade from the Amish). When we came outside I offered some of my new tasty purchases to some people, but really just ended up eating the whole bag by myself. After admiring some of the Amish handy work we took off and had maybe 10-15 miles until lunch. It was during this time that I started feeling funny. I sort of thought, “Hmm, maybe eating candy was not such a good idea.” But then the feeling got worse and I was pretty sure I was going to puke. By the time I got to lunch I had absolutely no appetite, my stomach started hurting, and felt like I was going to puke. I saw a nearby family medicine building and walked over there with Ravi to use the bathrooms. You see, Ravi and Christina split a bag of the Peach Rings from the Amish.

We used their bathroom and left after talking to the very interested doctor for about ten minutes. My stomach wasn’t feeling right, but I was glad it didn’t feel like it was going to come out my mouth anymore.

I started biking…super slow. That’s the only speed I could register. I lost a lot of the people I was riding with and, to make things worse, I didn’t have a cue sheet. I threw the wrong one away in the morning, so was relying on others. People do chalk the route, but I thought it was too risky to follow that. Eventually, I caught up with some people. But by this time my stomach was killing me and, ya know what, I’ll just say it: I had the worst diarrhea ever. Good thing I caught up with Christina and Ravi because the three of us started demolishing every gas station we saw. I ended up losing them, though, because I came up to a climb I simply could not handle. I walked into some creepy individual contractor’s building and asked four men sitting in a circle to use their bathroom. They said yes…skeptically.

Meanwhile, I told my parents to wait for me to tell them when to come to the church that night, but they decided to show up at 4:00. I was not going to get to Pittsburgh by that time. Oh, also, sometimes when I was feeling down I thought of Andrea being chased by a dog and that made me laugh.

Even though my stomach as starting to feel a bit better I started freaking out about the fact that I had nothing to eat at lunch, thus putting me at risk to bonk (hitting that wall where you’re body cannot go another inch). I pulled over at a hamburger stand and then saw Andrea and Aaron (who were sweep that day) come up. I pulled them over which was good because they at least had cue sheets. They gave me the oomph I needed for those last 20 miles we did into Pittsburgh. It rained a bit and we had some intense trafficky downhills, but we managed to be safe. I got into Pittsburgh at 6:30/7:00 which is right after my parents left. They stayed at the church a while talking to fellow B&Bers and I knew I would see them the next day.

That night in Pittsburgh was our first official night before our day off! We all got showered (pretty late cause the van wouldn’t start…again) and ready and then Liz came and met us. She recommended this place to go to called Buckhead Saloon. It started out relatively calm with some dude on stage with his guitar, but once a lot of us got in there it turned into a realy fun dance party (with mostly just us dancing, but who cares?).

I slept at Liz’s that night and got to see her really cute apartment. She dropped me at the church the next morning and mom and dad came and met me. We had a good day. I went back to their apartment and used the hot tub and uploaded a bunch of pics. We had lunch, they bought some food for the group, and I must make a special note that us Bike & Builders love to put frosting on EVERYTHING at lunch. Sandwiches, crackers, etc. But frosting does not come out of Bike & Build’s budget. The leaders pay out of pocket sometimes. Because of this when we went to Sam’s club they bought a five-gallon 28 lb bucket of chocolate frosting. This should, hopefully, last us the rest of the trip.

We took naps in the parking lot of Walmart (classy) and then went out to dinner at Fatheads with Liz. I was dead tired after then, so Liz dropped me off, I cleaned my bike, and then headed for bed. Oh, and supposedly I missed all the furries walking around the streets of Pittsburgh. I guess there was a furry convention in town. I only saw a skunk’s tail from around the corner.

The next morning we took over for Cadiz, OH. This was an up and down day. Luckily, it was only like a 60 mile ride. We crossed two state borders, crossed a closed bridge that was lined with fireworks, but then I got two flats in the last three miles, including one that blew my tire out. So I walked my bike the last two miles to our host site which was a camping lodge. I started off with the bike on my shoulder like the ending of Cool Runnings, but quickly put the bike down and rolled it. Four people asked me if I wanted a ride, but I didn’t want to get in trouble so I said no. But a quarter of a mile away a woman in a golf cart asked me if I wanted a ride and I accepted.

I’ll update you about the crazy fourth I had today later, but for now I got to go to our family meeting.

Until then, keep on rolling!

Just keep swimming and the hardest day yet

After giving a nice presentation and bike clinic to the people of Mount Pocono we took off the next morning to Berwick, PA. The ride was relatively smooth - only about 53 miles. It was a pretty nice day and the climbs weren't too too hard.

The day wasn't so smooth for everyone. Another birthday boy, Larry, got hit by a fellow rider and a few of his spokes broke. Nathan had to drive him to the bike shop to get it fixed and then Larry biked it from there. Also, we parked the trailer in a church parking lot about half an hour before noon mass. We had forgotten it was Sunday and the van had already taken off to help Larry, so people had to park around it. Luckily, people were interested in what we were doing so no one seemed to mad. Then, Nathan had to drive back to Mount Pocono to pick up the projector we left behind. Because of all these van detours we weren't able to change when we got to the middle school in Berwick.

HOWEVER, due to Andrea and Brandon having been lifeguards before, they convinced the janitor to open up the HUGE pool they have. We played on the diving board, played some water basketball, and just floated around like lazy bums. It. Was. Great.

Lesley's parents surprised her (and us) by showing up during the ride. They followed us back to school where they told us they were going to take all 32 of us out to a local diner. It was delicious. After that 15 of us got into our new van, Angus. And then it didn't start. So after 40 minutes of us trying to get it jumped and whatnot, the other half of the crew came out from the diner. They thought we had already driven back and just forgot to turn around. Turns out Ben was pretty good with cars and figured out our problem right away. With a simple turn of a wire the van started and we were able to hang up with AAA. We all had quite the laugh about that.

Most of us went to bed early because of our 5am wake up call. Why did we wake up so early? Because we had our first century ride today (that means 100 miles).

Yeah....um today sucked. It was all rolling hills and then moments of huge climbs. The scenery was beautiful. We even passed through Amish town. But what really sucked was that there were points I felt so mentally exhausted because the wind was KILLER. You could barely average 12mph going against the crazy wind. Usually you can fly down hills. Not so much with wind.

We did two lunch stops. One at 35 and the other at 75. These were both extremely useful and we even got some ice cream before the second one. And then the last 20 miles were miserable. It turned out to be me and Andrea just chugging along as hard as we could. We even took a break at the top of a hill and laid out on someones lawn for ten minutes. After a little confusion regarding cue sheets and where to go we rolled into State College. We're staying with a guy that was on Penn State's cycling team (I think) and he's letting us use two of his friends houses. They provided a nice dinner for us, too.

I'm off to bed soon. Not sure if it's a 5am or 6am wake up, but it should only be about an 80 mile day. And then one more riding day and then a day off in Pittsburgh! Cannot wait! Gonna see my friend, Liz, and also my parents. Every rider is really looking forward to the day off.

Until then, my face will be flopping in the winds the next two days.

PICS!

Getting into PA

The church we stayed at in Port Jervis

Taking the train to Port Jervis, NY

Beacon Bridge on the way to Port Jervis
Weeding at the Hudson River Housing site

We heart NY, obviously

A cute little horse on our way to Pittsfield

OK

On a cute little bridge right before North Hampton

Andrea and I at our lunch stop between Fitchburg and North Hampton

My first flat

Playing games with busted tubes (get the flat around moving Brad)

A little lake between Revere and Andover

Right after dipping our back tires in the Atlantic