How is it already over?!

The last two weeks have flown. I can't believe I met these awesome people just two short weeks ago and now its hard to imagine not being with them every day. Our build day today was amazing. There were a lot of different activities to be done and we finished a lot. Jen, Eduardo and I started off the day by helping clear out the basement. It was a disgusting job, and I have to admit that Eduardo did the worst parts. After we cleaned it out, Jen and I came up for air and worked on different paint jobs. My job was to scrape and then paint the front door. I finished this soon after lunch. I then supervised the mixing of concrete and then headed back down in the basement to help fill the holes in the wall with the said concrete with Daniel and Natalie. We had a lot of fun with it.

I've decided the hardest part of the trip is saying goodbye to the people I've met. Tomorrow I head back to Frederick, but I plan on conquering one last cycling endeavour before I leave Philly - the Manayunk Wall. Several people left today and it was crazy to realize that we wouldn't all be together again.

part of the basement that we cleaned out

All geared up to clean it!

Bryn and Julia mixing concrete

Natalie and Daniel being creepers

Natalie and Daniel filling holes with concrete

Philly!!

Today was our last day of riding. I felt terrible most of the ride due to knee and hip pain. I figured out within the last twenty miles that my bike seat had slid down due to all the bumpy roads, so I moved it back up - all was well in that area. I also had cleat issues all day- as in, I couldn't clip in. At all. They got worse as the day went on and it was super frustrating. Those minor annoyances couldn't ruin my day though because it was our last ride day.

The first part of our day was on a really busy street. One of the riders ahead of my group found an awesome store alongside the road and we all stopped for chocolate covered gummy bears, and other delicious snacks. We hit a hill directly after our stop, but our group rocked it and continued on. After descending a nice hill, we came upon an accident. Thankfully it was just a fender bender and no one in our group was involved. Sadly, we were stopped at the bottom of a hill, which meant harder climbing conditions for the group. The best part was that lunch was at top of the hill at Valley Forge! Whoo! Food!! Lunch consisted of our tons and tons of leftovers from the night before (Chipotle, pizza, and Olive Garden). Many people chilled for a while and other took a quick nap in the little bit of shade we had (including me). It was as if people didn't want the day to end.

We all slowly headed out from lunch and came upon a terrible terrible road. It was insanely bumpy/holey. At one point, Bryn yelled out "Treachery!" because it was so bad. (We usually call out pot holes, bumps, etc, but this was too bad for those simple terms). Thankfully, we all survived that portion and got on a bike path that would lead us the rest of the way into Philly. The path was amazing and beautiful. It ran along a river, so it was kinda smelly at times, but still better than riding on city roads.

We all met at the art museum at the 'Rocky stairs' for a bunch of pics and then a group of us ran up the stairs together. The ride from the Art Museum to the B&B office was of course uphill. What other way would we end this trip? :) A group of us were going to do the Manayunk Wall, but due to cleat issues, it was put off. The hill we did do had an 11% grade at some point, so not too shabby.

We all went to a bonfire at the house of one of the B&B Board of Directors. It was a ton of fun to meet him, his family, eat, play frisbee, make s'mores, etc. Great way to end the trip. A group of people went out after, but I decided sleep was more important for once.

Tomorrow is our last day together and we will be working with Rebuilding Together Philadelphia. I'm so lucky to have gotten to know this group of people and I'm not looking forward to leaving them so soon!

Chilling at lunch

Valley Forge!

Riding along the Schuylkill River

Made it to the Art Museum!

Books and Reading, PA

Natalie and Justin joined us again today/last night. They will be riding with us to Philadelphia. When we left our hosts this morning, it was really chilly (about 60F)! That is my favorite running weather, but on a bike, it's quite cold. We were wearing our arm warmers until lunch. I am amazed that our first week we had temperatures over 100 and now we are wearing arm warmers. Crazy summer weather.

My group today consisted of Julia, Jen, and Eduardo. We missed our turn twice, but didn't get too far out of the way. We did end up riding through a very sketchy area, and Jen had the bad luck of getting a flat in that area. Thankfully, all was well. She ended up getting another flat later and had to ride in the van for part of the day. We rode through Amish country and passed a horse and buggy. We also hit a good sized hill after lunch. It was a major struggle since I couldn't stay clipped into my pedals. When we were nearing our host, a car started honking at us and pulled over to the side of the road. As a cyclist, this usually isn't good news, so we were all a bit worried when she motioned us over. It turned out that she was a member of the church that was hosting us and was surprised to see us already. She told us to take our time, so we did just that. We saw a McDonalds and DM'ed a bunch of food. Sweep caught up with us and we enjoyed a small feast.

Bishnu had DM'ed a bunch of food for us in Reading, but we had to go and pick it up. We also had to drop Jen off at a local bike shop for new tires. This was a crazy adventure due to unforseen events, but looking back, it was great bonding time with Bishnu. A bunch of us went laser-tagging tonight after dinner and it was a blast. I wasn't very good, but we had a really good time.

I find it very suiting to be sleeping in the library of the church in Reading, PA. Even though it is pronounced 'redding', I can't help but think of it as reading :) I can't believe tomorrow we ride into Philly. This trip has gone way too fast!!!

CapRide13 in the News!
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=495552

Jen fixing her first flat of the day

Julia and Eduardo on the road after our big climb

Rocking out to tunes with Bish

Laser Tag Shenanigans!

Riding into and build day in York

My original post for our ride into York didn't publish, so I'm combining these two days in one post.

Our ride out of Frederick was rough. I've ridden most of the Frederick area, but I admit, I typically avoid the large hills. Our ride took us through Thurmont, an area I'm familiar with, but our leaders (and those before them) threw in a curve ball... a small mountain. As we rode out of Frederick, we had a steady incline. These I feel are the worst types of hills because you can't really tell you are going up hill, yet riding is difficult. I've heard it compared to the feel of riding through dirt. You feel you are struggling, but have no reason for it. As we came to the realization that this gradual incline was our issue, we hit the real hill - a four mile hill/mountain with a 5% grade and 1200ft of climbing. While this isn't considered a "hard" climb by most cyclist, our group had some issues. Only four of us made it to the top without walking (me included!). The road was windy and narrow, but thankfully all motorists that passed us were courteous. There were also a lot of places to stop.. drive ways, pull offs, etc. Caroline and I made it through the climb taking breaks every quarter mile or so. Amusingly enough, Jillian walked most of the way and made it to the top at about the same time we did. We also had a cyclist (not with our group) fly by us. He was likely going 10mph up the hill... we were going about 5mph.  I am now determined to go and attempt the challenge again sometime soon! The reward at the top of the hill/mountain was an adorable 10 week old border collie/lab mix. Of course I had to love on him.

As we made it to the top of the climb, we hit gravel roads. They weren't terrible at first, but the van then caught us and told us that the road got a lot worse and suggested we ride in the van for it. This was a major dilemma for me because I really wanted to ride my bike the whole way, but no one else wanted to ride it and we aren't allowed to ride alone. So I got in the van. Everyone buy Bryn and Daniel ended up riding in the van. They only escaped it because they were pretty far out in front of the group. Eduardo and I were both pretty bummed about riding in the van and got out as soon as possible. We rode the rest of the day together.

As we began riding again, both of us started having problems clipping into our pedals. His cleats were completely worn down from walking through the gravel and mine were partially worn down. I had been having some issues since my crash on the first day, but it seemed like walking through the gravel made it 20x worse. We rode a downhill through Catoctin Mountain Park and it was absolutely beautiful. I had been on that road before, but its a much different experience on a bike! We reached a gas station and played around with our cleats, but we continued having issues the rest of the day.

We also rode through Gettysburg. Riding through the battlefield was an experience I won't forget in the near future. It was my first visit to Gettysburg and it was just amazing. Thinking about the events that occurred there 150 years ago made the ride somewhat surreal. Eduardo and I caught up with Bryn and Daniel and continued the ride with them. Daniel DM'ed frosty's at Wendy's and they were delicious! As our group was flying down a hill near our host, I hit a pothole and ended up with a flat tire. Sadly, my tire tore.. which caused me to get a pinch flat when I tried to blow up the second tube. I ended up sticking a energy bar wrapper in my tire and thankfully, it lasted until we reached the host.

When we got to the host, we were offered drinks, candy, food, etc. It was awesome! Daniel and I played some knock out with some of the kids at the community center. It was pretty evenly matched, and I even won once! Whoo! Haha. Crispus Attucks (our host) has a cheer squad and a drill team. Both performed for us and it was awesome... makes me miss the dance classes I used to take!

Almost everyone went to bed really early, but Bishnu and I stayed up talking for a long time. It was great getting to know him better :) We eventually headed to bed and I was out as soon as I laid down.

Build Day 3!!

We were split into two groups today to work with Crispus Attucks, a local affordable housing group in York, PA. One group worked on painting the walls of a house and my group helped rebuild/paint a porch. Our group used Daniel's iPad for music and sang/danced all day. We also found out that one guy is extremely scared of stinging insects. I don't blame him, but it was fun to make fun of him all day running away from bees (ok, really big bees). We had a lot of fun with the porch and I'm hoping our last build day on Saturday is as fun as the last three.

Tonight we are doing dinner at one of our leader's friend's house and he has a pool. We are all pretty excited to swim! Highlights from the pool:

"Racing" up the slope of the pool
George Washington impressions
Julia tipping Eduardo off his raft... twice
SO MUCH FOOD!!!! :D
Bish getting hit in the nose with the frisbee (aka, disc)

Tomorrow we head to Reading!

During the climb, this is how we felt

Puppy loving!!

At Roundabout!

Daniel working on the steps

Into Frederick!!

Yesterday was an interesting day. It was our ride into Frederick, so I was pretty excited. I was super pumped to show people around the town, but our support van had different ideas. Our van, named Elvis, decided it was a good day to break down. Looking back, it was the best day that it could happen, but it made an 'easy' day a bit more challenging. The ride was beautiful with a few challenging hills and only 55 miles! Due to trying to figure out the logistics of fixing Elvis and making other arrangements to get our stuff from DC to Frederick, we were on the road for 9 hours. But even with the difficulties, the day was a lot of fun and everything worked out!

Our breakfast was provided by our hosts and it was amazing - breakfast sandwiches, fruit, and juice! An alumni from Bryn's trip had also brought cinnamon rolls the night before. It was a feast! We wound our way through DC in a few small groups. My group missed a turn and ended up riding for a while on Connecticut - a busy street with a large hill. We made it through safely and continued climbing out of DC. Our ride was through a lot of nighborhoods in the DC suburbs, but we eventually starting getting more in the country and saw a lot of farmland. The terrain was mostly rolling hills, but we had a few larger hills that were challenging. We found a 7/11 in a shopping center and made that our lunch spot. It was interesting as there was some construction going on. After asking what they were doing, we were told that a car had driven through the wall the day before. Crazy!

I started recognizing some of the roads as we got closer to Frederick, and got really excited. My group stopped out by where I play softball to figure out plans to get our equipment to Frederick. We decided it would be best to go straight to my house and Bryn, Andrea, and Joanna would go down to DC to get our bags/bins and the two girls. Joanna would stay with the van since she was driving the next day and she had a place to stay down there. We were lucky that a. our cars were accessible and b. our group had the correct drivers in it (Bryn and Andrea had parked at my house for the trip). Our group booked it to my house then the three headed to DC.

I lead the remaining group out to The Bicycle Escape  for tune ups (Thanks TBE!! You guys rock!!) and we also got our pictures taken by Jim Jarrell with AJPhotography (Thanks Jim!! The pics are awesome!!). The Frederick Post also came by the host and interviewed us for the paper. We're famous! When we got back from TBE, the girls had just returned from DC with all of our stuff. The timing was impeccable! We had a homecooked meal from our host and I collected dirty laundry. It was supposed to be a laundry night, but since our van was MIA, I got the essential items that needed washing for the next days ride (aka, chamois and jersey) from people and headed back to my place to do some laundry. I got the luxury of showering at home and everyone else used the Frederick YMCA. I went to a local store (Common Market) to pick up some generously donated Cliff Bars. I then headed back to the church (Thanks for the ride roomie!!), and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow (aka, my arm on the Thermarest).

CapRide in the News!
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/economy_and_business/business_topics/non_profit/article_fd82b801-042a-5df9-b8c2-bd2b1412cd4e.html

Due to the complications of the day, I didn't get many pictures, but here are a few:

White board with Frederick information!

Andrea on Reich's Ford (near the softball diamonds!)

Our Frederick Hosts!

Day off!

Today was our first (and only) day off in DC. We slept in (much deserved!!), then headed to the Mall for some sightseeing. Everyone went their separate ways and I spent the morning with Jen and most of the afternoon with Jen, Julia, Caroline, Bishnu, Eduardo, and Bryn. We had brunch at one of Bishnu's favorite restaurants and it included bottomless pointsettas (champagne and cranberry juice) and French toast. Yum! We had to split into two tables for brunch and one table (not mine) sat next to a birthday brunch. Jen and I went and joined the other table and ended up getting peanut butter cupcakes!! They were delicious :D We also got party hats with inappropriate sayings, but it was a blast!

After brunch, we headed back to the Mall and went exploring. We stopped for a while at the Museum of Natural History (my favorite), and they had a fun display up of National Geographic pictures. We also went by the White House and shopping for some souvenirs.

Quote: "I don't understand your lifestyle, but I support it" - guy from party at brunch

Eduardo and Julia at the White House

LOVE Cheetas!! Love this pic! :D

Headed to Frederick tomorrow!!

Century ride into DC

The ride today was beautiful and hard. I went in to the day feeling pretty confident as I had completed a century ride before and my legs were feeling pretty fresh. Well, the first half of the ride turned out to be really hilly. It was kind of funny at lunch to talk about the ride as part of the group had been told it was going to be mostly flat until lunch and the other half had been told to expect the worst hills we had seen yet. The group I was in was not expecting the hills and we had a really rough time, as we were starting to get really hungry (first lunch was at mile 50). The other group got into lunch and didn't know what hills we were talking about. I feel this goes to show the mental preparation that goes into a ride.

We started off the morning in a slight drizzle and cloud cover. This made the first hour rough as it wasn't very bright out, but thankfully there wasn't a lot of traffic at 6am on a Saturday. The sunrise was beautiful to see as we rode.. coming up through the clouds in a variety of colors, over the mountains. We also saw a ton of deer... including several fawn! It was amazing to experience the wildlife outside a car. There were a lot of small hills and gradual ascents through most of the morning. We stopped to take a picture around mile 20 and I gashed my leg laying my bike down. Leave it to me to hurt myself with my bike while I'm not actually riding it. Thankfully, Bishnu drove by right at that moment and we were able to clean it out and wrap it up so I could continue riding.

As I mentioned above, we were told that the rest of the ride to lunch should be fairly flat and easy, but we had three or four 1/4 to 1/2 mile climbs that were extremely steep right before lunch. After lunch, we jumped on the W&OD trail. I did several training rides on the W&OD trail, so I was familiar with most of it. It was so nice to be able to ride on the trail and not have to worry about cars! We stopped for a second lunch at Carolina Brother's BBQ and it was delicious! We saw a deer right beside the W&OD trail. I now know where the term "deer in the headlights" comes from as it gave us that look as we rode by.We also stopped for a third lunch at a local bike shop just outside of DC. A few B&B alumni joined our group on the trail and it was a lot of fun talking to them.

After our third lunch break, Bryn and Da'Quan got a second wind and took off. Meagan, Julia and I took it a little slower and enjoyed the sights in DC.  The three of us walked a small part of the Mall due to the amount of tourists wandering around.  The whole group met at the Capitol building and snapped group pictures. There was wedding party getting pictures at the Capitol, so it was fun to get see other aspects of life outside of our little B&B bubble. After pictures, we broke into small groups and finished the last few miles to the host. My bike computer was off in mileage, but our days total was about 103 miles in over 100F temperatures.

Our hosts were amazing and provided us a delicious dinner and shower. I'm constantly amazed by the generosity of people on this trip. After dinner, showers, and a presentation by the host, a group of us went out for a drink. We were on the metro for an hour, went to the restaurant for an hour, and then rode the metro back for an hour. It was frustrating at the time, but we passed the time playing Ninja in the metro station.

Quotes: "Beat your body up and Build" - Eduardo on what Bike and Build should really be called

Much deserved day off tomorrow!!

Pretty view right after I sliced my leg

Julia, Meagan, and I at the Washington Monument

Made it to the Capitol!!

Hard day completed :)

Our beautiful bikes in the nursery 

Ninja at the Metro Station!

Virginia is beautiful!!

Today's ride was gorgeous! We rode along the Blue Ridge Turnpike or 'Skyline Drive' - thankfully this meant not a ton of climbing, but still amazing views. That being said, there were still some good descents and some rough ascents, but we rocked them. My group for the day consisted of Julia, Meagan, and Bryn and we flew through our ride and had a ton of fun. This whole group is amazing and I'm so lucky to be able to ride with them!

The ride started off pretty rough... Eduardo hit a hole less than 2 blocks from our host and got a flat, and we started climbing almost immediately. Bryn and I slowly climbed and then flew down the descents together. We have a very similar riding style, so it was fun to ride together. Due to some van issues (power steering), our van wasn't able to keep up with us and the boys scouted out a lunch spot. They sweet talked a nice lady into letting us use her driveway/yard. It was perfect as there was a lot of shade. We then got a surprise visit from the sheriff. We were a little nervous when he pulled up behind the trailer, but it turned out he was just checking to make sure we weren't making shenanigans at the house. He was really nice :)

The guys also gave Daniel's pedals another shot, but actually ended up stripping the pedal and made his bike unridable. He had to ride in the van the rest of the day, but he had some fun chalking inspirational quotes and sayings from the trip. For me he wrote, "Like 50 first dates?" as that had become a joke on the trip. At one of the hills, I chalked "Ice Ice Baby" to try to help people cool down. As soon as I chalked it, Julia exclaimed "I was going to put the same thing!" Great minds....

After lunch, we hit some good hills, but then it flattened out and it was pretty easy. We rode through a valley with the Blue Ridge all around us and it was absolutely beautiful. We had a second lunch at a convenience store and shared some ice cream, which definitely hit the spot. When we got in to the host, we were all surprised by how easy the ride was since we had been warned by several people that it would be a really hilly day. Our showers were located at a law office in the smallest shower stall ever. But we were all grateful to have a real shower and not have to use a hose :)

We played some Bananagrams while waiting for dinner. A storm also blew in, so I had to go outside and play in the wind and rain. Thankfully Bishnu is as crazy as I am and joined me! Our pizza was later than planned, so people were starting to get delirious from hunger. Thankfully it showed up soon and we all pigged out one some AMAZING pizza. It was seriously some of the best pizza I've ever had. Washington, VA may be small, but they have some yummy food! Town Hall meeting commenced during dinner and people went through and shared their Rosebuds - rose (high), thorn (low), and bud (what they are looking forward to). Many people's high was the ride through the Blue Ridge as it was so pretty and most people were looking forward to the century into DC. I think the low was mainly the heat, but I'm not sure.

Tomorrow we have a century (100 miles) ride into DC and I think most people are as excited as they are nervous. Early bedtime tonight and 4am wake up tomorrow to try to beat the heat!

Riding group for the day!

Pretty view in the morning

Sheriff at lunch and working on Daniel's Bike

Julia and I after conquering a hill

Amazing view :)

Relaxing while waiting for food!

Build day 2

Today we got an early start due to the heat. I believe the heat index was 111F at one point. We worked on framing walls most of the day, but some complications prevented us from putting them up. We were split into a couple groups and my group determined the slants on the boards used for framing. We then carried all the boards (there were a lot!) across the lot and then started the framing. Some of the highlights of the day were people nailing the frames to the flooring (oops..), some parts of the frames had to be adjusted due to wrong measuring, etc. It was somewhat of a frustrating day due to many complications and the heat, but we were done at noon and it turned out to be a good day.

The rest of the day was spent exploring Charlottesville. We went to the downtown area for food (Five Guys), got Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt for 50c per person (Thanks to Daniel and his spanish speaking abilities), browsed some used-bookstores, and we tried a "real sugar" coke.  Some of us went to get bike maintenance at a local shop, and I also got to talk to my mom and Brian on the phone for a while.

Back at the host, a group of us tried to change Daniel's pedals, but while we were very unsuccessful, there were many laughs. Da'Quan was cracking Daniel and me up as he worked with us. There were several times our efforts were put on hold because we were laughing too hard. Jillian and I did some bike maintenance in preparation for the upcoming two riding days, which we heard would be really hard (one day really hilly and the other over a hundred miles). A group of us also laid around in the library and talked for a while - this is one of my favorite things on the trip because you learn a lot about one another.

 Headed to Washington, VA tomorrow and taking on the Blue Ridge Turnpike!

No pics from today, but we had some pretty good quotes: "Your bike has bronchitis?!" - Eduardo, "Like 50 First Dates?" - me

Build day!

Today was our first build day in Charlottesville. We kept busy working on the flooring and the site supervisor called me a rock star because we rocked the flooring together. It was a lot of fun. They also got word of my meteorology degree when I checked the radar for the incoming storm and I was "threatened" with multiple lawsuits if my 'forecast' was wrong.. thankfully the weather held up and we were able to finish the days work. I can't wait to work with Dom and the crew again tomorrow!

Dinner was provided at Whole Foods. We showed up and for some reason they hadn't been able to properly prepare for us, so we each got a gift card to spend on whatever we wanted for dinner. It was incredible! I tried a little bit of a bunch of stuff and couldn't come close to finishing it. They also surprised Eduardo with a delicious birthday cake that we all split. It was amazing!

A group of us went out to a local restaurant/bar to celebrate Eduardo's birthday. I got Bishnu out on the dance floor for one song and it was a blast. I think I burned as many calories with that one dance as I do riding an hour. We were jumping around and boogy-ing like crazy... just having a great time! We got ready to head out and decided to get fries. So we found a place and talked them into making us an order of fries to go. They were very seasoned and hit the spot.

Quote of the day: "Son of a Bishnu!" (this became one of our team mottos for when anything went wrong)

Cap Ride in the News! We were also on the stations nightly news, but I couldn't find a link to it.
http://www.nbc29.com/story/22868648/habitat-kicks-off-belmont-building-blitz-despite-heat

On the way to the build site

Eduardo and his bday cake

Celebrating Eduardo's bday

Ain't no mountain high enough!

Ok, so we didn't actually do mountains today, but there were some really big hills. Definitely the biggest I've done. But we had a blast. Even in the 100 degree heat along the black asphalt, it was a wonderful day.

In the first few miles of the ride, we came across a turtle in the middle of the road. Since we are good people, we decided to "save it" by moving it to the side of the road. Of course, we also had to take pics of it... and we eventually realized by "saving" it, we were likely torturing it. I learned this the hard way when it decided to pee on me. Awesome.

Jen, Daniel and I came across a thrift store and decided to play with as many things as possible. This included kids bikes, mismatching bikinis, strollers, pool floaties and many other items. We also decided that we should get a picture of us being the horse/rider at each horse crossing sign we saw. Lunch included leftovers from last night's dinner... aka spaghetti... and toast from that morning's breakfast. Hence, I had a spaghetti sandwich. It was actually quite delicious!

Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's house) was on our route (after an extra short uphill), so we decided to stop and play tourist. We DM'ed a discount on the ticket prices and went exploring. The house is located on top of a huge hill and had amazing views - definitely a worthy detour!

The ride was much hillier, but Jen, Daniel and I rocked the uphills and flew on the downhills. I LOVE going downhill, and there were some amazing descents today. I try to take the lead on these kind of rides because I love flying down the hill and hate braking on them (unless necessary for safety). Every time I brake on a downhill, I feel like a small piece of my heart breaks. I climb hills mainly to enjoy the downhill :) After our Monticello stop, Jen, Eduardo, Julia, and I conquered the last 5-6 miles together. This included a large hill... which I decided "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was a good motivational song. It definitely helped me get through it and Julia also said me yelling it out helped her too!

Other notable things from today's ride: frolicking in a field with Jen (Love this girl!!), and getting a 10% discount, free cookie, and watermelon at a super cute cafe along the route.

Our host in Charlottesville is a beautiful old church in downtown... right by an awesome mall. We had showers in this AMAZING fitness club, and some of us headed out to enjoy the nightlife. A couple alum met up with us and we had an amazing, hilarious night. Shawna's B&B rap was incredible and hopefully I'll be able to share it at another time.

Quotes from today: "Virginians are judging you" - Jen
                              "Most good things in life - you don't think you have time for" - Derrick

We have two build days coming up and then its off to Washington, VA, on Friday.

Acting out the sign 

On the stairs in front of Thomas Jefferson's house

Night out in Charlottesville!

View from the road

Virginia is for Butterflies

Soooo many butterflies today!! It was beautiful and also annoying as they seemed to attack us. I rode sweep today with Joanna on our 67 mile ride into Farmville, VA. Sweep is two riders that carry a medical kit and spare tire. They are the last two riders and make sure no riders get left behind.

Our first few roads today were really busy, so that was a bit stressful at times. I also had a minor accident - I was riding the shoulder too closely and went off it. I then hit it at a bad angle trying to get back in the road and hit the road. Thankfully, all I got was a scratch on my shin and a few scratches on my bike. Lesson learned - don't ride the shoulder too closely.

Some of the girls went swimming in a river, but as we passed over, Joanna and I decided it was too muddy and continued on. We did stop and eat some blackberries that Daniel, Bishnu, and Eduardo found and got permission to pick. Most weren't quite ripe yet, so they were pretty sour but still good! In the second half of the ride, we got caught up with some tarring trucks. They were laying tar, putting rocks down on it, and then squishing the rocks into the tar. It was really tough riding to say the least, and quite smelly. The boys missed a turn, so while Joanna and I waited for them to catch up, we watched the millions of butterflies and found one with a broken wing. I got it to crawl on my finger and put it in the bushes. It was pretty cool to hold a butterly.. even a disabled one.

We all arrived safely at the host, tired from the heat, but excited for the feast that awaited us. The hosts provided a potluck with spaghetti, vegan lasagna, desserts, etc. It was Amazing!! The alumni in our group (those that have done cross country trips) gave a presentation on Bike and Build.

It was a great ride and our hosts tonight were wonderful. Tomorrow we continue on to Charlottesville. Life is good :)


Quote of the day: Some people bungee jump. I do DM - Joanna (DM stands for donation magic - getting people to donate food, money, other awesome stuff)

Sunscreen is key while out riding!!

Sweep for the day!

Day 2- more orientation

Today was another fun day full of activities. We ate a ton of food, including bagels, cereal, deli sandwiches, and Chipotle. Food on this trip is mostly donated by businesses, so we don't eat particularly healthy at times. We broke into groups to learn bike maintenance - how to change a flat, lube and clean your chain, etc. Safety drills included an "obstacle course" of chalked objects... such as potholes, parked cars, a dead cat.. We each went through the obstacle course a couple times solo and then as a group. I accidentally ran over the dead cat after the group ride. oops. Other drills were stopping/starting to make sure you knew how to use your clip-less pedals/shoes and looking over your shoulder without swerving on your bike. After a short break, we went for a 19 mile 'shakedown ride' around Richmond to get used to riding in small groups and practice our skills. After showering at the local YMCA, we visited a cute little downtown area and went to get a nice bike shop. There was a Sweet Frog nearby, so we also got FROYO!! The local chapter of Rebuilding Together came by and gave us a presentation on their organization and the affordable housing cause.

I decided to give bumper pool a try and surprisingly completely rocked the table for several games. Andrea ended up beating me after I won numerous games... I think its safe to say I was not expecting to actually be decent at it with my lack of skill at pool. Other shenanigans today included Hacky sack with Andrea, Daniel, and DQ.. definitely not my thing. Daniel got the hacky sack stuck on the roof of the church, but after much effort and many ideas, we did get it down :) Meagan and I found a sweet little playground behind the church and had a blast playing around on it and taking pictures. We went to Chipotle for dinner and there was a group of women with dogs outside. Julia and I are both major dog lovers, so we headed out and got to play with the puppies (one a 3 month old Pitbull... sooo cute!!).

Loving the riders and loving the food. Can't wait to head to Farmville, VA tomorrow!!

Getting ready for the Shakedown Ride

A message left from a rider last year. "We're DOIN it" became one of our team mottos :)

Playing at the playground

Day 1 - orientation

My group is pretty awesome. I figured they would be as it takes a certain kind of person to do a trip like this. The day consisted of:

- driving to Richmond
- a bunch of us tossing around a "disc" (supposedly it isn't called a frisbee...) in the rain while waiting for everyone to arrive
- doing ice breakers and name games to get to know each other better
- chalking the trailer and each other
- sitting through presentations on health, safety, and information about Bike and Build
- skits (ours was a type of "Who's line is it anyways" all about safety)
- free time (bumper pool, Wah!, Bananagrams, etc)

 We were split into chore teams and my team, Full Time Staph was assigned dinner, presentations, and trailer duty. Each team had to choose a name that had something to do with the presentation on health we had earlier in the day. The other two teams were Road Rationals and Butt Butter Babes (Daniel was the only male in this group and claimed to be the "main babe").

Things are winding down for an 11pm lights out, and a very intense game (aka lots of laughter) of bumper pool is in progress. Super excited to spend the next two weeks with this group!

Bumper pool!

Our "Chalked" trailer

And so it begins..

It starts today!!!! Two girls doing the trip came down to bunk at my place last night and then we'll all head down to Richmond together this morning. My bike rack hasn't actually been used yet, so I'm hoping that it a. fits all three bikes and b. doesn't break for some ridiculous reason. We tested it out last night and it looks like all should be well :)

My 18-gal bin is packed and ready, and I probably packed a little too much, oh well. Better safe than sorry!

Thank you again for all the support and I hope you follow along with my blog on the journey!