Middle of the Country!

Well, I think we're officially 1/2 way there! Across the country that is, not 1/2 way done with our route. I'm sure you've all noticed but we're not exactly taking the most direct route to get to California so we've still got many weeks of riding and building ahead of us. So here are the new updates from the past few days:

Thursday's LESSON OF THE DAY: Armadillos are the WORST kind of roadkill.

The ride from Little Rock to Russelville was pretty uneventful, it was nice to get out of the city and back onto some country roads...although with country roads come my lesson of the day. Armadillos are nasty. They are huge, smelly, ugly as can be, and are disgusting when you come upon them smooshed on the side of the road. And this happens a lot more that I would have ever expected. One rider took our marking chalk and wrote "LUNCH?" with an arrow pointing to one on the route, which made me laugh but also made me wonder how he was able to be near it long enough to write the note.


Friday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I hate missing riding days.

Because of an unfortunate circumstance, I was forced to ride in the van on this day, and it was booorrrrinnnggg. I did get to get some cue sheet work done but other than that the only thing that happened was I missed out on an awesome lake stop and lots of fun with the other riders. Boo. But I'm all better now and the day off my bike seems to have helped.


Saturday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I love snocones.

Today's ride brought us over the border to Henryetta, Oklahoma. It seems crazy that we are already in Oklahoma! Its seems like yesterday that we were all so excited to be crossing our first border from South Carolina to Georgia. Now the states seem to be dropping like flies :) After the long day Kelsey and I found a little stand on the side of the road with snocones and we just had to try them since it has probably been a good 10 years. They are just as delicious as I remember and I'm definitely happy that I went for the medium! We had a great community grill-out in a park in Henryetta and the people from the church were very welcoming and really nice people to talk to. But it was early to bed because yet another century ride was the next morning...


Sunday's LESSON OF THE DAY: 100 miles on a bike is long, and when its 105 degrees it feels like an eternity.

The morning started off great...first lunch was at mile 40 and the morning seemed to absolutely fly by. But then came the heat, it reached about 105 and even though we left at 6:30 in the morning it still took us until after 6 to get to the church. It was really hot, but still a good ride and we came into the church knowing that 100 miles is just another day at the office for our group! As a side note, don't pay any attention to the mileage listed on the website for our group. Since this is a new route, the mileage is way off and is often times (most of the time) far below what we actually ride during the day. We're expecting to go around 4,500 miles by the end of this adventure as opposed to the 4,144 listed on the website. Some riders are joking that they are expecting to go about 5,000 when you include all the wrong turns, but lets hope it isn't that much :)

When we got to the church they had a fabulous meal of grilled chicken, potatoes and fried ochre. We were all very tired, needless to say and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep around 9:15. Wow. But it felt amazing to let my head hit my tiny, uncomfortable camping pillow! Big build the next day.

Monday's LESSON OF THE DAY: B&Bers can frame a house in no time.

Today we had a great build with the Oklahoma City Habitat for Humanity. I was really excited about this build because it was a whole Habitat community of homes with a huge park in the middle, and the whole thing is LEED certified, meaning it is environmentally friendly. I am a LEED accredited professional in my real life, so it was great to see it and to be able to put a little bit of my knowledge to use! When we got to the house it was just the foundation, and when we left all the walls were up and the insulation was about 1/2 way up too. It was a very gratifying day to see how much we could all get done in just one day and I think it made everyone really excited for our Blitz Build in Colorado Springs where we are doing a whole home in 8 days. I was skeptical before but now I think its definitely doable! It was a really hot day, but really fun and everyone was in great spirits.

After the build a few of us went to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial which was really beautiful. It was very tastefully done and then we sat around afterwards while Jessica hooked us up with a lesson on Timothy McVey via an iPhone. This then turned into a history lesson about the UnaBomber and ended with Jessica's mother informing us over the phone that Timothy McVey's last meal before lethal injection was Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. It was a very random conversation, but those are the best kinds on Bike & Build!


Tuesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: We're getting FAST!

Today's ride was awesome...we woke up at 4:30, left at 6:30 and made the 65 mile trek to Watonga by 11:30! It felt great to be out of the sun so quickly, and thanks to a couple straight shots and the lack of headwind were were moving at a pretty fast clip for a while. For about 15 minutes I was actually the lead of the pack which never happens, and will likely never happen again so I enjoyed my literal 15 minutes of fame :) But then the fast riders who were going slow to be nice to me had enough and resumed their ridiculous pace that I can never keep up with...

After we got into town, we showered up and went to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant down the street. As great as we're being fed on this trip, I'm really starting to miss ethnic foods so it was nice to have something a little bit different for a change. It was ac tally pretty good, and it was air conditioned so again, any time out of the heat the better! Its about 106 degrees as I type this. So tonight we're making ourselves a pasta dinner and a couple of riders are giving a presentation on affordable housing. And then if I had to guess I'd say early to bed again (what's new?) because we've got 85 miles tomorrow and the weather shows no signs of cooling.

Other quick notes:
Thanks so much to Alyssa for the delicious treats at last mail drop! The riders here get really excited when a package from her arrives because they know its going to be good :) And happy birthday tomorrow!! Also, my Aunt Sharon sent a really yummy powder energy drink with a post it note that said "No more fainting" and so far it seems to be working! So thanks for that too. And the most important...I get to see the beautiful Nora Claire in just 10 days! I can't even think about it too much because I get too excited. Of course it is just icing on the cake that of course I'll get to see my sister and her husband too...speaking of, special thanks to Jeff (my brother in law) who has been busy trying to hook the B&Bers up in Colorado. So far he's arranged for us to have a 20% discount at a bike store in Colorado Springs during our Blitz Build, two cases of granola bars for us to take with us, and is working on trying to arrange some fun stuff in Aspen. He's also going to ride with us when we leave from Colorado Springs so I'm really excited about that. Although after a couple hours at my pace he might want to ditch me for the faster riders in my group :)

Sorry there are no pics, the Internet I'm working on right is really spotty and it isn't really working to upload pics. I'll try again soon!

Flat land? What is that?

Our legs are getting a little tiny break as the terrain is flattening out a bit, I think most people are VERY happy about that. However, flat land is pretty boring so we've been forced to get creative to find ways to pass the time/miles.

Saturday’s LESSON OF THE DAY: I am not immune to van rescues.

The ride to Oxford was going great, I was feeling good, there were some awesome rolling hills and I was finally feeling like I had a good pace going and was getting my technique down for the climbs…and then came the flat. At first I thought it was a typical flat which I could change on my own on the side of the road, but then I discovered that my lovely Gatorskin tire with only about 800 miles on it had a large chunk missing. Thus, I had to call the van for a rescue. My first (and hopefully last) time. It was only about 10 miles outside of our destination so it was a bit frustrating but at least I got to enjoy the majority of the day on my bike. And it did give me some time to catch up with my parents and my sister while I waited for my rescue. I got to hear Nora cooing in the background so I wasn’t all that upset J

After buying a new tire I spent some time walking around Oxford and enjoying some down time before dinner at a restaurant called Proud Larry’s. One of our rider’s cousins owns the place and was nice enough to set up a big room and buffet for us of salad, pasta and pizza. It was a ton of fun and of course dinner was full of a lot of laughing and a lot of eating to get ready for the next day’s ride.

Sunday’s LESSON OF THE DAY: Lighting is scary when you’re on a bike.

The started out like any other, we got up early and hopped on our bikes for the 75 mile ride into Clarksdale. However, about 5 miles into the ride a huge storm came rolling in and a group of 5 of us were forced to take shelter on some random person’s porch. The woman who lived there seemed a big surprised to have 5 bikers in all their gear shacking up on her porch but she was nice and understood that we needed to be out of the storm…so for an hour we watched the torrential downpour, lighting and thunder and then when we couldn’t take the boredom anymore we decided to hop on the saddle and go get wet. And we got VERY wet. The rain stopped about an hour later, but the damage was done and we were all soaked. That day seemed to take a really long time and at one point Sarah, Rachel and I had to stop on some deserted side road to lay down. We were laying in the middle of the street and couldn’t stop laughing, I think we were going a little crazy, when a woman in a car pulled up and asked us if we needed her to call a doctor. So apparently we looked as bad as we felt. But in the end we mustered up some energy and got to Clarksdale in a not too pathetic time frame.

Monday's LESSON OF THE DAY: Pools, tacos, and police escorts make for a very fun day.

Today we rode from Clarskdale, MS to Stuttgard, AR. Another state line! The day was pretty standard, lots of miles and lots of smiles in the morning. It took a turn for the interesting when around mile 75 we came upon a bridge that after talking to many, many locals we discovered was extremely dangerous and technically illegal for us to be on...oops. However there was only one way for us to get to Stuttgard so I called up the Clarendon, AR police department and explained our situation. A very nice officer met us at proceeded to escort us (with lights and everything!!) across the very long, very awesome bridge. It was awesome, we had the van in the front, the riders in the middle and the police at our backs. We held up traffic for a long time but everyone got the other side safe and sound, and all the semis even honked and waved at us when they finally got to pass. Yay for our first police escort!!

When we got to Stuttgard there was a fantastic youth group waiting for us that helped us quickly unload the trailer so we could go to a pool they had set up for us to use. We got there and I can't even tell you how amazing it felt to jump in after the 104 degree day. There was a huge water slide and everyone was pretty much giddy to be swimming and FINALLY be nice and cool. After the pool we went back to the church to enjoy an amazing taco bar and birthday cake for one of the rider's birthdays. We all went to bed that night very full and happy and ready for the next day to take us into Little Rock.

Oh- also we have started a MVP award for the day for the rider who had the worst/best/funniest day on the road. The winner gets to strap an awesome hat on the back of their Camelbak for the day that says "Git-R-Done". Today's winner was Sarah on account of the unbelievable heat rash she got on her legs. It looked incredibly painful.


Tuesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: Word games make the miles fly by.

I was sweep on this day along with my fellow rider Will. Sweep just means we are the last people the whole day so we can help out if anyone is having any issues. The first half was very, very boring but then at lunch we met up with two riders who here struggling with some pain issues. We decided to all stick together and ended up playing a word game called "Contact" for four hours. Yes, for four hours we did not stop playing this wonderful game. It brought us into Little Rock along a lovely bike path by the river and over the Big Dam Bridge and even made us not mind an error in the cue sheet that led us about 10 miles further than we planned to ride that day. It ended up being one of my best rides!

When we got into Little Rock we had no idea what was in store for our group. Winfield United Methodist Church pulled out all the stops for us. They were incredible and I will make a list of all the wonderful things they did for us because it would take too long to write:
1. They had a huge table of snacks and cold water waiting for us when we got in.
2. They had a big sign welcoming us all compelete with all our names on it.
3. They made an amazing BBQ dinner for us and even make vegetarian lasagna for the non-meat eaters of the group.
4. They bought a cake for one of our rider's birthdays and sang Happy Birthday for her (I still don't know how they found out it was her birthday).
5. They shuttled us to the showers.
6. They DID OUR LAUNDRY.
7. They made breakfast for us twice.
8. They haded out popsicles.
9. They helped shuttle people to downtown Little Rock for our day off. As a leader, not having to shuttle people and to actually have a day off was so amazing...
10. One of the church member's husband's is a doctor and took our one of our rider's stiches.
11. They took our riders out to run errands.
12. They read each and every one of our bios online and knew all about our whole group.

There was more, but I can't type anymore. Theses wonderful people were incredible. Next year's group MUST go there.


Wednesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I love days off!

This day was a day off in Little Rock, and it was really nice to be able to sleep past 6:00am...I pretty much just relaxed the whole day. I cleaned my bike (who I have name Kelly Kapowski by the way), put on some sweet new camouflage handlebar tape, walked around downtown with some friends and shopped a bit, and then caught a AA baseball game at night. It was very refreshing and much needed! Our next one isn't until Colorado so it was nice to soak it up.


I'll do more pictures soon, big hugs from Arkansas!!

Who is the first B&B route to do three 100 mile rides in 4 days? WE ARE!!!

And it was a little (a lot) painful. But we made it...here is the update from the past few days.

Sunday's LESSON OF THE DAY: It is not wise to let someone give you a paint mustache and soul patch without first checking on the type of paint.

Turns out, it was oil based...not water based so I had to use paint thinner to get it off my face. Whoops! Another day, another knowledge wrinkle in my brain. We had a build in Norcross, GA where 1/2 our group worked with Rebuilding Together on an 89 year old man's house. They repainted and did some roofing work, and then we all met there for lunch and sang him happy birthday. The rest of us stayed at the Boys and Girls Club where we were staying and did work like repainting a railing (where the oil based issue happened), cleaning windows, spreading new mulch and planting a garden. Everyone was very happy to have a break from their bikes, and that evening we were treated to and amazing meal from Bob at Rebuilding Together at a local cafe. They had a huge taco bar set up with a band and we had an awesome sing a long after dinner of old classics. It was a ton of fun, but it was early to bed as our first century ride (100 miles) was the next day!


Monday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I am officially capable of riding 100 miles on a bicycle.

It was hot, it was long, it was VERY HILLY, but I made it! Many thanks to Rachel who had to coax me a bit at mile 90, then it was my turn to coax her at mile 95. It was a real mental challenge to make your body keep going when literally your muscles were jelly. But we all finished (minus a rider who had a little hiccup involving a downhill, a dog and thus an ambulance...don't worry she's fine, just a big 'ole black eye and some scrapes). We spent the night at an amazing church in Heflin, AL and they made us the most delicious meal of southern fried chicken with all the fixin's. I had trouble eating that night because my table was so exhausted and giddy from the ride that the only thing we could do was laugh until we cried. There really was nothing funny, but it was such an awesome night.


Tuesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I am officially capable of riding 100 miles on a bicycle for two consecutive days.

It was even hotter, even hillier, and I literally came close to not finishing but somehow I pulled it together and made it to Birmingham. This day was not fun, I did not enjoy the ride and I missed the second lunch so I pretty much rode from mile 35 to 100 without stopping. This isn't including a couple minor roadside meltdowns...its amazing what yelling on the side of the highway at no one will do for your moral :)


Wednesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: B&B rider alums parents cook great meals.

This was a build day, so after working on two Habitat houses all day, we were all very hungry. The good news is that the parents of a B&B alum found out we were in town and delivered us an amazing meal of polenta casserole, salad and homemade blueberry cobbler. It was amazing.


Thursday's LESSON OF THE DAY: When a local at a coffee shop assures you the route you're planning is going to be "pretty flat" keep in mind that every hill is flat when you're in a car.

So, much to my dismay this ride into Hamilton, AL was yet ANOTHER century ride for our poor group. And although this local assured me it was flat, it was really hilly and it was a struggle for the group. Especially since this was the third hundred mile ride in a row. That's a lot of miles...I was driving the van, and have to admit that I don't know if I would have been up for another hundred miles on the bike. I tried to boost spirits by treating the group to hummus, chips and salsa, and even popsicles at the second lunch! We went around the room that night and did our "highs and lows" of the week and one rider actually said that the popsicles were here high of the week so I think people appreciated them! I felt like Santa handing them out :)


Friday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I love Sonic.

I always see Sonic commercials but I had never been to one. For those of you who don't know, Sonic is an A&W like place where they bring the food to your window, or your bike in my case. We went out of our way to make it to the Sonic after an easy 60 mile day, and it was so worth it. I got a root beer float which I haven't had since high school and it made my day. Tonight we also got a bar & grille to donate dinner for us, just by one of our riders going in and telling them what we're doing. It was really nice, and they had a singer and a piano so we felt very fancy. But them we came back to our Thermarests and sleeping bags on the gym floor and all fancy feeling are now gone... :) Tomorrow is a 5o mile day, what a breeze! We're headed to Oxford, where Ole Miss is located. Should be fun, and we'll actually get in at a reasonable time so we can get some fun time in before our ridiculously early bedtime...

I forgot to say a big THANK YOU to my parents and Alyssa who sent me a packages on our last mail drop! It was great to hear from home and Alyssa's Andes Mint Candy cookies caused quite the stir with the riders. They are pretty pumped that I have a friend who loves to bake :)

God bless computer labs

That's right, I'm back already. I'm trying to get on the ball and update more often so that it doesn't take me a year to do so when I get behind...and it just so happens that the Boys' and Girls' club that we're staying in has a computer lab with 15 computers! You would have thought the riders just heard they won the lottery when people found out. Its the little things here on Bike & Build that really make your day :)

Friday's LESSON OF THE DAY: The Lutherans love us.

We stayed in a Lutheran church in Athens after a hilly and pretty ride in from Hartwell. They were so incredibly nice and about 30 people from the congregation came out to host a potluck dinner for us. We made friends with an 8 year old named Emily who was a chatty little thing. She proceeded to rank how cool we all were and concluded by telling us the "He creeps me out" pointing to the one rider on the trip who is going to med school to be a pediatrician. Hmm. Then to top it all off, they came back at 6:00 in the morning and put out a spread for breakfast for us! And what did they have? Wait for it...wait for it....NUTELLA!!!! A few of us have been talking and salivating over Nutella for the past few days, it was the best surprise and made today's ride that much better...

Here are some pics of the finished trailer by the way, I forgot to upload them earlier.

Saturday's LESSON OF THE DAY: Trampolines are still fun when you're 26.

About 10 miles into today's ride we came upon a soccer team that was raising money for gear (Cleats for Feets) and to attract attention they had one team member jumping on a trampoline on the side of the road. Well, naturally we wanted in. We struck a deal, we donate - we jump. Here is what followed...

It was tons 'o fun. The rest of today's ride was pretty good, we had a nice Mariah Carey sing a long at our lunch stop, and arrived at the Boys' and Girls' Club in Norcross, GA with plenty of time to shower, nap and make it to dinner at a restaurant called the Mellow Mushroom where a church was nice enough to pick up the tab. Tomorrow is a build day, so 1/2 of us will be working with an organization called Rebuilding Together where we will go to a home of a 89 year old gentleman to do some work on his roof, and the other 1/2 will stay at the Boys' and Girls' Club to do some needed repairs here. We're all engergized this fine evening because of the computer lab and the awesome dinner, so we're going to take advantage of the TV here and have a YouTube-a-thon. Good night, its time to rest my weary legs. These hills are getting a little aggressive. Ouchie.

Only a week in?

Hello again- lots has been happening so luckily the church I'm at in Athens, GA has wireless...

Monday's LESSON OF THE DAY: Its hot in the south.

Stupid lesson, I know. But really, this cold weather girl is not used to the heat! We did a really great ride from Columbia on this day and while it wasn't too bad when we were riding it was really, really hot when we stopped. At one point on some blacktop we stopped to double check our directions and I literally felt like I was baking. I've moved from 30 to 50 SPF because on day two of the trip my tan lines were already out of control. The 50 seems to be doing the trick, so at least I'm not burning on a daily basis now. We ended in a town called Newberry which was really cute, and we made some friends with a few shop owners on their Main Street. The host for that night was great, and made us a big lasagna dinner which was perfect! That night was taken up mostly with very intense games of Knock Out in the gym (the basketball game that you play with two balls...) and Mary proved to be much more apt at the game than the gents. I stayed out of the game for fear of embarrassing myself...a good choice I think.

Park in Columbia

Park in Columbia

First bales of hay!

Tuesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: 75 miles + a late start + glaring sun + not enough food + the biggest hill I've ever seen at mile 65 = bonking/blacking out in a parking lot.

The day sucked. I'm pretending it didn't exist.


Wednesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: Don't sleep in the same room as me when my sister is in labor.

The most exciting news of all is that I am officially Aunt Claire! My sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl early Wednesday morning named Nora Claire. Isn't that the most perfect name ever? :) So those in the room with me that night were forced to put up with me in and out answering phone calls and text messages and playing solitaire on my phone because I couldn't sleep AT ALL. But the lack of sleep didn't bother me a bit, and now I have a reason to pedal hard to get to Colorado so I can meet her! Both mom and baby are doing great, and our whole family is so happy to have a brand new member! I'll upload some pics soon.

The rest of the day in Greenville was great, this was our first day off and we all really needed it. Our bodies are still adjusting to our new schedules so a day off was definitely appreciated. A bunch of us went for a southern breakfast at a little diner, and then spent some time wandering around Greenville which is a really cute little city. We had dinner that night at a restaurant donated by Bill West who is a Bike & Build board member, so it was great to talk to him and he actually did the ride from Newberry to Greenville with us the previous day.

The breakfast crew on Main Street

Thursday's LESSON OF THE DAY: 56 miles is a breeze.

I never thought I would say that, but this was a great ride even though the majority of it was in the pouring rain. It was actually great because it kept us cool and we rode as a pretty big pack the whole way on back country roads so it was a lot of fun. We also crossed over our first border which was very exciting!! We have officially biked through a whole state. Only 12 more to go...

Also, lunch on this day was great because we went through Anderson and went to the home of a Bike & Build alum. Her mom fed us an awesome lunch, and we got interviewed by the paper too. I'll post a link to any media stuff that we can find. We've been interviewed a bunch of times now.

Rainy but happy

Welcome to Georgia!

So that is it for now, I can't believe we have only been riding for a week now...it feels like MUCH longer but we're starting to get in to the swing of things and its all going really well! We have our first really long day in a couple days (96 miles) so I'm going to concentrate on getting really hydrated and really excited for an intense day!