Our final ride & last days together:


To celebrate our last day, we pushed back wake-up to 7:30 and with much help from Ben and Todd San Diego (B&B ’05 alumni) I had a great ride planed for us. Some riders scrambled to have helmets, baseballs, thermarests, journals, and pirate flags signed by fellow riders to keep the memories from our B&B summer of ’08 forever. After breakfast, I gathered everyone for our last route meeting and handed out personalized Q-sheets that included a quick note or memory about my experience with each rider. Dave Getchel, our resident poet recited a new addition he had created to say his goodbye to us. It took us about 20 mins to leave the parking lot of the church…I think we were all really excited to get to the beach but were also really sad that that would mean we were done. For the 3rd time all summer we rolled out as a group. I’ve been on this trip for 2 months now but it still gives me chills when I see our blue and red jerseys riding together and taking up streets. I wonder what people think when they see us riding through their towns?
We all set out at a slower pace and stayed together for as long as traffic lights would let us. I found myself riding in front with Ben, Suz, Lisa, and Dave G until Ben decided it was a good idea to do front flips off his bicycle. No worries…there were no major injuries except some damage to his camera. A Band-Aid later (Supplied by Doyle Partners…Heeey!!) we quickly caught up to Michelle, Scott W, and Claire. I rode with them a lot this summer so I was happy that I got to share my last ride with them. Michelle initiated the singing and before I knew it Scott and I joined in belting “Marvelous Light.” I think Ben was scared! We pulled over about 3 miles away from the beach to regroup so we could all head in together. As soon as we left we saw some unfamiliar chalking of arrows and wheels in the road that made everyone really excited. Todd San Diego and his girlfriend Amanda went out the night before to chalk the turns for us that led us to the Pacific. We got to the top of a hill and were blown away with the view in the distance. The horizon melted into the ocean and as we descended we saw the sand and palm trees of La Jolla shores. It was the perfect memory! Chalked lines of encouragement marked the streets and the whole group cheered with excitement as we rolled along the shores and were greeted by camera flashes from Ben’s parents and welcome signs from Hannah’s family. We got to the sand and ripped off our shoes, grabbed our bikes, and headed to the water to dip our front wheels. 65 days later and we’ve ALL made it! What an accomplishment! Renee, Maura, Devon, and I ran into the water to splash around while our group bombarded the beach with friends and family snapping photos.

I headed back onto the picnic area where we were having our little celebration lunch and was greeted by Kevin Carmody, Dan’s dad whom set up the catering for the day. (Thanks so much!) I popped some champagne and cider, thanks to Ana’s family, and we all joined in together for a toast. The caterers had prepared organic bacon wrapped in grilled shrimp, tender marinated steak, and tofu with mixed vegetables…I can not tell you how happy I and everyone was to see the menu after eating nothing but peanut butter and jelly for 2 months. Finally, real food! We stuffed our faces and had a few closing words from Brendan, (yeah, you remember that journal entry!) myself, Ben, Scott, and Dan O. Elizabeth, from San Diego Habitat for Humanity came out to greet us and Kimberly, VP for San Diego Housing Development Corporation joined in and said a few words as well. Everyone was pretty exhausted from all of the excitement and 2 hours later we set out for the real “last” time as a group to get to the United Methodist Church where we were hosted by Debbie Pastor for the next 3 nights. I have to say how relieved I was how everything worked out wonderfully today. I had been planning this day since I was hired by Brendan as a leader in March. Thank you to everyone’s friends and family that came out to cheer us on and join in on the festivities.


That night we all celebrated together and shared some laughs and some tears. What do you know…Todd San Diego was even there! We said goodbye to Dave Getchel, the first to leave our group that night. We explored La Jolla over the next 3 days and hit up some local restaurants (In&Out,) Sea World, and the San Diego zoo, as everyone started to leave one by one.


Early Sunday morning, Ben, Dan O, Scott, and myself set out on our road trip back to the east coast with our van guests, David G, Rach, and Patrick. On our way back, we’re stopping in Vegas, the Hoover Dam, Zion National Park, and Arches, Chicago, Detroit, and Cedar Point roller coaster Park in Sandusky Ohio. Should be a fitting end to the perfect summer! Thanks to all who helped us along the way and those of you who followed our progress and encouraged us from home. We’re so appreciative of everyone who made this trip possible, I think al the riders would agree that it really was the most amazing experience any of us have ever had; too bad all good things must come to an end.


Angela

Blythe to Brawley CA – 88 Miles


At the end of each of the B&B route that trips’ assigned program director goes to the end to help wrap things up, drive the van to the last day or so and in general to make sure the trip ends well and everything is clean and ready to be used the following year. Since one of my good friends from my trip (NUS06 represent) is a leader and my schedule allowed, I came out to CA a few days early to ride with the group and to stay in touch with life on the road. For the full B&B effect I also volunteered to write today’s journal. I am Brendan, and this my story.


Following a rather tiring and pretty much sub-excellent Planes, Trains & Automobile type journey I met up with the NC2SD riders in scenic Blythe CA, a scant 30 hours after leaving my apartment in Brooklyn. Upon getting in to the Greyhound station I was soon met by Dan and Travis in the van. Noting how tired I was they told me to not fall asleep on the 15-20 minute drive back to the church. Well, I had barely had the chance to buckle my seatbelt when we were pulling up in the Assembly of God Church parking lot– directly across the street from the bus station. Oh, what pranksters!


As a director, it is often times slightly awkward to step back into a group that has been together non stop for almost two months and essentially forgotten that we existed. Luckily for me NC was not like that at all, and I was happy to receive a warm welcome. In fact, I was so well re-integrated that the leaders had instructed the riders to direct ALL questions regarding the next days route (weather, mileage, wake-up, lunch stop, etc) to me. Additionally, they had convince everyone that it would be much more fun for all parties to just address me as Brandon rather than Brendan, because… well, just because. Hardee har har, those pranksters!


Anyway, I had arrived just in time to see live performances of NC2SD’s very own custom B&B songs, as performed by Scott Wilkins and Dave Getchel. I do need to say, I’ve heard quite a few B&B trip songs in my time and these were by far some of the funniest and best written of any. The trip was in stitches, everybody even sang along with the chorus! It was quite the sight to see. A quick meeting followed detailing the next days ride and wake up time (uh oh, 80 miles and 4:00AM… what had I gotten into?) and everybody soon scattered. I went outside with Dan Oates who to put my bike together, then we caught up over some delicious Taco Del Mar. When we got back to the church I went up to the air-conditioned room I had been lucky enough to have reserved for me, sharing it with Angela, Ben & Scott. Just after I got in my sleeping back Ben threw me over a set of earplugs, telling me I’d definitely want them. Thinking nothing of it I waved them off at first (“Hey, I slept on the floor of San Diego International last night and I was fine.”), but twenty minutes later I realized the error of my ways and soon fell was fast asleep with my anti-Scott-snoring devices firmly in place.


The beauty of being newly arrived on the West coast was that the 4:00AM wakeup was not actually that bad. Following a delicious breakfast of sausage, eggs and toast provided by some members of the Assembly of God we soon circled up for route meeting, preparing for what promised to be a challenging ride across the desert. A few minutes later I soon hit the road with Sweatband Ben, Dan O, David and Travis, none of us having any idea of the epic journey we were embarking upon.


The first 30 miles were rather uneventful, save the near 12 rider pileup caused by a certain underage leader (cough… Dan) trying to catch a butterfly and knocking into Travis, all while we were passing another large group. Things looked shaky for a hot second, but both Travis and Dan managed to stay up and avoid potential disaster. Our stop at first lunch was a welcome break, refueling us with much needed peanut butter and jelly as well as letting us reapply the sunscreen. It was also then that we noticed the temperature was rapidly rising, and decided to make haste towards Brawley.


Except for a string of unfortunate flats for David, the next 20 miles were nothing of note. As the heat climbed so did the terrain, we soon found ourselves on a rather challenging ride. Pushing onwards and upwards we valiantly battled every ill the road threw at us, from flats to sand to trucks to a downright naughty heat. I mean seriously, it was getting hotter out here than in the B&B office (no, really!). As we slowly lost momentum and started to get beaten down, we rolled upon the “town” of Glamis, which is apparently some sort of mecca for ATVers and dune buggies in the fall months, when the town’s “population” swells to 250,000. Unfortunately for us the town’s population is only 7 (s-e-v-e-n) at this point in the year (most likely because it is hotter than hell and far away from civilization) and there wasn’t much to see short of a ton of sand and the Glamis Beach Store.


Now, being from the Central Jersey shore when I hear “beach” I not only think sand (check), but also water (no check). Not only was there no body of water (obviously, it is the desert), but the store did not have any free water for weary cyclists, and the price of a gallon was $4.50! Additionally, the food selection was limited and overpriced, as was the Gatorade. Fortunately the service made up for it (NOT!). Actually, while trying to make small talk with the shopkeep we asked him if he gets many cyclists in these parts, to which he replied “Yeah, I do get some _____ing idiots in here.” Suffice to say, I did not put my quarter in the tip jar.


While we were in the store I gave my tube to David to change yet another flat, but as soon as we hit the road I realized that my tire had also gone soft, in response to which I may have said a few words that are not fit to print here. I was in luck though, because right then Claire came by and gave me a tube she had patched at lunch. A few minutes later and we were back on the road, traversing the final 4 miles to second lunch. As we climbed the massive sand dune of death and heat, we noted that the van and trailer seemed parked in a peculiar area at the top. Thinking nothing of it, we pushed on with thoughts of peanut butter and warm Gatorade dancing through our minds.


It turns out we were right about the van being parked awkwardly, as when we got there it seems that the van had actually gotten stuck in the rather treacherous sand. As Ben, Dan, Scott and I sat around in our spandex (sweaty from the day’s ride) we wondered what in the world the unnamed van driver had done. B&B was in luck as a passing truck managed to stop and get the vangela out of the sand, as well as the trailer. 45 minutes after arriving, we departed around 12:30 to finish the final 20 or so miles. Unkown to us at the time, this was the beginning of the end.


Ben decided it would be a great idea to take off in his normal insane style, pretty much spinning out his highest gear. Dan followed, and Travis and I struggled to keep pace. As the hill got steeper and the day got hotter, we fell behind to the point that it was just the two of us. As the minutes slowly ticked away, the heat got worse and the miles longer. After an unsuccessful shade stop (drainage ditch in the way) we finally managed to find a house about 7 miles outside of Brawley with both a tree and a sprinkler. We lounged in the shade for a bit, and were soon caught by Suz and Dan Thomas on sweep. We all took turns in the sprinkler, and we soon left with a renewed energy that would carry us to our final destination.


As we rolled into Brawley we past a thermometer, noting the temperature was a balmy 104. Shortly thereafter we rendezvoused with Dan and Becky in a gas station. I joined them for a lovely lunch at a café down the street, and was told that this was easily one of the hardest days of their trip, but I was still a slow noob. Oh well, so much for respecting your elders.


Tonight we had an amazing dinner at Pizza Hut, provided in part by Pedro the manager as well as Ben’s parents. We’re staying in the amazingly wonderful air-conditioned United Methodist Church. Thanks for hosting Pastor Nelson!!!


Tomorrow we have a 4000+ foot climb into Julian, which will be the last hard day of the summer. I’m really excited to ride, and I’ve had a great time with the trip so far, they are an amazing group of people! I’m envious that they’ve been able to do this all summer, and happy they’ve been so welcoming to me. I almost feel like I’ve been with them the entire time.


The people, places and events in this story are entirely true. I am Brendan, and that was my story.


PS- Shoutout to Amelia & Kristian back in the office.
PS#2- Shoutout to Libby, mi amor.

Even though we were only biking 48 miles we woke up relatively early due to the fact that it was our first real desert day. After about 8 am, we weaklings (when it comes to the weather) really started feeling the heat. Most people got in around 10am, though, so it worked out that we didn’t need to spend too much time in the blistering heat.


Luckily enough, our host location, Wenden Elementary school, was a “Bike and Build paradise” in that in had amazing air conditioning, a lab full of computers with internet, a nice kitchen (complete with ice maker) to use, and a nice wall to project movies. Many people used the extra time to take naps (including myself, I believe I took at least a 4 hour nap and went to bed early) and do our Bike and Build trip evaluations.


It was definitely a nice day to have extra time and resources, like the computers, to use since we are all starting to think about the end of the trip and getting back into the swing of our normal lives after a couple of months off.


Hannah

After enjoying our final build day in Prescott, the group woke up around 5:30 for the ride into Wickenburg. The general consensus was that it would be a fairly easy day: We would be losing some serious altitude over the course of the 58-mile ride, having begun at a middle school named "Mile High" and ending at around 2,000 feet above sea level. Given this 3,000 foot drop, Ben promised a "super-downhill" and predicted that we would all average 20 mph. Ben, as it happened, was wrong.


We started out of Prescott with an unexpected climb, not insignificant in size. There are apparently mountains south of Prescott, and they were picturesque though unwelcome. After the first climb, there was a descent into a rather desolate valley, followed by another ascent. Unfortunately, two of our riders had to be picked up by the van. Maura and Renee, still getting over a stomach bug, were simply unable to handle the climbs. Seeing how impossible the bike ride was for those of us not at full health is a reminder of the difficulty of what we are all doing. Even though both made the right decision by not attempting to finish the ride, it is a quite unhappy occasion when a van ride is necessary.


Right before lunch (and after ten more miles of ups and downs), we were greeted with our favorite road sign: a truck on a steep downhill. The elusive descent was half a mile ahead. Lunch was at the top of the downhill, next to a diner. Lisa and I (of course) took the opportunity to buy overpriced ice cream -- it was quite hot by this point of the day.


Going downhill right out of lunch is a fantastic feeling. The road was very scenic, and it had long sight lines, little traffic, and good pavement. Sharp curves kept us from going too fast but made it all the more fun. It was a great descent; however, as we lost elevation, one could feel it getting even hotter all too quickly. When we finally reached the last 15 miles of flatness, it was extreme: Well over 100 degrees, a level of heat which I had never experienced before. But we all made it to the Mount Hope Assembly of God in Wickenburg by a little after one, so we managed to avoid the worst of it.


After hose showers (some people went to the pool), naps, and a town hall meeting, we were treated to a delicious dinner of lasagna by our gracious host Duane and company. We were cool, relaxed, and satisfied when we went to bed in preparation for another early start.

Williams, Arizona


Today we rode 50 miles from our camp site at the Grand Canyon to Williams, Arizona. We started a little bit later than usual because we needed to pack up the tents and deal with our wet clothing after getting caught in thunderstorms yesterday. The first part of our ride went by quickly because the roads were smooth and then several riders stopped at a Flintstones themed campsite and diner. After getting pictures with Fred Flintstone and the dinosaurs, several of us went into the gift shop and restaurant to get a second breakfast. Afterwards, we ran into a few more hills and some small mountains near the end of the ride. It's funny because 50 miles seems short to most of us after our stretch of 100+ mile days, and before the trip 50 miles seemed like a really long ride. We stayed at the First Baptist Church and were greeted by Dave & Carol Martinez. They provided us with some hot dogs for dinner and opened up their home for the guys to shower in because the church only had one shower in the girls’ bathroom. Williams is a fun town with lots to do, some riders made it out to enjoy some of what Williams has to offer. Dave & Carol were very hospitable and we appreciated their generosity.


Rachel & Patrick

Desert View.. uh, no wait, Ten-X campground in Tusayan


We awoke in Tuba City at the Assembly Church of God. The sunrise was gorgeous. It would have been the best part of the morning had we not been provided breakfast by Peggy and Hal all their helpers ( including a group of traveling puppeteers from Texas). It was delicious and amazing. They also gave us a huge bag of bagels to take with us on the road. We bikers love carbohydrates. Thanks again!
As the trip is winding down, I can feel a lot of us getting pretty nostalgic. I can’t remember much of the ride into lunch except awesome desert valleys that greatly resembled Mars, and also Swaroop and I discussing “Graduation Song” by Vitamin C— “Whatever happened to Vitamin C?” or “Do you think we should play that as we ride into San Diego?”

Most of the group made a pit stop at the post office/souvenir shop. I was mailing off some postcards and started talking to a nice couple about Bike and Build. They gave me a scone, and we spent 20 minutes discussing the bike ride from Durango to Ouray. They were going with another couple to bike the Million Dollar Highway just like we had done days earlier. It has been really great meeting such fun people along the way that share your common interests—such as biking and scones.
Lunch was at the Little Colorado Gorge (which I thought was pretty impressive until later in the afternoon when we went by a slightly larger canyon). Here we learned to make the most of bike and build’s motto “roll with it.” Apparently the Grand Canyon National Park service is not too friendly to large groups camping, so we had to nix the original plan to camp in Desert View and go to a campsite further away. So 57 mile ride turned into a 90 mile day. No biggie. We are Bike-and-Builders. We are resilient.

The Grand Canyon was amazing, of course, and no picture or description can do it justice. If you really want to enjoy the experience, I would highly recommend overpriced ice cream as well. It really complimented the canyon in my opinion. My highlight overall was changing a flat at one of the lookouts while talking to fellow tourists.
We made it to the campsite and got the tents set up just in time before the rain really started to come down. Daniel T. summoned some boy scout skills and made us a makeshift tarp-tent for the stove, and Lance summoned his inner chef and prepared us a delightful meal of green beans and spaghetti all amid a downpour. Some of us huddled under the tarp-tent, and some of us in the van or the trailer. I looked at Hannah shivering in the rain as she said, “It’s too wet to take a shower.” “ I agree.” So not as brave as some of the other riders to take a hose shower in the rain, we snuggled in our tents and hoped for drier days.


Happy riding,

Claire and Swaroop

We started off another day in Arizona with a beautiful sunrise over the church and the rock formations to the east of us. From there, we hopped on our bikes and began our 75 mile ride to Tuba City, the next major town we would enter on our ride. For the first 20 miles or so, we traveled along a rode that followed the base of a mesa and gradually ascended out to a more flat plains area. Along the way, there were some amazing rock formations to look at to keep us occupied as the miles passed by. Once we climbed away from the mesa, we began to encounter more of a desert environment, with plenty of miles of nothing but sand, shrubs and rock. However, we were especially disappointed to find that were no cacti or coyotes around, but we managed to settle for more large escarpments of sandstone.
After another delicious meal of finely ground peanuts and fruit preserves spread over loaves of great value bread around mile 40, we started to encounter a great deal of descent as we entered the Tuba City area and had a fairly pleasant ride all the way to our destination, or at least to the Sonic just outside of our final endpoint. Unlike those who had sprinted in the morning, our group arrived just in time for happy hour and enjoyed half-price slushes and limeades. After savoring our delicious treat, we headed on to our host site, the First Assembly of God Church of Tuba City, where we were given a place to stay and even had the home of the pastor, Hal and Peggy, open up to us so that we could shower. We also had a bike clinic in the evening, where we reminded kids once more of the importance of wearing a helmet and keeping your tires inflated properly. We had the opportunity to chat with some of the local kids and parents about our trip and to just have a good time hanging out and learning biking hand signals. All in all, the day was quite enjoyable, but once again we find ourselves ready for an early bedtime, excited about our ride to the Grand Canyon in the morning. So, with full stomachs and pleasant memories, we say goodbye to another day on Bike and Build.



- Renee Wheelock and Daniel Thomas

Red Mesa to Kayenta


Saturday morning found us waking up bright and early (familiar story) sprawled across the basketball court at Red Mesa High School. We got the day going in the normal fashion: groups completing chores, downing bananas and bowls of sugary cereal, pumping tires and applying sunscreen. It was a bit different, though, because we were assigned to riding groups for our ‘Barrel’ event, which is planned for our ride into Prescott, AZ, on the 16th. Barrel, named so as it is the only container large enough to contain the amount of fun we’re expected to have, is a scavenger hunt / group race of sorts. It was decided that the three groups would spend the day riding together to strategize for the big day. It was a blast, as it had us all riding with people that we hadn’t had enough opportunity to ride with throughout the summer. The ride lasted 57 miles; we’d downgraded from the 100-plus miler that would have taken us north into Utah and through Monument Valley, which we decided to instead take a tour-bus through. More on that in a bit…


The landscape on the ride into Kayenta was a bit bleak, but scattered throughout the ride were a few beautiful mesas and rock towers, which seemed to be breaking through the very earth they rested on. Our arrival into town presented us with a different brand of beauty, one of golden arches, Burger King and, from what I was told, an amazing pizzeria. Lance and I, riding as sweep, opted for Burger King. Delicious! Inside we found the contents of a tour bus. I told Lance that they were European; I could have been right. Regardless, he seemed to believe me.


We were greeted with open arms and a broad smile by Our Lady of Guadalupe Church’s Father Jerry. We all took really fast, slightly cold (freezing, if you ask Patrick) hose showers, and prepared for the tour through Monument Valley. It was amazing! Father Jerry hooked us up with Crawley Tours, and we got a good group rate from them. The valley passed everyone’s expectations, it was almost too much to soak in. For anyone who isn't familiar with Monument Valley, it is the place where there are tons of giant Sandstone plateaus strewn all over the place, and also the place where Forrest Gump decided to stop running across the country and go home. There were tons of pictures taken, many of which are on the web page now.


After the tour, we sat around and enjoyed a delicious pasta dinner, prepared by our very own, multi-talented dinner chore group. A few headed back for a second helping of pizza; more pasta for us! As always, we enjoyed an early lights-out and a good night of sleep. Many thanks to Father Jerry and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. We all had a great time talking to you and exploring Kayenta. Until next year!


Signing off,


Dennis Plato, Massachusetts

This morning we got to sleep in until 6 oclock, which was great. Unfortunately all we had for breakfast was corn flakes, and I always love sugary cereal, so I was disappointed in the cereal selection. When I walked outside to get ready to ride Becky and Renee were dancing with their bikes to music playing from the van. It was really funny to watch. Patrick and I were sweep today, but several other riders decided to join us. During our morning ride we saw a casino on the side of the road and some of the group wanted to try their luck so we went in for a few minutes. Overall the group came out a dollar ahead, so I say that is one victory for Bike and Build. We stopped for lunch and four corners which was pretty cool. I talked to a lot of tourist about our trip and we took lots of pictures. When we left four corners we stopped at the Arizona state sign for a picture and a family stopped while we were there. They said something about taking a picture and we assumed they wanted us to take a picture of them, but they then told us they wanted a picture with us, so the guys all picked up the kids on our shoulders and took a picture with the sign. After we left a couple of riders drafted behind their car for a couple of miles. They were really nice people. We also stopped at a DOT weigh station and got on the scales to see how much we weighed. Unfortunately it only had incriments of 50 pounds so we couldn't get our exact weight, but it was cool to talk to the worker there. There isn't much in this area, but it is cool to see all the mesas and the wide open spaces. We got in pretty early so after showers there was a lot of napping going on. Everyone is pretty excited for our next day because of Monument Valley.


Scott Wilkins

Today was a short day, but we got an early start as we had to be out of the church by 6:15 for the Men’s club (we are flexible and work with our host sites to minimize any inconvenience). After Angela got a flat before leaving the parking lot, we waited for her to change it (and use the floor pump). We rode over to the Bread (not bombs) Bakery to join up with other riders for a morning coffee break – hey it was a good 0.1 miles away. After everyone left, we hung out for our 15 minute buffer before hitting the road. Lunch was at a local park, which had some shade trees just off the highway (and we devoured some of the awesome chicken left over from Emily’s aunt and uncle). The ride was fairly straight forward, a couple of climbs initially, and then some fun descents. Thanks to the joy of drafting, Michelle was able to not shift gears the entire afternoon. Several riders stopped at a trading post to pick up friendship bracelets. A couple of riders (David G, Ana, Cole) decided to take a 40 mile detour to Mesa Verde – more power to them. We were able to shower at the middle school before hitting up Pizza Hut for dinner (Thanks Ben’s mom). It was wonderful staying at Trinity Lutheran Church, where we were able to sleep anywhere in the lower level and take full advantage of the a/c on a hot day. We had our weekly townhall meeting where everyone unveiled our new t-shirts – light blue with a picture of Cole Emde (our resident bike mechanic expert) and a saying of “The Cole-alition”. On the back, was the Bike and Build logo and the words “Running on Cole Power” “NC2SD – 2008”. Special thanks for the shirts goes to Daven – designing the shirt, Dave G – placing the order, Scott W’s dad – coming up with the idea, Claire – organizing…it was a team effort. The night ended with a viewing of Anchorman, in anticipation of our arrival in San Diego in 2 weeks.


Michelle Williamson and Scott Shapiro

Today we worked with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter in Durango Colorado. When we arrived we started work on the foundation of a duplex. We painted on water sealant around the base of the house as well as spread tar on one side. I had the privilege of working with Bonnie who will soon be receiving one of the four homes in the two duplexes we worked on. She has a four year old daughter who wanted to come build with her, but of course is too young to be on a build site. It was pretty tough work and it was hot outside. Another group worked on the duplex next door laying I-beams for the floor. We got a lot of work done and had a wonderful barbeque lunch. After building we headed to a local college for showers, and then we walked down a huge hill into downtown Durango to hang out for the afternoon. I needed a new journal because I have already filled an entire journal with stories from the trip so I had my parents look up book stores in the area in advance so I could find the journal I wanted. We stopped by Maria’s Book Shop where we met the owner Peter. He was really interested in our trip. He is a cyclist as well and does a little unicycle too. He was a really nice guy and after picking out my new journal he told us he wanted to treat us to ice-cream. He had to head home, but he sent us down the street with a check to a local ice-cream shop and told us to help ourselves and to gather as many other fellow riders as we could. It was really generous and it was great being able to talk to him. Durango is a really nice city. There are cyclist everywhere and several bike shops in the area. It was cool to see so many bikes out on the streets. I went by the library to get on the computers for awhile and then headed back to the church for dinner. Many riders stayed downtown to eat and hang out. Despite the heat it was a really nice day.


Scott Wilkins

Our last scheduled century was out of Gunnison into Ouray. The morning started out chilly with a very light sprinkle or rain that quickly dried up. We quickly approach the Blue Mesa Reservoir and began our slight ascent into the first of two passes for the day. The 29 cyclists and van driver reunited at the Blue Mesa Damn for our first lunch of PBJ’s and miscellaneous other treats. We continued to ride through a land that Dan Carmody described as resembling the “Great Valley” in The Land Before Time. I believe some spent the ride discussing fabricated Michael Crichton facts, an idea inspired by the landscape. The altitude still slowed down a few a riders, who still enjoyed the particularly beautiful ride. After the second pass, we met for lunch again before a stunning long descent out of one of the ridges of the Rockies. Heading west, we began to climb again into Ouray with the wind to our faces. David Grant saved the day for Maura, Renee and Devon by pulling and even at some points hauling the exhausted threesome up the hills into the breathtaking valley of Ouray. Passing the Hot Springs on the way into the Switzerland of America, we anticipated we would refresh our tired muscles in the spring-fed pools. We arrived at the First Presbyterian Church, settled in, and some took cold bucket showers while others elected to go to the Hot Springs to clean off. After a refreshing soak for some, many riders headed into to town to get milkshakes to fuel them for the grueling climbs to follow out of Ouray.


Devon

We started off our day with a pancake breakfast provided by the Buena Vista Optimist Club, thanks to our hosts at the Congregational United Church. It was an all you should eat buffet downtown. They were amazing, and the sausage was good too. We also got to socialize with our fellow pancake eaters, and tell them about our journey. We then hit the road taking pictures of the mountains that surrounded us on all sides. It was a “shorter day” as in only 85 miles in the middle of two centuries. It was also the day where we crossed the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass. There was quite a bit of climbing to get to 11,312 ft, the highest point of our trip. At that elevation there is still snow that struggled to survive in the shade. Travis and I had to pull off the road for a quick snowball fight. We had our lunch stop at Summit Crest, over two miles above sea level. It was slightly chilly so we ate inside the snack shop/souvenir shop. Angela, the amazing van driver, got us all hot cocoa. The cashier was impressed by David Grant’s eating skills when he got a sandwich, a hot dog, hot cocoa and Mountain Dew and then returned for another hot dog, Mountain Dew and pretzel. Biking up hills will make you hungry. Sadly we had to go back out into the cold, and as we started the descent it started to rain. Most of our group got caught in it, and for many it ruined what should have been an amazing descent. At the bottom there was a quick stop/restaurant, where most of the group stopped to warm up. They let us use their dryer, and some members of the group found that plastic bags can be quite warming. When Ana went to turn into their parking lot her bike slid out from underneath her on the rain slick pavement. She was scraped up, but sustained no serious injuries. It was another example of why everyone should always wear a helmet. It stopped raining and the group continued on. The rest of the ride was all down hill. It was beautiful, and so much fun to barely have to peddle to go 24 mph. We spent the night at Gunnison High School. There we ate dinner that dinner crew got up at 5am that morning to prepare, had girl talk, and went to bed early in preparation for another century in the Rockies.


Suzanne and Travis

We set out early for our 103-mile day from Colorado Springs into Buena Vista. Before we had even left town, we spotted a large male deer in an apartment complex. After trying to snap a picture, we continued on to find 6 more crossing the road in front of us. We had an amazing route planned for us, which first took us through the Garden of the Gods. The group met up to take plenty of pictures on top of the spectacular rock formations.


Most of the day was made up of difficult climbs but amazing views of the Rockies. No one had really acclimated to the elevation yet which made things even more difficult. We climbed up Wilkerson Pass (~9300 feet) and were rewarded with free punch and cookies from a local VFW. We also got to play a trivia game and received badges making us part of "Smokey's Fire Patrol."


It started to storm as we got into second lunch so we hid in the van until the rain slowed down. The last 15 miles made the rest of the tough day completely worth it--an awesome descent right into town. We arrived at the Congregational United Church greeted by a delicious lasagna dinner and warm showers. Thanks to all the church members for taking such great care of us.


Lisa and Samuel

The build day in Colorado Springs was perfect in so many ways. We left to build with the Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity around 8 AM and everyone was excited to hear that we would be framing a house. Amiee, our contact with Habitat greeted us and handed us over to Robert and a few other guys who got us set up with hard hats, nails, and hammers. The house was in a new development so it had an incredible view of the mountains. The weather was just right with a nice breeze and as Dan O would call them, gigantic “Simpsons” clouds in the sky. I worked with a gentleman that was also from Brooklyn so we spent a lot of time talking about home while we worked. The group worked fast and before we knew it, it was lunch time and the whole exterior of the house was built and up. Amiee got us lunch donated from subway and after our stomachs were full we had our “town hall” meeting, we got back to work. The rest of the day went fast as we built all of the interior walls but by 3 o’clock the skies darken up and the day got called off due to a storm that never ended up coming through. The view was absolutely amazing with so many shades of blue and violet melting into the horizon with the mountains right there.


Amiee had dropped off dinner that was donated by Olive Garden when we got back to the church. Pasta, salad and bread sticks. Yum! A bunch of us decided to check out downtown since we had the next day off. We went to a couple of places but the best was “Cowboys” where I learned how to line dance to almost any song the DJ felt like playing. I made a fool of myself but it was really cool to see how the locals did it. The night came to and end and we headed back to the church to catch up on some sleep.


July 4th…what a great day to have a day off to explore town. Everyone used this day to do what they wanted. I slept in a bit and got my fix of caffeine from Starbucks with Lisa and Dennis. The rest of the day was pretty lazy which was just what I needed. We walked around everywhere and food included Subway and later some Panda Express with Becky, Dan, David, Ana, Ben, and some others. As it got dark Ben, Renee, Claire, Dan Thomas, and I walked to the highest point we could find to try and find a nice fireworks show. To our surprise there were a few. Many were “home made” but were pretty impressive. I think everyone could agree that Colorado Springs was great.


Angela

We (Ana Lagos and Dan Carmody) started out early today; wake up call was at 4:30 am and the night before we had all our gear ready to go in order to leave as early as possible. As our longest ride of the trip – 125 miles – it’s necessary to make sure that we waste little time. A special thanks goes out to Pastor Steve and the Presbyterian Church for getting up so early to prepare us a hearty breakfast.
Because of the long day, instead of giving some gap between sweep and the last group, we just left with them. The majority of the ride was spent riding with various groups; switching every time we encountered a group who had gotten a flat (there were a lot of flats – it’s bound to happen on a day as long as today, especially when there is as much glass and debris as was in the road today).

The most interesting part of our day was had in the last 20-30 miles, as we approached the outer edge of Colorado Springs. A storm had been brewing since second lunch, and its fierce power was beginning to make itself known. The sky had darkened, the wind had strengthened, and the first telltale drops had begun to fall. At this point we were once again riding with Swaroop, Cole, Maggie, Samuel, Scott Shapiro, and Daven. They had been plagued by numerous flats all day, and had found themselves in the back with sweep.
As the wind increased further, it was decided that we should seek shelter to wait out the impending storm. Not long after this decision was made, Mother Nature gave us a little message to tell us how urgent the situation was. We were riding in a loosely packed line, when off to our left we saw a dust devil – a mini twister that had formed. A split second after seeing the twister, it swept across the road, pelting us with sand and stones. Leaving us no time to react, the full force of the wind hit, sweeping our bikes out from under us and sending us onto the shoulder. We ducked low to let it pass, and once it had done so, we got on the road and went to find the closest cover.

We found our sanctuary about a mile down the road – Mystic Meadow Event Center. We quickly gathered under an awning on the deck, and Cole went to see if anyone was inside that would give us shelter. Fortunately there was someone there; unfortunately she wouldn’t let us in. The deck would have to do.
We shivered together on that deck for over an hour, huddling for warmth. Rain, wind, and lightning surrounded us, and it seemed like forever before the sky had cleared enough for us to feel safe out on the road again. We finally were able to leave, though, and so we took off for the Springs.

The rest of the ride was spent imagining all the things that one imagines when finishing a long and grueling ride in the rain – hot showers, good food, and a soft thermarest. We pushed through the rough and rolling hills of the Colorado Springs neighborhoods and pulled into Sunrise United Methodist Church – at sunset – to find the things we had been imagining awaiting us there, with showers at the YMCA, and dinner from Olive Garden, thanks to Aimee with Pikes Peak Habitat.

July 1st: Suz’s and Lisa’s day of Absolute Fun!


Lisa and Suz volunteered to sweep from Lamar to Rocky Ford. It was a short day in the middle of quite a few long days. Many people hoped to finish the day quickly and rest up for our killer 124 miler the next day. Unfortunately these plans were decimated by a strong headwind. We on sweep had absolutely no intensions of going quickly, and rolled into Community Presbyterian Church at 5 pm. Over all it was an amazing day. By the end of the day we had created Sweep Dream Team which included Dave Getchel, Dennis Plato, and Lance Cargill!


The day started off with Suz half asleep. We had cereal for breakfast and then hit the road. Because Kanasas (intentional miss spelling) is flat our riding group of Lisa, Dave Getchel, and I have been playing word games to entertain us. Lisa came up with a new game shortly into sweep day. She gave the following riddle: A man is found dead in the middle of the field with two straws. What happened? Dave and Suz had to ask her yes/no questions to figure out the scenario that led to this man’s unfortunate demise. (If you would like the answer send smonaco1@gmail.com your address for a personalized postcard.). Since Suz is not very good at waking up in the mornings it took her 15 minutes into the riddle to figure out that she already knew the answer. So she switched over and helped Lisa coach Dave to the answer. He got it about an hour later. Because we three were so intent on our riddle we did not really notice that we were going about 8 miles an hour.


To our amazement we actually caught up with people. Lance was on his second flat, and Dennis was sick of battling the winds by himself. We subjected them to our riddle. Soon we came upon a town called Hasty Colorado. Suz went to the post office, and the rest of Dream Team stopped off at Valley Grocery. We shared our riddle with the owners, because Dennis and Lance had not yet solved it when we left. We will be sending them a detailed postcard with the answer.


We finally made it to lunch about an hour behind everyone else. We learned of the existence of a Dairy Queen a ½ mile up the road. After a quick PB&J we headed for the best Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint Blizzards ever. Somehow the Gods blessed us further when they gave us mediums for the price of a small. Devon joined our Dream Team sporadically throughout the day, but we were too slow for her.


Highlight of after lunch: We got a train to honk at us. Devon bought us ice water. We played more riddles, and played the alphabet game using restaurants because we were hungry. After creating the largest gap ever in the history of Bike & Build we arrived at the Community Presbyterian Church, and rushed to showers at the public pool. We then ate an AMAZING dinner of chicken and home made pasta organized by Pastor Steve Culver. We had a bike clinic, after which we went to bed early in preparation for our 124 miler. Our incredible host woke before dawn to provide us with breakfast at 5 am.

Today we enjoyed our second century day, riding 101 miles from Garden City, Kansas and finally crossing the state line into Lamar, Colorado. Fortunately, we had a pretty windless day compared to the past few, and the day started off great. The shoulder was quite dirty, however, and several riders experienced flat tires – some for the first time this trip. We continued to pass through beautiful pastoral fields of brown wheat and were excited to see the return of trees to our terrain. Especially exciting, we ate lunch on the Mountain Time zone line – therefore allowing us to leave lunch before arriving! We passed time for most of the afternoon with word games and life-story telling, which helped us to forget that we were in fact covering a great deal of ground for one day. Around mile 68, we crossed another state line into Colorado, pausing as always for several colorful and creative photos. We were surprised to see that the elevations of passing Colorado towns were all well above 3,400 feet – but without the mountains of western North Carolina! Upon arriving in Lamar, we quickly sought out the welcoming arms and air conditioning of the local United Methodist Church and were treated to a fabulous dinner of vegetable casseroles, salads, and assorted meats and cheeses under the leadership of the pastor Kathy. What else could a biker want after a long day in the sun?


-Dan Thomas and Emily (Team Mastodon)

Our ride from Dodge City to Garden City was a nice break from our longer rides, only 54 miles. The morning ride was really nice. The wind was at our backs and the road was flat. We stopped at one point to see the ruts from the original Santa Fe Trail, which was really cool. The group I rode with really wanted to see some prairie dogs, so while we were stopped looking at the Santa Fe Trail we decided to duck down and act like prairie dogs for a picture. It was really funny. All morning we decided to tell life stories, all the way from when our parents met to where we were in life currently. It is always great to get to know each other better! Several riders decided to ride sweep with Patrick and I, so we decided to call ourselves the vacuum instead of sweep. Patrick and I are both known for taking a lot of pictures, so we told everyone it would be the most photographed day of the trip. I think our group took over 150 pictures by the end of the day. On our way into lunch we saw a sign for a scenic view, which ended up being hundreds of cows in pins. It was a pretty cool site. Dan Oates set up a slip and slide at our lunch spot for everyone to cool off. After lunch our group saw a sign for an airport, so we went to see if we could get pictures with a plane. We convinced a worker to let us on the tarmac, which was really cool.

Our dinner at the church was great. We had pasta & enchiladas that were amazing. After dinner, we received a ton of help from the local bicycling community, specifically a local bike shop called The Bike Rack, who came to the church and helped us work on our bikes. Also, the pastor of the church, Pastor Steve Ensz let us try out his double decker bike, which was basically two bikes on top of each other. That night we had a talent show which all of us have been working on for a couple of weeks. We had 9 or 10 acts, including several songs and a dance. I sang a song about Bike and Build love, since several riders have crushes on other riders. It was such a great night and it was very entertaining!


Scott Wilkins

tumble weeds
basement

cooked awesome dinner, The Coles
the wind


Our morning at the Cold Water campsite started off with a loud tornado siren. The weather was cool and cloudy for the first half of the day. Many of the riders were caught in a large rain storm after our first lunch stop. Most of our 82 mile stretch was straight and flat, with a few large sloping hills. At the top of one hill, we saw a large lone tree where we stopped and saw our first cactus of the trip. The few oversized farm equipment trucks that passed by gave us a welcome wide berth and a friendly honk of the horn. Besides the ominous wet storm clouds in the distance and the occasional two-foot tumbleweed, our greatest obstacle of the day was wind; it nearly blew us off our bikes, even pushing some of us into ditches! It turned hot after mid-day, and we finished up strong with a pace line pull from our fellow riders. Once everyone was into Dodge City, we rushed to showers and were thankfully let in after the Community Center had closed. At night we were lucky to stay in the basement of the Methodist Church. For dinner The Coles cooked a phenomenal burrito dinner that everyone enjoyed. Afterwards, we tucked in for the night and readied ourselves for the next day of riding!


Lance

We started the morning off with a great breakfast prepared by Pastor Jim & some of the other men of 1st United Methodist church. The menu included a great egg casserole, biscuits & gravy, and grits with brown sugar. After filling up and having our route meeting we hit the road and were pleasantly surprised to fond we had a very rare tailwind! We traveled north for about 40 miles into Kansas and to first lunch effortlessly.


We enjoyed the tail wind for a few more miles after lunch, but then turned west and all of a sudden the wind wasn’t so friendly. We were surprised by the Kansas landscape when we encountered scenic rolling hills with breathtaking views that seemed to go on forever. Many of us stopped at a scenic overlook on top of a big hill which gave us a great view of the Gypsum Hills that the area is known for. They reminded us of the plateaus eroded out of the desert landscape that we’re expecting to see in Arizona, only there was grass everywhere instead of sand. We had 92 miles to Coldwater and it got really hot in the afternoon so the second half of the day was much more grueling than the first. Everyone made it and many stopped in Coldwater for milkshakes and limeades.


We camped out on Coldwater Lake which was an adventure and allowed us to go swimming. I was a little disappointed when I jumped in and found that the water was really warm, unlike what the name lead me to believe, but it was still really refreshing and fun to swim in a lake again.


Cole Slaw (one of our chore groups) made spaghetti for everyone tonight, which was followed by some birthday celebrations. Dan Oates, our veteran leader, became a man today by leaving his teenage years behind him and turning 20! We enjoyed cake, candy, a few fireworks, chips & salsa, and of course a big gallon of chocolate milk, Dan’s favorite. Afterwards we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and made a campfire before settling into our tents. It was a windy night and some of us had problems keeping our tents standing, but we managed.


Ben

Our ride today was a long one. It was over eighty miles riding from Ponca City, Oklahoma to Cherokee, Oklahoma but it felt like even more. It was a very interesting day because that morning the leaders planned for all the boys to ride together and all the girls to ride together. The morning started off with a well paved road and a nice tailwind for the first fifteen miles. It was amazing. It felt like we could go for miles with each pedal stroke. Then, our ride on easy street ended when we turned into a strong headwind. The road was still not bad but fighting the wind was a tall task. Who would’ve thought riding on flat ground could be so tough? The guys made it a point to start off with a really fast pace and the girls rode well together also. Even with the wind, our ride to lunch was quite pleasant as we passed through little town after little town. At lunch, the boys, specifically Ben, treated the girls to cherry limeades. The day was just starting to get hot so it was surely a welcome gift.
After enjoying a refreshing lunch near a gas station/eatery, we got to the second half of our ride where we got better acquainted with our old enemy, the wind. The wind was even worse during this part of the ride and the eighteen wheelers going in the opposite direction pushed us back even more. Adding to that, the temperature was starting to get pretty high. By the end of the day, the temperature reached a blistering 102 degrees. Luckily, a call from Ben saved us from the scorching. With fifteen miles left, there was a fountain flowing with cold, drinkable water. Almost every rider soaked themselves in the cold water before heading off on the last stretch. Most of us were completely dry within ten minutes. It was the perfect cool down before the last bit of riding. With cold water on our minds we trudged on for the last bit. The last three miles we faced an intense headwind that made getting to the host site all the sweeter. All in all, it was a ride to be proud of.

Once in Cherokee we were treated to a wonderful potluck dinner courtesy of our hosts at the First United Methodist Church. Reverend James and the res of the church treated us very well, and they even got someone from the local newspaper to come talk to us. After dinner we had our weekly town hall meeting then got ready for bed.


Swaroop

After an eventful day off, we left Bartlesville and said goodbye to Leon and crew at our gracious hosts’ church. At an unanticipated stop two miles into the ride Devon realized she left her CamelBak at the church and returned to retrieve it. This happened to overlap with us catching up with a large group to find that Angela had taken a spill and needed to get stitches in her elbow. With the van carrying Angela to see a local physician, most of us elected to stop at Sonic or a Mexican restaurant for lunch. About twenty miles outside Ponca City, Dan O. and the van caught up with us and we replenished water to carry us into town. The highlight of the day was the dairy bar, where most riders stopped to indulge in chili fries, milkshakes (cherry was delicious), cheeseburgers, hot dogs, or root beer floats. Dennis and Lisa elected to stop at the firemen’s fireworks stand and invested in sparklers to celebrate our arrival in Ponca City. Suz raced ahead to the Ponca City Lutheran Church and school to announce sweep’s anticipated arrival and get a crowd of riders excited outside. Lisa and Dennis victoriously road into to the parking with sparklers in tow, concluding the 78 mile ride. We were greeted by very excited church members of the First Lutheran Church, and were so excited to have snacks of yogurt, cheese, and beef jerky to replenish ourselves. After a wonderful provided dinner and presentation we thanked our hosts for their amazing hospitality and turned out the lights with excitement for the day to follow.


Devon

I never thought that I would want a day off so badly after only four days of riding, but I (and most of the other riders) was more than ready to relax for a bit by the time we rolled into Bartlesville. The day can really be broken down into several key steps that make a Bike & Build off day fantastic.


Step 1: Sleep in. Now, we all love to wake up in the morning to the sound of alarm clocks, groans, and the hissing of therm-a-rests, but every now and then it is great to just wake up and say to yourself, ”Hey friend, why don’t you just lie here for a while,” and then promptly roll over and return to your state of snore-filled bliss. So, the morning did not start for most until around the incredibly late hour of 9 AM, which translates to about mile 30 or later on a riding day. Thus begins a the recuperation process.


Step 2: Enjoy host church hospitality to the fullest. Check and double check. There was certainly plenty to go around at the Church of Christ in Bartlesville, starting with an awesome breakfast of egg casseroles, toast, cereal, fresh fruit, English muffins, and so on. For a rider, this was a dream come true, since one bowl of cereal just never seems to cut it anymore. Of course, there was also food on the counter all day long for us to munch on and leftovers of that delicious taco bake from the night before in the fridge for easy access. Finally, there was a shuttle to take us wherever we might want to go, so it was easy to get around and give our legs a rest.


Step 3: Have an awesome bike clinic. A bunch of the kids from the preschool at the church brought their bikes in for a tune-up, and we had a great time teaching them about how to ride a bike safely and then helping them get their bikes in good riding condition. I myself wish I had bikes as cool as theirs, with plenty of flames, flashing lights, and fenders to accent the rockin’ frame designs. Also, we got to ride with the kids and then demonstrate a pace line, and how could we call it a good day if we didn’t ride our bikes?


Step 4: Be a tourist. Many of the riders decided to visit downtown Bartlesville and see all of the attractions there, including the Price Tower, the only skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Phillips 66 museum (AKA shrine to Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips 66, who has his own theme song), and the local Bartlesville museum. It goes without saying that a stop for food was necessary, so we hit up the local coffee and ice cream shop, Java Dave’s, for a nice little snack before heading back for dinner.


Step 5: Eat until you are nearly sick and then head to bed. Between beef briscuit, plenty of fresh veggies and bread, and amazing desserts, all home-cooked by members of the church, it wasn’t hard to get this one covered. We all headed to sleep content and ready to hit the road and cover some ground on our way across the country, although we were certainly sad to head out. One church elder, Andy, asked us when we wanted to leave in the morning, to which Dan Oates quickly responded (quite appropriately), “Why would we want to leave?”
- Daniel Thomas

Claire Waller and Michelle Williamson


Michelle and I dedicated to the cause of sweep journal duty kept a running tally of the day’s events on the back of my cue sheet. This was convenient since it is rarely looked at during the ride, and I am usually fully dependent on chalked routes or someone with a working odometer.
We awoke at 6am with lightening flashing. When there is lightening there is little incentive to get up. I was still very much in my sleeping bag when Emily Pedneau went over to turn on the lights. I heard someone yell out “NO! it’s raining!” She calmly responds “It takes us two hours to get ready.” The lights turned on and there was a collective groan that filled the gym. We were delayed a bit though and didn’t get going until 9:30am on our 73 mile day to Bartlesville, OK, which is pretty late for us usually. Michelle and I made our first stop at a giant statue outside a junk shop. We were worried that although we are supposed to be last to come in, we didn’t want to waste too much time so we were on the road again quickly. At about mile 2 into the trip: Maura’ flat #1 for the day. She had lots of friends with her to help, so we decided to kill some time in Sharpe’s Dept. Store across the street. We met Marcia Treece who was really nice and let us try on sunglasses and hats even though it was pretty obvious we weren’t going to buy them. She also warned us of the many dangers which lie ahead—mostly not to drink the water in Colorado Springs. Counterintuitive, Colorado “Springs,” but nonetheless it will apparently will make you ill. Good to know.


Believing we had secured a sufficient buffer between us as the last riders we departed once again. Mile 4.3: Maura’s flat #2. Tragically, the number of friends helping her had significantly decreased and only Renee was there to comfort her in her 7th or 8th flat of the trip. Poor, Maura. We again passed some more time in a pawn shop, a pawn shop whose merchandise was primarily composed by lawn ornaments and wind chimes. It must be hard times when you have to pawn off that decorative water sprinkler cleverly disguised as an oversized toad.


Mile 10: a call from our dear friends Renee and Maura. They somehow missed a turn and were no longer in front of us. We then made stop #4 at the Rod and Custom Car Museum/ Hall of Fame to wait for them to catch up. We spent twenty minutes trying to get a timed picture of us both on top of the monster truck outside. We failed, not quick enough, and we are poor climbers in our cleats.


The four of us then united as one group and became “Team Super Sweep.” Team Super Sweep took its 5th stop at Wood’s end gas station to fill up on the essential fuel for athletes including beef jerky and what I like to call the Turkey Sandwich of Love split between all members (Thanks, Renee). We also got an on the road donation of $25. A nice lady had been watching the 30 of us bike through for the last 2 hours and was really interested and excited about our trip. Thanks again!!


Team Super Sweep finally made it to lunch at 1:00 or so. Ben thoughtfully put the lunch stop at the bottom of hill, so with stomachs full of powerful life giving PB&J the Team tackled the hill with the utmost vigor—clocking at a blistering 4-6 mph. We use the term “Lunch legs” quite often. Stop #6 was Family Dollar, and we got another on the road donation! $5! Thanks! Stop #7 was Philips 66 gas station. Michelle and I had ice cream. Renee had a regular coke (she prefers regular coke over diet, especially when riding across the country), and Maura had some cherry syrup with a little bit of diet coke.


Our hosts at the Church of Christ have been really generous. There was a big welcome message on their sign out front and we were greated by our main contact Leon along with a bunch of other members of the church. They bused us downtown for some refreshing showers at the YMCA. They also prepared us a delicious dinner of taco casserole, chips, salsa, fruit and desserts galore.


Quote of the Day: “I am on my bike, biking” – Renee Wheelock.




Happy riding,
Claire W. and Michelle W.

We woke up this morning to a delicious breakfast served by some of the women of the First Christian Church which even included home made cinnamon rolls. The day started great it was cool and sunny in the morning making for a wonderful warm-up ride. About 10 miles away from lunch 25 miles into the ride the skies turned pretty nasty and most of the group got hit pretty hard by a very intense thunderstorm, a few however were lucky and made it to lunch just before it hit and decided to wait it out. After the storm the skies cleared back up for the rest of the day. A few miles outside of lunch a small group of riders happened notice a few of cars parked along side of the road near an overpass ordinarily no one would have paid any attention to it but this time this group decided to check it out. Under the overpass was a gorgeous river with crystal clear water, the river was lined on one side by a tall cliff and on the other was a rocky shore where a family was having a BBQ so of course everyone jumped in to cool off. After spending some time there the group jumped back on the bikes to try and catch the rest of the riders.
The next highlight of the day was going through three corners where Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma come together. A different group of riders took on the challenge of “No hands Mo” we rode 9 miles through Missouri and the goal was to ride all 9 miles with no hands, the biggest challenge in this competition was a very short but very steep hill only a mile into Missouri. After attempting no hands mo everyone hurried into the United Methodist Church in Grove, Oklahoma. Upon arriving the group all took a well needed shower and was informed that Randy the youth director also happened to manage on a campground on the Great Lake O the Cherokees Lake and then proceeded to offer to have a BBQ for us at the lake for dinner. Nearly everyone jumped at the chance to go so we all loaded up in the vans with our bathing suits and headed to the lake for a great time. Once there we had a great chance to swim and do cannonballs out of trees into the lake which was almost 8 ft over its banks because of all the rain they have had over the past few weeks. After all of the fun and great food the group hopped back in the van for the ride back to the church to get as much sleep as possible before the long ride to Bartlesville in the morning.



David Grant

We started off the day with a five am wake-up in Clarksville, Arkansas. We were then treated with an amazing breakfast provided by members of the First Presbyterian Church. The group headed the door around seven fifteen to beat the heat.


The day started off with a bang. Within the first couple of miles we were already climbing and was abruptly delayed when one of the bikers was pulled off with a flat tire. Thankfully the van graciously came to the rescue with spare tires, tubes and high fives. We all got a good laugh when a CO2 cartridge blew up in Devon’s face. When everything was finally fixed, we were ready to hit the Ozark Mountains.


After thirty five miles of intense climbing, we were relieved to find lunch on the side of the mountain. We hung for a few minutes eating delicious leftovers from Clarksville. When we were about ready to hit the road again, a black bear peeked out from behind a bush but quickly ran away. Many miles later and totally exhausted, we were ready for a second lunch. The van was parked outside of a small, quaint gas station. We re-fueled on popsicles and coke and quickly left to finish.


Upon reaching Fayetville after ninety hard miles, we were greeting at the First Christian Church with full plates of delicious food. The church members went out of their way to supply us with a variety of wonderful food. The night ended early after such a long, strenuous day.

The ride into Clarksville was our first century on the trip (some had done over 100 miles earlier in the trip after taking alternate routes). I was sweeping with Maggie, so we had to make sure that we were the last riders. To start off, once everyone left Little Rock, we took a 20 minute nap in the church before leaving. The buffer was quickly gone as there was some confusion with the route (streets not matching what was shown on a map) and we had to wait as people doubled back. We crossed the Big Dam Bridge, which is supposedly the longest bridge strictly for biking and walking in the US. Lunch was at mile 37, and since a rider missed a turn and had gotten behind us, we went to the bike store while the van went to pick her up and dropped her off ahead. Assuming we had a big enough buffer to the 2nd lunch (2 lunches if its over 90 miles or 90 degrees – mainly to refill water), we took off, and caught a rider resting at mile 54. Since we still had 20 miles to lunch, we decided to take a nap under a tall oak tree and then watched a train go by. Unfortunately, there were not places to stop when we wanted to (such as Sonic). To entertain ourselves, we practiced riding no hands on US-64 (made sure cars were not coming). Once we got to lunch, we hung out there for a while, let the riders get a lead and then stopped again (for ice cream). We waited 20 minutes for a torrential storm to pass – just 6 miles outside of town before rolling in at 6:30 to the 1st Presbyterian Church , just in time for an awesome pot luck dinner headed up by Cynthia. After 11.5 hours on the road, we were more than ready for it, along with a hug from Debbie. After dinner we headed to the preachers house, Marci, in the country to light some fireworks before going back to the church to sleep. Thank you for ALL of the left over food and goodies you bought us to take on the road. We love that stuff!


Scott S and Maggie K

We had two great days of building with Pulaski County Habitat for Humanity in Little Rock. Our contact, Juli Goss, was phenomenal – the first night we met her she came to drop off t-shirts and we forced her on the stage in the middle of our “Joke Night.” She was a great sport and told some awesome jokes inspired by Laffy Taffy. We had amazing lunches during our builds provided by Tropical Smoothie Café and Olive Garden (I may have eaten half a dozen bread sticks.) Juli even got us tickets to a Minor League baseball game to see the Travelers, and we had a great time. Bike & Build was recognized during the game so we got to chat with even more people in the area about what we’re doing.


On the first build day, half of us went to the Restore (used building materials are donated, organized, and then resold and the profits go to Habitat) to help build shelves and organize. The other half, including myself, went to a construction site where we helped prepare to drop a house onto the foundation. The house was constructed in a church parking lot and then shipped to the site. Our jobs consisted of clearing out underneath the house (the crew who spent hours in the dark down there deemed themselves the Cave People; they also discovered many delightful treasures and often burst into song), leveling dirt for the carport, cleaning up trash, and playing with Gronya, the site supervisor’s adorable 8-month-old Labrador mix. John (the supervisor) was great to work with during both our build days.


For the second build day we all went to a house to do Deconstruction. This consisted of removing doors, molding, water heaters, sinks, etc. from a house and driving them all to the Restore. Apparently the moment they started unloading the materials from the truck, a good portion of them were sold. It was pretty fun tearing apart a house, and great to help Habitat raise more money. We also got some news coverage during our time in Little Rock. http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=67784&catid=2
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/news/?cid=75211


Keep on reading!


Lisa

Our day started off great with a hot breakfast from our awesome hosts in Brinkley, First United Methodist Church. Everyone enjoyed a fast start as we rode with a rare and appreciated tailwind out of town. The ride was beautiful and we were surprised to see rice growing all along the route. After a quick lunch, the majority of the riders took advantage of a local “Dairy Bar” – nothing like a milkshake to make the afternoon start off right! The highlight of the afternoon ride was a mile-long stretch of forest submerged in a gorgeous lake – it was very unusual and felt like something straight out of a fairy tale. Heading into Little Rock we encountered pot holes the size of craters for which no amount of Chamois Butter could have prepared us. We crossed into the city proper over the Arkansas River and were really excited to finish the day early – everyone was arrived by 1:30 in the afternoon, allowing us one more afternoon to explore the city! We were hosted by the First Presbyterian Church downtown, and were able to walk to such sights as the River Market District, the Clinton Presidential Library, and the headquarters of Heifer International. We are looking forward to two days of building with the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Little Rock before heading out towards the Ozark Mountains.


Becky and Emily

The I swept into Brinkley with Dave Getchel was interesting. It started out normal until Dave and I were separated by a train. The lights started to flash and I rode through and then the bars lowered on Dave and he got stuck on the other side. While I was waiting for the train to pass and for Dave and I to reunite, the train came to a halting stop. There was an accident. I pedaled my bike over to the scene of the accident, which I happened to be the first person at, and found a woman laying face down in a ditch. Luckily as I pulled up and was dialing 911, she began to move a little. Once I got off the phone I began talking to her to make sure she was ok, the poor woman was hit by the train and had no idea. Her car had been thrown several feet from the road and she had been thrown from her car. It was such a scary, awful experience. Thankfully the fire department showed up and rushed the woman off to the hospital. She seemed like she was going to be fine.
After she left I was questioned by the police, fire department and rail road people. I couldn’t really tell them much because I didn’t actually see the accident happen but I did my best. An hour later I was still waiting for the train to move so Dave and I could meet back up. While I was waiting for him I was able to chat with some ladies who had stopped to see what all the commotion was about. While chatting with them about Bike & Build, one woman informed me that she rode pass a whole group of guys from the team and thought they ‘looked mighty fine in their tight cycling outfits’.

A life time later, Dave decided to pass his bike through the box cars of the train since it was not going to start moving again for at least another hour. We were finally back together on the same side of the tracks. However, our stay at the train was not over. Dave actually got some video footage of the train wreck. Not the actual wreck itself but of the car going around him on the train tracks and then a few seconds later you could hear the crash and the car being thrown into the fence. We shared this video with the police and for another 30 minutes Dave and I played detective while the police, fire department and train people took down Dave’s information and confiscated his video.
Two hours later after this whole fiasco we were back on the road again. We ended up riding two extra miles out of the way because we missed a turn and finally we were back on track, except that the cue sheet was a little wack. We ended up walking our bikes up some stairs to get on a bridge that went over the Mississippi and crossed into Arkansas. I actually missed the sign for Arkansas because I was concentrating so hard on not running over glass. Good thing Dave noticed, so we turned around and took some pictures. Coming off the bridge we did a little off roading on our road bikes and road down a grassy hill to get onto a service road and a few miles later we walked our bikes up another grassy hill to ride on the interstate for ¾ of a mile. It wasn’t that bad, kind of thrilling, us Bike & Builders like to keep it interesting.

Dave and I didn’t care too much for Arkansas; it was really flat and windy. Towards the last 20 miles or so Dave tried to make things interesting by doing ‘sprints’. The idea was to ride really fast and hard for 30 seconds or so and then take it down a notch for a couple minutes. This did not last long. Dave went first and took off at ‘only’ 26 MPH and I could not keep up since I was fighting wind. Then I tried and when I asked Dave how fast I went he said I got up to 19 MPH for about 5 seconds. Go me! That was the end of that for me. About 6 miles out from our destination we met up with some other riders and were able to pace line the rest of the way into Brinkley, thank goodness too because I was really starting to hurt.
Once we arrive we were greeted by some wonderful members of 1st United Methodist Church. They were amazing and so friendly and welcoming. A couple of people cooked us a delicious meal which is always greatly appreciated after a hard day on the bike. Thank you to everyone at Brinkley 1st United Methodist. Bed was followed shortly after dinner. The end.


Renee

Our day started off early, as usual, with a 6am wake-up. Instead of being greeted by the sunrise, we were dismayed to find that the entire town of Bolivar was enveloped by a massive thunderstorm. The rain came in torrents, and the wind was so strong that it seemed as if the entire building was going to fall in on itself. Rather than risk putting ourselves out in that dangerous storm, we decided to wait it out, hoping to jump on the road during a break in the rain. We idled away our time playing Wii and drinking coffee.


The break came sooner than we thought, and we were able to get out riding at 8:30. Groups started setting out, but before we (sweep) had even left, Maura and Renee returned with a flat in Maura’s tire. Her tire had to be changed out, and then they continued on.


The break in the storm turned out to be more than a break, and the rest of the day’s ride was sunny, even swelteringly hot. Hannah and I passed the time by trying to sing songs that we knew, but as it turns out, we don’t know the full words to any songs besides Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel and Piano Man by Billy Joel. I also tried to come up with a limerick to describe the day:


I remember the terrible tempest
The day that we started for Memphis

The wind and the rain
Came again and again


And then I stopped, because I couldn’t think of anything that rhymed with Memphis.


At around mile 40 we caught up to Maura and Renee again. We were surprised to see them, since we had spent a good deal of time fixing a flat Hannah got a few miles earlier. As it turned out, Maura had gotten another flat, on her other wheel. Right after Hannah and I showed up, a fire truck pulled up, and two firemen got out to talk to us, thinking that there had been a crash. Shortly after, another engine pulled up, followed again by a pick up truck. I would like to point out that Hannah and I finished replacing Maura’s wheel while Maura and Renee flirted with the entire Rossville fire department.


A little while later, we pulled into our host site for the night: Germantown United Methodist Church. We had a large gym to stay in and were happy to have the site for two days (since we got a day off the next day). Dinner was on our own, and most people decided to head downtown to get some delicious Memphis barbecue, at either Rendezvous or Pork with an Attitude. I happened to be lucky enough to go out to dinner with Claire’s grandparents (along with Claire, Daniel Thomas, Scott Wilkins, and Michelle) at Picadilly’s Cafeteria. I promised to give a shout out to our waitress Minnie, so: Hi Minnie! Thanks for being awesome.


Our day off in Memphis started with a fun night downtown. Most people decided to visit the famous Beale Street. We got to be typical tourists by buying postcards, walking to the Mississippi, and dancing the night away.


The next day was welcome with our ability to sleep in as late as we wanted (/could, nobody actually slept past 8am).


Many people had bike problems they needed to take care of, so it wasn’t a day completely bicycle-free.


There was a car show that many people attended that was a Habitat for Humanity annual fundraiser. The highlight cars included a Lotus, Delorian, and a few Ferraris.


Much of the free time was utilized as “nap-time” due to many of us being sleep deprived.


One of the best things about the day was the great dinner provided by Macaroni Grill, which Jeff Capps & Crystel Hardin with Habitat so graciously got for us.


We all really enjoyed our first real “free” day and definitely used time to catch up on the things we have needed to get done.


--Dan Carmody and Hannah Espedal

Our trip to Bolivar, Tennessee, started with unusually late 8am wake-up call. After packing our entire lives into our one bag, we ate and hit the road. After stopping by to thank the folks at First Baptist Church once again for the help with the showers we headed downhill toward our hosts at the 1st Baptist Church in Bolivar.


Our late wake-up call was due to this day being one of our shortest, only 37 miles. The short ride was a welcome sight to all of us, especially after tackling all of the hills in Tennessee.


After arriving in the first town we encountered Claire, Daniel T. and Dan Carmody looking quite confused about which way to head. After making a call to find the correct route we got ready to head out once again, that is, until Dan Carmody encountered a flat tire while pulling out. After helping fix his tube and his tire, we were on the road again.


About ten miles from our host site we started to encounter a bit of rain, which we thought would pass over quickly and not give us much trouble. Unfortunately, we were quite wrong and the clouds opened up on us in a hurry. We then picked up the pace a bit in order to get out of the blinding rain and soon made it into Bolivar.


Thinking we were the last two people to arrive, we started looking for the host church, but soon found Dennis and Swaroop calling to us from a nearby Taco Bell. We decided to give them some company, along with picking up some burritos for ourselves.


The youth director Chris Moore took great care of us. He made us an awesome spaghetti dinner and even showed the girls the secret candy stash (shh, we won't tell where it is...). He also supplied us with a Nintendo Wii which served as amazing entertainment, bringing out the competitive bowling side of everyone. We hit the bed pretty early that night in anticipation of arriving in Memphis the next day.


Travis Hall and Angela Parrotta

Today we had breakfast at the College dining hall, we had delicious muffins, fruit, cereal and coffee. The day started off with very nice weather and several Amish goods stores along the way. Lisa and I tried on some bonnets and ate a juicy watermelon in a produce stand filled with flowers. The first lunch spot was perfect; Ben found a nice shady space with several picnic tables. I greatly enjoyed the left over barbeque pork with Frank’s Hot Sauce and some coleslaw. The back roads that we rode on were absolutely beautiful; during one of our breaks with Lance we noticed that during all of the time we had been sitting in the shade we had not listened to the sound of other human beings at all, no cars! After a eating a delicious peach and talking about the Mexican politics we headed up a hill just to find that Lance got a flat tire. We fixed the tire and then a super heavy rain poured on us. We turned on our blinky red lights and headed out, luckily it was all downhill and we were safe from the crazy monsoon. The day cleared up very quickly and the day was beautiful again. On our second lunch stop I enjoyed more Southern left-over cuisine for the second time. And finally on our last stretch everything went quite smoothly except for the fact that I was quite tired from all of the mileage.


We arrived at the 1st United Methodist Church of Adamsville to find out that Dan Carmody had a fall but is fine. We took shower in the Baptist Church next door thanks to Pastor Phil and then enjoyed dinner supplied by Pastor Deb with the Methodist Church. We had a very pleasant Town Hall meeting with a lot of reflection and much laughter and a birthday cake for Samuel. In total we rode 92 miles, which is for most of us the longest ride we have had up to now. Overall the day was long but absolutely great with high mileage, nice roads, the best company and beautiful scenery.


Ana

It was an interesting day of sweep. The day as usual started off early in the morning at 5am to watch the sun rise over the lake. We got to have an exciting change to our morning routine: the taking down of our tents. I think we all passed the test, and all of our tents fit (were shoved) back in their little green totes. Then it was on the road again with John Benson, Woody the bike shop owner, and some other local riders. The ride started off with a three mile downhill: it was glorious. Because we were following the locals we were able to successfully navigate the maze of back roads. It was a good thing that we were not trying to negotiate them by ourselves because most of them were unmarked. I saw my first ever field of cotton. I am from Maine, and cotton does not like the cold. There was even a man on horse back checking up on his field. Because we were taking back roads we were able to ride as a pack of 30 stopping to regroup at each turn. This section of our ride was a favorite of the week for many of the riders.


Once in Winchester some of the riders continued on, hoping beat the heat. Other stopped at Woody’s Bicycle Shop and San Miguel Coffee Company to stock up on necessities for our bodies and our bikes such as coffee, spare tubes, white chocolate and raspberry scones, bright orange Woody cycling jerseys, and horns that go awoooga. You know, all the things that one needs to bike 80 miles.


Though we had lost our guides, we kept on the back roads until our lunch stop at mile 40. I learned from a roadside sign that we were quite near where Jack Daniel’s Whiskey is distilled. Lunch was in a gas station parking lot. We had managed to get rather far behind so we decided to see if we could catch up. We were flying along much faster than any pace I could have held at the beginning of the trip. I was proud, and even though it was hot and there were long hills, I was having a great time. Unfortunately, me, my bike, and a car decided to have a fight. I won, but the fork of my bike and the car lost. An oncoming car took a left in front of me. I did not have enough time to stop or swerve out of the way, and T-boned it. I was very lucky and survived the accident with a small cut on my chin and a two inch bruise on my thigh. The driver of the car was much more shaken up then I was. My bike’s steel fork was sadly bent, but Surly is going to replace it for me. Thank you very much to the work of West Chiles, and John Fleck at Surly. I had to ride the last 20 miles in the van. My fellow sweep partner Daven sadly also had to ride in the van until we caught up with the last rider who then got reassigned as his new sweep partner. As I rode in the fan up some very big hills I had complete respect for my fellow riders, because the hills looked long and hot. A mean way for the last 20 miles of an 80 mile day.


We got hooked up in Pulaski by Dan the Mayor. He got us suites at Martin Methodist Community College. They were pretty sweet with real beds, washer and driers, and AC. Once we were showered we headed over to the Mayor’s house. He had a pool and fed us amazing food. The mayor joined some of our riders cannonballing some of the innocent bystanders on the side of the pool. They welcomed us with “enough food to feed an army.” We did not actually manage to devour it all, and had leftover to supplement our lunches of PB and J. There were many people from the community there who shared the evening with us. I personally cannot thank this group of people enough. Many of them came up to make sure that I was ok after my accident. I even got a much needed “mamma hug” to speed along the mental recovery. Through their combined efforts I did not have to ride in the van until Memphis, to the next bicycle shop with a fork that will fit my bike. I would like thank West and Terry for arranging to get me a new fork. I also was loaned a bike from John and Michelle under the condition that I was not allowed to run it into any cars. Also thanks to John and Michelle Hunt, I got to upgrade and ride Lightspeed titanium bike for two days. It was a very nice ride, but I was a little terrified of breaking it during the ride. I watched very carefully for cars and other road side dangers and had no more incidents.


Overall, it was a very eventful sweep day, and I was happy to fall asleep that night in a real bed.


Suzanne

Today we all got started at 6am - by eating delicious scrambled eggs for the first time. We were all quite apprehensive after hearing from multiple locals of the climb ahead of us: Daus Mountain Road. The rather daunting road (oh, maybe a 45% incline?) started almost immediately on our route, around mile two, and was a reality check for at least one author of this blog entry. Several of us had to walk our bikes for the first time, and many other came close to falling over due to a lack of forward motion - one rider's speedometer even turned off, as the speed was too slow to be recognized! The scariest part of the mountain was a pair of rather ferocious pit bulls towards the peak of a big hill - thankfully, our driver for the day warned us ahead of time, and we all were prepared to scream and spray water at them. Finally we all reached the top, and felt incredibly rewarded by our achievements. However, the top was only at mile 10, and so we enjoyed another 30 miles of rolling hills after Daus uber-Mountain. As the sweep riders, we enjoyed a day of taking pictures at hay bales, and enjoying ice creams before arriving at Sewanee, the "University of the South".


We set up camp at Sewanee, and were warmly welcomed by John Benson of the Sewanee Outing Program. After an afternoon exploring the university, we held our weekly meeting on affordable housing, and discussed some of the social issues associated with affordable housing. As always, it was a riveting discussion and we all enjoyed learning more about the details of affordable housing. We enjoyed an amazing dinner at the Mount Eagle Sunday School Assembly, and were flattered by the interest of the Assembly members. Special thanks to Mary Jane Flowers and Lisa Hammett for their help! After a good discussion on Bike and Build, we returned to the lake and camped out for the first time - a beautiful end to a difficult but highly satisfying day.


Emily & Samuel

Today we got to sleep in to 6am, as everyone forgot to set their alarm clocks – which worked well for us. As Maura and I were sweep, we let everyone leave before heading out on the route. After 1 mile, we took our first break at Hardee’s for a coffee break. The day started off cool (relatively) but definitely heated up quickly. The sign in Dunlap showed the temperature at 100 degrees. It seems that people along the route do not feed or chain up their dogs, as there were numerous occasions of riders avoiding dogs. A couple of squirts of water stopped some (thanks for the tip Jack), while other resorted to simply biking faster than they could run. We are staying at the National Guard Armory, and we are enjoying the air conditioning. Tonight was the first night that we prepared our own dinner, and it was a gourmet meal of pasta, tomato sauce, beans and rice. We are living like kings tonight at the Armory sleeping on military issued cots. The group is pretty tired from the ride so we have all just been hanging low this evening and gearing up for the big climb tomorrow!


Scott S and Maura

Sweetwater, TN:


We left Maryville College fairly early in the morning, Paul from the build site helped us pack up our bags into the trailer. After eating a quick breakfast (even some cottage cheese) we were off!


The ride was short, about 38 miles, but the sun was shining bright and
very hot! Some of us were lucky enough to swim in a lake somewhere in the middle of our ride.


The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, mostly a straight stretch

of rolling hills. We came to the town of Sweetwater, our group rode
down main st. Most shops were closed because it was Sunday.


Finally, we arrived at the National Guard Armory in Sweetwater, it was

really hot inside the gym we stayed in. The showers were more than
welcome, and we had a treat of Pizza Hut thanks to Ben Ryan's Mom & Dad! Afterwards many of us snacked on root beer floats at the AW.


The night was filled with fun games like Mafia and an outdoor movie

showing. Definitely good times.



~Lance

We had 2 days of building in Maryville. The first day we put in the floor tresses, which was easier then when I did it with Columbus Habitat, as these were I-beam like (Columbus was 2 x 8 and we had to toenail them in). Crystal with Blount County Habitat hooked us up with a deli lunch, and since we were so skilled and ahead of schedule (and it was so hot), we ended early. Several of us went on an evening bike ride with Keith Webb and several local cyclists. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not want us to ride as a torrential downpour started just a couple miles into the ride. We waited awhile before deciding to end the ride early and head over to dinner, which Keith arranged with Tomato Head. I sat with Keith and some of the riders, which turned out to be a good decision. After eating my meal (and still hungry), I lucked out as one of the riders offered me another half a sandwich, ice cream for dessert, half of Maura’s chocolate chip cookie and a bunch more chips.


The 2nd build day featured a good natured competition between us to see which group could get all of the sub-floor installed first on the 2 houses. Don’t worry, quality control was not an issue as we made sure that all boards were properly installed (and the Habitat crew chief inspected it and pointed out any issues). A couple of other riders also did stucco on both houses. We finished by noon and Crystal hooked us up again with lunch, this time provided by Grant and God’s Planet, a youth outreach ministry. After my afternoon nap, we headed over to Aubrey’s, a really good restaurant in Maryville, that Crystal arranged. As you can tell, the time in Maryville was awesome, and I can not thank Crystal enough, as it would not have been possible without her.


Scott S.

Maryville, TN


With the intense mountain days barely behind us, you'd think we were hurting for a morning to sleep in. With blessings to sleep until nine, many of us were up and packed before the wake up call. (Only Rachel and Patrick slept until the alarm.) Some elected the standard B&B breakfast fare, while some of us ventured down the street into a breakfast haven in Gatlinburg, reconstructed of centuries old farmhomes. After eggs, pancakes and a mountain of whip cream (Dan O.), we placed bets on who would be able to hold onto brunch during the short ride, anticipating a few climbs.
After hitting the road, we had a short climb without incident. Noticing a short hiking trail at the peak of the climb, a few of us elected to ascend higher, 1.3 miles on foot to a refreshing waterfall. The rest of the ride was mostly downhill along a river in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, an easier ride than we had anticipated. Teasing us from the river were many people on inner tubes leisurely floating by. Southern barbeque has been a recurring lunch alternative to the B&B PB&J fare, and again some riders elected to "Pig Out".

Realizing the Cycology of Maryville was expecting us at 4pm for dinner and that some of us had dawdled a bit too long, some raced towards the bike shop for a refreshing sub dinner. After stocking up on calories and bike supplies and chatting with a B&B NC2SD alum, Chris Jochem, we road two more miles to Maryville College where we experienced an unantipated treat... dorm rooms with a single roommate. After settling in at home for the next three nights, some hungry cyclists ventured to find fast food (tougher than you might expect), while others dabbled in cards games until we called lights out in anticipation of the double build days in Maryville to follow.


Devon.

Welcome to Tennessee!


This morning began with an early 5 am wake up call. We had a quick breakfast of bagels, yogurt, fruit, and juice provided by the YMCA of Asheville. The ride started with a killer headwind, and some hills. This was just the warm-up we needed for the day filled with what we thought was going to have 17,000 feet of climbing. Most riders in our group were a little nervous; we’d been told that this ride was the hardest of the entire summer. After battling the headwinds, we started our first ascent. This had us fighting our way up a ten mile stretch of incline. It was worth it, though, as the top afforded us some amazing views, and, of course, an awesome descent! After our first mountain of the day, we had our second lunch. This consisted of the norm – pb&j, chips (the greatest part of this trip is being told that we need to eat tons of potato chips), and Gatorade. The second climb came instantly after leaving lunch. It was nuts! This time, the incline was a bit steeper and we rode for about 14 miles. By ride, of course, we mean trying really hard to keep our bikes balanced because we’re going so slowly. Our reward at the top was crossing the state line in Tennessee! We also enjoyed an amazing view at about 5,100 feet. A few of us tried to jump the extra 180 feet to hit a mile, but our legs were a bit tired from the climb. Who knows what would’ve happened had we had fresh legs? The rest of our ride for the day was downhill. One rider had a small spill down the final descent – rest assured, he’s A-OK. The road was just busy enough that we had to stay over on the shoulder, forcing most of us to feather our front and rear brakes to keep down at a reasonable speed.


At the end of the 85-mile ride, we arrived in Gatlinburg, TN, a little slice of tourist heaven. It was all high fives and pats on the back, as we put behind us what we’d heard was one of the hardest days of the summer. Before dinner, we got quick showers at ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬the Community Center. Half of us arrived 5 minutes before they closed, but they allowed us to rush in, women through the door to the left, men to the right (we didn’t stop to see which locker room was which), and cleaned up after the long ride. We were all thankful to them for letting us shower that late. Afterwards, most of us went to a Mexican place for a meal out. We slept at ¬Our Saviors Lutheran Church. Though we may not have done the best job cleaning up after ourselves last year, they were still kind enough to let us back. We did our best to leave the place spotless on our departure! Thanks so much to everyone at the church!


To un-punctured tires,


Michelle W. & Dennis P.

Build Day with Habitat for Humanity and Mountain Housing; Asheville, NC


Our second build day split our team into two groups with 10 going with an organization called Mountain Housing and the rest going with Habitat for Humanity. With Mountain Housing (MHO), we met up with David to build a walk-way ramp for a couple who were recently having trouble walking up and down the stairs into their home to perform their daily errands. After an introduction into the organization and what MHO was all about, our group got to work on the ramp. Over the course of the day, our group enjoyed meeting the homeowners and enjoyed building something different than some of the other typical housing projects. Our work also caught the eye of the local ABC news bureau who sent down a reporter and cameraman who shot video and interviewed Michelle Williamson about how the trip and build days were going.


At the other site, the rest of our team was able to put the finishing touches on the exterior of a home’s stucco on a Habitat project. After putting down an initial base layer, by the end of the day the home’s stucco was completed and had a nice finish. We were all very thankful also for the lunch provided by Missy, which was a great surprise for our group.


Dinner was provided by Volvo Construction Equipment, who’s Northern American Headquarters are only 2 blocks away from the YMCA. Peter Causer organized the event and provided us with some great BBQ. Asheville Habitat for Humanity attended the event, so everyone got a chance to know them as well as some other Volvo executives who helped welcome us. Another guest at dinner who has become a huge supporter of our trip is Josh Reddoch with Cane Creek. He supplied all of us with arm warmers and ThudBuster seat posts, which is a shock absorbent post, great for staying comfortable on long rides. They retail for around $150 each so we were all blown away by Cane Creek’s generosity.


Patrick

Asheville, North Carolina


We woke up early to get a head-start on our 80+ mile day. We were graciously provided a breakfast of sausage and biscuits from our hosts at Altamont Methodist Church.


Our trip consisted of 71 miles on the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway and 50 miles of climbs (12,000 feet total). Lucky for us, it was the first 50 that was climbing and a great ending with 30 miles of descents. Unluckily for us, we weren’t able to have lunch until mile 54 due to part of the parkway being closed to motorists (and therefore our van with the bounty of food). The unlucky part hit most of us pretty hard, with the last people getting into lunch around 4:30 and groups of people running out of water and Gatorade. The saving grace for the sweeps on the ride was an emergency Clif bar left by a fellow rider! We are all starting to appreciate the descents as a great ending to a hard climb. Having an amazing view and then being able to make your average speed a little bit higher while feeling like you are on a rollercoaster is definitely amazing.


After our ride we got to the YMCA and were permitted to use their pool, rock wall, hot tub, shower