Eugene Korsunskiy

A couple of days before graduating from Williams College in 2008, I told a professor that I was going to bike across the country.

Of course, by that point, my cycling experience had been limited to riding an old, beat-up clunky thing to class, and I had only a very vague idea of what all those funny cables and levers are for, and what that weird gizmo with all the gears on the back wheel actually does. This professor also happened to be a professional cyclist, so understandably I got laughed at.

I didn’t wind up riding across that country that summer, but I did get a road bike as a graduation present for myself. Since then, cycling has been doing a wonderful job of filling that enormous activity/adventure void vacated by the swim team on which I’ve spent my four college years.

Picking up cycling from a swimming background seemed to steer me naturally toward triathlons, so I spent the summer of 2009 doing one after another, and loving it. One of my life goals is to complete an Ironman (in one piece). Someday.

Now I’m 24, I have a BA in studio art and art history, and I’m planning to go to grad school for design in the fall of 2010. Until then, I’m drawing, painting, coaching the Chapel Hill YMCA swim team, cycling through the countryside of North Carolina, eating copious amounts of cheese and peanut butter (usually not together), daydreaming, and contemplating my next big adventure.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This approximates how excited I am about Bike & Build. I AM, really, actually, finally, going to bike across the country. And not only do I get to have a memoir-worthy experience, but I get to help people while doing it. I’ve never worked with affordable housing before, and I’ve always wanted to, so now I’m jumping on the opportunity.

In my last free summer before the whole school/career thing takes over my life, I will see the country, make friends, climb mountains, get rained on, get frustrated, eat a lot, change my mind, get sunburned, work hard, get lost, eat a lot, think, laugh, and help build shelter. It sounds so perfect. How could I not go?

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