Saturday, June 30, 2012
Rainy Day Updates
So I just downloaded the blogger app for my phone, which will hopefully get me to post in my blog more. Today I'm tired from riding 80 miles an coming into Hamilton Alabama completely soaked to Te bone so I'm just going to share a few pictures!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Bike and Build so Far
I haven't blogged yet partially because internet is scarce and computers are largely unavailable, but also because I have been too busy working on affordable housing builds, biking, and exploring different cities to have any time to blog. In this post, I will try to update all (or any) readers about what has generally happened thus far on the trip, and describe in further detail a few of the high points. I wish I had more time to describe everything in detail, but we just started a stretch of biking six days in a row, and I need to get to sleep soon so that I can wake up at 6 am again to clean up our host location and get back on the bike to head for Athens, Georgia.
After my grandma dropped me off at Orientation in Charleston, I spent three days with the 29 amazing other riders playing icebreaker games, learning how to bike more safely, and working on an affordable housing build. While we were supposed to have ridden at least 500 miles before the start of the trip, it became apparent very early on during orientation that almost nobody had actually done that, so at first riding was a little bit frightening. During our second day in Charleston, we had a shake down ride, where we rode 22 miles, which doesn't seem like a lot now, but ten days ago it seemed like a giant feat. On the third day in Charleston, we worked on a historical restoration of a house from the 1930s with Charleston's chapter of Habitat for Humanity in a house that had been gutted entirely and half rebuilt. It was especially rewarding because we got to work alongside Sandra, who had lived in the house since she was a little girl, and was the recipient of the rebuild. She was not shy about letting us know how thankful she was for our help. After those three days in Charleston we began riding, and began our routine of biking, sleeping, and biking some more with the occasional build day built in.
On a typical bike day, we wake up at 6 am, eat breakfast, do our morning chores including cleaning up the host location, loading the trailer, and preparing our equipment, then have a route meeting wherein the trip leaders describe the route for the day, the expected weather, and when they expect to meet us for lunch. Next they hand us 'cue sheets' that have all of our turns for the day along with mileages so that we wont get lost, then send us on our way. We ride in groups of five or fewer, meeting up with the van about half way through the route for a lunch of leftover donated food, peanut butter, bread, and assorted fruit. While I thought that I wouldn't be eating enough during the trip and would be losing weight because of all of the biking, the exact opposite has actually happened. I have been eating so ridiculously well because of the generosity of our hosts that I have actually been gaining weight despite all of the bike mileage and additional workouts after our rides. The folks that we have been lucky enough to stay with so far on the journey have taught me the meaning of generosity, providing us with a place to sleep, and enough food to feed all of us several times. There have been times that we haven't even been able to take all of the food that they give us with us because of a lack of room in our coolers. After our bike trip each day, along with a few other particularly crazy riders, I have been doing core workouts to further contribute to my goal of getting in better shape this summer. After our core workouts, we either go to an off-site location to take showers, or if we are lucky we take showers at the host sites, then prepare for dinner usually around 6 o clock. After dinner we show our hosts a short video about bike and build, then tell them some information about the charity, its history, and its beneficiaries. After helping clean up from dinner, we have free time until lights out. Lights out is 11 on nights before ride days and 1 on nights before build days, so I am actually writing this post from another room while everyone else is sleeping. I can't describe how lucky I am to be surrounded by the people that I am; my entire group gets along amazingly well, and we all go out of our way to take care of one another, even though we have only known each other for less than two weeks. I already feel like I have a bike and build family, and I am excited for these relationships to grow as the summer continues.
I know that I wrote earlier that I would write about some specific stories from along the way in this post, but those will have to wait. Bed is calling and wake up is in less than 6 hours. In the mean time, please check out a couple of my fellow rider's blogs to see more details of what we have been doing and why bike and build is so awesome. Also look forward to some pictures that I will be posting in the next couple of days. Farewell for now from Hartwell Georgia!
Matt: http://mattsbikeblog.wordpress.com/
Gina: http://ginabargiachi.wordpress.com/
After my grandma dropped me off at Orientation in Charleston, I spent three days with the 29 amazing other riders playing icebreaker games, learning how to bike more safely, and working on an affordable housing build. While we were supposed to have ridden at least 500 miles before the start of the trip, it became apparent very early on during orientation that almost nobody had actually done that, so at first riding was a little bit frightening. During our second day in Charleston, we had a shake down ride, where we rode 22 miles, which doesn't seem like a lot now, but ten days ago it seemed like a giant feat. On the third day in Charleston, we worked on a historical restoration of a house from the 1930s with Charleston's chapter of Habitat for Humanity in a house that had been gutted entirely and half rebuilt. It was especially rewarding because we got to work alongside Sandra, who had lived in the house since she was a little girl, and was the recipient of the rebuild. She was not shy about letting us know how thankful she was for our help. After those three days in Charleston we began riding, and began our routine of biking, sleeping, and biking some more with the occasional build day built in.
On a typical bike day, we wake up at 6 am, eat breakfast, do our morning chores including cleaning up the host location, loading the trailer, and preparing our equipment, then have a route meeting wherein the trip leaders describe the route for the day, the expected weather, and when they expect to meet us for lunch. Next they hand us 'cue sheets' that have all of our turns for the day along with mileages so that we wont get lost, then send us on our way. We ride in groups of five or fewer, meeting up with the van about half way through the route for a lunch of leftover donated food, peanut butter, bread, and assorted fruit. While I thought that I wouldn't be eating enough during the trip and would be losing weight because of all of the biking, the exact opposite has actually happened. I have been eating so ridiculously well because of the generosity of our hosts that I have actually been gaining weight despite all of the bike mileage and additional workouts after our rides. The folks that we have been lucky enough to stay with so far on the journey have taught me the meaning of generosity, providing us with a place to sleep, and enough food to feed all of us several times. There have been times that we haven't even been able to take all of the food that they give us with us because of a lack of room in our coolers. After our bike trip each day, along with a few other particularly crazy riders, I have been doing core workouts to further contribute to my goal of getting in better shape this summer. After our core workouts, we either go to an off-site location to take showers, or if we are lucky we take showers at the host sites, then prepare for dinner usually around 6 o clock. After dinner we show our hosts a short video about bike and build, then tell them some information about the charity, its history, and its beneficiaries. After helping clean up from dinner, we have free time until lights out. Lights out is 11 on nights before ride days and 1 on nights before build days, so I am actually writing this post from another room while everyone else is sleeping. I can't describe how lucky I am to be surrounded by the people that I am; my entire group gets along amazingly well, and we all go out of our way to take care of one another, even though we have only known each other for less than two weeks. I already feel like I have a bike and build family, and I am excited for these relationships to grow as the summer continues.
I know that I wrote earlier that I would write about some specific stories from along the way in this post, but those will have to wait. Bed is calling and wake up is in less than 6 hours. In the mean time, please check out a couple of my fellow rider's blogs to see more details of what we have been doing and why bike and build is so awesome. Also look forward to some pictures that I will be posting in the next couple of days. Farewell for now from Hartwell Georgia!
Matt: http://mattsbikeblog.wordpress.com/
Gina: http://ginabargiachi.wordpress.com/
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