134 Miles Down

Right now I'm sitting in the laundry room at Lake City Campgrounds in Lake City Florida. Today we biked 78 miles, and yesterday we biked 56. We camped last night and we will also camp tonight. This campground is pretty nice and has a pool (which most of us enjoyed a refreshing dip in after the ride). I'm in the laundry room since my chore team does laundry this week for everyone (thats a lot of dirty clothes).

Yesterday's ride was really easy and flat. We left the church we were staying at pretty early and biked to the beach for the wheel dipping ceremony which was at 8:30. After all dipping our back wheels into the Atlantic ocean, we had a group huddle during which Kristian (one of the BnB program directors) made a pretty inspiring speech. The most moving part for me was when he said something to the effect of "A lot of people think that society in going in the wrong direction, but what you're doing here proves that that is wrong. You're making a difference and remember that on days where you dont think your legs will get you through that climb. Use that to motivate yourself" (definitely not word for word but you get the idea).

Yesterday's ride was beautiful in the beginning, but mostly on one busy not very scenic road in after lunch. During the ride we also got to take a ferry during the ride which was pretty cool!

Today's ride was flat like yesterday's, but it was longer and hotter so therefore harder. The whole way was beautiful though! We bike through a state forest and even crossed in and out of Southern Georgia. I did fine although I was getting pretty hot and dehydrated at one point, I took a lengthy break and finished up easily.

First Build Day and Shake Down Ride

Our trip has a group blog which I just updated (a different rider updates it everyday). So, that would be a great thing to read for anyone who is interested to know where we are/what we are doing on days when I don't havr time to post. You can find the group blog by going to bikeandbuild.org and then going to the SUS route page and then to follow (or maybe its track?) routes. It isn't fully updated yet since our current host doesn't have wireless internet, but it would be a good page to bookmark.

Anyways, yesterday was our first build day and we worked with Beaches Habitat. It was really great, and sine there are so many BnBers you could really see a difference by the time we left. My group put down sod in the morning (which is the grass) for the entire yard of one of the houses. Then in the afternoon we went inside and I caulked the base boards. The caulking was very relaxing after all the yard work! That was definitely the dirtiest I've ever gotten on a habitat build. I literally poured tablespoons on dirt out of my shoes.

All the habitat houses on the street we were building on are duplexes. I really like them. The owner of the one I worked on yesterday was at dinner tonight, and she and her friend are actually living side by side in that duplex. They are both nice, hardworking single mothers. I'm really happy that they are able to work to obtain their dream of owning a home, and that we are able to work and help that dream come true as well.

Today we had bike safety clinics and the shakedown ride (our first group ride). The ride was only about 20 miles long and went right down the coast. It was really beautiful!

Anyways, I should really go to sleep since its after 11pm and wake up is at 6 again. I guess I will get used to the early mornings sometime but I definitely haven't yet!

So right now Im laying on the floor on top of my comfy thermarest! Kate's dad drove us down to Jacksonville this morning (we left Charlotte at about 7:15am and got here at 2). Since we've been here we've gone over tons of rules (most of which are common sense) and played a lot of get to know you games. Although it was a little awkward when we first arrived I've gotten to talk to a lot of people and everyone is really nice and interesting! I think it takes a certain kind of person to commit to doing something like BnB, and its the kind of person I'm sure I'll get along well with.

Dinner was catered by a BBQ place, but they had a lot of stuff for vegetarians, and there are actually 5 of us (which is so nice, its always really awkward to be the only one).

Well its almost lights out since wakeup call is at 5:45 (gasp), so I'll end this here. Tomorrow we are building with Beaches Habitat here in Jacksonville. I think a build day to remind us of why we are here is a great way to really start our trip.

My first impressions are amazing. SUS2010 is full of amazing people, and I have know doubt that together we can make a big difference.

One Week Until Bike & Build...

Goals Update:

Funds Raised: $3,400 /$4,000
Miles Biked: 743 /800
Sweat Equity Hours Completed: 12 /8

I have one week and one day until Bike & Build begins and I'm feeling a strong mixture of nervousness and excitement! I've almost met my 800 mile biking goal.

This Saturday I'm planning on doing the Inaugural Ride for the Kids, a metric century (so 62ish miles) with my dad. It will be my second metric century! My friend Kate, who is also on the SUS2010 ride, and I did the Burnsville Metric in April. It was in the mountains in Western North, so it was a pretty hilly route! The first 20ish miles were downhill, the second 20ish miles were flat and the third 20ish miles were uphill. It was a pretty big challenge - winding up these curvy mountain hills, but we made it!