Day 11 - Crossing state lines! (VA to WV)

Our first state line crossed!  Woo hoo!!!

At the base of the second super long climb we stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break, at which point Alieen got a text from Derrick since lunch should’ve been about then that we had “an epic hill” but lunch was at the top.  We were the first ones up, but that was definitely an epic climb.  The second day is always the worst, just like backpacking, and here our legs were tired and we were soooo hungry (the top was about mile 44-45 out of 77), but the view was spectacular.  There was an outlook and parking spots and benches, so we all just lounged around and binge ate.  As more people arrived we eventually rushed down the hill to form tunnels for people and cheer them on as they reached the top.  

At lunch its tough to gauge how much is enough because its such a fine balance between getting enough to keep going and feeling sick as soon as you head out.  The mountains make that especially tough because its almost impossible to know when the next climb is and how hard it will be.  I’m getting better at fighting through the stomach pain and unease by just letting out the waist strap on my CamelBak and letting my stomach push out as my lungs open up on the hills.  And did I mention Kettle Chips!?!?! OMG!! So exciting!  I keep getting the dregs of the bags with all the grease, but I know my body needs the fats and besides it just tastes so good.  I never know where to wipe my hand afterwards though.  

The WVA line was so great, coming just around the corner after the 3^rd big hill.  This was definitely an occasion for a bike hoist photo.  We got a funny group one on Emma’s camera where she’s running and I look like I’m pooping—the timer took us a few tries to get it right. 

Rolling into Marlinton was great because we stopped at the Dairy Queen and got food since we were still way ahead of the trailer/van.  I got a chance to talk to Ashley (what day of the week is it? Wait, it’s Saturday? When did that happen? ) and so that was super cool to just catch up since I have A LOT to talk about after even less than two weeks, and probably only a week since we last talked.  Unfortunately we then had to continue on and leave town and roll into the next unincorporated area called  Edray where the church is actually located.

Dinner was epic, and sleeping downstairs was so nice.  They had showers in the bathrooms and we got to all set up in the rooms, with the dining room down the hall.  They brought SOOOOO much food.  After two hellish days with one where we didn’t get nearly enough food, this blew us out of the water.  There were actually leftovers and they insisted on giving us even more.  They also helped clean up dinner and put out a huge breakfast spread for us too.  Bananas, cereal, bread, PB&J, you name it.  The pastor was so nice and our group photo after dinner and the presentation out on the lawn was great—it’ll probably turn up on the local webpage, so I need to remember to look that up.  Extra points to anyone who finds in and sends it to me/posts in on Facebook!

Day 10 - Climb Baby Climb (to Lexington)

Today was a day of epic climbing.  85+ miles, 6172 calories burned (according to my watch), ‘nuf said.   

According to Gabe (the 3-time trip leader and former CUS leader), it was probably one of the hardest days we’ll do all summer.  While it was incredibly beautiful up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we had Afton Mountain to climb first.  It felt great to get up to the top, but that was quickly trumped by the continuous climbs up to higher and higher outlooks.  

A bunch of alums came out to join whom we had met the night before at the barbeque or during our time in Charlottesville.  It was great to bike with them, and incredible that they were able to ride along with us after largely being off their bikes.  Marie and Whitney turned around first, but the guys and Sarah Canelli (sp?) soldiered on.  Today I busted out the cowbell to cheer people on over the rollers up and out of Charlottesville and occasionally later in the day when they were around.  All of the climbing definitely broke the group up so it didn’t come out that much later in the day.  Climbing just has to be done at your own pace, be it slow or fast, and you can always regroup at the top.  

June Curry, aka the Cookie Lady was so awesome.  She has her home where she sits on the porch and people can walk up and talk to her as we did, and there’s another house which is filled with biker stuff and acts as a donation-only rest stop for bikes on the Trans-Am route.  There were postcards from all over the world and memorabilia and everything.  Talking with her was just magical because she still asked everyone’s name and told us stories about how the biking community had reached out to her when she had a stroke and this woman she’d never met but only corresponded with became a close friend after recovering from a traumatic bike accident.

 

The parkway was beautiful, with lots of stops for entertaining photos and Aileen’s clutch stops.  We had a first group rock cheers/wish/toss.  At the end of the day, once we were almost into town we rode over this bridge and saw people playing in the river below.  We turned around and went back across and down to the bank, stripped down and hopped in!  It felt so great, and even though the water was only waist deep, that was all we needed.  We got back on our bikes and trudged up a few last hills to get into Lexington.  The skies were getting ominous and just as we crested the hill into town we saw big bolts of lightning touch down.  Just as soon as we rolled in and got inside the skies just opened up the way they do on muggy days in Philly where it seems like all the rain wants to fall in 10 minutes.  Lots of people got caught, but about half didn’t.  

We managed to get our acts together and get up to the YMCA shortly before 7 when it closed for showers and even got some pizza donated.  The rain set back dinner shopping and laundry, so both came in quite late.  Everyone was exhausted (myself included!), but I was glad to get internet at the end of the night.  Given my fatigue I was only able to catch up on one entry, but I needed all the sleep I could get for the next day.

Day 9 - Heavy Lifting (Charlottesville Build Day #2)

While the assumption is often that build days are a welcome rest from the bike, let me assure you that it was just as difficult to climb out of my sleeping bag today, if not more so than on other days.  Aside from staying out later, the main factor that fails to be accounted for is the fact that aside from being on our feet all day, we're also using all of those forgotten upper body muscles.  

I spent today at the Charlottesville Habitat store that takes donations of furniture and stuff for homes (windows, doors, sinks, paint, etc) as well as buying some stuff at a discount then reselling it for the profit.  There were a few remaining tasks from the day before, but our primary job was to unload and sort a huge pickup of windows purchased from a contractor supply store that was moving and didn't want to move all the windows.  I now understand why....

There were two huge truckloads of windows that just three people loaded in and drove back to the store, then about 6 or 7 of us pulled them out and stacked them up.  Our biggest mistake was to lean them against the metal fence in front of the store.  As you can see from the photo above, the score went Windows 1 - Metal Fence 0.  There was not a dry shirt in the crowd, and by the end of the day the heat was inescapable.  So after leaning about 1/2 of the windows against the fence and then watching it snap and tear out of the concrete, we had to pick up and move all of those windows again into piles sorted by window type.  Having to do more work than necessary gets really mentally draining when the temperature outside reaches the high 80s.

But we soldiered on.  We got all of the windows out of the first truckload and laid out in front of the store, and then they went back for even more.  One thing I forgot to photograph were all of our hands because they were black with dust and soot that had accumulated on the windows as they sat around at the supply yard.  In order to make them more presentable, we did our best to wipe all of the windows off (also a huge time killer).  Eventually we got into a rhythm where we had stations of people cleaning the windows and several of us moving the windows between clean and dirty piles.  

Now of course there are always those who can't follow directions.  Actually Emma was just looking to help out more and see if she could lift it, but it just made most of us laugh since the window was taller than she is, she carried it smushed against her face and about an inch off the ground.  Just to give you an idea of what we all felt like after moving the super heavy windows around for 7 hours, here's a little taste:

But after a clean shower, we all feel much better--sometimes we even smile!

Dinner was a barbecue prepared for us at the house of a three-time Bike & Build leader Gabe Ofiesh, who helped out with all of our bikes and later rode with us up some of the most intense climbing I've ever done on a bike.  But more about that later.  As I've said before, we've been spoiled by all of the generosity and outreaching by friends and family of Bike & Builders, and tonight was no exception.  I got to meet and hang out with a bunch of Charlottesville B&B alums.  It was such a treat to sit outside and have a fantastic dinner and hear their stories and advice from their trips and to learn about how they got involved.  Many of them came out the next morning at 6:30-7am to bike with us as well.  The cohesion of the Bike & Build alumni family has really impressed me and the bond even with people on different trips is immediately apparent.  I can't even express how much look forward to reminiscing about things I have yet experience. 

Day 8 - First Build Day!

Waking up early this morning was no easier than any of the biking mornings.  Going out last night certainly didn't help, but not having to pack up and clean the house was such a relief.  Sadly I really hurt my heel running around UVA's campus last night, so it was an especially nasty surprise to wake up and hardly be able to stand on it.  I was quickly noticed limping around on the hard wood floors in the sorority house, receiving a lot of questions.  If you want details, just ask--I've now told the story a million times.

We all biked over to the build site then split up into groups because they needed us all over.  I ended up doing a bunch of odd jobs rather than one task all day, but it helped make the time fly by.  I dug a hole, put staples in the ground to hold down ground cover, put up house numbers and painted handrails.  It was incredibly hot out at the build site and I couldn't wait for lunch, but afterward 3pm completely snuck up on me.

Derrick's mom was so generous and brought a ton of food and fresh fruit along with a blender to make everyone smoothies after the scorching hot build day.  They were absolutely delicious, and I made sure to get more than one.  After fueling up, I had to get in my other fix--coffee.  Emily acted as tour guide yet again and we set off in search of coffee and Clif bars prior to dinner and prior to showering.  My search for both ended in success!  I basically bought the running store out of Clif bars and then got coffee at a place called Shenandoah Joe's, a local coffee shop and roaster.  After pining for coffee for at least a week, my tastes were fully satisfied.  And they even had little coffee drippers!  In retrospect I wish I had gotten one because I have yet to buy any memorabilia, but I have plenty of time ahead.

A B&B alum Whitney (now I forget her last name) made us a ton of food that was all fantastic.  We ate outside on the porch and spread out in the front yard.  Like all meals, there were absolutely no leftovers.  The night ended with several rounds of Thumper filled with lots of mistakes and lots of laughter at my leader's apartment in Charlottesville.  What's the name of the game?!?! THUMPER!!!!

 

Day 7 - Good evening Mr. Jefferson! (Welcome to Charlottesville)

Today started slowly but definitely ended with plenty of excitement as we arrived finally in Charlottesville where we'll spend the next few days working with Habitat for Humanity.  I found myself still quite groggy after sleeping crammed in like a sardine in the tent and tossing and turning in my ~15" of sleeping space.  We're all smiles at our bright and early wake-up calls, see?

One rider's birthday (Raleigh) was today so her bike was completely decorated with fake flowers and streamers and shiny aluminum foil, much to her surprise (creativity on a budget!).  I'm pretty sure she biked all the way to Charlottesville with the majority of the decorations on the bike, taking off only the things she needed to get it working.

I ended up biking at the front of the group with two of my fearless leaders, Derrick and Aileen, chalking the turns and attractions for those riders that followed.  We saw (among many other surprising sites) a giant white rooster outside of a roadside diner in Scottsville, a sign for Yogaville (a well-known yoga retreat) and lots of funny road names such as The Barn Rd, Self Rd and Fiddlestick Road.

Once we got into to Charlottesville we got a brief tour of the UVA "grounds" as they call them there along with an impromptu info session from a friend of Emily Frost, one of the riders who's a UVA alum.  From The Lawn in front of the Rotunda, UVA's original library, we made our way to the tri-Sigma sorority house that will be our home for the next few days.  Dinner was prepared for us at The Haven, a new community center with a large industrial kitchen that also acts as a homeless shelter and teaching kitchen to help people get culinary jobs.

After dinner the festivities began.  With a little liquid courage for the first time on the trip, so fell many people's guards and we all just had a great time.  Given that school is now out for the summer, the bars around campus were able to easily accommodate the large group of us wandering around looking like lost freshmen (aka first years!).  One place had karaoke and it was a blast to see my fellow riders belting stuff out I never expected and singing along to familiar songs.  On our way back to the sorority house a bunch of us stopped by The Lawn and went up the steps of the Rotunda and peaked through the keyhole where you can see the statue of Thomas Jefferson (they're obsessed with him here!) and people are supposed to say "Good evening, Mr. Jefferson!"  The whole evening was lots of fun and I'm already enjoying myself here.  I can tell everyone's relaxed and excited about being here for a few days and to have our first build days.  More to come soon!

Day 6 - Sweep to Dillwyn, VA (pop. 477)

Throughout the summer, each rider is assigned to ride "sweep" several times and the concept behind it is fairly self explanatory.  There are two riders who are required to be the last two to help out in case something happens and bring up the rear with encouragement and enthusiasm.  While everyone assumes this is going to be a miserable experience or that riding at the back with the sweeps is somehow a hassle to us, I would argue the contrary and say I had a fantastic experience and am glad I had the experience as early in the trip as I did.

Here's why: 1) Everything is chalked for you.  The photo above was the scene that greeted Jesse (my fellow sweep) and I at lunch.  As a big team, it's the little things that help us as individuals ("put the sun the sky and the menthol in our chamois" as one rider so eloquently put it), so to see this even after only 20 or so miles was fantastic.  And did I mention we eat a lot? I mean A LOT.  A LOT A LOT.  By 10am I've usually burned the calories that most people burn....in their entire day.

2)  The people.  One of the people in this photo was having excruciating knee problems.  Can you tell who it is?  That's what I thought.  About 8 miles from Dillwyn we stopped at this little side-of-the-road store because they had a sign for local honey that Jesse had been after and to give Kathryn a rest.  We got to talking with the people here and told them all about what we're doing this summer and in turn they told us about how they started as a little antique store but now do mostly food because of the demand for it.  We ordered sandwiches (I got perhaps one of the best cheesesteaks I've ever had, and I would honestly say that even if I hadn't already biked 40 miles--it was incredible) and hung out for a good while just talking with them and hearing about the area and all the funny things about rural Virginia.  When we went to pay after downing a sandwich and drink a piece they told us they were only charge Jesse for the honey he was getting, and then they offered us apple bread to take to the group.  Oh my goodness.... I was ready to pay them and tip them AND buy more stuff just because of how great it all was.  And it gets better.  They had a cake they offered to us, but since we still had to bike and couldn't carry it, they called the pastor of the church we were staying at, and he drove out, picked up the cake, and brought it to us after dinner.  So SOOO nice of them--the generosity and degree to which people have reached out to us even in the first week has been eye-opening and so inspiring.

3) Coming to terms with what I'm doing this summer.  This is an epic tour if nothing else.  Taking it slow as sweep is so perfect for a rider such as myself who tends to ride for exercise.  Some of the best advice I received before the trip was to sloooooooow down and enjoy the scenery and take it all in.  You see so much more on a bike than you do in a car, and that's especially true when you look up from the handlebars.  The argyle socks are sweet and all, but the point of the trip is not to huff and puff away the beautiful countryside.  I never knew I would say this, but Virginia is beautiful.  Out here, life is beautiful.

And since that sums up the ride, the rest of the day in short consisted of a hose shower at the pastor's house, tacos/burritos made with so much love by my fellow dinner crew, more trailer painting, playing with the crazy home-schooled kids from across the street, an awesome game of "Ha" (I'll explain if you ask), and sleeping outside!  Since the basement was so cramped and hot, we set up two tents outside and a bunch of us piled in (I think there were 7 people in a 4-maybe-5 person tent).  It felt so good to unpack a tent I can't even explain it.  One thing I didn't know about Boy Scouts while I was in it was the extent to which it would ingrain itself in me and make me appreciate certain things so much more later that I now think I probably took for granted back then or assumed were a part of "ordinary" childhood.  I was shocked to learn of people who had never set up a tent before or slept outside.  But now I'm glad to have shared the experience with them because that's why I'm out here.  A few last photos of trailer painting so you can see our masterpiece in progress:

Day 5 - Rain or Shine to Blackstone

Today was our first day of rain as the clouds could hold off raining no longer.  The downpour started exactly as we climbed on our bikes and got on the road, so several of us hammered away to get on down the road.  For the first hour and a half we averaged nearly 21mph (20.7 to be exact), arriving at and finding a spot for "lunch" around the 30 mile mark, halfway for the day.  Having consumed breakfast before my stomach was even awake at 7am, I was still hardly hungry come 9am when we stopped.  The van got to us several minutes later and we hung out for a good long while.  By this point the rain had stopped and despite being wet, there was no need to keep up the pace we were at.  We were slowly drying, and while my shoes would be pools for the rest of the day, the weather felt actually really good.

Lunch is quickly proving to be a misnomer for our first food stop of the day.  It's more like brunch, or better yet second breakfast, but not the typical Sunday brunch I'd so love it to be.  People are already becoming quite creative with their sandwiches (I won't go into what's been eaten), but for the time being I'm pretty content with regular old PB&Js.

Ice cream break!  One of the most consistent pieces of advice we've gotten as a group is that you should always, I repeat ALWAYS stop for ice cream.  It's always a good idea.  We came across Dairy Freeze around 10:15 in the morning, but a swirl cone has never tasted so good.  The "small" was anything but and kept me going until we got into Fort Pickett, our lovely home for the evening.

We arrive at Fort Pickett--military barracks!  Such a lovely place to stay!  Actually tonight we're being spoiled with hot showers, laundry, individual rooms, AND BEDS in said rooms.  A shower is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated 5 minutes of my day and today's did not disappoint.  Our arrival into the base was deceptive because we had probably another 2-3 miles to bike once we got through the gates.  The ground here are sprawling and the building we're in is completely removed from all others.

CocoRoooooos!  Around 8:45 we had a large post-dinner cereal eating party in the little kitchen here in the barracks.  The rules: enter the kitchen and you have to have a bowl of cereal, find a place to sit, and plant yourself there for at least ten minutes.  I was happy to oblige.  Off to Dillwyn tomorrow (wherever that is!).  I'm sweep so I'm hoping for some good roadside attractions to keep me busy while others ride on ahead.

Day 4 - Off to Waverly

This morning was a slow start for me.  I think I was woken up in the middle of a dream or something because I just kept fumbling around and it took me forever to get packed.  I struggle without coffee, and I'm total dead weight when it's 6am.

My back brake also slowed me down again because I couldn't resist tinkering some more, but I got it working well enough to ride and headed out with the sweep riders.  After riding towards the front for most of the first day riding, being in the back was actually really enjoyable.  The pace was same, and there was no pressure to catch up with anyone although eventually did.  

There were some really cool swamps we biked past, one of which had a little hut built out over the water that we went to explore.  Aside from the field of corn and wheat, the few interspersed swamps and lakes provided an intriguing and much appreciated change of scenery, not to mention good chances to stop for a break, chat a bit, eat some food, etc.

 Once we arrived at the church in the teeny tiny town of Waverly, VA, we got settled in and made good use of their hose for a refreshing but frigid hose shower.  I don't think the next door neighbors quite knew what to think seeing a large group of people walking around in spandex and underwear.  It was at this point I discovered I had left my big soft towel back in Suffolk at the church from the night before.  My grogginess in the morning had caused me to forget my super soft towel...so sad.  Luckily I found another little quick-dry towel packed with my camping pillow from trips pasts so I was able to avoid having to drip dry.

The main attraction in Waverly is Peanut Museum (the first in the USA and the world's only!), which on the grounds of this house and folk art museum containing the work of a woodcarver/sculptor from Waverly.  This old lady gave us the royal tour around the house, which she apparently lived in.  (A small aside: the work was super creepy).  We ended up spending the better part of the afternoon there before wandering back to the church and enjoying another delicious dinner after a day of biking.  Much needed was the large massage train session after dinner on the front steps in which we all learned who's got the strongest hands and/or actually knows what they're doing.  Stiff shoulders and tension quickly melted away into fits of laughter and frantic shuffling around to switch partners.

Day 3 - And we're off!

The day finally arrived!  This morning was the big rear wheel dip in the Atlantic.  We all lined up for our photo then rushed bikes in hand to the water.  A quick splash, a BIG cheer for Bike & Build, and we were off!

The little cue sheet managed to stay put on my handlebars all day with the help of some little binder clips, but reading it while riding proved a bigger challenge.  The bigger challenge still was deciphering what some of those directions actually meant.  There were definitely a few missed turns, some standing around and saying "oh, I think I saw that back there!" or "I think we've gone far enough." All in all, everyone made it to lunch (and fairly closely together), and everyone made it to the host site.  Our room for the evening is much bigger than the close quarters of the house we had been staying in, so tonight we'll be spoiled with room to move around. 

After dinner we all went out and did the necessary chain clean and lube, which even after one day was a necessity.  The grime just sneaks up on you!  After that, my rear brakes were off center and I attempted to adjust them.  I was doing the right thing, but in the process, one of the little screws stripped out, so tomorrow morning I'm off to the bike shop. Yes, already. After biking day one... so sad.... but look how happy I was this morning:

I'm still that happy to be here, just not to have a potentially busted rear brake... At least parts can be fixed/replaced, and I feeling this won't be the last (if that's the case).  Tomorrow's a short day as we head to Waverly, VA, but I'm signing off now because I need my rest.  Hooray for bicycles!

Day 2 - Orientation continues

Before I get too far down the road, I want to take this chance to thank each and all of my donors for contributing to Bike & Build. I'm still technically in orientation, but I can already tell this is going to be a fantastic experience and we'll be doing some amazing things.


Today was orientation day #2, which consisted of a quick bike maintenance clinic and little skills clinic in the parking lot behind the house where we're staying. Our group "Shake Down - Like a Polaroid" ride after lunch was a success. No flats, no crashes yet! (Knock on wood...) 11.5 miles out and back hardly caused most riders to sweat, but it feels great to be back on a bike and even better to be with 31 other people in B&B kits who are just as excited to be here.



After dinner and after priming the trailer earlier in the day (covering up last year's...questionable....paint job), we broke into groups to plan out and get started on this year's decorations. You'll have to wait to see the concept fully manifest, but here's a little peak at how we went about it:

Day 1 - Virginia Beach, VA

I've arrived! The Central US 2010 ride has officially begun with orientation here in sunny Virginia Beach, VA! After waking up altogether too early in Philly, my trusty co-pilot/chauffeur Leonard Klipper and I drove down here yesterday and arrived mid-afternoon. There were plenty of icebreakers and name games (I'm now "Night-Owl Noah"), and oh so many bikes.

I'm going to do my best to keep this updated with photos, my journal (the parts I can publish...), and any other fun facts worth blogging about. But remember, blogging ain't easy, so keep checking back, and you might just be surprised.

Time to start Day 2! Group test ride today--can't wait!