Voy a divertirme

Dear Readers,

I realized today that I am excited for the summer.

That is all.

P.S. Here are some pretty pictures of the Hawthorne Trail (and Lynn and Sara's rear ends).






























P.P.S. Here is a picture of my cat Onyx. He was angry with me because instead of staying home to play with him, I went for a bike ride.

Mi bicicleta y yo

Funny story... The other day someone who had written a story about B&B for the paper called because they decided to run it and wanted a picture of me on my bike. At the time, I was stuck on campus waiting to take a Biochem exam that wouldn't get out until 8pm. She said it was fine as long as I emailed the pics to her by 11:30pm.

Well as it turns out, I didn't actually have any pictures of me on my bike. So I called my best bud Camilla in a panic, and she agreed to come over after I got home from the exam. By this time it was dark. So we got some pretty awesome pictures of me standing next to my bike on the 2nd floor of my apartment, as well as some blurry pictures of me riding around in the parking lot in the dark. I love how my reflectors are all crazy bright because of the flash. :-)

Letting the days go by...

For some reason that Talking Heads song just got stuck in my head as I was looking at my calendar. I leave for Bike & Build in 27 days. Wow.

I've actually been feeling a litte less than enthused lately, worrying about everything I'm going to face this summer. I'm definitely concerned about my knees, those uphills, headwinds, big trucks, getting lost, sores and rashes, my bank account, and coming across people who don't care about affordable housing. On that note, I decided to read some of last years' journals to try to feel a little more "prepared." After the first few I started to get a lot more excited about the kindness of strangers, seeing things I've never seen before, and getting to BUILD! The biking may be overwhelming, but I know as soon as I get to my first Habitat site I'm going to feel right at home.

Other good bits of news:

Lynn, Sara and I rode the whole Hawthorne Trail again on Sunday. It got a little rough in the middle with the heat and hunger kicking in, but we started busting out some tunes including Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," The Eagles' "Take It Easy," and The Lion King's "Hakuna Matata." I was shocked that Lynn didn't know Styx' "Come Sail Away," and I decided I need to learn all the verses to Don McLean's "American Pie" before I leave.

The Gainesville Sun is going to be publishing an article about Bike & Build on May 20 and there's supposed to be a picture of me. The timing is kind of perfect, though I will have to ask a friend to save a hard copy for me. (I'll be flying to Richmond that day!)

Tomorrow I have lots and lots of baking to do. Quite a few orders came into The Bike & Build Bakery this week and I'm pretty excited to make lots of delicious treats. Jamming to good music and making cookies is a fantastic way to spend a Reading Day (definitely beats studying for all the finals I have next week :-/).

no me gusta viento

As you may have translated, it has been quite windy the past couple days during my rides. But, hold on... yes, I have actually gone for a bike ride two days in a row! Yesterday I rode down 441 past Lake Wauberg and on the way back was absolutely miserable. It is so frustrating to push so hard, and be so tired, and barely be going 12mph. But I know I'll be facing much worse this summer so I guess it was good to have a small taste of it. And I did have an important first:

I once read a true story that said it is possible for both men and women to take a whiz while riding a bike. That's right, WHILE riding a bike. This definitely piqued my curiosity. Right after I had turned around to head back home I started to feel the urge and this story flashed through my head. Ok, no, I didn't actually attempt it. ;-) But I did spend some time thinking about it while scanning the side of the road for a nice spot of coverage. At last! A bunch of trees with enough of an opening for me to crawl in and hide myself. The rest really isn't that interesting as I've done a good deal of camping and backpacking and have had quite a bit of experience with the whole "peeing in the woods" thing. But it was the first time I had to pull my bike over to complete the task and I felt like sharing.

Also, today I bought a new cycling computer that measures cadence. I'm super excited. And I got my bike fitted for me as my handlebars needed a little bit of adjusting. And Thomy (this is my shout-out to the guys at Chain Reaction, many of them have been extremely helpful) said they would help me box up and ship my bike to North Carolina and it shouldn't cost too too much. One less thing to worry about. Hooray!

Funds raised: $2465
Funds left to raise: $1535
Days til departure: 36

Quick Updates

After two ridiculously novel-like entries, some quick updates:

I have transportation to Nags Head, NC! I bought my plane ticket to Richmond, VA where a fellow rider (thanks Emily!!) will pick me up, allow me to crash on her floor, and drive me to the Outer Banks. Yay!

Yesterday I built at a new spot on a new house in Hawthorne (15 miles outside Gainesville). We were framing all day... super fun!

This week my goals are to get my sweat equity form in, make an appt for my physical, call Starbucks and the Gainesville Rotary to see if they will help me out, and try to figure out a schedule that will actually allow time for training. Yikes I leave in 44 days!