quiero pasear en bicicleta

Hasta luego

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:48:00 +0000

So where did I leave off... Southern California.

20Jul08 - Wenden, AZ to Blythe, CA - 66 miles
We started early to beat the heat, and surprisingly enough, it was raining all morning (in the desert!) It felt wonderful, and we arrived at "lunch" at 8:30am. We rode on I-10 (speed limit 75mph!) for 35 miles which was fine, except for all the flat tires. :-/ Once we crossed our final state line we stopped to swim in the Colorado River. Glorious. Then proceeded to Denny's where I consumed 2 pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast, and a large chocolate shake. Also glorious.

21Jul08 - Blythe to Brawley - 90 miles
It was HOT. Lots of hills and I decided that in the last few days I don't care so much about doing life-long damage to my knees. So I push it. Luckily stayed in front of sweep (Suz and Dan Thomas) who were having a miserably hot day. Before 2nd lunch we were completely out of water and stopped at the only gas station for miles where a gallon of water cost $4.25 and the owner called us something very not nice for being stupid enough to bike through the desert. I'm pretty sure he's just grumpy for being 1 of 7 people to inhabit that God-forsaken place. Anyway, the water was delicious. At second lunch we grabbed a quick bite and booked it; the van was stuck in a sand dune and as I didn't have much energy left I decided I wouldn't be very helpful in trying to unbury it. For the last 15 miles I managed to grab on (and stay on) a paceline that was going about 22mph. Though I thought I would die, I made it, and treated myself to two Slurpees, a Gatorade, a bag of chips and two candy bars from the 7/11 that was so conveniently located next door to our church.

22Jul08 - Brawley to Julian - 74 miles
The first part of the ride was flat desert. Then we started going uphill. We climbed about 4500 feet, the largest climb without a break we've done, though it was for the most part not that steep. However, it was ridiculously hot. Ben met us with the van and gave us ice and informed us that the church was actually 6 miles further than indicated on the cue sheet. More climbing. Finally made it into town and drank a strawberry milkshake and ate a pizza. The church was 1 mile downhill after that.

23Jul08 - Julian to El Cajon - 52 miles
People claimed that the last two days would be easy. I claim that they are liars. We started off on absolutely gorgeous roads, climbing through mountains. I felt awesome, climbing alone and kind of pushing it on our 1000-foot climb. Unfortunately the rest of the day was not downhill, but was made up of nice descents interrupted by torturous little climbs. I felt awful, but still made it to the church before noon. Hannah's amazing former boss allowed her to make us all enormous yogurt things at The Yogurt Pump. We had a meeting about the last day and the festivities to follow.

24Jul08 - El Cajon to San Diego (La Jolla) - 28 miles + 4 miles to church
Last day. No one really wanted to leave the church, but Suz and I took the plunge. It ended up being a very strange ride through town with stop-and-go traffic. We hit pretty much every red light, which may have been an indication that someone did not actually want the day to end. The 30 of us met up a couple miles from the beach so we could all ride in together. We came to the top of a hill and saw the Pacific Ocean. Surreal. Riding onto the beach people were cheering for us, and I think the cutest moment was when Daven spotted his family, immediately dropped his bike and began hugging all his siblings. We then dropped our shoes and Camelbaks and charged to the ocean to dip our wheels and take numerous photos. Celebration followed with champagne (thanks Ana's family) and delicious food arranged by Dan Carmody's dad. Continued on to the church to clean out the van and trailer, and partied hard at Todd San Diego's (a Bike and Build alum) that night.

25Jul08 - post-B&B day 1 - 0 miles :-(
Actually, I did ride my bike that morning. For some reason, could not sleep past 6:30am and so got up to go to an ATM to pay off all my debts, a bagel shop, and Starbucks. Talked for 2 hours with a guy who was really interested in Bike & Build. He was from Beverly Hills, teaches wealthy Jewish kids how to play tennis in Connecticut, and rides a foldable bike. Went back to the church to find most people still sleeping, some beginning to leave. Spent several hours trying to ship my bike. Finally succeeded, went out for dinner with some of the B&B crowd for the last time, and got prepared for my cab to pick me up and take me to the airport at 4am.

The trip is over. NC2SD08 is now only a thing of memories, of greatness, of 30 people gone back to their "real lives" ... who will always know that they were part of something amazing. After overcoming "the sickness" which claimed me over the last 5 days (luckily, AFTER reaching the Pacific Ocean) I was able to eat two Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches today in memoriam.

Until my next Bike & Build adventure...

Mas fotos

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:04:00 +0000

On our way to a baseball game in Little Rock, AR; crossing the Arkansas River.

A pack of Bike & Builders in the streets of Little Rock.

More cool wildlife.

A pretty Arkansas road.

Least populated town sign. A little disturbing that some classes at UF are 3 times this size...

A roadrunner in Oklahoma.

Lance and Suz showing off cool tanlines.

Pretty Oklahoma sunset.

A wild tarantula!

Patrick and Dan Thomas show kids how to pump up their tires at a bike clinic.

Um, yeah... Sometimes the windy plains can be a drag. So we amuse ourselves by posing on top of hay bales.

Scary storms-a-brewing in Kansas.

Cool grasshopper (or relative?) chilling on my bike.

Bike riding shadows.

Deer crossing.

Riding through the Garden of the Gods.

Pretty stream and snow-covered mountains.

Blue Mesa Reservoir. Wow.

Our second highest elevation, made possible by Clif Bar. Please ignore the outfit.. It was frickin freezing up there!

Surrounded by Rocky Mountains...

The cutest face in the world! Also known as: yellow-bellied marmot pup!

Arizona!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:40:00 +0000

Well I have missed too many days of updating to give a day-by-day account. I will have to sum up.

We've completed all 10 of our Build Days, the last few being in Colorado Springs, CO; Durango, CO; and Prescott, AZ. Colorado Springs was one of the coolest sites, where we got to raise walls for a two-story house! The tallest wall I've ever helped build! Then in Durango I helped tar and prime a foundation, (I still have sticky stuff in my hair, despite much shampoo), put up waterproofing paper and others helped do flooring. In Prescott we did "landscaping" which really meant moving rocks around. I also helped build a rock wall to prevent erosion, which was pretty cool. Prescott Habitat provided us with dinner and we got to meet one of the families who will be getting a home. They also showed us a video about other families who have gotten Habitat homes, and I think it was a great way to end our last Build Day. We got to hear their stories and learn about the people we've been helping.

Arizona has surpassed my expectations completely. After crossing the Four Corners and the AZ state line, it took me about 10 minutes to realize "I was born here..." So I am of course a little biased in saying that I love this state. I was a little worried people would be completely miserable and unimpressed by the HOT, dry desert. But Arizona is so much more than that!!

We spent a couple nights in schools or churches on the Navajo reservation. The landscape was a little desolate, but the red sand and mesas are beautiful. In Kayenta we took a bus tour of Monument Valley, which was awesome. This was where Forrest Gump decided to stop running and go home. It was also filmed for the first scene of Back to the Future 3 when Marty McFly is escaping from Indians. Of course I was also excited to find some cool lizards.

We also rode through the Grand Canyon, but this was unfortunately one of my least favorite days. It started off as a 57-mile ride, but we were told we weren't allowed to camp in the park and had to ride 90 miles instead. Although the views were beautiful, we got caught in a pretty nasty thunderstorm and ended up camping out in the rain. Luckily the next day was much brighter (and drier). Oh yes! And at our second lunch stop in the Grand Canyon, we were visited by a very strange-looking bug. (Mom, can you and Rylie identify this one?)

The ride from Prescott to Wickenburg was one of my favorite. I had no idea parts of Arizona were so green! We had some really fun descents and chatted with a bunch of local cyclists. After descending about 3000 feet, we immediately felt the wall of heat.. 100+ temperatures in the hot desert which we'll surely be facing over the next several days. This is the part of Arizona that I know.. saguaro cacti everywhere! In Wickenburg my Aunt Julie, Uncle Marc and cousin Rachael came to see me too. It was so great to see family during this trip. (You can check out my wicked cool tanlines in this picture too)

Tomorrow we cross our last state line--into California. Only 5 riding days left until rolling into San Diego. We've completed 3,203 miles; 10 Build Days; 3 Days Off... We are hard core!!

The Rockies!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:09:00 +0000

Unfortunately I'm in a public library and do not have sufficient privileges to install devices and upload pictures into my blog. And what glorious pictures I have of Colorado... But I'll have to share them all with you later!

5Jul08 - Colorado Springs to Buena Vista - 103 miles
Sweep Day with Samuel and perhaps my most miserable ride. :-( At the beginning of the ride, Samuel asked if I'm a climber. I had to inform him that I am perhaps the slowest climber on the trip. (I continue to blame the 16 years I've lived in Florida!) Since Samuel is perhaps the fastest climber on the trip, I had the inevitable guilty feeling all day because he had to stay with me at the back of the pack. But, enough depressing storytelling! The day started with a ride through the Garden of the Gods, these beautiful rock formations with a nice road that goes right through. Plenty of bikers around and one birder who was going to let us look through his scope to see a rare find, but it flew overhead just as he lowered the scope for me. I don't remember much about the middle of the day except that there was a lot of climbing and I was in pain. It started to get a little stormy before second lunch, and we hid in the van until around 4:30. Luckily the last 15 miles into Buena Vista were an incredible descent, and we arrived just in time for dinner and shower at the host site. I passed out early on a very comfortable couch (one of the perks of being sweep!)

6Jul08 - Buena Vista to Gunnison - 85 miles
Another rough day on me. We climbed about 4000 feet to the Continental Divide = Monarch Pass = 11,318 feet! It was FREEZING up there! I had to keep stopping because I simply could not breathe, and Suz and Travis (who were on Sweep duty) kept catching up to me. They eventually stopped to have a snowball fight (yeah, there was snow up there!) and met up at the rest stop on the top of the pass. Angela had hot chocolate waiting for us... delicious! The rest of the ride wasn't so bad, and I was very excited to get into Gunnison. It's the only town on the trip that I've visited before, and it was really cool to be back where I went "into town" every week last year to take a break from doing research up in the mountains. We stayed in the high school, and I got pizza with Devon and Hannah.

7Jul08 - Gunnison to Ouray - 102 miles
Glorious day! One of my favorite days! We went though the Blue Mesa Reservoir which was one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen. Though it was a long day with three pretty good climbs, they were each only about 1000 feet, which was a good length. Suz and I would take them somewhat slower than most, but we had set out early and stayed ahead of most of the pack. And each climb was ended with my new favorite sign!! (wish I could post the picture of the sign with the truck facing downhill; it says "TRUCKS USE LOWER GEAR; STEEP GRADE NEXT 4 MILES") Yay for awesome descents! First lunch stop was looking out at an incredible lake surrounded by mountains. And Ouray itself was a pretty amazing town. Got ice cream and couldn't stop staring at all the mountains... When we talked to people in town and told them we were going to Durango, they laughed at us. Perhaps not the best sign.

8Jul08 - Ouray to Durango - 70 miles
Another awesome ride! Despite their laughter, we all finished the ride even though it included three mountain passes. The first was about 4000 feet up to 11,018 feet total. It took several hours, haha. And it was super super cold at first, since we set out early. The descent was kind of cold and not that fun. But the views... I can't quite get over the magnitude of the Rockies. There is also this smell which I'm not sure whether to describe as snowy mountain air, or just heaven. On the second climb which was less than 2000 feet but the steepest grade, I started to lose it when I looked down and was going 3.3 mph. But then... I spotted a fat yellow-bellied marmot on a rock near the side of the road! Since I studied them all last summer, I was very excited. Put down my bike, ran over to take a picture and check out the burrow, and found a litter of pups! Got a picture of one of them too. Then I was pumped, knocked out the rest of the climb, awesome descent, killed the third climb, and had my favorite descent of the trip (reaching a new top speed of 43.6 mph!) Finished the ride with Suz, Scott Shapiro and Dennis and we got Thin Mint Blizzards at Dairy Queen. Delicious! Unfortunately we also saw a local girl get into a bike accident near the drive thru, but we provided some first aid and she was ok.

10Jul08 - Durango to Cortez - 45 miles
Hooray for short days! We could've added 40 miles round-trip to go to Mesa Verde National Park, which might've been well worth it. But my legs enjoy a short day every now and then... There was some climbing but after that the ride was fairly easy and fun. Yet another stop at a Dairy Queen for yet another Thin Mint Blizzard. Awesome. Today was our last full riding day in Colorado!

one and a quarter centuries

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:43:00 +0000

So the ride into Colorado Springs! I neglected to write about it last time as I was still winding down from the traumatic, I mean, awesome 125 miles that I pulled off.

The church we stayed at the night before was incredible, getting up at 4am to prepare breakfast for us since we had to get an early start. We had a route meeting the night before, discussing how to avoid the dangers of putting your body through a 125-mile bike ride. (Hydrate, eat, hydrate, eat, repeat!) The "slower riders" (We know who we are :-)) were encouraged to set out early, so that Sweep (Dan Carmody and Ana) would finish the ride before dark.

I set out at 6:15am with three other riders, and we killed the first 30 miles. We were only passed by the 4 fastest guys on the trip, and made it into the first lunch stop early. After that, Suz, Lance and I rode together for most of the day. We weren't in the mood to join a slightly-too-fast paceline but went on our own and were making good time. Then... disaster! Not really, but I got my first two flat tires of Bike & Build! The roads were pretty dirty; the first flat was due to a piece of metal shrapnel, and the other due to a very sharp staple.

Dave caught up to us at a water stop around mile 60, and we all got sandwiches at Subway. Then we continued on to second lunch at mile 90, not too eventful, though my body was starting to register the fact that it did not want to be on my bicycle for too much longer... And then the storm came...

It started to rain and we were riding through mountains, with some lightning in the distance. We were told there was a shelter at mile 97 in case it got too bad. Unfortunately it didn't get too bad until mile 100. At that point, the wind was so awful we were getting blown around on our bikes (for some of the lightweights, they literally got blown off their bikes!) Even with red blinking tail lights, these were very unsafe riding conditions, and as there was nothing in the way of shelter around us, the 4 of us crawled into a ditch.

Now this ditch was muddy. It was cold. No. It was near FREEZING. A few trucks stopped to ask if we would like to sit in their trucks until the storm passed, but it is against Bike & Build policy to hitchhike, and while these may have simply been Good Samaritans, we were slightly nervous about crawling into the back of a stranger's truck. We decided to move even further down into the ditch, to block ourselves from wind. Then two more trucks pulled up, but since they couldn't see us, they apparently were just going to steal our bikes!! Luckily Suz scared them off and moved our bikes further down out of the sight of the road.

So the next hour and ten minutes were some of the most miserable of my life. The lightning was quite literally on top of us, and we were sitting next to a barbed-wire fence. To pass the time, we discussed how they would likely find our charred bodies next to our bikes. Then because we were convinced we were going to get hypothermia, we started playing "I went to the store.." and bought warm things. We huddled for body warmth and my legs and knees froze into a position that would make riding a bike somewhat more difficult. Near the beginning of our adventure in the ditch, we called Angela who was driving the van that day. Since most of the other riders were also caught in the storm elsewhere (some under a bridge, some fashioned a shelter out of tables and chairs, 4 large guys were standing in a port-a-pottie together) we were advised to simply wait it out. I'm pretty sure Lance also just failed to convey how awful our situation was. Had he properly explained that we were sitting in a ditch next to barbed wire with lightning on top of us and very near hypothermia, maybe the van would have picked us up.

Luckily, it did not, so we were victorious and finished our longest day. The storm calmed down and we decided to press on. Unfortunately since my knees and legs were frozen, crawling out of that ditch with my bike while shivering madly was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. That was followed by the coldest, most miserable descent of my life. That was followed by 8 miles of insane hills into Colorado Springs that seemed to come out of nowhere.

We arrived, followed shortly by sweep, at 7:45pm as the sun was setting, 13.5 hours after leaving the morning host site, and after 9 hours, 53 minutes of riding.

Then came the BEST shower and Olive Garden I have ever eaten in my life.

8 straight riding days...

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:42:00 +0000

Let me start off by saying that we are amazing. Even super cycling fanatics don't generally ride 8 days in a row, 675 miles, with no time for recovery. But, we did it. With very few incidents, lots of flat tires, and very little riding in the van. And lots of good stories.

25Jun - Bartlesville to Ponca City, OK - 73 miles
Horrible winds. Angela crashed and I couldn't get around, resulting in a controlled crash in which luckily only my hand was hurt. (and not badly, I will never ever ride without cycling gloves) Angela was a trooper; she got stitches in her elbow and had to drive the van a couple days extra, but she's been riding strong ever since. The group I was riding with (which included Sweep) found heaven 2 miles out in the form of root beer floats, french fries, chili dogs, shakes, etc. Nice hosts with delicious lasagna dinner.

26Jun - Ponca City to Cherokee, OK - 81 miles
More ridiculous wind. Kind of a miserable ride. Though all the girls did take some sweet pictures on top of hay bales. Ben treated us to the most delicious limeade ever at lunch. Found heaven at mile 60-something in the form of a really refreshing well drilled for "weary travelers." Amazing.

27Jun - Cherokee to Coldwater, KS - 90 miles
Sweep Day with Ben! Amazing tailwind (for a change!!) for the first 50 miles. We caught up with Hannah, Dennis, Emily and Lance in time to take pictures with the Kansas state sign. We had a "coast off" into lunch. (no pedaling, I didn't win. Lance used his rain jacket as a sail to let the tailwind push him). The rest of the day had pretty awful crosswinds, but Ben pulled me up a couple hills, and we again were rewarded near the end with ice cream, limeade, chips, etc. Jumped into Lake Coldwater and camped out. Woke up in the middle of the night when the wind decided to turn out rain fly into a sail and our tent nearly collapsed. Travis and Pat saved the day by removing the fly. Luckily no rain.

28Jun - Coldwater to Dodge City, KS - 83 miles
Tailwind for a bit, then an insane headwind, crosswind, I don't even know. I think we all agreed that Oklahoma and Kansas suck. Or at least, the wind does. Suz, Dave and I rode together and we made it in to the host site semi-early. Dinner crew came through with flying colors.. fajitas, spaghetti, etc.

29Jun - Dodge City to Garden City, KS - 54 miles
Awful wind again.. blah.. Suz, Dave and I played the licence plate/alphabet/"I went to the store" game several times while averaging 12mph, maybe less. We had a delicious meal provided and the guy from the local bike shop came to fix all our bikes. It was awesome!! He flipped my stem around which has done wonders for my arms/back/neck/etc. Who on earth put the thing on in the racing position?? Also had an incredible talent show.

30Jun - Garden City to Lamar, CO - 101 miles
Um, I don't quite remember this day. It was probably long, and there were probably a lot more versions of the alphabet game played with Dave and Suz. Rode with sweep again. Had a duet of "Yankee Bayonet" with Dan Thomas. I had been trying to teach Suz the lyrics all day but it's hard without the music. Oh yeah! Also tried desperately to find a Kansas lapel pin but they apparently don't sell them, even in the "Travel Info and Gift Shop" where they had collectible spoons, keychains, magnets, etc. Oh well. Took awesome pics of the "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign too!

1Jul - Lamar to Rocky Ford, CO - 67 miles
Suz and I volunteered to be sweep and it was a really fun day. We became the 'Sweep Dream Team' with Dave, Lance and Dennis (sometimes Devon, but we were usually too slow for her). I stumped them with a bunch of riddles, which they eventually figured out. And we took super long breaks at Dairy Queen (Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzards! Yesss!) We also stopped in Hasty, Colorado where we chatted with the owners of Valley Grocery and told them one of our riddles. We promised to send a postcard from CO Springs with the answer. CommUNITY Presbyterian Church provided us with an awesome potluck.

So our 8th riding day deserves it's own entry, which I will hopefully write tomorrow on our Day Off. Others are waiting for the computer so that's all for now!

Century #1, standing in 3 states, etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Nearing the end of our Day Off in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. We're onto 8 straight days of riding with scary mileage, but here's a summary of the last week.

20Jun: From Little Rock to Clarksville, Arkansas; Our first century! 105 miles and I think we all felt pretty great. I rolled into second lunch, looked down at my odometer, and couldn't believe I had already done 73 miles; just 32 more to the 1st Presbyterian Church where they took great care of us. I got the best soy chai latte ever at a local coffee shop and we had an amazing potluck. Debbie gave us hugs. Dr. Terry offered his chiropractic services for free. Marci invited us over to her house to set off fireworks. (I decided I was exhausted and just went to bed.)

21Jun: From Clarksville to Fayetteville, Arkansas; another long day at 91 miles. Some crazy people decided to do 9 more so they would have back-to-back centuries under their belts. We climbed through the Ozark Mountains and I decided the Appalachians did their job... a 2000-mile climb really wasn't that bad. :-) We were given free rein of the church and I enjoyed my own room complete with a tv and "The Polar Express" (I fell asleep after 20 minutes).

22Jun: From Fayetteville to Grove, Oklahoma; 74 miles, exciting bonus! Our route took us through the 3 Corners, I stood in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri (we biked in MO for 2 miles, adding a bonus state to my list of states visited). The ride was hilly and my legs and knees started to register the fact that they've been putting on a lot of miles... We had a ping pong table and got to have a cookout (with s'mores!) at a park thanks to our hosts.

23Jun: From Grove to Bartlesville, Oklahoma; 75 miles, we got a late start due to some stormy weather. I was one of the first to leave and decided that adrenaline helps a lot. Despite some nasty headwinds I pushed pretty hard, mainly because I was convinced the clouds all around me looked like they could form a tornado at any moment. (Don't worry, Mom; if there were really tornadoes the leaders wouldn't have let us leave :-)). I ended up being one of the first to get in to the church because other groups left late, got lost, got flats, or had minor paceline incidents. The Church of Christ had a bunch of signs to greet us, as well as homemade cookies, popcorn, lemonade and fruit waiting for us.

24Jun: Day Off in Bartlesville; Last night had a birthday/bachelorette party for one of the riders on the trip. Started off at a bowling alley and continued at our host site. Kind of amazing. Slept in this morning, ate a delicious breakfast, and we had our first truly successful bike clinic. About 15 kids from a camp here brought their bikes and B&Bers talked to them about what we're doing, how to take care of their bikes, helped them pump up tires and clean chains, and went for a ride with them around the parking lot. I rode into town with Dave and Suz to go to the bike shop, check out the Price Tower and art museum, and run a couple other errands.

Long week ahead so it's time for bed! More photos coming soon.

Arkansas!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:02:00 +0000

Somehow I'm only managing to find time to post once a state, and the states will only start going by faster... But here goes!

We've now biked over 1200 miles and have crossed our second state line into Arkansas. Unfortunately I missed one day of riding between Sweetwater and Dunlap, TN due to some crazy spider bite/chemical burn??? I ended up going to the doctor, who was this awesome guy who has done an Iron Man in Florida and one in Canada. We chatted about biking the whole time he fixed me up, and all is well now.

I was sweep on our first 90+ mile day with Ana when we went into Savannah. It was a lot of fun hanging back and stopping to eat watermelon, trying on some Amish bonnets, saving a turtle, etc. (I've now helped three of them to the opposite side of the road, but I've lost count of the number of squished ones I was too late for.)

We had two days of building in Maryville, TN and a day off in Memphis. We actually stayed in Germantown, but went into Memphis for a night of fun. After 7 days of biking in a row, it was a much needed rest! Then we rode into Arkansas. We had to walk our bikes over the bridge to cross the Mississippi River for fear of getting flat tires. (The group I was with still managed to get 2!) We're all getting pretty good at changing them though...

The terrain quickly changed from mountainous to flat. Our ride from Memphis (actually Germantown) to Brinkley, Arkansas was 87 somewhat miserable miles of flat, rough roads with a whole lot of nothing to look at, as well as some serious headwind. But I crawled into bed right after dinner that night, and had an awesome 68-mile ride into Little Rock to make up for it.

We're building here in Little Rock for two days, then its on to our first century!

The Mighty Mississippi.

Tennessee Baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:49:00 +0000

So much has happened since my last post... Internet is a luxury and usually I'm too exhausted at the end of the day to update this thing anyway. But here's a (hopefully) quick summary:

We've biked a total of 663 miles, give or take a few. Today we arrived in our second state--Tennessee!! After climbing about 8000 feet, I was expecting an enormous, colorful "Welcome to Tennessee" sign to triumph in front of. Unfortunately the sign was small and not very colorful...

Over the past few days we have climbed some serious mountains. I've decided spending the majority of my life near sea level has wreaked havoc on the fitness of my heart, lungs, and legs... But for every intense climb (one was 10 miles long...) I'm usually rewarded by a crazy awesome downhill (top speed is currently 40.7 mph!) and some amazing views. We were on the Blue Ridge Parkway the last few days, and pictures cannot do the mountains justice.

Yesterday we had our third Build Day in Asheville, NC. I got to build with Mountain Housing, a local affordable housing organization that serves the county. It was great to learn about an organization other than Habitat since that's the only experience with affordable housing I've had. We built this awesome ramp to make the house more accessible. I got to use a really big drill. :-)

Other than that, I continue to be amazed by the generosity of our hosts and the interest people have in what we're doing. And it's so hard to believe that the 30 of us have only known each other for 2 weeks. I'll leave you with a glimpse of what we do in our spare time...

An intense game of Around the World Ping Pong.

Ballet practice.
Go-Karts in Wake Forest, opened especially for us.

Emily and Ana (and Ben) helping me test out the underwater features of my awesome new camera.

Swanquarter and Belhaven

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sun, 25 May 2008 01:17:00 +0000

The last few days have been completely amazing. I now know the meaning of "Southern Hospitality" and I cannot get enough. This has to be quick because others are waiting to use the computer, but I'll try to sum up the awesome points.

We've biked a total of 100 miles; yesterday was about 65 and today 35. It has pretty much been flat and fantastic (despite the rain today). These great easy days may cause the mountains later to be a total shock, but at least we've all been able to ease into it. It's already becoming clear who the super ridiculously fast riders are (not me), some slower (but still a little fast for me) riders calling themselves "The Middles," and the rest pretty much break off into little groups and we all get to the host site in good time.

The last two nights we have had amazing dinners provided by the hosts. The town of Belhaven is absolutely one of the cutest towns I've ever seen... people opened up their homes to us so we could shower, provided us with tea (in good china!), more food than I could possibly take down in one sitting, and we chatted with the community and played games of ping pong, kickball, and knockout with the kids.

I couldn't be happier. I'll upload pics another day.

First Road Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:53:00 +0000

Day 2 of orientation in Nags Head, NC. We're being housed by the awesome folks at Nag Head Church, which can be slightly daunting when there are 30 of us with bicycles! But the church is really nice; some of us are sleeping in the nurseries and others in the chapel. Plenty of room.

Yesterday Emily (who picked me up in Richmond and let me sleep on her couch) and I arrived before 1pm, and everyone trickled in til about 2:30. We had check-in, did an icebreaker out on the sand dunes, had some meetings to go over stuff and painted the trailer. Sadly the trailer did not quite survive to the morning... The not-quite-dry paint dripped to the ground but this is soon to be remedied. Still looks pretty awesome.

This morning we went to Outer Banks Bicycle where Chip taught us a ton about bike maintenance. Then we got to go for our first group ride, about 22 miles around Nags Head. We were led by Jack McComb, pretty much the cycling expert of the Outer Banks. At 65 yrs old and after a recent surgery, this guy is still hard core. He plans to go across the U.S. for his 70th birthday, with a paceline that averages about 120 miles a day. If I'm half that cool at 70 I'll be happy.

Speaking of 120 miles a day, apparently the mileage listed online has been slightly changed. We now have 5 days over 100 miles, and one day (leader Scott is really proud of this one) that is 124 miles into Colorado Springs. Yowza... Can't wait. :-)

But I digress. So on the ride today we went to the Bodie Lighthouse and heard from John Gaskell, 92 years old, who has lived and worked at the lighthouse for decades. He has an autobiography out and given the brief time we had with him and the amount of extraordinary history we heard, I'm willing to bet it's worth reading.

After showers at the YMCA we are now waiting to have a big potluck dinner tonight. I'm on presentation duty tonight but as it's the first one, we're sort of playing by ear. Tomorrow morning we dip our wheels in the Atlantic and set off for Swanquarter.

Muchas gracias!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:04:00 +0000

My flight leaves from Orlando in less than 2 days!!

Just wanted to thank everyone who has donated or otherwise supported me on this grand adventure. It means more to me than I can say to have the support of family, friends, former teachers, former neighbors, some people I haven't seen in years, and some people I've never met!

Thanks so much to Rachelle Van Hollebeke, Grandma Barrow, Sarah, Steven & Andrea, Thrilla, Grandma Vi, Debra & Bret, Lucretia, Mrs. Mundy, Mr. Wurster, Mr. Abi-Nader, Dr. Rodseth, Mom, Aunt Julie, Nikki, Avocado, Jessica, Nicole, Drooble, and Grandma & Grandpa Hill. And many thanks to all my customers of The Bike & Build Bakery: Lynn, Stanley, Thomas, Amanda, Chelsea, Gregory, Angelo, Andrei, Gabe, Sara, Tracey, Sarah, Mom, Laurin, Shannon, Lauren, Shelly, and Taylor; to Lynn and Sara for letting me bank on their idea :-), and to Chain Reaction for all the discounts and helpful advice!

Some more work on my affordable housing presentation, deciding what songs to load onto my mp3 player, cramming everything (which is now at least neatly in piles) into my pack, writing down all the addresses I have for people I'm going to bombard with postcards, buying stamps, and I think I will be somewhat close to ready to go. It is 92 degrees F outside with a relative humidity of 43% (ok, I don't actually know what that translates to except that it is really really suffocating and hot). Which means I will have to get up super-early tomorrow to beat the heat for a quick run or bike ride.

Also, just started looking through everyone's pictures from Collegiate Challenge. I'll leave you with this one 'cause I thought it was pretty cool:

54 miles or so

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:35:00 +0000

Last year my brother and I discussed this crazy idea that we wanted to ride our bikes home. (Home=Mims, FL=about 140 miles from Gainesville). Once I decided I was doing B&B, this no longer seemed like a crazy idea. Except that my brother is a bit of a masochist, and wanted to do the whole ride in one day. (Estimating it would take us somewhere between 10 and 15 hours at an easy pace, with rests to eat/stretch, and possible catastrophes like flat tires).

Last week we decided there was really no better time, as we had some free time, I needed to get home and I wanted to do a long ride. My parents of course weren't cool with the idea unless we had a sag wagon, and my dad was happy to oblige. He came up to Gville to pick up all our stuff (including a cat, a dog, and a sugar glider) and gave us a head start; My brother and I left yesterday morning, did 37 miles until my dad caught up with us. Sadly, I had already shipped my awesome new bike, so I was riding my Specialized Sirrus. While this is a nice campus bike--flat-bar road bike hybrid-type thing--it is not exactly made for long distance or speed. It was a gorgeous day and I definitely enjoyed the scenery, but I decided I really had no problem not doing the full 140 miles home.

My brother and dad switched spots, my brother driving the truck 20 miles up the road to wait for us, my dad riding his super awesome (though few decades old) road bike, and me riding my mom's Trek (again pretty awesome, somewhat old). We cranked out the 20 miles pretty quickly, I got more experience drafting, and fell completely in love with riding a stretch of road I'm only used to driving. Going over a bridge, legs burning, lungs gasping, but eyes taking in the amazing view of treetops and blue skies. And it was even more rewarding because it got my dad back on the bike he hasn't ridden in far too long.

As for the rest of the preparations, I have gotten my finances in order and meeting the $4000 come orientation shouldn't be a problem. I am in the midst of packing up, labeling clothes, drooling over my sweet new camera and obsessing over my GPS that I just loaded all the maps onto for the summer.

Shipping la bicicleta

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:28:00 +0000

The bike is shipped! Chain Rxn boxed it up for me at an over-50% discount, and I found the nearest DHL shipping center that is incidentally right down the road from my apartment. Thrilla (AKA Camilla, the coolest person in the world) drove me all over Gainesville and calmed me down to make a rational decision about shipping it. Ended up being under $40, and it may even arrive today!

Um, I fly out of Orlando in 4 days... Whoa...

Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:34:00 +0000

Things are gradually coming together...

I biked about 48 miles on Sunday (including a stop at an amazing orange stand... pretty much the best oranges I've ever eaten. I realize this is yet another awesome perk about biking through Florida) and 32 miles on Monday. I decided to rest today as my neck was hurting something awful. :-/ I decided some adjustments combined with more dedicated pre- and post- ride stretching should do wonders.

I am almost completely geared up. I bought my Armadillos (tires that are not supposed to get flats. Unless you run over a nail as Lynn demonstrated on our Sunday ride) and told my bike shop not to install them. I want to get a little more TLC between me and my bike, which may result in me spending several frustrated hours trying to install tires that would prolly take the bike shop 10 minutes. I found out I don't really need spokes, so now just waiting for one final order from Amazon and I should be good to go!

I am still trying to figure out shipping... I am really paranoid about letting my new baby (who still does not have a name :-/) out of my sight... If I go the "GUARANTEED to be there on said day" route with insurance covering the cost of my bike, it will cost somewhere in the realm of $100-$200. If I go the "cross your fingers and pray to the gods that our Estimated Date of Arrival is correct" route it will cost me under $40. Soo... yeah. In advance, I am really sorry Pastor Rick if my bike graces your church's doorstep too early!

Affordable housing research due tomorrow! Hopefully 11:59PM tomorrow is acceptable! I found a coupla websites that have pages and pages of useful information related to my topic. Now it is a matter of looking through it all and deciding what is most important. I couldn't have asked for a better topic: "Relationship between affordable housing and homelessness." It's riddled with all sorts of controversial things that tend to come up and stuff I've been really curious about since my involvement with Habitat.

And finally, just bought my plane tickets from the end point. So that clinches it--I will be making it to San Diego!! :-)

Voy a divertirme

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:45:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:17:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:44:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:21:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:07:00 +0000

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!

Biloxi Part II -- the city, the storm, the site

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:28:00 +0000

So one of the most exciting things about traveling to a new place is experiencing the food. And one of the greatest things about traveling to a place on the coast is FRESH SEAFOOD. We had it on good authority that Lookout 49 and the Ole Biloxi Schooner were some of the best places to eat around Biloxi, and we were not disappointed. (Um, yeah that's me elegantly stuffing my face with a crabmeat po-boy).

Biloxi also has a bunch of brand new casinos and resorts, which will hopefully help to get it back on its feet. Our second night at Yankie Stadium we watched this video put together by the local news station about Katrina. The before and after shots made my jaw drop. Driving around the city two and a half years later we would see landmarks we recognized from the video and realize, "there used to be a church there..." or we'd see buildings that had been gutted by the storm and haven't been touched since. This used to be a dock...

But if nothing else, driving past that stuff every day made us all the more motivated to build and do what little we could to help. We worked at a job site with some people from a Habitat chapter in Maryland, and some really cool students from Coe College (a small school in Iowa). We had a good time comparing UF and Coe... though I really hope I didn't offend them when I gasped and burst out with, "Wait, you only have ONE library??" I sometimes forget that I go to something like the 3rd largest university in the nation...

Anyway, our site leaders were these guys named Mike and Jim. On the first day we met them, the only way I could tell them apart was that one wore a red shirt and one wore green, so in my head I quickly dubbed them Mario and Luigi. We also worked with a really upbeat Americorp girl named Liz.

During the week we worked on hammering in hurricane straps, decking the floor, (the way Habitat houses are built in the Gulf Coast are much different than the ones we build in Gainesville--they're put up on cinder blocks to prevent flooding so you're automatically always going to be several extra feet off the ground) laying out chalk lines for the walls (this was cool... I'd never really had a good look at a Habitat floor plan much less been in control of making sure the walls went in the right place) and our pride and joy--we built two sheds. (Sam decided it was much more appropriate to call them mini-houses. Seriously, I would live in one).

We had a great time building all week, getting stuck in the Mississippi mud, and I learned about something pretty cool. Our build site was being prepped for the Jimmy Carter Work Project, which I didn't know anything about. Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. president, was the first big name to put Habitat for Humanity on the map, so they say. His involvement made HFH much more recognized by the public, and every year one place is chosen for the Jimmy Carter Work Project (previous ones have been in India and Los Angeles, e.g.) For one week, a TON of celebrities and volunteers including the Carter family work to get an insane amount of houses done. This year I believe it's supposed to be 30 new houses built and 30 renovated in one week. That's an insane amount of work for one week. So much that in order for it to happen, people prep these sites for months and months ahead of time, which is what was going on at our site. Although our fantastic sheds are permanent, the walls that were put up during the week (to make sure everything fit right) will come down, so that the whole house can be put together during the JCWP. At first this seemed extremely counterintuitive and almost a waste of time... But then you think about how much money and awareness this brings to Habitat, and realize that it's a pretty important feat. And since only one place is chosen for the JCWP each year, it was pretty cool that we happened to be there.

Well now that I have rambled on, Biochemistry is waiting impatiently for me.

Biloxi Part I -- Yankie Stadium

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:05:00 +0000

Because I have so many cool pictures and details (and it's past 3AM, oops) about my Spring Break I decided to dedicate a couple of entries to it. First off, as mentioned before, 10 of us UF Habitat-ers went to New Orleans to build for the week and 7 of us to Biloxi, Mississippi. I had never been to Mississippi and didn't know much about the devastation Hurricane Katrina caused there, but the trip was truly eye-opening (more on that later).

The trip was also incredibly fun and uplifting, a lot of credit being due to the folks running the Volunteer Village at Yankie Stadium. After Katrina hit, The Salvation Army converted this old stadium to a place to house volunteers. When you first hear that you're going to be sleeping under the bleachers of some old stadium a few words might cross your mind: "dank"... "dark"... "sketchy" for example. But this place was anything but.

The living quarters were quaint and full of life. I think the whole atmosphere really touched all of us--the spirit of making the best out of whatever you've got, people coming from all over to make a difference: "Bringing Biloxi Back." The UF girls stayed in a place called Ladies Lodge with several other groups/colleges, sharing stall showers and crashing in bunkbeds after long days of work.

Yankie Stadium houses about 200 volunteers and has two separate wings (the UF boys were in the other). We all ate together (there was oh-so-much delicious food!) and hung out together in the common room where there were tv's, ping pong and pool tables, and board games (I had the world's worst letters in Scrabble one night... something like X Q W W K V K at one point).

Basically it felt a little like summer camp, a little like home, and a lot like a freaking good way to spend a Spring Break. At the end of the week we got to "leave our mark" on the walls of the stadium. There were handprints and thoughtful messages all over that we got to admire during meals every day. But of course for us college students, it soon became a competition of "Who can paint the most amazing mascot on the wall" and of course for us Gators, the answer is quite simple...

Lynn (Boston to Santa Barbara) and I also left the Bike & Build mark, so if anyone should ever visit (and you should! It's an amazing place and Biloxi still needs lots of help!) be sure to leave your print too. :-)

And on that note, it is time for bed. Pictures from the build site and Biloxi to come.

Funds raised: $2268
Funds left to raise: $1732
Days til departure: 52

43.3 Miles

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Yesterday I went on my longest ride to date. It was sooo good to get out on my new bike! In the 3 years I have lived in Gainesville, I've always meant to bike the whole Hawthorne Trail, I've just never had the time or energy. I think the highlight of the ride was on my way back when I went past a bunch of Boy Scouts at ~18mph. I heard one of them exclaim "Whoa, that's a girl!" :-)

I was trying to keep an average speed of about 16mph and I think I came pretty close. On the long straight stretches I was at about 19mph. Sadly there was a pretty decent headwind while I was going down my favorite hill (yeah, I live in Florida... I can count my favorite hills on one hand) so my max speed was only around 24mph. I will hafta test out my new bike's top speed another day.

I was pretty wiped when I got home and I know I've got lots of work ahead of me. If only my crazy schedule would calm down so I could get on the bike more often!

me encantan mis zapatos

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:56:00 +0000

Just a quick post. Details on my amazing Spring Break building houses in Biloxi, Mississippi to come.

I got my cycling shoes and pedals today! They're amazing! For anyone who has been cycling for a long time, this will probably sound silly... But my shoes make me feel pretty badass. :-) The pedals are absolutely the easiest things to clip in and out of. Can't believe I was worried I would fall over. But hopefully I didn't just jinx myself...

Because my mom is awesome and likes to surprise me, my grand total has gone up even more.

Funds raised: $2129
Funds left to raise: $1871
Days to departure: 64

Tercer

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa.) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:39:00 +0000

Not too much is new... though I can't believe it's March! Less than three months away!

I have a couple more donations coming in. My mom donated a brand new (really sweet) coffeemaker that I sold on eBay for $40, and she's donating a $50 rebate from the GPS she got me for Christmas. Which means... (drumroll please...) I have passed the halfway point! Thanks Mom!!

But as per usual... must get back to lab reports, circular statistics (don't ask; I try not to) and studying studying studying. Tengo un examen de español el miércoles y un examen de bioquímica el jueves. Ugh.

Funds raised: $2079
Funds left to raise: $1921
Days to departure: 79