Today was our last true ride day of Providence to Seattle, 2010. Leaving the Cascades and our campsite behind us, we traveled the majority of the day southwards through a valley towards Everett, WA, a mere 40 miles outside of Seattle. It’s difficult to describe the exact emotion we’re all feeling right now. It’s a strange mixture of excitement and fear, anxiety and anticipation. None of us are quite sure what to expect of life after Bike & Build, but we all know that it’s going to take some serious adjustment. What we can be sure of, however, is that we’re all incredibly excited to reach the Pacific Coast and dip our wheels; we’re all prepared to complete this incredible and impacting journey and celebrate our accomplishment. As we came into the host today, we were faced with obligations such as cleaning out the van (finally) and taking end-of-trip inventory, tasks that felt strange, almost like giving away some prized possession or saying goodbye to a childhood friend. These things, after all, have followed us for this entire journey. Though perhaps our red plastic plates and glow-in-the-dark cups aren’t exactly as personal as our bikes, they still helped us across the country just the same. So we’re passing along our plateware, our tents, our van and our trailer to the next group of Bike & Builders with an air of sadness, but a guarantee that they’ll serve them as well as they served us. On a grander scale, we’re passing along our route as well, giving the next year’s riders the chance to make new memories, have new experiences, and learn new things. Upon the completion of this trip, we will all become a part of the Bike & Build extended family; there is a chance some of us will return for another ride, but even if we don’t we will always hold dear the people we’ve met, the places we’ve been, and the experiences we’ve had on Bike & Build.

WOW, What a day! Today was by far the most beautiful day of all. We began the day with a 15 miles climb up Washington Pass. The climb started shortly after leaving camp. Along the climb were waterfalls which were helpful in cooling off from the heat. Once at top we enjoyed the lookout which directly overlooked the road we climbed. It was an amazing site and proved how hardcore we totally are. Then from there we had a short decent followed by another mountain climb. While climbing mile after mile I could not stop myself from thinking about how these were the last mountains to climb before reaching the west coast. It seems like yesterday we were dreaming of these climbs and now today they became real. The sweet down hills afterwards gave way to amazing views. Around mile 50 the mountains opened up to the bluish lake I have ever seen. It was the great Diablo Lake. Many of us took advantage of the cold fresh mountain water and went for a swim, which was nice to cool off from the hot sun. The rest of the ride was mostly down hill will some rolling hills. The heat and the wind seemed to be the greatest challenge in the late afternoon. But once we arrived at the host we were able to relax and cool off in the cold frigid river. It does take a little bit to get use to but after warming up in the sun we realize how amazing it truly feels. To end an amazing day we were blessed with a fresh meal provided by Momma Kent. We even had hummus, which makes any Bike & Builder’s day.

Hailey

Today was an awesome ride to Early Winters, which I think is just the name of the campground rather than an actual town (it was in the middle of a national forest). We started the day climbing Loup Loup Pass, a fairly gradual climb that enabled lots of great conversations with my riding buddy, Brittany, most of which were about how much we loved everyone on Bike & Build. At the top of the pass, everyone waited to cheer each other on, and we had one of our much-beloved mountaintop dance parties. We then discovered that there was a webcam at the top, so we spelled out “P2S” for the world to see. After a speedy descent, we eventually reached the town of Winthrop. Since this was the only town we would see for the rest of the day, we all decided to stop and hang out for a while. I played a great round of mini-golf with Kristian, Brittany, Brian, and Liz, after which we got burgers and milkshakes. Our ride days have been getting more and more relaxed and it’s been a lot of fun to take our time and hang out as a group. When we eventually rolled into the campground, we were greeted by a beautiful river – a welcome sight on such a hot day. Turns out the river was absolutely freezing cold – so cold it literally took my breath away! We all jumped in and swam across, though, because how could we not? A few brave souls (myself included) even decided to bathe in the river (using biodegradable soap), because there were no showers at the campsite. Tonight we have Bike & Build Prom, which involves everyone getting dressed up in ridiculous outfits acquired at thrift stores. I tell you, we have built a network of thrift stores across the nation. Bike & Thrift Stores.

The eastern part of Washington has probably been the most surprising state for me, at least in terms of scenery. Before this trip, I hadn’t realized how dry and hot this part of the state could be during the summer. Most of the morning was through wheat fields – I have never seen anything like it. Brett, Sarah and I rode sweep, and we had lots of photo opportunities. The first town we saw was Grand Coulee. We had an amazing descent into the valley, and an incredible view of the lake and the Grand Coulee Dam below.

After lunch, we had a surprise mountain to climb. It was a 2400-foot climb over 10 miles, which wasn’t too bad, but it got pretty hot during the afternoon. We were happy to finish in Omak. We had wonderful hosts with a great meal, and Kristian was there to meet us for the last few days of our trip.

We arrived on the perfect day, just in time for the main event of the local rodeo that evening – Omak’s famous “Suicide Stampede.” The stampede was a horse race that starts at the top of a crazy steep hill. After the hill, they cross a river and finish in the rodeo stadium. The rodeo itself was fun too – we saw some steer wrestling, bucking horses, bull riding, and some intense cattle lassoing. We had a lot of fun wearing our cowboy hats, and taking tons of pictures.

Under the assumption that Washington was filled with plenty of rain and pine trees, I was amazed to see that we were biking through miles of wheat fields for the majority of the day. Coming out of Spokane we encountered a small climb, only a small sign that the next few days would be filled with climbs on our approach to the Cascades. Luckily the rest of the ride was mostly rolling hills with a generous tailwind.

The ride into lunch seemed effortless as the 20 mile an hour tailwind pushed our speeds anywhere from 20-25 m.p.h. Lunch came pretty quickly and it happened to be at the Wild Bear Motel. The inside of the motel shop was filled with Eastern Washington memorabilia, including snake skins and traditional Native-American clothing. We gobbled down some hummus and pita and got back on the road after a short break.

The second half of the ride was not as tailwind-filled as the first, but was more than manageable. We pulled into Wilbur, a town of about 700, and headed to the campsite to set up for the night. After staking our claim to the back half of the campground many of us hung around and cleaned our bikes. New to the trip has been the board game Settlers of Catan, which has offered countless hours of fun, or in the case of this afternoon’s game frustration. Dinner crew was in charge of cooking up a feast for the gang and did a wonderful job preparing a dinner of alfredo pasta with a few salads.

Unfortunately the area was under a burn ban, so we were unable to set up a campfire and roast some smores. That didn’t stop us from gathering around on our Thermarests and enjoy the beautiful night sky. With the lack of light we were privileged to one of the finest night skies I have ever seen. The Milky Way was in full view and every few minutes shooting stars whizzed by. The stargazing didn’t end when we went to bed as many of us set up our sleeping bags outside and gazed up as we drifted up to sleep.

Tomorrow to Omak, and the Stampede Rodeo!!

We built in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. We started the morning off with delicious homemade breakfast crepes which energized everyone! We divided up into three different teams that went to restoration stores and thrift stores. I was with the group that went to a restoration store near Gonzaga University in Washington. I had a blast! It was my first visit to a restoration store and to top it off I was tasked with destroying old furniture for recycling. I’m sure it was a comical sight as Vidya, Kaitlin, and I kicked furniture to pieces but we had a blast.

Once we returned to the host, we enjoyed a long walk on the beach and took in the sunset. It was a perfect beach summer day. I think I took 15 pictures of the sunset! Everyone seemed to enjoy a day out of the saddle. As an added bonus we sat down to fresh home- cooked meal of freshly picked salad, ginger lime chicken/tofu, and steamed rice. I think it was a perfect ending to a perfect day which is just all part of bike and build.

Today we had a short 40 mile day into Spokane. It was a perfect opportunity to have a full day scavenger hunt. Kaitlin Sobeke and Brittany Maslowsky were the judges and chose the objects and activities to find. Teams were assigned randomly yet two teams had obvious powerhouses. My team, Xenos’ Spawns, came in third place. Our team broke a social norm by showering in an outdoor fountain, created an interpretive dance to Backstreet Boy’s “I Want It That Way”, and took photos of miscellaneous items such as a moose or bear, rocks shaped like animals or other random objects. Besides the scavenger hunt, we crossed into our final state Washington! It was a great feeling knowing we biked all the way from Providence. Usually when people find we are biking across the country they figured we are travelling towards the west coast, but as we get closer, we have to tell people that our trip is coming to an end. Our trip is almost over and people are excited, worried, anxious and other random emotions that we will only truly grasp at trips end.

After many failed attempts at finding Pierce Brosnan in Wallace “Dante’s Peak” Idaho, we began peddling our broken hearts to Coeur D’Alene. Our frowns were quickly turned upside down after the ride proved to be short (50 miles), fun (temporary tattoos at lunch), and refreshing (THE LAKE!). As we rolled into St. Lukes Episcopal Church, we were greeted by a friendly Pastor Pat who provided us with maps of the town, fresh fruit, and information about the local bike shops. He then gave us directions to the beach downtown. Being an east coast girl, I jumped for joy at the sound of the word “beach” but quickly remembered that we were in Idaho and Idaho does not touch an ocean. Nevertheless, Pastor Pat sparked my curiousity. I had to explore this “beach” he spoke of.
I was not disappointed.
The lake provided P2S with some much needed fun and relaxation time. A couple of us rented giant water bikes (naturally), many of us charged the water decked out in our chamois and bibs, and all of us soaked up the sun. After the lake, we explored the town, ate some food, and bought some souvenirs.
P2S ended the day by finishing the last 4 affordable housing presentations, kicking off our grant process. Just another day in the lives of Bike & Builders…
-Mallory

After careful consideration, the leaders decided it would be best for us not to bike today. It was supposed to be a 50 mile ride through the mountains to Wallace, but the only viable road was the interstate. It’s one thing to be on the interstate for a few miles, but something else entirely to have trucks zooming by you for several hours as you slowly make your way up a mountain. Everyone was happy with the decision and glad to avoid what would have been a very nerve wracking ride. We shuttled to Wallace in two groups, so some of us had more time to explore Wallace while others were able to spend time at Superior Elementary catching up on email and sleep. The movie “Dante’s Peak” was filmed in Wallace back in 1996 and many of us recognized the Main Street immediately. Sadly, although the town is surrounded by mountains on all sides, there were no real life volcanoes to be found. The church gave us a wonderful dinner and instead of our usual presentation, we all went around and shared our favorite story from the summer. It was a lot of fun to think back on all of the experiences we’ve had on the road. After two more affordable housing presentations, we paid homage to our host town by watching “Dante’s Peak” for the third time that day.

-Rebecca Theise

Today we had a really nice ride into Lincoln, MT where the Unabomber was caught (this is Lincoln’s claim to fame). There was considerably less traffic than we have been having the past few days and more importantly fewer trucks. We even had a special guest appearance by three leaders (Alyson, Aileen, and Sharif) and one rider (Joe) from the Central route who are on the way back to the East Coast with their van and trailer. Our route included a very gradual climb up a mountain starting about 20 miles in that left me almost wishing it had been steeper and shorter so it would have been over with faster and a very nice decent into Lincoln. I rode much of the day with Alyson, which was cool to get to know someone from another trip. It was fun to compare her experiences with my own and how very similar but also different they were. There are just certain things that seem to be universal on Bike & Build. We had lunch at the top of the mountain which included cupcakes to celebrate Brittany’s birthday. There were also many pictures taken because we were at the Continental Divide, again. We played some four square and Twister, ate a lot of junk food, had a few dance parties, and cheered everyone up the last stretch of the mountain. We greeted sweep with a special mass mooning as they reached the top. The ride down the mountain and into Lincoln was relatively uneventful other than a bee flying into my jersey and stinging me, which lead to me pulling over and frantically trying to undress. Lincoln is our first night of the trip where we camp so we set up our tents and picked sleeping spots. I ended up in the new tent that came complete with a little overhang by the entrance and a mat below. Others were jealous of the new tent, but I was jealous of the tents with doggie doors. After some nice hot showers at the local school we had dinner provided by Brett’s parents at Shake ‘N’ Burger. After dinner we got a camp fire going and roasted marshmallows for s’mores.

Liz

Today’s ride was brutal. It was our longest planned day at 114 miles across the upper plains of Montana. The first 40 miles of the ride were fairly uneventful until me and another rider Sam Kent got lost. We accidentally got onto interstate 90. Going East. Not the best idea a bike and builder ever came up with. However, outside of that brief detour we managed to find our way past road construction and gravel roads to discover lunch at highway 287. Lunch would be the beginning of what would become an extremely difficult ride. We headed straight towards Helena and the remainder of the ride involved constant traffic, 15 mph headwinds, and 90 degree heat. With no wind, many of us can ride at about 18-20mph very comfortably; however, with the consistent headwinds we were struggling to maintain 12mph. Lunch at mile 80 was like finding an oasis in the middle of a desert. The group in the van made us guacamole as a pick me up snack and everyone was being extra supportive due to the high mileage. After our second lunch the day only seemed to get more difficult. The headwinds continued to batter all of us and the thought of having to go another 30 miles was weighing on our confidence.
Once we all arrived in Helena, church members drove us to the YMCA to take showers and there were plenty of snacks and drinks to sustain us until what was one of the best burrito dinners I have ever had. I would like to personally extend a very special thank you to our hosts that night as they were so hospitable and understanding of our long day. This is our last planned century ride and certainly one that we can all check off as a great accomplishment that we can remember for sometime.

-Spencer Smitherman

Day 4 back on the bike brought us from West Yellowstone to Bozeman, Montana. Yesterday was an awesome fun filled day touring Yellowstone park and searching for Yogi Bear (not yet found), meaning that today’s 5am wakeup was sooner than preferred. However, several alarms later we roused amidst the hissing of deflating therma-rests and some blasting Jimmy Hendrix.

I walked in on Brian putting plastic bags over his toes, mumbling something about how it would prevent numbness. I didn’t really put together what that meant until I walked outside to find it a startling 39 degrees. After the usual morning routine of packing the trailer, cleaning the host site, and eating breakfast, we bundled as best we could and set out to brave the 90 mile ride. The first 2 hours or so were pretty brutally cold, but by 9am the sun crept over the mountains at our sides and quickly warmed the air. Being at about 7000 feet, the clouds burned off quickly and the close sunlight felt wonderful. Toes would regain feeling at about 10am.

The first 10 or so miles of the day brought us into a portion of Yellowstone Park and up maybe a few hundred feet in elevation, making the air noticeably harder to breathe. Then, in an unexpected but delightful turn of events, the next 70 miles or so happened to be down hill. It turns out that Bozeman is sitting at about 4700ft (it should be noted that all of my numbers are wild guesses), so we had an ever so slight, but noticeable, downhill for pretty much the remainder of the day.

The biking was easy and the views were breathe-taking. Getting into Bozeman, many of us went to check out the town and ended up at a pizza shop. This coming weekend is the Sweet Pea festival here in Bozeman, so all the storefronts have chalked the sidewalks with some awesome and colorful sketches. I learned from a local about something called a “tater-pig” which is a baked potato with a sausage cooked inside, covered in sour cream and chives. I wish I could be around to witness a tater-pig at the Sweet Pea festival, but I’m glad it at least crossed my path. Tater-Pig. Ha.

Kristian left last night to take care of all the other corporate obligations he has, but will be returning to finish our trip with us in about 2 weeks. It was great having him around so I think we’re all pretty excited that we get to ride with him again soon.

Corporate (our affectionate term for the Philadelphia office) has also graciously provided us with a grief counselor (Tim) here in Bozeman. There’s no doubt it’s been a hard road and there are many more trials to come. The inherent dangers of biking have become infinitely more real to us, but we’ve formed the strongest of bonds and I know that we’ll make it through together.

Today we had a day off in West Yellowstone, MT. Most of our group was pretty set on visiting Yellowstone. I have never been inside the park, so I was pretty excited to check it out. A few groups rented cars to travel through the park. One group of 8 or so rented a yellow bus, and some people took our van. I decided to spend the day with Maddy and her aunt and uncle who live in the area. They are both pretty involved in the park and in natural causes in general, so it sounded like a great opportunity. Thanks so much to Lyle and Mary for one of the most amazing days of the trip!

We started off the day with a great breakfast in a park near our host site. We had sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit, etc. We decided, based on expert recommendations, that we would start off with a hike around Mt. Jefferson and then enter Yellowstone after traffic eased up a little. The drive up to the hike spot was really spectacular. Millions of wildflowers were in bloom, and our tour guides knew the names of most of them. We hiked towards Mt. Jefferson for an hour or so and then came back, taking plenty of detours to climb up rocks and stare at the Tetons and other amazing view.

After the hike, we hit a wildlife viewing area and had a snack in some beautiful weather. We packed up, and headed for Yellowstone. Once in the park, I really wanted to see some painted pots, which are land areas colored by sulfur and other minerals over geothermal sites. The park had platforms that made them easy to walk around and view. I have never seen such incredible colors! Yellow and bright turquoise ponds and steaming craters were unreal.

After the painted pots, we headed over to Old Faithful to see the 6:30 pm eruption. As we were driving up to the lodge next to the geyser, a huge buffalo came right up to the car in the parking lot! It was pretty exciting to see one so close. We explored the lodge, a beautiful wooden building, and then headed over to see the eruption. The geyser was also pretty spectacular. After teasing us for a few minutes with small bursts of water, its stream shot up over 100 feet in the air for a few minutes; definitely a must-see.

We decided to grab dinner and then head back to the host. On our way out of the park, we spotted some elk by a river and saw some more buffalo. We had a delicious dinner of pizza, and then headed home. I am so thankful to Maddy and her relatives for a great day! We got to see the best of the park and some of the beautiful surroundings. I definitely plan on returning someday!

“When I go biking I repeat a mantra of the day’s sensation: blue skies, bright sun, warm breezes, blue jay’s call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theatres behind and focus on my matter. I must abide by the rules of the road, of gravity, of biking, but I am not mentally far away from civilization. The world is breaking someone else’s heart.” – Diane Ackerman
Today was the day of days. We climbed the Grand Tetons. 8,431 feet. 12% grade. Ugh. I had some wonderful company however; Noam and Spencer were on sweep with me and we just had the most wonderful day, full of laughs, encouragement, and some sweet down hills. So we began our day, going up a bike path with several switchbacks and a very steep grade. We took a lot of breaks, like one break every 100 yards. It took about 2 hours to climb 6 miles. Wow. But the real high of the day came once we got to the summit. Coming in as the last riders, we were greeted with every rider cheering, screaming and dancing. Some riders hid in the bushes then leaped out and ran along next to us. Then a lot of the riders made a tunnel with their arms and we rode through them while they cheered. Maddy even shaved her head into a Mohawk at the top of the mountain she was so high of the endorphins. By far, the coolest thing ever. Then we continued welcoming random cyclists to the top of the mountain with cheering and yelling. So after an epic dance party, a lot of picture taking, and some serious bear hugs we got back on our bikes and flew down the other side of the mountain. The rest of the day we put our bikes on cruise control and hammered into Ashton, Idaho. It was truly one of my favorite days. Leaving Jackson and the Tetons behind you could look behind you and see the four peaks, the snowcaps, the clouds, and all I could think about was “wow we were just at the top of that.” It amazing we have come this far. We are definitely at the point were people are more impressed that we are coming from Rhode Island than that we are going Seattle. It makes me feel so nostalgic about the past two months. It makes me think of every hard day, every mountain, and most of all every laugh and good time I’ve shared with every person.

Today was our first ride day back on the road; although we went on a short shake-down ride yesterday, many of us were still nervous about today’s trek. To help us focus instead on how amazingly fun our ride would be, our cue sheet included a fabulous photo scavenger hunt that included such items as “a cloud in the shape of a living thing,” “a pile of manure,” and “a jackalope (worth 1000 points).” Unbeknownst to the scavenger hunt creator (Bri Bri), lurking just at the edge of Dubois was a giant jackalope, which Hailey, Olivia, Sarah, Liz, and I were quick to mount for a sweet photo opportunity.

Soon after we started our ride, we learned about the absolute beauty that is Wyoming – a beauty that we followed all the way to, up, and over the Togwotee Pass. We had been told by a local construction worker that there was road work about 5 miles up the mountain and, true to his word, we had to ride in the back of a pick-up truck to get up the soon-to-be-road-but-currently-dirt-path that ended just a ways from the top. It was here that we found a hidden emerald lake of glory, framed by pine trees and set against a backdrop of mountains. Rejuvenated by its magic, we coasted down the other side of the pass and into Shoshone National Park.

Kristian greeted us with lunch and pin-on Smokey the Bear wings, which added to our ever-increasing Camelbak flair. After lunch, we saw a bison on the side of the road (On The Side of the Road!!!) before encountering the breathtaking sight of the snow-tipped Teton Mountains, which we were fortunate enough to ride beside all the way into Jackson.

Once in town, some riders went to find dinner, and came back with great success! Mountain High Pizza Pie was kind enough to donate six pizzas, and Teton Steakhouse donated two SUPER LARGE salads. To top off our meal, Kristian and Hassan retrieved the ingredients to Mrs. Sekse’s WORLD FAMOUS fettuccini. It was truly delicious – and it had peas!! Seriously, this dinner was SOOOO GOOOOD. To end the night, we snuggled up in our sleeping bags and watched Friday Night Lights until we fell asleep.

On Monday, July 20th, we lost our incredible, fearless leader, Paige Hicks. If you would like to read the letters sent out by the Bike & Build staff describing what happened, click here ). When you climb, explore, and grow with a group of 30, they really become your family, and we have lost a family member. Paige was an incredible person and everything we could want in a leader. We are all going to miss her ability to read our emotions and know exactly what to say or do, her joy for every second of life, and her excitement, energy, patience, and compassion every day. It has been an exceptionally hard time for our group and we really appreciate the support from parents, friends, the other Bike & Build routes, and of course our families.

We had no schedule or routine on Tuesday. We were allowed to wake up whenever we liked, and once the group had a little food, we were shuttled to our next host location in Chadron, NE. Kristian, one of Bike & Build’s Program Directors, met us that evening in Chadron. Our group was unsure of many things, but we knew only that we wanted to get to St. Louis and attend the memorial service for Paige.

The group decided we wanted to travel together, and so B&B chartered a 55 person coach bus (hey we needed to spread out) to drive us all to St. Louis. A driver for the coach wasn’t available until Saturday morning, which left us with Thursday and Friday in Chadron. Thursday was spent relaxing in town - some went to the pool, some went for a run, etc.

Thursday night a huge storm passed through Chadron. The town locals said it was one of the worst cases of hail and wind they had seen in 10 years. There was broken glass all over downtown, and two trailer homes were completely destroyed. Friday morning we put out an announcement on the radio that said we have 30 pairs of hands who are willing to help the clean-up effort. We boarded up a lot of windows, cleared branches, cleaned out gutters, and ended up helping 35 families. It was really nice to be busy, especially in a town that had been so supportive of our group.

Despite a daunting 15-hour one way trek to St. Louis that began early Saturday morning, in true B&B style we came up with ways to pass the time. A few brave riders volunteered to step up as “Cruise Directors” each day. They were basically given free reign to think of fun stops, games, food challenges, and movies to keep us entertained. We stopped at Carhenge, which is a replica of Stonehenge made of old cars. Anthony D. ate an entire can of spam in a food-eating competition. We watched about 8 episodes of “Friday Night Lights,” and about 5 movies, including “Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus”. It was on sale at Walmart. Don't judge. One day, we played an extremely competitive game of Bike & Build Jeopardy. It ended up being a really fun time. Did you know that Marc Bush’s middle name is Daniel? And that his favorite color is blue?

We were all really thankful to be able to attend the memorial service. We were able to talk to Paige’s friends and family, and honor her memory. It was amazing to see how many people she has touched. We returned to Chadron (where our incredible host had allowed us to leave our bikes) and were bussed to Dubois, WY to continue our trip. To regain confidence on the bike, we rode a few miles in Dubois when we got in. It was pretty hard for a lot of us to get back on the bike, but we have an incredible support system in our team, and everyone is set on pushing on. Thanks again to everyone who has supported us through this, and we’ll see you in Seattle!

-The Prov to Seattle Team

Mt. Vernon, Iowa

We are approximately one month into our epic journey across the U.S and our team now functions like a well lubed bicycle. When we wake with the sun, we all move rhythmically with the morning beat through out routines and on to chores. I personally have a very difficult time waking up in the mornings but I know my reward is only an hour away. Once I am on the bike with the crisp morning air hitting my face and a picturesque scene even Van Gogh couldn’t illustrate is surrounding me, I enter into a state of quiet happiness. Sometimes I even get chills thinking about how incredible our journey has been or what it will become. It is these early morning reflections that keep me motivated on a daily basis, not to mention our team.

Today also happens to be our fearless leader, Gabriel Ofiesh’s birthday. In honor of this day we drew mustaches on our faces with eye liner in attempts to recreate Gabe’s facial hair. It quite the scene, this morning with 30 riders running round with painted faces!!
Unfortunately, most of our mustaches got washed off in the rain that hit us towards the end of the ride. However, I think most of us are becoming true cyclists because everyone seemed to enjoy the rain storm! We have come very far as a team and as individuals. We are becoming family through time spent together on and off the road. I can only imagine how close we will be after another month.

-Justine Avila

Today was a 95 mile ride from Peru, IL to Clinton, IA. We began the day with the most amazing breakfast buffet we’ve had thus far and a “give me an M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I” cheer. Paige’s Mom rode with us today and gave some of our faster riders a run for their money. Today we actually hit some rolling hills, which gave us a nice break from the headwinds. At mile 92 we crossed over the Mississippi River and into the state of Iowa. Upon arriving in Clinton, several of us stopped in at That Ice Cream Shoppe for milkshakes while others headed to the municipal dock to dip their feet in the very dirty Mississippi and experience a day in the life of Huckleberry Finn. Some riders stopped to give Amy, who missed our orientation wheel-dip, her first wheel-dip ceremony of the trip. Once we got to the YMCA and realized that we only needed to ride circles around the parking lot for 15 minutes to get our speedometers to read 100, we did just that and patted ourselves on the back for another completed century ride. After a wonderful BBQ cooked by the members of the YMCA Teen Club, we took them on in a game of dodgeball and discovered that dodging road kill, dogs, and wild bears is easier than dodging playground balls.

-Rebecca Theise

Hey guys! So today was the ride from Pontiac, Illinois to Peru, Illinois – about 65 miles. I was sweep today, meaning that me and my sweep partner, Brett, leave the host location after everyone else and make sure that everyone on our ride is doing alright. We carry an extra tire in addition to all of the normal bike repair parts, and ride at the back to make sure that no one gets left behind. Because we can’t pass any riders, no matter what speed they are, we get to take a lot of breaks that we probably wouldn’t. Let’s admit it, rural Illinois is probably not the most exciting ride, so I will instead talk about all of our breaks.

Break 1: 100 yards out of host. Leaned our bikes together to make a camera tripod and took pictures in front of the Rt. 66 mural in Pontiac.

Break 2: 400 yards out of host. Bathroom break at the supermarket.

Break 3: Two miles out of host, Brett gets a call from another rider informing us that the road up ahead is really bad, and that we are taking a detour to a parallel road, and that the turns have been chalked for us – this adds about two miles to the ride.

Break 4: Five miles out. Brett hydrates some cornfields.

Break 5: Fifteen miles out. Brett buys a snack – snickers bar – and I eat some energy bar and we talk to a local at the gas station about BnB.

Break 6: Twenty-five miles out. My knee is really hurting so we stop to stretch, but we wanted to stop in the shade, so we stopped under some trees in front of a house, but the house had a dog chained to it, and the dog was very angry – stressful.

Break 7: Thirty miles out. We catch up to some other riders, so we have to stop at the gas station that they’re at. Another bathroom/snack break.

Break 8: Thirty-one miles out – still close to other riders so we nap by the side of the road for fifteen minutes in a wonderful shady area. It is THE BEST break.

Break 9: Forty miles out. LUNCH YAY we meet up with a bunch of other riders and the van and trailer at our lunch stop in an elementary school parking lot. Mini-nap.

Break 10: Forty-five miles out. A really little Cessna-looking plane is flying low over the fields and really close to us, so Brett tries to take pictures while riding, but he drops his camera and it pretty much explodes. We stop and he puts it back together and it miraculously turns on and we get a bunch of pictures!

Break 11: Sixty-three miles out. We run over some glass on the way onto US-6, Brett gets a flat. While changing it (and slipping a business card between his tire and his tube so that the tube does not go through the ripped tire) we notice that one of his spokes came off, so I screw it back in.

Break 12: Sixty-five miles out YAYAYAYAYAY WE GET INTO HOST! Actually today (due to the incredibly leisurely pace that sweep allows/requires) the ride was pretty easy and fun (except for bad morning headwind) so getting into host is nice, but not terrific or anything.

Yay showers were at the host site (this is the best. You can just walk there and shower and it’s awesome and there’s no need to walk in your gross incubating spandex through the humid sweaty air and get lost on the way to showers that are wayyy too long of a walk (like, ¾ of a mile counts as this when it’s right after a ride) away, and then get sweaty and lost again on the way back. So I LOVE on-site showers). And I learned a lot about Pontiac, Illinois when talking to locals in the host kitchen, and I iced my knees, and people napped/hung out, and we went to a local bike store but they did not give us a discount, but then Dairy Queen gave us free cones and Home Depot donated chalkboard paint, so that was cool.

Story of Pontiac: There were once upon a time a lot of glaciers. They made the Illinois river and also the Mississippi. These rivers have changed their course through time but still go along glacial paths. Some Native American tribe enacts a siege on another Native American tribe on top of some rock, and one of the tribes starves to death. Irish immigrants dug the canal in 1835, that (the Illinois-Michigan canal) and the Illinois river carried products of the town to the rest of the world. The town had a lot of coal in mines under it and used it (two tons of coal to one ton of Zinc) to smelt zinc, and also to make clocks, and some other stuff. Illinois creates Starved Rock State Park. A hosting couple moved to Pontiac after previously living at the intersection of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, where there is a continental divide that runs along the inter-Dakota border, and splits rainfall that then either goes into the Hudson Bay, or the Mississippi. Pontiac runs out of coal in the 1960s, but then transitions to using the Illinois river for a lot of electric power, making electricity in the city really cheap and encouraging companies such as a steel-coating mill and Caterpillar plants to come. Bike and Build comes to Pontiac! I lose ALL of my biking socks in the group laundry because they are all in a mesh bag that gets lost. Paige’s mom visits from St. Louis and brings us butter-cake (delicious). I go to sleep at 8 pm, yay!

Today we rode from Gilman, Il. to Pontiac, Il it was more corn corn and more corn it was so much fun the scenary was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The most eventful thing we saw on the ride today was two wings to a windmill. So instead of telling you about the glorious sights of corn I¡¦m going to tell you a little about my fellow riders.

Justine Avila- while riding Justine has a sway known as the ¡§gangsta sway¡¨ you can see it from a mile away, and that¡¦s her signature pedaling style.

Cameron Blake- Cameron also known as ¡§Cammy-Cakes¡¨ is often a riding partner of mine because he so dreamy with his sweet aero bars on his bike.

Jake Bloom- Jake is a human gas dispenser, and is always one to supply a funny joke.

Adrienne Carey- Adrienne has amazing yellow and blue army bar tape. She had the best 4th of July decorations thanks to a mail drop package.

Sarah Cocuzzo - Sarah is our resident sex education teacher on our trip. Next year she will be doing AmeriCorps and teaching sex ed. in NYC

Hailey Dady - Hailey is one of our four fearless leaders. She is an amazing dancer and gives great back rubs to wake us up in the mornings.

Anthony Derrick - Is our resident speed demon and is always the leader of our pack and often finds himself lost when he ahead of himself.

Chaz Firestone - He is a very good commencement speaker: he was the speaker at our honorary graduation ceremony for Anthony L.

Katie Getsie - Also known as "Getsie-Face" she is also known to have a stain on her Thermarest from A and D Baby Cream Ointment.

Vidya - Vidya is known to take a walk on the wild side, she has a bit of a gambling problem. Her current debt is that she has to eat 100 chicken nuggets within an hour and the date is TBD¡K. Check back for updates.

Benjamin Gronowski - Ben was the first person to pee off his bike while riding, VERY impressive!!!

Paige Hicks - Paige is our resident Harry Potter NERD!!! She also just recently (just now) got a sweet tattoo that says "born to ride" smack dab in the middle of her forehead.

Brian Hochman - Bri-Bri is one of our fearless leaders on our trip. He drives like a grandma when he drives in the van. His best van experience to date was when the trailer accidentally became unhitched from the van while he was driving.

Chris Hughes - Chris is our tallest rider standing at 6'4", riding a giant Giant- XXL

Sam Kent - Sam is obsessed with thrift store shopping. If there is one in a town he is there. He's got a wicked cool tattoo on his chest of a skull and cross bones done with a sharpie, since the temporary tattoos were starting to run up his budget from the dollar general.

Amy Labar ¡V also known as Yamy has the best wisdom teeth scars on this trip. She¡¦s also the only rider on our trip that was happy to see Ghana beat the US in the world cup.

Anthony Lazarus - Is our sweet little English baby, he is known for his quick witted one liners. He often uses confusing British slang: for example, due to his influence, push-ups are known as ¡§press ups¡¨ on our trip.

Brett Major - Also known as ¡§The City¡¨ because of a temporary tattoo purchase that declared "Welcome to The City" Brett is known to love children of all ages and will jump at any chance to run the bike clinics

Brittany - she goes to UPenn and is a fellow Grad student. she is such a sweetheart her smile glistens in the sun.

Olivia Matheson - Olivia is a superhero in disguise, due to her star cape that bellows in the wind.

Gabe Ofiesh - One word can describe Gabe and that is his Moustache. It can always be discovered on the second floor of the Xenos church.

Noam Rosenthal - Also known as the garden gnome; is known for riding into mailboxes and falling into ponds.

Hassan Shalla - Best story teller ever and is famous for his guest appearance in Aladdin.

Spencer Smitherman - Also known as Spency, he spends his budget on sunscreen (5 bottles used and counting).

Elizabeth Snow - Easily has the most bruises from riding and then proceeding to fall down¡K..while going up hill.

Mary Stevens - her current nickname is ¡§buttrock¡¨ for her choice in musical genres and can always be found playing cribbage.

Maddy Sturm - our resident rugby player and our donation magic queen.

Rebecca Theise - rides an extra small bike one of two extra smalls on the trip and has the most flats to date.

Mallory Wood - Meowallry is the best! and is our resident cheerleader providing encouragement on the road.

Continue reading and stay tuned for more interesting facts along our route!

Hello all! Today we travelled from West Lafayette, Indiana to Gilman, Illinois, so we had not only a state line to cross but a time zone change. We all got to relive an hour of our lives or just got an extra hour in our day depending on how you look at it. After waking up at 5:00 for a third day in a row and an awesome breakfast we headed out for our 80 mile ride. The first part of the ride was slightly hilly. Certainly it was nothing compared to what we’ve seen earlier in every other state we’ve been through, but by Indiana standards I’m sure it was hilly. We entered central time at some point between West Lafayette and the boarder and then got to the boarder around mile 30. Brittany and I road to the border together and played 20 questions the Bike & Build way meaning one person thinks of something and everyone else asks as many questions as necessary to figure out what it is, so it turns into 100 questions. We had a good time and I thought of many Bike & Build themed things including Gabe’s mustache. At the boarder we took some pictures and then road the rest of the way to lunch with Chaz and Theise and sang songs. Lunch was the usual PB&J and potato chips. After lunch we had a sweet tail wind for about 20 miles while we were going north on route 1. We were all going 20 miles per hour with minimal effort. With about 15 miles left to go we turned west again and were met with a head wind. Our pace slowed to about 11 mph. After rolling through the town before Gilman, which was about 10 miles away, we were able to see the Gilman water tower. This begins the part of the trip in which I will judge my closeness to the next town based on how far away the water tower is. After finally arriving in Gilman we headed to shower at the high school just down the street from our host the Gilman United Methodist Church. Some people went and checked out the town in the afternoon and others including myself napped. We had a delicious dinner provided by members of the church and had a presentation afterwards. We did a bike clinic after dinner with a few children. They were pretty good on their bikes and after some initial shyness seemed to warm up to us. We had another round of affordable housing presentations that we all had to prepare beforehand. Anthony D. and Sarah did a couple case studies and Chaz and Katy did a presentation on homelessness. Both were very good. Now things are winding down for the night with some spontaneous dancing including one very special dance from Sam and Spencer. Tomorrow we head to Pontiac, IL.

Liz Snow

Today the Bike and Builders rode from Hartford City, Indiana to West Lafayette, Indiana. The ride was a total of 86 miles, 80 of which were on highway 26. The terrain was mostly flat with the occasional hill which made riding relatively easy. However, with a heavy head wind in our face the conditions were not conducive to fast cycling. Another element that made today’s ride particularly hard on everyone was the heat. The temperature was in the low 90’s with the heat index climbing into the high 90’s from the high humidity.

Because of these conditions all of us were eager to get on the road as early as possible and ride hard to get most of the miles of the day out of the way before the heat of the day arrived. Some groups formed pacelines to help crank through the miles, but after about 20 miles most of us stopped due to the stress that it puts on everyone’s body. Pacelines, although effective for short periods of time, will cause many riders lower back pain and stiffness since the style of riding is so rigid.

We had our first lunch at about mile 40 and we had a water and snack break with the local habitat director at about mile 75 at his home. To break up the long day, many of us stopped under trees to take naps and our route leader Brian got three dollars worth of donation magic at a CVS.

Overall, it was a fairly uneventful day by Bike and Build standards, but everyone managed to crank out the long hot mileage despite having just completed our first century ride yesterday. Tomorrow we have a 5am wake up and 75 miles to ride, but a state line to look forward to. Illinois here we come!

Spencer Smitherman

Lucky me, I’ve been assigned a particularly meaningful journal day! Today marked quite a few defining moments in our trip. After a 5am wakeup, we packed our gear into the trailer, ate a wonderful breakfast provided by our hosts at Sinclair Community College, and got out the door by 6:30am. We had the wonderful privilege of being given a police escort out of the city of Dayton, so officers Watkins, Tipton, Hamby, and Wolfrod led us safely though the city streets and blocked traffic for the first 10 miles of our ride. I like to think we were the very first parade on this 4th of July in the whole country.

We stopped for a rousing chorus of the national anthem, and once again got on our way to what would ultimately end up being a 103 mile day. It was the first century (100 mile ride) of our trip! Today also marked the day that we passed the 1000 mile mark, as well as the day we rode into Indiana. We’re staying this evening at St John’s Riedman Memorial School in Hartford City IN, and the hosts were kind enough to take time our of their 4th of July schedule to provide us with a delicious BBQ meal and topped it off with ice cream Sundays. It’s really incredible to see the generosity we’re being shown along the way and how much our trip means to people.

The ride today was particularly hot but the flat landscape has been giving us a bit of a break. The traffic has seemed to have lessened also, so it’s been much better for conversation along the ride. We’ve figured out that a few good stories can really make the miles fly by. We stopped at mile 40 for lunch and mile 75 for second lunch. As our fore fathers said, the only thing better than lunch is 2nd lunch! We got into Hartford city and finished our day off right with showers from a hose. We have air conditioning for sleeping tonight as well. Truly a memorable 4th of July!

-Hassan Shalla

Dayton, Ohio Build Day

This morning we got to sleep in until 6:45, which was really exciting! We had an amazing breakfast, thanks to Dayton Habitat (shout outs to Rick Willis, Frieda, Melanie, and everyone else who made our stay in Dayton unbelievably comfortable and enjoyable). After breakfast we were shuttled to our build site Stratsburg St. in Eaton. Stratsburg Street had several habitat houses that Bike and Build trips from previous years had worked on, so we got to see what the final product would look like. At our house, our job for the day was to put up drywall, which we haven’t done before.

We jumped right into the job, starting with ceilings and working our way down on the walls. Drywall is used for fireproofing, insulation, and soundproofing. We split into groups and each took a room to drywall. We also had one group cutting the drywall into specific sizes. The ceiling is the hardest part because it requires two people to stand on a bench and hold the drywall up while one more person drills it in place. Walls were easier because we didn’t have to hold them up as high. We were working with Habitat workers who really knew what they were doing, and they were very helpful in teaching us how to be efficient and exact.

We took a lunch break in the middle of the day and had some delicious pasta and salad. We also had a few people (Anthony D, Jake, and a few others) interviewed by the local news channel in Dayton. We got to see the segment later, and everyone did a great job explaining our cause and our trip.

We did the same job after lunch, but it never got monotonous because each piece of drywall was an adventure that required creativity and ingenuity. Some pieces needed to be cut around light or electric sockets using box knives and compass knives, which cut perfect circles. Some pieces went over windows, so we had to saw out around the window after installation. At the end of the day, most of the house was completely covered in drywall, which was awesome!

-Noam Rosenthal

Hi Family and Friends!! July 1st, 2010
Today was indeed a great day for almost everyone. 40 miles, sunny skies, bike paths, good friends, aaaannnnnndddd FREE CHIPOTLE!!! We rode from Gambier, OH into Columbus, OH. Days like today allow you, well really more like give you the time to sit back and look at the life we are living. Sometimes it still hits me, the idea that we are bicycling across the country. I mean who does that?
On the personal side of things, I spent the day with Anthony Derrick talking about so many topics. I think we could have written a book together if we tried. We covered so many topics like politics, religion, civil rights, war, and other very smart sounding subjects. And the conversation made the 40 miles fly by. I had a great time and finally spent time to truly get to know Anthony, the wayward soul (for always getting lost, not actually for being a wayward soul). I mean if you want to get to know an interesting person, talk to Anthony. But the neat thought is that as wonderful as a time I had with Anthony, I have 28 more people to get to know, to laugh with, and to have long daydreamy conversations with. It is a truly irreplaceable bond that I will have with every single rider on this trip. And every person here will get to know people in a set of circumstances that no one will ever know them in again. I mean have you ever spent 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with complete strangers in some of the most challenging moments of your life? It’s an unusual set of circumstances to say the least. I am so excited for the bike dates ahead, for the cheerleading up hills, for the bizarre conversations down hills, and the great food.
On a lighter note and less sappy note, today was mail drop!! I went with Brian, Mary, Sam, Spencer, and Maddie to go get the mail which was an adventure. We got lost but once we found it we were so overwhelmed with just how much there was! I mean the attendant just kept bringing more and more out and we left with a van full of love. That being said thank you SOOO much for taking the time to send those packages and letters. I think I can speak for many when I say that nothing is quite like a box or a letter from the people that believe in you the most. It’s one of the most encouraging moments I’ve discovered so far on this trip.
We are spending the night in Xenos Church which has an awesome sound system and resulted in a lot of us singing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs. Overall, an A+ day. Tomorrow, Dayton!!

-Olivia Matheson

Gambier, OH

Ohio is a tricky state – think you’ve finally hit the flats after all those East Coast Mountains, and *BOO!* a surprise mini-mountain around the corner!

I can’t believe we were in Akron/Tallmadge just this morning. Today was an 86 mile day...a bit flatter than our last 80+ mile day, but still a challenge.

Bike and Build would be so much harder if it weren’t for all the great people both on the trip and along the way. Case in point, today we stopped to have lunch at the 40ish mile marker in the parking lot of Wooster Fire Division Headquarters Station No. 1. Assistant Chief Frank Kuntz and a friendly fellow cyclist and firefighter named Rody were happy to not just loan us some space, but set up cones to reserve it for us. They also provided us access to unlimited ice and water, as well as ever-important restrooms.

But wait! It gets even better! Rody pulled out a fire truck for us to explore and take pictures in front of, much like most of us did at some point or another on elementary school field trips. Paige and Mary even got to sport some sweet firefighting attire, and those who missed the photo op received Junior Firefighter badges.

Unlike the first half of the day, the second half provided a good challenge, but it was easily overcome with the help of Hassan’s riddles and Katy and Adrienne’s stories. We even managed to “donation magic” some free soft serve ice cream from the generous folks at Shreve’s Dari-Bar.

Tonight we’re staying at Kenyon College in ACTUAL DORM ROOMS! It’s such an exciting treat to sleep on real mattresses with sheets. It seems like everyone might turn in early tonight just to revel in this luxury, especially because we are all full and content after the delicious chili (vegetarian and non-vegetarian) that dinner crew prepared for the group. A special shout-out to the folks at Village Market for their generous donation of beef, spices, and garlic, which made tonight’s dinner possible.

-Brittany Maslowsky

Today was an eventful day. Everywhere we’ve traveled we met some truly kind and hospitable people. Today was no exception. Our ride was a short 41 miles into Akron, OH. Thankfully, the hills and mountains have flattened so we made it to town before noon. We got a few recommendations from some locals to head to Fred’s Diner for lunch. About 20 of us ended up there and enjoyed some incredible food. As we went up to pay our bills we were told that the owner had taken care of our bills and the meal was free. We cannot thank Fred’s Diner enough for their hospitality. If I ever end up in Akron again I will definitely be making a stop at Fred’s.

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting showered up, napping outside and enjoying the weather. We had a wonderful dinner provided to us by the First Church of God. It is people like these who nourish our bodies and enable us to complete this journey. Thanks again!

Anthony, a rider on our trip recently graduated from graduate school in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is from Leicester, England and missed his own graduation to ride across the US for affordable housing. Tonight we threw together a graduation ceremony for him complete with the UK national anthem, a homemade diploma, confetti, and a graduation gown. Chaz was our keynote speaker. It was hilarious and a lot of fun. I think most of us enjoyed it more than our own graduations.

Wake up at 5 AM tomorrow so we’re off to bed. Thanks to everyone for all your support!

Brett Major

The description of how the events of our second build day unfolded is delivered in a style that is crafted in the UK. In keeping with tradition, the usual conversation starter used in the UK, is also the first thing that I have to write about today – the weather. It was sunny, it rained, sun, rain.

The second build day fell in Youngstown, and the Bike and Builders were transported a short van journey away from our host at St. John’s Episcopal Church to work on another Habitat for Humanity house. Unfortunately the prospective homeowner could not join us on the build day (each homeowner has to fulfill a required amount of ‘sweat equity’ in the construction of the house) as they were at work.

Fortunately, most of bike and builders were placed inside the second Habitat home and so kept out of the heat and the rain showers, as the house began to near completion. The day, led by Monica from Habitat, was spent applying the finishing touches. This included fitting trim, filling in any gaps to ensure a smooth finish, and then painting the various frames around doors, windows etc…

Whilst construction of a house can be perceived as a mere assembly of parts, this build day saw the transformation of parts into somebody’s home. In a similar fashion to taking our bike out of its cardboard packaging, in fitting lights, locks and plastering it with stickers; the house was preparing to be unboxed.

The evening was spent back at St. John’s, where we watched the ‘movie’ “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” followed by a great meal provided by our host. After this, Bike & Build fell asleep under the comfort of the air conditioner. Sleepy smiles.

- Anthony Lazarus

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Today, we biked about 50 miles from Franklin, PA to Youngstown, OH – crossing our 4th state line, where we stopped for both lunch and the requisite pictures with our bikes in hand.

In the first half of the ride, almost all of the riders encountered a very steep hill at around the same time. After a brief pause for some of us at the bottom, we all began our assault on the mountain. With a few starts, stops, and tumbles, we conquered the mountain and decided that we had reached the highest point in the US, the Mt. McKinley of Ohio.

For dinner, we enjoyed an awesome barbecue from the Newman Catholic Ministry of Youngstown State University, or YSU, as we have seen all over town. Their mascot is a penguin all wrapped up in a scarf and a hat – definitely ready for the cold weather. Between the burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, corn on the cob, salad and pies, they managed to have more food than even we could eat, and believe me, 30 twenty-somethings can eat an astounding amount after biking all day!

We’re currently all laying on our Thermarests (air mattresses that Bike & Build provides which we are all very attached to – I even had a dream a few nights ago that someone stole mine), eating ice cream, watching Boondock Saints, and sharing the jokes on our popsicle sticks. While it is only 9:15 pm and we get to sleep in a bit tomorrow because we are not riding, we are all starting to fall asleep. It has been a good day, and I am certainly excited for the build day tomorrow!

-Amy Labar

What a great day of biking! Wide shoulders and bike trails, everything you need to spark some quality biking conversations. Hassan, Adrienne, Mary, and I joined Hailey in a new biking diet - stopping every hour for some chow time. Let me tell you, the ‘eat lots and eat often’ diet works just fine in my book. After a mighty tasty pb & j….. and chips and cookie and lord knows what else sandwich, we headed out again. Right after lunch there was a brutal hill, it seemed to me at least a 90 degree grade best fit for rock climbers and not us simple biking folk. However, after a herculean struggle, salvation was found in the form of a flat bike path. Never has cement looked so darn good to me. Sarah has just informed me that this is delightfully cheesy, hmmmm…. Anyhow, when we got in town everyone went to the Celtic Cafe to watch the Ghana vs U.S. soccer game (fyi we lost). Showers and pizza ensued. Mary, Mallory, and I went to get some pre-dinner dinner at one of the local eateries… no such thing as too much food! Everyone bummed out for a bit watching the Matrix then headed over to the Celtic Cafe for some good ol’ time out on the town (apparently this is not a phrase in common usage). Spencie, Mary and I also moseyed around the park, which had a fantastic fountain. The Celtic Cafe gave everyone shirts for free. Needless to say, the next day everyone was marching around wearing uniform green Celtic Cafe t-shirts. Huge shout out to Karn Produce for their nectarines and Celtic Cafe for the shirts and the good times.

Over and out,
Sammy Kent

Today was another good day for the bike and builders. Compared to previous days the roads have been comparatively clear and it was a good day for riding. The shoulders of the road were wide enough to accommodate two riders for some conversations and we avoided the few road hazards that did come our way. The one hazard we couldn’t avoid was a pterodactyl in the form of Gabe, who snuck up behind unsuspecting riders who weren’t looking over their shoulders enough and scared them with loud noises.

Later on in the ride we saw some great lake views and some riders got to swim in the reservoir that the road went alongside near our final destination. We rode into Warren, PA to our host, which was the Warren YMCA. We have showers on site, which is great, and a delicious meal cooked by the assigned dinner crew for the night. The YMCA also has computers with internet which is a rare luxury on Bike & Build.

This afternoon was also our family meeting, which is an opportunity for all of us to get together and talk about how the ride is going for us. It always makes me happy to hear the nice things people have to say about their fellow riders and their experiences. Even when people talk about things that went wrong they have a positive attitude about it. We joke about our less pleasant experiences and focus on our good experiences. Spencer made a good point today when he pointed out that nobody has complained at all on the trip so far. Even with all of the inconvenient things that happen to people they know that complaining doesn’t help anybody feel better. I’m so happy to be on Bike & Build with all these great people! See you down the road…..

Chris Hughes

Wysox, PA to Wellsboro, PA

After a group snuggle session the night before while watching Tina Fey’s Baby Mama, P2Sers awoke the next morning to a fog-laden valley. We pack up and hit the road in a rapid manner, fueled by breakfast and the promise of a pool in Wellsboro. Brian drives the van while Noam and Brittany tail the pack as sweep. A bad bear pun decorates today’s cue sheet: “Is someone bearing down on you?”

We hit two different main streets today, but the bulk of our time is spent on US 6, heading west. Only 56 miles on the day and the road is enjoyable, but slightly hilly. We have become accustomed to the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, which are preferable to the mountains of New York. I rolled into the Wellsboro United Methodist Church with Liz a little after 1 in the afternoon and we quickly found the community pool across the street. Thankfully, there was a diving board. Some talented Bike & Builders showed up the group of middle schoolers chilling in the shade. In the words of Cameron, “this must be where the cool kids all hang out”.
After a nice swim and a chilly shower, we hit the streets to see what downtown Wellsboro has to offer. The answer: a lot! We found a bike shop, called Country Ski & Shop right down the block from the UMC. Everyone working there was incredibly nice and Anthony Derrick worked some donation magic to get our group a new bike pump, a crucial piece of equipment we had been lacking. People restocked on cliff bars and handlebar tape.

Dinner was provided by the UMC, a delicious meal of lasagna and various pasta-stuffs. We filled up and explored the night life of the town, with many people sprinting to make a 7 o’clock showing of The A Team at the movie theater down the street. Others hit up the Gas Light Bar & Grill, playing some shuffle board and watching the College World Series of Baseball. We head back to the host and hit the thermarest, getting pumped up for 45 miles into Coudersport, PA the next day.

-Paige Hicks

June 22nd

This morning began with what has more or less become our morning routine. We woke up around 6, packed our bags, cleaned up our host site, ate breakfast, and said our goodbyes and thank you’s to our friends in Binghamton at High Street Methodist Church. We were on the road by 8 and pedaling hard. Even though we had only been off our bikes for a day, we were all excited to be on the road again. On the smooth, flat roads outside Binghamton, we were able to make it to the Pennsylvania state border by around 10:30. We stopped, ate lunch here, and took group photos on each others shoulders with the “Welcome to Pennsylvania” sign. We hopped back on the road after lunch, and were able to make it to our host site, the Standing Stone Community Vesper Church of Wysox, Pennsylvania, by about 1 in the afternoon.

Easily the earliest we have arrived at our host site so far, we were a little surprised by how much free time we had. Most of us used this time to relax, read, journal, play Frisbee, and nap. Our hosts were kind enough to take us over to the showers at the YMCA, where we got cleaned up from our day of riding. After the group had showered, we ate the awesome dinner our hosts had prepared for us, which included salad, macaroni, beans, coleslaw, potato salad, sandwiches, and all kinds of desert. Over dinner, we found out that a few riders had seen a bear on the ride today! It followed a cat across the street right in front of them while they were riding, and they stopped and watched it for a bit. We are convinced this is the same bear that Theise saw in New York, and that the bear is following us on our trip to Seattle. This lead to many bear related jokes over dinner. It’s still pretty early, so we’ll probably use the rest of the evening to clean our bikes, watch a movie, and rest up for what’s rumored to be a hilly day tomorrow.

-Ben Gronowski

Monday, June 21st

After a couple of hard days of biking, Monday was a welcome break from the saddle in Binghamton, NY. Previously scheduled as a build day, we actually ended up having a day off. Our entire crew broke up into a few groups for a variety of activities. Many people were lured to Ithaca, NY to swim in the gorges, especially the Cornell students! Others of us ended up going to Toy Story 3, which got some rave reviews, especially from Brian who spearheaded the Toy Store Love movement.

The rest of us walked around Binghamton and ate at a number of restaurants with each meal punctuated by a visit to the Family Dollar, a dollar store that Mallory was unimpressed to discover contains many items more expensive than a dollar! We ate at a Greek restaurant, played cards at a local tavern- which introduced us to “spedies,” some sort of local chicken sandwich maybe and then went to a diner. The diner had a signed copy of a picture of the red headed guy from Happy Days, which prompted the Happy Days tune to be stuck in the head of many of us. Overall, the day off in Binghamton was a blast in a city unlike any other I’ve been to!

-Vidya Gopinath

Sunday June 20, 2010

Hello everyone! Extra early wake up today, 5 am. I thought waking up that early was going to be horrible but it was actually wonderful because it meant we got to ride when it was cooler out and with very few cars on the road. We biked from Roscoe, NY to Binghamton, NY today for a total of 82 miles. Which marks the farthest I’ve ever biked in one day! The length of the day meant we got DOUBLE LUNCH! Nothing is quite as wonderful as seeing our lovely painted trailer around the bend and having a chance to fill up on orange slices and Gatorade before hitting the road again.

Some highlights from the ride today:
The scenery in the morning. The fog in the mountains was beautiful. Lots of lakes and ponds to look at.
A really fantastic descent where I hit 49 miles an hour!!
Being chased by a 5 pound fluff ball of a dog who had no chance of ever catching up.
The head groups chalked some sweet designs on the road for us!

Also today, we had a real dog encounter. A Labrador retriever chased Anthony down on his bike. Anthony thought that he had gotten away as the dog had slowed down but apparently it hadn’t quite given up and decided to come back around. Luckily by this time He had his water bottle out and was able to squirt the dog right on the nose with a hefty dose of Gatorade and the dog slowed up. Summary: Anthony – 1 Dog – 0 Awesome!

Tomorrow is our wonderful and much needed day off here in Binghamton. There are talks of carousel rides, maybe a trip to the local pool, and of course lots of sleeping. Thanks to everyone for their support. See you soon.

-Katy Getsie

Day 5: 72 miles from Poughkeepsie, NY to Roscoe, NY

Not even the bountiful breakfast buffet provided by the St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Poughkeepsie could prepare us for what was easily the most difficult riding day of our trip thus far. Just over 70 mountainous miles stood between us and our host location, Roscoe Central School in Roscoe, NY, a hilly town with under 600 residents. (Our arrival increased the town's population by 5%). And added to our highest mileage and steepest terrain so far were temperatures approaching 90 degrees, another trip record.

But of course that couldn't stop the P2S Bike & Builders, even if it slowed many of us down. The last riders arrived to the host after 6pm, capping a 10-hour ride with many ups and downs. The main action of the morning was a short jaunt across a bridge overlooking the Hudson River, followed by a beautiful but tiring climb up a nicely paved mountain trail, which ended with a gorgeous view of the region we've been riding through. After a lot of photos, we had a nice descent to lunch, which was a little quicker than usual because of the anticipated terrain ahead. Sure enough, the remaining 30 miles were packed with climbs, including one particular short but unforgivingly steep incline that had us all standing in our saddles, wishing for easier gears. Like many of the climbs on the trip, this one had a brief flat stretch halfway up that deceived us into thinking we had reached the summit, only to discover more impossibily steep pavement just a few yards later.

Still, we all made it up, which has become a familiar story here. Each impossible climb turns out not to be, and each rider reaches the top, even if helped by multiple breaks along the way. Though nearly each ride has been more difficult than the last, each arrival continues to convince that we really can make it all the way to Seattle.

Of course, riding wasn't all we did today. One rider found herself in the presence of a black bear nonchalantly crossing the road in front of her, and another, Liz Snow, celebrated her 21st birthday wearing the now-customary pink tutu bestowed upon aging riders. Once we arrived in Roscoe, we also hosted a bike safety and maintenance clinic for some of the local children, who turned out to have mastered many of the maneuvers already and needed little help from us. We're sure Molly, Libby, Eric and Desmond will make wonderful Bike & Builders one day. The final event was dinner -- a delicious selection of various homemade lasagnas (with brownies and cookies for dessert) -- because the exhausting day put our heads on our pillows by 8:30pm, and because wakeup tomorrow is at 5am on account of 85 expected miles of riding through similar terrain. As one rider likes to say at the peaks of his climbs, Hoo-rah.

-- Chaz Firestone

As the sun rose over Connecticut, all we intrepid Bike & Builders enjoyed an extra hour of sleep in the blue and grey gymnasium of the Kent School. We awoke to a breakfast of cereal and bananas, provided by Kent’s local Habitat chapter, Northwestern Connecticut Habitat for Humanity. Today’s weather was spectacular for biking—it was eighty degrees and sunny, providing a welcome change to the last few days’ clouds and rain. The route today crossed into New York from Connecticut, putting us into the third state of our agenda. It’s pretty hard to believe that we’ve already biked all the way across Connecticut, but the miles don’t lie. This trip, at times, seems like such an insurmountable task—to bike across the country and to spread the word of affordable housing both are incredibly daunting prospects—but when we ride our bikes, it is like nothing in the world can hold us back.
And it is a good thing that that feeling accompanies our time in the saddle because, though it was only a 30 mile day, today was fraught with wrong turns and missed directions, and was the day that we all went over our very first mountain. From the start, the group I was riding in took a series of wrong turns. We were all certain that we were on cue sheet as we were about to turn onto NY-22, when we got a call from one of our leaders asking us if we’d seen the covered bridge. We, of course, had not. Instead of backtracking however, we decided that a simple reroute could get us back on track, and so we charged on ahead to find our own way to NY-55. Thankfully, nobody in the group (Cameron, Jake, Anthony, Brittany, Maddie, and I) was too deterred by our missed directions. As it happens, Anthony and I have managed to get lost some seven times between the two of us, so we were quite experienced being found, as well. As we were coming down 22, we saw a fleet of riders coming back at us from the opposite direction. They all had managed to get lost, as well! Gabe was sitting at the junction, funneling us all into Co. Rd. 6 in last-ditch (and thankfully successful) attempt to get us all going back in the right direction.
The foothills of New York are truly incredible scenery to bike through, so I don’t anticipate that any of the people who took wrong turns were too frustrated by their respective detours—even if it added roughly 10-15 miles to their route. Where those detours did come back with a vengeance, however, was shortly after getting onto route Co. Rd. 21, where we entered into a 1,000-ft climb over only three miles of road. The asphalt pitched skyward in front of us as we ground our gears and prayed to our respective higher powers to get us to the top of the mountain. Unsurprisingly, some of us take hills better than others, so those of us who could passed those of us who were struggling and made sure to offer them ample words of encouragement along the way. Of course, that which goes up must come down; on the other side of this beastly hill, we found a descent to match. Flying down the side of a mountain at 40+ miles per hour really makes you sit back and take stock of your life. All of those hours on the couch come back to you; all of the times you forewent some experience for safety and comfort; all of the moments you spent not feeling the wind whipping past your face. For every grinding climb that you can’t imagine ever finishing, there is a near-euphoric descent that reminds you why you put up with all the pain.
Tonight we’re staying at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Mansion Street in Poughkeepsie, NY. The congregation provided us with a wonderful hot dinner, complete with pizza, lasagna, some truly delicious corn chowder, and even ice cream sundaes. Though it may become routine, it is no less incredible that each and every time we stop in a town for the night, there are men and women who take time out of their own schedules to make us feel welcome, to feed and house us, and to make sure we are well prepared to tackle another day’s ride. We could never do it without them, and all we can hope is that they truly understand the depths of our gratitude.

Anthony Derrick

Today was a day for hills. Coming from Nebraska my definition of hills in quite different and what we rode today would be considered mountains. I know before long I will learn truly what a mountain is like to climb. But today was a learning day and within the first 5 miles Mallory, Mary, Kaitlin, and I were already taking a nap on the side of the road. The rest of the day we tackled the hills together, got chanced by a pit bull, and dreamed of lunch. After finally 36 miles and hours of climbing hills we finally made it to our lunch stop where our fearless leader Brian was waiting with lunch. Because of our amazing hosts we were able to have more then just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our lunch stop. Now that our stomachs were stuffed with food we headed back to the road. Lucky for us we had finally climbed to the top of the hill and no more hills could be seen above us. From there we were hopeful for at least a little down hill and we were blessed with more then that. The remaining 14 miles were mostly down hill. At the end of the day it is always great to coast into town with the high of a down hill. It really makes you forget about the pain of the up hills. By the end of the day we were lying back and relaxing in the valley which surrounded us. A couple of us started to play Frisbee and I finally learned how to throw one correctly. In all it was an amazing start of a journey which none of us can even imagine how it will end. I’m excited about this journey and of course learning from each of the riders on the ride.

Hailey Dady
(Fearless Leader)

6/16/10

Today we rode 60 miles from Pomfret to Granby, CT. After a phenomenal hot breakfast provided by First Congregational Church of Pomfret, we set off through the rolling hills of Connecticut. This leg of the trip was particularly fun for me, as I grew up in the area and we even briefly rode through my hometown! When I say rolling hills, though, I really mean it – seemingly endless uphills followed by long, speedy coasts downhill. We had fun seeing how fast we could go on the downhills (I got up to 36 mph), and then slowly chugged back up again (at least I was taking the slow and steady tactic), over and over. The scenery was gorgeous and we came across a few surprises along the way, including a farm with sheep and a llama. The weather was lovely in the morning, but rainclouds threatened us in the afternoon. Luckily it never amounted to more than a light drizzle. Now we’re safe and sound at the First Congregational Church of Granby (yep, we’ve got a lot of First Congregational Churches in New England). Our hosts have been amazing and the potluck dinner they provided was delicious. They even had a yoga instructor lead us in some stretches and poses – I can’t even tell that my body just biked 60 miles today, it feels so relaxed.

My day of biking was fairly uneventful, but Spencer, Anthony D., Anthony L., and Chris had a pretty exciting adventure that they wanted to make sure I shared. Here’s Spencer with the story and the shout-outs:

“Anthony x2 and I got lost, but ended up finding our way to a house in Broad Brook to ask for directions from a woman named Michele, her son Rhys, and the postman, Lee. Michele went inside, got out an atlas, and started trying to figure out where they needed to go. Halfway through the conversation, Chris showed up, having been separated from his group. Not only did they help with directions, but they also directed us to a great pizza place called Elaine’s, since we had missed the lunch stop. We headed over to the restaurant, where we struck up a conversation with the bartender, Karie, and one of the patrons, Tom. They were super friendly and we ended up ordering the house supreme pizza along with garlic bread, which was delicious. After talking to Tom for a while, he gave a $20 donation to Bike and Build and Karie gave us $5 off of the AWESOME meal. Essentially, Elaine’s fed four hungry riders for $13. Thanks, Elaine’s!!”

- Sarah Cocuzzo

First day on the road! We got up at 6 AM, packed, ate breakfast, and geared up for our first ride of the summer. After a quick route meeting, we headed out to the Providence dock for our wheel dip ceremony. After dipping our wheels in the Atlantic, we started our ride in small groups out of Providence. On our way out, we stopped and took pictures overlooking the city, and one group even managed to taste test some vanilla ice cream on the way out. We couldn’t have asked for better weather – it was sunny the whole way. And the route was beautiful, lots of rolling green hills. We stopped for a peanut butter sandwich lunch at the trailer, and then continued on to mile 30 where we crossed our first state border into Connecticut. We were sure to stop and take lots of pictures. We ended our 40 mile ride in Pomfret, where we were welcomed by wonderful hosts. They prepared an incredible dinner of pasta, fruit, veggies, and of course, yummy desserts.

After our ride, we relaxed, cleaned our bikes, played some games, and painted our trailer. We played lots of Egyptian War and Jungle Speed (two crazy card games). Our trailer looks awesome, thanks to all the riders who helped design and paint it. On one side we painted the map of the U.S., with our route outlined. On the other side, we have a cyclist with Providence and Seattle in the background.

All in all, it was a great first ride of the summer.
-Adrienne Carey

Day two of Bike and Build is in the books and boy is this summer going to be amazing! After a little confusion over the wake up time we all biked over to a Habitat build site in Providence located on Jefferson Ave. We were met by Herman, our Dutch accented Habitat executive director, who promptly put us to work. Splitting into five groups we each took a separate floor in the duplex and got to work. We were off to a fast start working on ‘cutting’ the intersection of the ceiling and wall throughout the duplex, as well and putting a second coat on most of the walls. Throughout the day we kept motivated by coming up with lyrics to a song in honor of our cohort Amy, who has yet to join us on our trip. We were greeted at noon with an unbelievable lunch sponsored by a local BBQ joint. Ribs, chicken, slaw, and cornbread quickly met our ravenous mouths, there was no chance there would be leftovers. Back to work for the second half of the day we put the finishing touches on the trim and played a couple of guessing games. What is dead but still grows? The answer is clearly Gabe’s moustache. As the day came to an end Herman hollered to us announcing that ice cream was on the side of the house. Thinking he had picked up a couple of cartons of the ‘good stuff’ we were all surprised to see (and hear) an ice cream truck parked on the side of the house! After helping ourselves to firecracker pops, ninja turtles, Batman, and shaved ice we completed cleanup at the site. After snapping a few group pictures we rode back to Hillel for some afternoon errands. The excitement is high back at base camp as we prep for our first pre-ride sleep. More updates to come as we will officially begin the biking portion of our trip tomorrow! Wheel dipping ceremony at 8:15!!

-Jake Bloom

6/12/10

Hi All

Day 1 at orientation was AWESOME! I met people from all over the country. I think our group is going to be great. Everyone seems really excited and passionate about the trip. I was a little nervous when I first arrived and found a pile of bikes, bags, and gear spread all over Brown University’s Hillel. But a few ice breakers later and I feel like I have known everyone for 10 years.

I am excited to get out on the road and see all of the sites, but most importantly make a difference in the affordable housing cause!!!! It is an indescribable feeling to be part of a group that will change the world. On another note, I learned how to change my tires tonight. When I first got my bike, I didn’t know the difference between the spoke and the saddle. I feel like a bike professional. Lance ain’t got nothing on this crew!

We rounded off the night with some delicious pizza and homemade cookies. I think food will be a big bonding piece for our group. Apparently, we as cyclists will consume inordinate amounts of food. Some people have even talked about entering food competitions. What ever our personal goal for the summer, we all in this trip together!

Peace. Love. Biking across America
Justine