Alexander's bio: 
My name is Alex Thomson and I’m currently a junior Civil Engineering major at Syracuse University. I was born and raised in a suburb outside of Buffalo, NY where I still live today when not at school. When I read about some kids doing Bike and Build in my school newspaper, I knew this was something that I would want to do. I tend to be an adventurous person who loves to travel and do new things, so what better than to hop on a bike and pedal a ridiculous distance with a bunch of people I’ve never met?!?! Most recently, I spent my last spring break in Panama City, Florida… building houses of course. I joined my schools Habitat for Humanity chapter and before long I was on a road trip to Florida which turned out me be one of the best times of my life. In addition to that, I’ve been backpacking in the Rockies of New Mexico, hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail, canoeing through the Adirondacks, and frequently go sailing on the Great Lakes with friends. Basically, I love the outdoors and being active (something schoolwork tends to work very hard against). I have yet to do anything momentous on a bike so I hope to change that this summer!
As for myself, I keep busy with school work, but I pay the bills by bartending and working construction. I used to run cross-country, pole vault, and was a tournament archer, but my favorite was rowing. I have a goofy dog named Abra, I love to cook, and I think being a National Geographic photographer would be friggan sweet.
Outside of the fun aspect of the trip, I think it’s great that we all have this opportunity to have a good time and drastically help those in need. On my trip to Florida, I had a conversation with the woman who we were building the house for and she told me how much having this house was going to mean to her and her kids. Its moments like that I’m grateful for my situation and even more grateful to have the chance to help others. Affordable housing is an issue you don’t hear about often, but that certainly doesn’t make it any less important.
I don’t know what’s gonna be more difficult; training or raising $4000. Either way, I wish you all luck on raising that money and training hard… I know I’m gonna need some. I hope to make some great friends and can’t wait to get to know you all.
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