Varun Sehgal
Rochester, NY
University of Rochester

Last 5 blog entries: Alabama!!! Rome, GA to Scottsboro, AL Norcross / Rome, GA One State Down: Hartwell / Athens, GA Newberry / Greenville, SC Sumter / Columbia, SC

Show latest update from from Varun's blog Alabama!!! Rome, GA to Scottsboro, AL The ride from Rome to Scottsboro was easily the best day I have had on this trip yet. It included two mountain climbs, which translates to two awesome descents along with awesome pit stops. The day started off with an incredible stretch of road. It was smooth and traffic free. I hung with the faster group in the morning as we coasted around 22 mph for the majority of the ride. It was a lot of fun to get pulled by some of the bigger guys and many times just chill out behind them. We got to the border early that day and took some awesome pictures and continued the fast pace. The unfortunate part of this was once again I went in the wrong direction making the mileage longer than it had to be. This showed when we got to the first mountain climb and I slowly climbed it in my lowest gear as my legs felt like jello. It felt incredible to get to the top thought without stopping and eat lunch up there. Travis parked the van in the perfect spot as we could catch a glimpse of the van and make the final push up the van as people cheered us on. Katie at the top of the mountain made one of the worst bets ever as she challenged Travis to bike up the mountain in his non-shammy shorts. He not only had fresh legs since he was driving the van, but also he is the best cyclist in our group. He did it in his highest chain ring and won the easiest 30 dollars of his life probably. So after lunch we glided down a little bit and visited a nearby waterfall. This place was scenic and the water was refreshing. The majority of the group went to the waterfall but only a small number jumped off this crazy high rock. Other notable events include Jessica saving a kids life as the current was sweeping him away. After the water fall we came to our first legitimate descent as I zoomed down and hit 43 mph. It got a little too fast around some bends so I was on the brakes a little bit. The road was smooth though and the ride was awesome. The second climb came later in the ride as we went up about a good hill and reached a U-turn. In my head I was like awesome the climb is done and we are going to go back down. I was wrong because once I went around that u-turn I saw that we had barley climbed 1/4 of the hill. I stopped around the bend to take a picture of people struggling up the hill and actually took one of the best pictures of the trip so far, with Carroll dominating the hill and Brian and Katie lagging behind. The second descent came toward the end of the ride. This one was a lot longer but less steep. The unfortunate part was that I got stuck behind a truck pulling a boat. There were some riders ahead that the truck never passed which is good for their safety but unfortunately for me it meant staying on my brakes the whole time. I was about inches from hitting a pot hole which would of really caused some trouble as I was again around 40 mphs on this descent. As we approached the end we opened up to a nice blue body of water and crossed over a cool bridge. Up to the last couple of turns I think this was the best ride yet. We hit an awful road as we approached the final destination but it didn't change my perception at all of how awesome the day was.

Varun's bio: Hey everbody, my name is Varun. I was born in India and moved here when I was two years old. Ever since moving to the US I have lived in Rochester, NY. I am currently attending the University of Rochester and am planning to graduate with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. For how much it snows here I probably should have developed some winter related hobbies, but I really haven’t after living in this area for 18 years. I do however play basketball, soccer, and love to golf. I played all three in HS and now just play for fun in college. I love to watch, play and learn new sports, the newest one being biking. Before I really even decided to apply to this program I had been looking at road bikes because I wanted to start commuting to school along the Erie Canal and by early September I started commuting about 3 miles to school. I have not been able to take any long trips yet but I think this program will help take care of that soon. I first heard of Bike and Build about a year ago when one my friends from high school was graduating from UPenn (Thanks Jon Kole) and was raising money for this program. At that moment I thought to myself what an incredible experience this would be because you not only travel across the United States on a BIKE but also raise awareness, and funds for affordable housing. I would say moments after looking through some of his photos I knew in my mind that this is something that I wanted to do.  My first volunteer experience was back in middle school where I helped around at my temple with cleaning and also in publishing a monthly newsletter. From that moment on I have volunteered as a mentor, at hospitals, and also helped the elderly. Through these experiences I believe I have gained many valuable experiences that have helped shape the kind of person I am now. I have also made countless friends and expect this program to be no different. I am pumped to make this trek across America not only to see the US on two wheels but also to push myself physically and mentally. To complement my excitement there is an equal level of nervousness because I have never been the endurance type of person throughout high school or college. I would say that I am most excited about seeing new areas of the US, making new friends, new memories and helping the affordable housing cause. So I hope everybody is excited and I look forward to meeting you all.

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