Chasing State Lines

Alright! Time to play some serious catch-up. I apologize for the massive delay in posts, but I promise to start playing catch up! So, without further delay, here’s how the Bike and Build life has been going:

Mobile:
Our build day in Mobile went pretty well considering we were working around rain. We built with Habitat and were split up amongst three houses that each had various things that needed to be worked on. I worked with Curious Claire, Loopy Laura, Jammin Josiah, Elated Emma, and Cantankerous Connor and our jobs consisted of painting, cutting, and installing baseboards in the house.

We began our tasks by sneak attacking the group in the house across from us. It was absolutely hysterical. A group of grown adults running and hiding behind mail boxes an trees, then climbing through an open window and stifling laughter as we waited for the perfect moment to unleash the fury of our dance moves. Unfortunately, the other group had just chalked floor lines, so their level of appreciation wasn’t too high. But we had fun nonetheless. Then it was down to business.

We had to take a bit of a stop because of rain, but we made sure to spend our time very wisely and act like grown-ups.

Today was also special because it was Champion Charlie’s birthday! So, in honor of his birthday we did a lunch time napping cuddle puddle. In a tiny room that quickly jumped in temperature. But our group practically lives for cuddle puddles, so we dealt with the heat and celebrated Charlie’s birthday in quiet cuddle fashion.

Post cuddle puddle we got back I work! Sort of. For a bit. It began to rain, so we had to stop since we were using power tools and trying to paint. We used our free time incredibly wisely. Claire, Connor, Laura, and I decided we needed a jumping picture in the rain, so of course we acted upon that.

We also decided to stalk out Gregarious Greg’s Facebook and comment on old photos of him. It was probably one of the highlights of the day.

The turtle necklace was the center of our attention…it’s just so darn classy and timeless!

When we concluded the day for real, we went back to the church. We had a bike clinic to do, so the folks in charge of that got it up and running while Kevin played bike mechanic and fixed a lot of people’s bikes. Other people later joined and cleaned their bikes since most of them were absurdly dirty because of all the rain we had gone through.

After all the bikes were bandaged and cleaned, we broke off into groups and headed into Mobile (which, just FYI, is pronounced “Moe-beal”…not mobile. I know…it’s an Alabama thing) to check out the night life. Excellent Elle, Loopy Laura, Kevin, and I found a small pub where we sat and talked until we had to leave to make our 11 o’clock curfew. Kevin was also going to grace us with his riding presence the next day, so he crashed at the church with us that night.

Biloxi:
We all woke up very excited to be crossing another state line. After spending thirty years in Florida, crossing state lines has become our new favorite thing. We had our route meeting and began our journey to the wild world of Mississippi. I spent the first part of the day riding solo, no big surprise there. I met up with a few folks at the state line so I could get the obligatory state line photo and then pedaled on.

After lunch (which consisted of free sonic!!) Kevin and I rode together. The weather was once again rainy, so we dealt with mean drivers and showers.

I also snagged a throwback photo in front of a store front my family took a photo at a few months before Katrina.

Upon arriving in Biloxi I immediately showered and formulated a plan to walk around with Loopy Laura and Excellent Elle to try and find a nail salon. Our efforts were futile, but it was nice to be in a city where everything was in walking distance.

That night Laura, Daunting Dusty, and I were about to fall asleep when suddenly Derpy Dillon and Can’t Go Wrong With Gaurang come busting in with flashing lights and music and danced around. It was absolutely hysterical and Laura and I had a hard time catching our breath for a good 30 minutes.

Well, that’s enough for this segment. The next will cover all of our time in the always exciting NOLA (New Orleans, LA for you newbs). So get those beads ready because you’re about to take a walk down Bourbon Street!

Lighthouse in a Canyon

Alrighty folks, I know this is way out of order, but I’m going to skip ahead a few weeks and fill you in on our off day in Amarillo, TX.

First off, Jason Aldeen was right to sing about the Amarillo sky because it was gorgeous. Which made our much needed day off even better. We had been riding for 7 days straight, so a break was more than needed. Everyone-a few weeks prior-had been making big plans for going out and enjoying the town the night we rolled in since we could SLEEP IN however late we’d like. Well, we all were dead asleep by 11ish, if that’s any indicator as to how tired and worn out we were.

Anyways! Now to the fun stuff! That morning my internal alarm clock was not having this “sleep in” business. I was up and ready to rumble around…7. Which is actually pretty late in B&B world. As I was getting ready for the day, Colorful Corina came in and suggested getting coffee. Um, yes please? So about an hour later an entire group of us who were unable to sleep past 8 headed to a local coffee shop around the corner from the church we were staying at (if you’re ever in Amarillo, Roasters Coffee and Tea is where it’s at!).

The baristas were super nice and really interested in our journey. They also had a wall of various cycling jerseys from folks who had participated in races and such.

Upon getting our coffee we decided to make our plans for the day. A lot of us wanted to go to Palo Duro, which is the second largest canyon in America and has a famous formation called “The Lighthouse”. The only issue was that it was a bit of trek just to get to the canyon…and we REALLY didn’t want to have to ride our bikes on our off day. Shocker, I know. So we formulated a plan to get a rental car and use it for the day (we discovered it would cost just as much to rent a car as it would be to get a cab to and from the canyon).

We found a rental car company around the corner from where we were staying, so Elle called to make sure there was a car large enough for 7 people. We were told there was and we then walked over to go pick up our ride.

Well, upon walking in, we saw Dashing Dan, Marvelous Marlee, and Hairy Hannah. They too had the grand idea to skip out on the bikes for the day. However, Enterprise decided that we were a bunch of nitwits and said they didn’t have any cars large enough for us. They also played dumb when we said we had just called. Luckily, Elle is a no nonsense chick and called out the guy she was on the phone with. They then tried to explain all this random crap to cover their butts. They did offer to let us use the vehicle as long as we could drop it off at the airport for them…without offering us a ride from the airport back to the host. Needless to say, we told them to kick rocks on that idea. They then offered us a 5-person vehicle (keep in mind there are now 8 of us) instead. We decided this was better than nothing, so we took the car.

Once we crammed everyone into the worlds tiniest SUV, (after walking out of sight of enterprise so we could pile into the trunk) we headed back to the church to get our camelbaks and snacks to prepare for our grand adventure.

One our way out we stopped at a Tai place and grabbed some lunch to go to eat once we got to the canyon. Then we were off! The drive itself wasn’t too bad and we were to snag little sneak peeks of the awesomeness we were about to encounter.

Upon arriving at the canyon, we decided to go and eat lunch. As we parked, a truck pulled up and Awesome Angela and Liz Lemon got out. They had hitchhiked to the canyon and were joining us for the hike. When Dusty and I finished lunch, we wandered off to see how much of the canyon we could see from our spot. Well, being the second largest canyon in America, we could see a lot. Having never been to the Grand Canyon, all I could think was “how in the world could it get any bigger”. I was in for a huge surprise.

Once we all finished lunch, we headed to the actual touristy part of the canyon. Dan and Dusty were able to DM (donation magic) a flat rate for us all to get into the park. Once we got all paid up we headed in and got really excited for our upcoming adventure.

On our way down into the canyon we stopped at a scenic overlook, and that was when I realized just how much bigger the canyon could get. It was bigger than I could have imagined and about 20,000 times more beautiful. And the even more amazing thing is that it’s the SECOND largest canyon. Not even the largest.

After we took a ton of photos, we made our way down (and I mean WAY DOWN) the canyon (in the car) to the trailhead. There were tons of warnings all over the place about the heat and making sure you had enough water. We probably didn’t have quite the recommended amount, but between us all we had enough.

So we set off in search of the Lighthouse rock formation. Along the way we learned two things. One: it gets very hot very quickly. Two: Texas has these horse flies that are downright murderous. They are AWFUL. Our hike was filled with squeals (mostly from Elle) and constant slaps (from everyone). Our legs were red, not from sunburn, but from all of the constant bug slapping.

The hike was absolutely beautiful. The colors of the rocks against the blue sky was beyond words. Every step brought something new to light, and you could stand in the same spot for a while and constantly find something new and amazing. I kept thinking “there’s no way this can get any more amazing”, and I was constantly proven wrong.

When we reached the “base” of the formation, we made our way up a less-traveled path to get to the actual rocks. It was quite the hike, and I felt way out of shape (and if you heard my breathing you wouldn’t believe I had been riding a bike for over a month). But then. There it was! We found the lighthouse!

There wasn’t any access to one of the pillars, but if you climbed up some rocks and dirt, you could make it to the top of the other. So, obviously, I followed Dan and Dusty and made my way to the top.

The view truly cannot be described. I couldn’t believe I was there experiencing it. We were so high up and the canyon seemed to go on for forever. A lot of the people in our group slowly made their way up to the top and enjoyed just taking in the view.

After we all climbed back down, we took a few group shots and goofed off for a little bit. Once we got all our photos, we decided it was time to head back.

Our return hike was even hotter and we had to be even more conservative with our water since we were beginning to run low. Thankfully we all made it, albeit a little dehydrated, but alive and well nonetheless.

Liz and Angela had to hitchhike back since we literally could not cram another person into the car, so we drove up to the gift shop in the hopes they could find someone. Within a few minutes they had procured a ride from a young couple, and once we knew they were situated, we made our way back to the host.

Upon getting there we split up and some folks went to a Mexican restaurant and others stayed at the church and enjoyed a potluck dinner. The folks from the church stayed and ate with us, and luckily didn’t seem too disgusted by us (we still eat like ravenous animals even on our days off).

After dinner, a large group of us web out to see the famous Cadillac Ranch. We even brought spray paint for the occasion. We spent an hour or so leaving our marks on the cars and having mini dance parties. Angela even did the entire single ladies routine for us. It was impressive.

Upon getting back to the host, we got most of our stuff packed up and prepared for the ride day to come.

And that is how SUS does Amarillo, Texas.

Sweet Home Alabama

Today we crossed our first state line! While Florida was nice, it is pretty sweet to feel like we’re finally moving across the country.

Today we also got to bike in the rain, which was AWESOME. We were warned of the rain in our route meeting, so most of us packed our rain jackets just in case. I started out with Excellent Elle and we ended up riding along with Colorful Corina, Chainsaw Charlie, and Can’t Go Wrong With Gaurang. They decided to grab some coffee, but I’m still waiting on my growth spurt, so I passed and kept riding.

Shortly after leaving them it began to rain. Then it began to rain harder. Then even harder. So I pulled over pulled out my jacket. Which was slightly pointless since I was already wet, but oh well. Better late to the party than to never arrive…right? Well apparently that was all I needed to do to get the rain to stop. Because it did about 2 minutes later. And since it’s Florida, it was obnoxiously hot and humid, so I pulled over again to take off my jacket.

The rain was really killin me. Very shortly after I took off my jacket it began to rain again. At this point I just decided to deal with it and ride on in just my spandex. There was something about riding in the rain that I was just loving. I could not stop smiling and laughing and just loving the ride. Then came the bridge.

One thing I’ve learned about these deeper south folks is that they love bridges. And they love their bridges to have really steep and high inclines. So as I was pedaling up one of these beasts, the bottom fell out and it began to pour. And I was still loving it. As I reached the bottom of the hill I met up with Loopy Laura, Jammin’ Josiah, Kit Kat Kirstin, and Smiling Shayan and we rode together for a few miles. Then we saw lightning, so we made our way to cover to wait out the bad part of the storm.

While there we all just talked and goofed off and enjoyed the fact that we were getting to cross our first state line that day. Once the lightning stopped we hopped back on our bikes and rode off in search of Alabama.

I broke off again from the group and rode with Creeper Colleen, Killer Katie, Marvelous Morgan, and Menacing Megan. We were in the heart of ‘Floribama’ when we saw it. The state line!! Of course we had to stop and take a few pictures in the pouring rain.

Can you tell we were excited??

Once we took our obligatory photos, we got back on the road in search of lunch. Still pouring rain, mind you. And we came across another one of those irritatingly large bridges. Those already suck, but add wind and rain and they really suck. But we made it! Lunch was in a church parking lot, so there wasn’t too much relief from the rain available.

In addition to crossing a state line we also were going to get to ride on a ferry. But the ferry ran at very specific times, so we had to make sure to get there by 1 in order to make the 1:30 (missing the ferry would cause a huge delay since it ran every hour and a half). Well, I was still trucking along at my healthy pace, and ended up rolling into the dock with Laura, Kirstin, Shayan, and Josiah at 1230ish. Well, apparently this was a very good thing because the ferry was behind and they were sending it out right then and then wouldn’t be sending the next one until the scheduled 245. Which would suck. So we made the ferry…barely.

As you can see…being able to sleep on the deck was a welcome perk.

Once we made it to the other side, it was back to business. And ANOTHER freaking bridge. However, this was a mean bride because not only did it go up, but it had a double whammy. It went up once at a reasonable incline, then as you were coming down you looked ahead and thought “oh wow…look at that tall building up ahead” only to realize it was no building…it was the second part of the bridge.

Not only was it super steep, it was also along the water, so the wind was ridiculous.

And it only got worse. The road we were on went along the coastline, and that gentle “sea breeze” that people just love at the beach was not so lovable anymore. The cross wind was making it nearly impossible to keep the bike in a straight line as well as move forward. My good mood from the morning was quickly disappearing. I could a tree line in the distance, so the goal was just to make it to the trees.

Once I found refuge in the trees and the breeze got cut, I was able to go faster than the 8 mph I was doing in the wind. Near the end I caught back up with Laura, Kirstin, Shayan, and Josiah. We finished up our journey together and rolled into the host shortly after 4 with 97(ish) miles done for the day.

Once we arrived at the host, we heard the troubling news that one of our riders went down on the bridge and had been taken to the hospital. The cross breeze apparently got the best of her and she got really banged up. So we decided to make her some get well cards while we waited for her and our leader to get back. Then, as if the day hadn’t been stressful enough, we were unloading the trailer and the same person who had passed out before passed out again. Thankfully, we have a few riders going to med school and two of them took charge of the situation and handled it really well. The emt’s came and checked her out, and she went with one of our other leaders to the hospital to make sure she was A-OK.

Since we had a build day the next day, everyone was excited about our extended curfew. I also had a friend from Tuscaloosa-who is a B&B alum-who was coming to build with us and then ride to Biloxi with us. Once he got there, he graciously offered to take a few of us to a place around the corner to hang out and relax.

All in all, the day was a huge mix of highs and lows, but the satisfaction of crossing our first state line was a very huge high that couldn’t be taken away.

Centuries for days

Pensacola. One of the few places with a school more strict than Bob Jones. And we’re going to be arriving there. In spandex. I hope they’re ready!

That morning we went through our usual breakfast routine (we got to eat PANCAKES and eggs!!) and route meeting. Then, as we are getting ready to leave, Curious Claire challenges Hairy Hannah to a competition of who can hold one of those drink fizzies in their mouth the longest. Hannah won, just so you know. It was also slightly disturbing.

I was rolling with Jolly JB and Excellent Elle and today was a big deal because it’s our first century day! A century day, for you bicycle newbs, is one where we bike +100 miles. I was a little nervous because my knee pain had only been getting worse, and today was supposed to be hilly. But, the plan was to bike as long as possible.

So off we went! We heard there was a lake (it naturally formed into a circle which I think makes it unique), so we decided to do a quick lap around it.

Shortly after we got back on our route, my knee not-so-kindly informed me that today would not be my first century day, and I called Claire to come rescue me in the van. So, I got to ride with Claire and Jubilant Jamie for the remainder of the ride.

Since the ride was over 90 miles, there were 2 lunches for everyone that day. Before we even reached first lunch, we got two distress calls. One was from Elle whose hip was acting up and she also needed to be rescued. The other was from Creeper Colleen who ran over a piece of debris and messed up her rear derailleur ( amazingly enough, Dashing Dan was able to zip tie it back together and have it be able to shift gears still).

Once everyone got back on the road after first lunch, we went in search of a spot for second lunch. Around mile 70ish, we were informed of an old abandoned gas station that would make a good spot. So we parked and unloaded and waited for everyone to come and eat.

There was a gnarly headwind that day, so everyone was exhausted by the time they got there. There was definitely some serious bonking going on, as well as many people taking naps.

Once sweep finished with lunch, we set off to reach our final destination. The 15-20 miles were mostly beach riding, and we decided to take that opportunity to get out and hang at the beach for a few minutes. The sand was amazing white and the water felt FANTASTIC.

Once we finally arrived, we immediately left (again) to take some bikes to the local bike shop. While we waited for Claire to come back once we finished, we walked around and took in the local hotspots. Granted, we had our bikes with us, so going in anywhere required a little more effort since we had to lock up our bikes.

When we got to the church, everyone was gathered to listen to affordable housing presentations. At around 10, we finished those up and went off in search of places to unroll our thermarests. Laura and I crashed on a couch/ottoman combo mainly so we wouldn’t have to get out the thermarests (because when you find out you have to wake up at 430 the next morning, you’ll do anything to save some time. Including sleeping in your jersey and chamois). We had a 95 mile ride the next day, so everyone kept the inflatable pillow talk to a minimum and rested up for another long day.

Hangry Pains

Well, our time in Panama City has come to a close and we are now off to DeFuniak Springs! It’s another short ride, only around 60 miles or so.

But first…let’s talk about breakfast. Oh em gee. It was AMAZING. We had French toast ( my personal breakfast fav) with a delicious icing/syrup, fruit, milk, and cupcakes! The cupcakes are to help balance out all the sugar from the French toast. Of course.

I originally intended on riding solo again, but managed to catch up to Hairy Hannah and Kit Kat Kirstin. I told them I’d probably be going slower since my knee is still giving me serious issues. They were kind enough to be okay with that, and let me ride along with them.

We took turns leading, and by the time it was my turn to lead, I knew lunch would be close. So I told them I’d lead until lunch. WELL, lunch is normally in the middle of our ride, so we tend to look for it at that midpoint mileage. Since it was a 62 mile ride, we knew it would be around mile 30-35ish. Well, by mile 36 and still no lunch, I was starting to get a bit hangry. Shocker, I know. At that point we hadn’t taken any breaks, and my knee felt like it was going to rip in half. I told Hannah and Kirstin I needed to take a break for a minute or two to give my knee a break.

While we were stopped 2 other groups showed up, also tired and hangry. We called Daring Dan to see where our blessed lunch was at, and he informed us it was only 4 miles away. 4 miles. I got that. I think…

Apparently the last 6 miles were where the rolling hills started (of course). So I was already incredibly irritable because of my dangerous hangry level, but my knee was also really giving me problems, which only added to my bad mood. Then, up ahead in the distance I see it. Not lunch. A huge hill. I had so many mean thoughts rolling through my head at that point that the anger is what fueled my trip up the hill. Then, l actually did see it. LUNCH. Everyone rolled up into lunch within 30 minutes of each other and Dan made the comment that it was funny to see how everyone’s moods changed after getting to eat. At least one person was able to find humor in the situation…even if it was a little cruel.

After lunch, Loopy Laura and I set out to finish up the ride. The hills never lessened, and my knee was on the verge of falling off. We hit a couple hills that I actually got off the bike and walked up because the popping was getting so bad. At the last mile there was another massive hill that I had to dismount on due to pain. I told Laura to go on ahead since I was barely moving. Then Kit Kat Kirstin and Hairy Hannah showed back up and walked the rest of the hill with me. Once we reached the top, we hopped back on the bikes and finished out the ride into the church.

Once at the church, we were shown where the showers and rooms were and we devoured the snacks they had made available. Dinner came and went in typical B&B style and we were given a mini concert by some of their church band.

That evening Laura and I crammed onto a small single person mattress and managed to not push the other off. We got to have some fun and interesting conversations with Gregarious Greg, Daunting Dusty, Magic Micah, and Marvelous Marlee.

Tomorrow we head for Pensacola! Whoop whoop!

1 tire, 2 tires, 3 tires, 4…seriously?

Happy (belated) Memorial Day everyone!

After spending the afternoon of the previous day in the van, I was ready to get back on the road. I decided to fly solo since I wasn’t sure what my pace was going to be like. It was actually really nice to bike solo. I was able to spend a good bit of time just thinking about the past few years and how I had changed through all the ups and downs that have occurred. The scenery was GORGEOUS as well.

But, despite the view being gorgeous, I still having some struggles. I got my first flat of the trip about 4 miles into my ride. So that put me into a bit of a bad mood pretty right off the bat. But, as if getting an actual flat wasn’t irritating enough, when I pumped up my spare tube, there was a hole in it. So I’m on the side of the road with two punctured tubes. Not exactly the highlight of my day. While I was busy talking harshly with my bike, Jubilant Jamie pulled up and kept me company (and likely kept me from flinging my entire wheel into the brush). So I get my tube patched and pumped and tart out. About 3 seconds later my tire was completely flat again. Which only improved my growing frustrated mood. My patch managed to pop off the tube, so I repatched it and got back onto the road. All in all I had lost about 40 minutes of ride time. Not how I wanted my day to start.

Since it was a short 60 mile day (who would have thought I’d ever call 60 miles short?) AND we went through a time change, we got to hang out at the beach for a while during lunch. A big group of us actually got in the water and swam around for a while.

The swim was definitely a huge boost for my mood. Well, I say it was the swim, truth be told it’s the group of people I’m with. I am amazingly lucky to be with this group. In less than two weeks, we have managed to become incredibly close and have opened up with each other numerous times. Everyone is willing to help everyone in whatever way possible, even if it is just standing on the side of the road and offering up a few jokes to lighten the frustration of a flat tire.

Once I got dried off and dressed, I set back off. And about 10 or 15 miles I had yet another flat. So I flung open my saddlebag and took out the worlds worst patch kit and began fixing my THIRD flat tire of the day. At this point, I was just ready to get there and get off my bike. I was about 15 miles out from the host and my tire deflated AGAIN. At this point I was so irritated that I contemplated giving my bike to the first car that passed me and just walking the rest of the way. Which was ironic because a car pulled off to the side of the road to offer some help. While I told them I was fine, it was nice to see that there are strangers who are willing to help.

Machine Gun Maddie came up on me and stayed and helped me use my second to last patch. We then cranked it out and managed to roll into the host together about 2 hours early.

Once we got into the host, Loopy Laura, Excellent Elle (can you tell who I have a lot in common with?), Magic Micah, and Jammin’ Josiah decided to go to Chic-Fil-A and get milkshakes. Along the way, Josiah managed to fall and catch his leg on his front cog, so he had to go back to get treated. I definitely double fisted some chic-fil-a (large lemonade in one hand, large peach milkshake in the other).

That night we were fed some delicious lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and cupcakes. We also played some intense rounds of Cards Against Humanity, then Laura, Elle, and Daunting Dusty and I played Egyptian Rat Screw and SlapJack.

That night Laura and I made Dusty create some space in the quiet corner he found. We then made him participate in girl talk. I’m sure it’s going to the highlight of his trip.

Oyster Capital of Florida

Well, it’s back to life on the road. We enjoyed our day “off”, but as some dude named Robert said, we still have “miles to go before we sleep”.

Today our journey would take us from
Tallahassee to the thriving metropolis of Apalachicola. The total population rounds out at about…2200 people. So needless to say, it’s an itty bitty town. But I hear there’s a cool downtown there.

I began my ride like any other. I rode along with Liz Lemon today, but shortly into the ride I noticed my knee was beginning to hurt. It was progressively getting worse, so I made a feeble attempt at going easier, but that didn’t last long. The temperature for the day was going to be over 90, so I knew two lunches were happening. My goal was to make it to first lunch, then play it by ear from there.

Our sweep challenge for the day was to take a picture with a local, so when we stopped at a gas station, we met Danny who riding a pretty sweet motorbike. He agreed to let us take a picture with him and his bike.

Our lunch stop was pretty epic today. We cranked it out over a bridge and saw the van at the bottom. We got to have lunch on the beach…again. And that’s why I love this route. We were able to go swimming if we wanted, however, soggy chamois (pronounced “shammy”) are NOT fun to ride in. So some people (like Champion Charlie) got creative.

While at lunch, Curious Claire gave me a band to wrap above my knee. So, with my cool new tan line creator in place, I was off again. My next goal to just to make it to second lunch. Well, it wasn’t in the cards. My knee wouldn’t calm down, and only got worse. So I swallowed my pride and called the van. So I rode the last 30 miles with Machine Gun Maddie and Can’t Go Wrong with Gaurang.

Thankfully, it wasn’t absolutely horrible. Second lunch was once again at the beach. So Maddie, Gaurang, and I hung out and splashed around in the water for about 45 minutes before heading to Apalachicola.

Upon arriving at the church, Loopy Laura and I decided to go walk around the little downtown. We stopped in at a little boutique and talked to the owner for a while. She was incredibly nice and talked to us about how the town used to be much more lively before the BP oil spill (they collected 90% of Florida’s oysters, and 10% of the country’s). She said things are slowly coming, but that it is still a struggle.

We walked back to the church to grab a few more people and went back to walk around downtown. This time it was Laura, Excellent Elle, Killer Katie, and I. We went into another small shop and got to talking to that owner as well. He gave us an even more in depth history lesson, and allowed us to have some Tupelo honey straws for free.

That night we had a low country boil for dinner! It was SO GOOD!! It was the first time for a few people to experience a true southern delicacy.

Every Sunday we also have a family meeting where we discuss an issues there may be, as well as give props to everyone for a good week. At the end of the meeting, Liz Lemon and Daunting Dusty were given some prize money for raising over $4500 in their fundraising efforts.

Following true biking day fashion, we had zero issues going to bed that night. All in all, Apalachicola was a really cool little town that I wouldn’t mind going back to one day.

Building in Tallanasty

Finally, after 5 days of intense riding, sweating, and chamois butter we finally got a break in the form of a build day. We were building with Good News Outreach in Tallahassee.

We were shuttled to the build site in three different groups, and upon arrival we were ushered into an air conditioned room with breakfast laid out on a table. Once everyone arrived, they let us loose on the food. Since we hadn’t ridden the entire day, we were a bit more civilized than usual. Plates were still bowing from the weight of the food on them, but we actually breathed in between bites.

Once we finished eating, the folks who run Good News talked with us about their organization and what they do for the low-income families of Tallahassee. Once they were done, we were taken to the actual site we’d be building and helping at for the day. Tom was our site supervisor and explained what our tasks for the day were.

Our ultimate task was to create a gap between the mobile home and the wooden supports underneath the house to prevent termite damage to the homes. We would need to chalk out a line, have someone saw along the line and remove the wood, then drill in the metal support pieces in between the gaps of the house and wood. Once all those things were done, we’d then have to drill in new wooden planks along the top of the cut to make it more aesthetically pleasing. And they let a bunch of 19-25 year olds do all of this.

In addition to feeding us a delicious breakfast, they also served us lunch. Which included pimento cheese! I was SO excited!!

Once lunch was over, we went back to work on the homes. Over the course of the day, we were able to completely finish 5 of the homes. Some of the community members’ children came out and helped us with various tasks.

Once we finished, we went back to the trailer and waited on the van to come get us and take us back to the church.

Upon our arrival back at the church, people took showers, naps, and walks. Our dinner was very quiet since we were all still pretty tired. After dinner we gave our Bike and Build presentation to the folks who hosted us at the build site that day.

Florida’s Got a Donk

Well, as I mentioned at the end of my post yesterday, today’s ride was supposed to have some hills. But Florida’s supposed to be flat…right? HA! WRONG!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First. The route meeting. It went down like every other meeting. With a couple exceptions. First, since the temps were supposed to exceed 90 degrees, we were told we were getting 2 lunches. HUZZAH! Then, Curious Claire decided to have us play an amazing game called “statue of love” (or something like that). Basically, 2 people start off in the middle of the circle, and each person gets to move one body part on one of the two people wherever they want. Then, every fourth person switches with one of the people in the middle. Obviously, it stands to be an incredibly hilarious game. And it was. My abs were killing me. That’s right. Abs.

Once the game was over, we were off to Tallahassee. I rode with Loopy Laura and Excellent Elle today. (side note: Loopy Laura is absolutely hysterical and manages to make every situation hilarious. Excellent Elle seems quiet, but has a very quick wit about her as well. They both are fabulous) We only had a 58 mile day ahead of us, so we ready to roll.

The first third of our ride was cake. We were cranking out a good speed, stopping about every 10 miles to hydrate and have our first lunch. We were golden.

Then came the hills. Apparently when people say Florida is flat, they must mean in comparison to Mt. Everest. Those hills kicked my butt. But Elle and Laura were cheering and encouraging me the whole way. It definitely helped provide that little bit of extra motivation. My legs felt like limp spaghetti noodles for most of the ride.

Oh! And the sweep challenge for the day was who could chalk the best
motivational quote on our ride today. So we stopped at a roadside stand and Elle chalked out our quote: whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.

We rolled into second lunch (we sound like a bunch of hobbits) a little before noon. And it was so needed. My legs were screaming for a break. We had rolling hill [mountain] after rolling hill and my legs were getting weaker and weaker. Not to mention I was running on minimal sleep from the past few days as well.

While we were stopped at lunch, Laura and I went inside to get some ice for our bottles and camelbaks. There were some old men in there and they struck up a conversation with us. Thy also helped carry a bucket of ice out to our cooler.

As we were getting ready to leave, a guy rolled up with a bike full of panniers (bike bags). He told us (in his oh so sexy European accent) that he was biking around the world. By himself. Talk about being one-upped. He had been at it for 1 year and 2 weeks. He was averaging 130 miles a day, and was finishing up the US in Jacksonville. Oh, did I mention his bike weighed 130 lbs? Ridiculous.

Anyways, so we got back on the road, and we added a few people to our group as well. Killer Katie, Musical Molly, and Menacing Megan joined our crew. My legs still hadn’t quote recovered from the first batch of non-stop hills, so the last third of our route was quite seriously almost life ending. There were hills I was barely making at 6 mph. Thankfully I had my trusty Laura there to cheer and pull me along.

There was one particularly large hill that I’m pretty confident was an extension of Everest that we climbed. Thankfully, for once, there was shade at the top. In the form of an amazingly large tree. We stopped under the tree for a few minutes to gather more strength.

I finished out the ride with Menacing Megan and my legs were totally done (she had stopped to fix her chain). We got to one particular hill that ended up being the final straw for me. We got stopped at a stoplight that was at a steep incline, and upon it turning green, I missed my clip and fell. With a line of cars behind me. So, while uttering grumblings under my breath, I walked my bike up the rest of the way. Once I caught back up with Megan, we made our way to the church.

A few missed turns later, and we finally arrived. And everyone else who was already there was either passed out or close to it.

Upon arriving and taking a shower, I realized I was starving and wouldn’t last til dinner. So Laura, Elle, Corina, and I made our way out to find some cheap food. After all, we were on FSU’s campus, so there was bound to be a bunch of places. Right? WRONG. We walked for what seemed like forever before finally finding a subway that was open. So after inhaling our 6-inch subs, we headed back to the church to eagerly wait for dinner.

And it was well worth the wait. We had a delicious spread of penne pasta, broccoli, and garlic bread (which I one again ate). We managed to look like complete barbarians again with our disgusting eating habits.

After dinner, a group of us played Cards Against Humanity and got in an awesome ab work out from laughing.

Now, tonight was special. We got to celebrate our extended curfew because we have a build day tomorrow. So we get to stay out until 1 am. And we were not going to just let this opportunity pass us by. So a bunch of us got dressed (in our fresh clean laundry!!) and headed out to the town. We managed to make it to a place called Madison Social to grab our celebratory drink as well as hoping to find a dance floor. It ended up being Loopy Laura, Excellent Elle, Machine Gun Madeline, Curious Claire, Creeper Colleen, Menacing Megan, Liz Lemon, Musical Molly, Daunting Dusty, Gregarious Greg, Can’t Go Wrong With Gaurang, Smiling Shayan, Champion Charlie, and myself. A few other folks went to a smaller brewery to hang out.

We managed to barely make curfew, but knowing we got to sleep in until 7 am was our motivation to stay up later than we probably should.

Tomorrow’s build day should be fantastic. We will be working with Good News Outreach here in Tallahassee.

Also, here’s a picture of my ultra sexy tan lines

Welcome to the World of Headwinds

Well, my legs are really, really, really sore, but not broken. I am both happy and sad about this.

We had another early morning departure since we would be going a longer distance today. We had our route meeting like normal and got our info about the ride that day. The day before we had a rider pass out on the ride, so we were told over and over again to stay hydrated and take breaks often. (the fallen rider is okay, she took a day off and rode in the van)

I began my day with Loopy Laura, Magic Micah, Champion Charlie, and Killer Katie. However, their pace is MUCH faster than mine, so at our first stop I switched and rode with Marvelous Marlee and Musical Molly. Along the way we picked up Curious Claire and Jubilant Jamie. We were able to keep a decent enough pace, but there was one major hindrance that day: HEAD WINDS. Let me explain what a head wind is: this invisible force meant to drain all your energy and happiness while you ride. We switched off who rode in the front in an attempt to keep our exhaustion to a somewhat minimum. Didn’t work.

By lunch I was pretty sure my leg muscles had been replaced with jelly. Then came the second half of the day. And I was pooped.

Again, we stuck with Claire and Jamie. We took many breaks to make sure we stayed hydrated and energized. Along the way we came across a small fenced-in area of cows. We pulled over to see them, and I think they were just as intrigued as we were. They all came over to the fence and just huddled around trying to figure out who we were.

Shortly thereafter, we split off and I stayed with Claire and Jamie. Then as we began going up gradual grades, I broke away from them and continued the last bit solo. Did I mention there was a gnarly headwind all day? Because there was. And it sucked.

I finally rolled into the KOA we were staying at shortly after 4. As soon as I put up my bike, I headed to the pool. In my sports bra and chamois. It felt amazing. No. More than amazing. I don’t even know that there is a word for how it felt.

So, as you probably guessed, we camped out last night at the KOA in Perry, FL.

We also go our first mail drop!! I was greeted by a sweet package from my awesome mom, Keith, Gramz, and fam. It was filled with delicious goodies that I will probably eat tomorrow. All of them.

We had a delicious dinner of lasagna, salad, and garlic bread (yes mom…I did eat garlic bread…it’s amazing what you’ll eat when biking nearly 80 miles). After dinner we had some affordable housing presentations and discussions. Magic Micah gave his presentation as did Awesome Angela and Really Rhys.

Once presentations were over, we were dismissed to go to bed. Which was welcomed with open arms. I heard our next ride has some hills…I think I may need to fall off this curb near me…