Hey. It's been a while

Well I’ve been really busy here lately. Classes are getting more demanding as the semester wears on and I’ve been doing my best to prepare for this upcoming summer. I got in a 40 mile bike ride the other day. It’s the most I’ve ever done by far and actually went really well. I felt like I could do more and I wasn’t sore the next day (it was still difficult though) On top of that I didn’t fall of my bike once! My goal is to do one really long ride once a week and increase the distance by five or ten each time until I get my mileage up there. Then the rest of the week I plan to run or bike some more. The only problem I foresee in this is finding the time. But I’m sure if I practice better time management (less facebook!) then I can get it done.

There is also a possibility that I’ll be able to go back to New Orleans during spring break and help build houses again. It was a good experience when I went a few months ago and I thought I’d learn even more going back again. The only problem is getting the money to do it because right now most the cash I get goes to my Bike and Build fundraising goal of $4,000.

I just got through running my 3rd half marathon. I’ve been training for that so now since that’s over I can really start training on my bike more. This half marathon was my worst and slowest one yet (maybe b/c of the heat) but I’ll leave out the gory details (just look at the before and after pictures on facebook) I’ll just say that at this moment walking down the stairs right now is barely manageable and a jog around the block is unthinkable. But I’m sure I’ll experience soreness like this countless times as I bike across the country so I need to adopt a suck it up type attitude and go for a run or a ride tomorrow.

My cool new bike

So I finally got my new bike a few days ago. It’s a specialized Allez triple and I’m sure that means nothing to most of ya’ll. I didn’t know what one was a month ago either. And let me tell you I was missing out.. Before getting the bike I had never sat my butt down on a real road bike. I just rode around on hybrids and thought that was fun. But I just took the Allez on a test drive and it was amazing! I didn’t realize what a huge difference a road bike makes. It’s so much faster, easier, and just simply more fun. I went on a 28 mile ride and that felt much easier than if I did a 15 mile ride on my hybrid. This bike most defiantly gives me more confidence about riding cross America. I have to admit though it’s going to take some getting used to. The bent over riding position of a road bike will probably make me a hunch back for life (hey we’re riding 4-8 hours a day). Due to my substantial lack of coordination, the clip-on pedals will probably cause me to fall over a few times while trying to get on (but that’s what helmets are for!). But all in the entire bike is amazingly amazing :) and I can’t wait to ride it this summer! So I better leave you with that thought before I sound too much like a bike commercial.

It's hard to think of a good title for these things

Well I still have a flat tire. That means my total bike milage this week is 0. But I've been running a lot so I'm not too worried. I got in a good hilly 10 miler the other day so if I can run the hills then my theory is that I can bike them too. I think :) The awesome news is my new bike is about a week or two away from being here and then I'll really get in some good training. Oh I got a job at our university starbucks. I'm pretty happy about that because 1.)it gives me extra money to get good bike stuff and to donate 2.) Employs get free coffee! This is absolutly great since I'm probably their best customer as it is. Too bad they're losing some good business. As far as fundraising goes, I'm going to have to do somthing different but we still have a few months. Peace.

Baby it's cold outside

Lesson #4(Lessons 1-3 in Previous Posts): Do not eat 3.5 PB& J sandwiches and attempt to run directly after.

Good news: I’m going to get my road bike from Bike and Build here pretty soon!

So I’ve been back in school for over a week now and it’s been crazy. At the begining of other semesters I just kind of ease into the work but this semester I had to jump right in. It will be one of my toughest semesters because of all the biology classes but I guess I’ll learn a lot. Plus I have this summer to look forward to.

I got in a pretty long bike ride and it’s a lot different than riding back home. Here in Arkadelphia, Arkansas if you’re not riding down a hill then you’re going up. It makes for great training though and once I get an actual road bike (I ride a hybrid) it will be twice as fun. But that was the last ride in a really long time because a few days ago I just discovered that my tire is completely flat. This wouldn’t be a problem if I had a tube but I used my last one a few days ago and the nearest bike shop here is about a 2 hour drive. There’s no way I’m going to make that anytime soon because of this crazy schedule. Not the best preparation on my part. So now I’ve just been doing a whole lot of running to at least stay in shape. Other than that I’m just trying to keep my head above water and get back into school/study mode.

Stupid rut

Well fundraising is not going very well right now. I'm trying to get a job so I can contribute to the cause. I'm also working on getting in my school newspaper so I can spread awareness. But I'm in a rut and I need to think of something creative. But what?

Antarctica

So I just got through taking the most amazing shower of my life. You may be wondering why or most importantly what this has to do with biking across America and building houses along the way. Well I just got back from a mission trip in New Orleans. We spent a week building houses for Habitat for Humanity in the 9th ward(the place most devastated by hurricane Katrina). So on the first day after being gone all day building, we came back dirty and tired, and proceeded to take a nice, hot shower. I quickly realized, after hearing the unpleasant screams of my team coming from the showers that this dream would not become a reality. No hot water. This wasn't just cold like it would be if there were no hot water heater. This cold was like someone had imported ice from Antarctica and proceeded to melt it above our heads. But what I'm getting at here is that I learned an important lesson while standing under the shower fighting off frostbite. Aside from good ol' fashion character development one can only obtain from having freezing cold water dumped on their head, I learned to put things in perspective. Here I am complaining about a little cold shower while others have lost their, valuables, homes, and even loved ones to hurricane Katrina and Rita. It's the least I can do to sacrifice a little comfort to help those who have lost so much more.
Building houses for a week has been an insightful and cool experience. I learned how to hammer quite well without the sacrifice of my thumb. My fingers were less fortunate. I also met many neat people who were just as driven to help out. Although Katrina hit more than 2 years ago the damage is still evident in much of New Orleans. Countless houses that were once homes are now just sitting there because the damage is too great for anyone to occupy them. There's still so much sand everywhere and some roads in residential sections aren't paved. But it's getting better due to the work of many volunteer organizations and the people who help out. The only downside to all of this is I haven't been able to run or bike for a whole week. I'm not to worried because the building, hammering, climbing, cutting, falling off ladders, etc. isn't exactly a walk in the park physically. But today was my first day back running and I must say it felt great. All in all I gained some insight, some building knowledge, and had fun helping out with habitat for humanity.

Lactic Acid = :(

So I've gotten a lot of things done since the last time I've posted. First, I finally got some biking shorts! I'm so excited but I must say they will take some getting used to. It's not like it makes me feel like superman in tights or anything. I've been anxious to go for a spin in my brand new shorts but it's been cold so I've mainly stuck with running. But I did get in a 27 mile bike ride for my second time. That might not seem like much but it's a huge thing to me because I'm not quite used to this whole cycling thing yet. But I will be. And I'm glad to say that it was much better this time around because sitting down on our furniture was a lot less painful. I think the best thing about the ride was that I did not get chased by one single dog!
The next really cool thing that happened was that a couple of newspapers came and interviewed me. I just told them how awesome bike and build is and how I want to help with affordable housing. It was neat. So thanks for all of y'all who read the newspaper and are now checking out my blog. Well that's about it except to say Happy belated new years.