Holy Hill

Note: this post is completely random and tends to go from one thought to the next quickly. But I’m a pretty random person so it just comes natural. Feel free to skip over my rambling wherever you feel is necessary. Yesterday was my first time to successfully change my bike tube all by myself! I’m pretty proud that I did it myself without any help but all it takes is a little patience and time. I must have had a really good tube because it lasted for about 400 miles. Anyways today I had a 30 mile bike ride planed for after class since I had already ran quite a bit before class. I thought 30 wouldn’t be bad at all but I decided to do this on a new trail (actually it was a highway with cars swooshing by but it had a pretty good shoulder so I’ll call it a trail). Well it ended up being the single hilliest ride I’ve ever done in my life. Arkansas really is hilly compared to where I’m from (Texas for all of ya’ll who do not know). It ended up being pretty hard but I’m very glad I found this new “trail” because it’ll be great training for the 3 weeks I’ll be in Arkansas. I almost averaged 16 mph and I honestly have no clue how fast or slow this is because I’m new to this cycling thing. If I had to guess though I would say it’s more on the slow side. Hopefully that will improve as I start to ride with people and get used to cycling. When I first started cycling, which wasn’t that long ago, I was averaging a little under 12 mph and riding 15 miles was a huge accomplishment so I think I’ve come a long way. I’m no stranger to endurance sports as I have run cross country competitively for the last 8 years. I think my cross country background will help me a little with cycling. Or at least I won’t be surprised at the pain that comes from cycling great distances. I was actually worried when I made the commitment to do Bike and Build that cycling all summer without running any would have a negative effect on my cross country season this fall. Ha! Then I realized that biking up to 115 a day (average 70) isn’t exactly like I’m sitting on the couch all day watching Dr. Phil and eating ding dongs. Hey I might even come back in even better shape. And if not it’s all good because I would have rode with some neat people, helped others, and obtained some amazing tan lines. I guess that’s it and now I have to go study :( Peace

24 days!

I can’t believe how fast time has gone and how close I am to the start of the trip. It’s really going to happen! In about 3 weeks I’ll be sitting on a seat that is half the size of my butt while sweating like crazy for 4-9 hours everyday. All in all I’m pretty excited but I have to admit I’m a little nervous. There’s always the question in the back of my mind asking if I’ve trained enough for this. Then I realized the other day that one can’t really train “enough” for this. In order to be fully prepared you’d have to spend like 5 hours a day on the bike and that’s just not gonna happen. I mean we’re going to be going over the Rockies. The freaking mountains! I think the best thing to do training wise is to get in shape enough so your body won’t go through complete shock at the fact that it’s got to peddle 70 miles per day. I believe I’ve done that. Ok so I hope I’ve done that. We’ve still got 3 good weeks and although I still have to be here at college to take a mini semester for that whole time, I think I can get in a few good rides.
As far as gear goes, I’ve got most if not all my bike supplies (still contemplating on aero bars) I finally broke down and bought a seat that actually allows me to sit down after riding :) I also realized that butt cream for chaffing is most certainly something that one should never skip on to save money. I learned the hard way that butt cream is right up there with food. You need it or you will not survive. It’s going to be one amazing summer!

Minivans

So I had a very interesting but unfortunately unpleasant experience with a driver while biking yesterday. It ends up with an older woman in a minivan chasing me down. But I’m getting ahead of myself and should probably start from the beginning. Well I’m riding down the back roads, enjoying myself, singing a little song, and just taking in the scenery. Out of nowhere this women, who looks to be in mid 50’s, drives toward me but won’t move to the left or right(it’s a narrow road). There’s nowhere for me to go but somehow I narrowly miss her. It was one of my closest calls. So as she’s driving away I turn around and do the whole hand motion that involves shrugging your shoulders and moving your hands upward as if to say “hey what is that all about”. I continue riding and brewing about the incident but about a minute later I see the infamous minivan coming up on my side. This lady is yelling something out of her window looking pretty mad. She continues in this aggressive manner until I realize what she’s saying. She’s like “hey did you just flip me off?” Um nope I didn’t. I just give her a confused look until she drives off. So apparently shrugging your shoulders and raising your hands up isn’t something you should do because it looks as if you’re giving someone the bird. I guess next time I won’t do that. What’s so funny about the whole situation is that it’s an older lady in a minivan chasing me down. A minivan! I always thought that it would be like some big muscled up dude on a Harley that would tend to be aggressive toward cyclists. I’m just not used to dealing with aggressive drivers. It’s just weird to me that this would happen because in the small southern towns that I ride in everyone is really friendly. I wave, they wave. It’s generally a great area to ride. The only thing I worry about are the dogs chasing me and trying to bite. But sometimes…….

Goal!!!

Holy cow doesn’t even cover it this time. I met my fundraising goal! I can’t believe it! To say that the generosity of so many friends and family is overwhelming would be an understatement. I can’t say thank ya’ll enough. You have made this trip possible for me as well as contributed to the affordable housing cause. Thank you!!!!

This trip is getting closer and closer. And the fact that I’m biking across the country is becoming more real. It’s finally beginning to dawn on me. A few months ago biking across the country seemed so far away and almost like a dream. But this is actually happening and I can’t be more excited (although a little bit more nervous as I get closer). Honestly, I’m going to miss my bed w/ electric blanket, hot showers, transportation involving gas, and my running shoes. But all of this is going to be replaced with amazing things, all to be experienced with the company of amazing people, who I haven’t even met yet. In less than two months I’ll be dipping my back wheel into the Atlantic Ocean only to dip my front wheel into the Pacific a few months after that (its a Bike and Build custom).

Yesterday I did a 60 mile bike ride just to make sure that I could. It’s the most I’ve ever done in my life! I got a little lost at the end and actually missed one of my classes but at least I now know that I can do it now. And the weird thing about it is that today I didn’t feel sore at all (although the ride itself was pretty difficult) and actually got in a 5 mile run today. This is a very good sign since we’ll be biking more than that every day. It was a great ride all in all, no wind and very good scenery. But I did learn lesson # 5: do not hide your camelback (only source of water) on the side of the road at the beginning of the ride to lighten the load. I thought I would just take it off for a second and come back to get it after I finished checking how far a certain road will go. This is incredibly dumb. The road ending up being way longer than I ever thought, my exploring side wanted to check it out, and long story short I didn’t come back for it until mile 55. Needless to say I was very dehydrated but the lesson learned was worth it: stupidity makes one awfully thirsty.

Cows aren’t really holy but......

Holy Cow! I just opened my Bike and Build account to check for any new donations and boy was I surprised! I just had an influx of so many generous donations from friends and family. I just wanted to say thanks so much to everyone. You all have helped out tremendously and I’m well over half way to my $4,000 mark. I consider myself blessed to even be presented with this unusual opportunity and even more so for the encouragement and support of friends and family. Ya’ll have turned a bad, study filled day, to a super fantastic day and I am grateful.
As far as training goes, I’ve gotten in a few 50 mile rides over the course of spring break. So I think it’s going pretty good and I’m thankful that the weather has cooperated. I honestly don’t see me doing too many rides of that distance as I try finish up the semester. My goal is just to do a little riding or running everyday to keep in shape. Paper and project deadlines are getting closer and the workload isn’t getting any lighter. College, you gotta love it.

Riding against the wind is like swimming up stream

It’s times like this when I wish I weighed more than I actually do. I’ve never ridden in wind like I did today and the whole time I had to fight to keep from being pushed over. It was a constant 17mph with gusts at 27mph. I’m not too sure how that compares to the winds on the plains that I’ll be riding through but I hope it won’t be that bad. But something tells me it will and that I better just get used to it. The good thing is that I got in a 50 mile (the most I’ve done so far) ride facing the wind for the majority of the time and I felt pretty good. Though I must admit there were those times when I just wanted to throw my bike on the ground out of frustration and say a few choice words. But I didn’t. Other than that I’m just enjoying my spring break by doing nothing. It's great

Can't wait

So I finally did it. I finally fell off my bike! I guess fell off isn’t the right word to use since my bike was still attached to me by the clipless pedals. I’m not exactly too sure what happened but my chain did this weird thing in the middle of changing gears. It basically got stuck and the pedals wouldn’t turn. I was going up a steep hill, lost momentum, and fell. I didn’t suffer a severe injury, just a few scratches. I’m just glad I got it over with and now know it’s not so bad. I’m also thankful for this amazing weather here. It’s been sunny and 70 for the past few days so I’ve gotten in some great rides. I feel bad for my fellow Bike and Builders up north who probably can’t get out to ride because of the cold. I’m so ready to do Bike and Build this summer! There will be no research papers, neuroscience tests, sitting in class rooms, studying until odd hours of the night or figuring out what to wear the next day (highly fashionable bike shorts every day!) Although I’m not going to lie, I will miss my comfy bed w/ my electric blanket. It will just be me, a bunch of other crazy people, and the open road. We’ll be doing our best to lend a hand to those in need and pedaling like crazy every day while sweating bullets. Can’t wait