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.

Wow Texas has the weirdest weather ever. If you don't like the weather here wait a day. Yesterday I had to bundle in layers just to help my dad on the farm. Today I just got through laying out in the middle of the pasture on our farm in a bathing suit while reading a book. This is December! I only have a few days left before I go back to school so I thought I would relax a little. But before I go back to school I plan to go with my college campus ministers team to New Orleans and help build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Doing this will prepare me for all the houses we're going to build this summer. I'll learn how to put shingles on the roof, sheet rock on the walls, and caulk in the cracks. Better yet I'll learn how to swing a hammer without injuring myself or those around me. Well since it's so awesome outside I think I'll go for a bike ride now. Peace.

What I'm doing

So I've decided to trade in my running shoes this summer for a new set of wheels. And I'm not talking about a car. I'm biking across the U.S this summer (Providence, RI to Seattle, WA) with an organization called Bike and Build. Me and about 30 other people my age (who come from all different parts of America) are doing this to help with affordable housing. We are required to raise $4,000 but it will go to help the cause. What's really cool is we get to stop along the way several times to build houses for people. So I'm really excited about all this and if you have any more questions just ask me. I'll probably add more stuff about this in the future.

So today I decided to bike instead of run. It's getting closer to time so if I want to be ready for this then I really need to start biking a whole lot more and give my running shoes a little break. I thought I'd do a 2 hr. bike ride because it was nice outside. I realized the hard way that 1.) dogs hate bikers with a passion and will try bite despite trying to talk to them in that little doggie voice 2.) Hills are fun. The downhills at least :) and 3.) I really need to buy some bike shorts very soon. It hurts to sit. But it was a really fun ride and I think I'll have a good time training for this thing.