We had a tough few days leading up to this glorious day off in Pontiac, IL where I sit here writing to you from yet another lovely church full of lovely people feeding us and letting us sleep on our blow up thermarest mattresses and sleeping bags on their floor for free.
After Columbus we had a 75 mile day to reach Dayton, OH. I was riding as sweep that day with a cute blond girl from Texas on the trip named Hannah and we set off for a Starbucks the woman working at the Jewish Community Center gave me directions to. It was nice to see something so familiar since most days there are not too many chain stores or restaurants that we pass through our travels. We sat and had a nice cup of coffee and talked to a few regulars about our travels.
Overall, the day was great. It included a stop at McDonalds where I got a delicious chocolate milkshake and witnesses Hannah eating her first Big Mac of her life (very entertaining haha). We then made it to lunch and set off once again for our final destination. Unfortunately, we missed a turn shortly after lunch and ended up doing an extra 10 miles on the day to make it 85 instead of the planned 75. The terrain has gotten pretty flat by now though and the wind was pretty comparable to what I am used to riding in back home in FL, so it was not too dificult a day for me and I actually really enjoyed it.
It's really cool the contrast between the colors of the extremely green fields, the golden parts where they gro wheat, and the huge blue sky... it really was a gorgeous day for riding and I was happy to be out there enjoying it all and trying to soak it up as much as possible.
Dayton was a great city to spend two nights in due to the overwhelmingly warm welcome we received from the church, local Habitat, and City of Dayton itself. After a delicious dinner provided by our hosts, a few of us snuck upstairs to watch the church choir during their rehersal. It was an incredible experience. The congregation is made up primarily of black Americans, and the choir was no different. They were all so full of joy and you could see how they put every bit of their soul into their singing. They all had beautiful voices that nearly brought me to tears during one song. It was really fun to watch them sing and dance and be so happy to live in the moment. I truly enjoyed listening to them.
The next day we had what I think was our best build day so far with the Dayton Habitat for Humanity. They have three lots they are currently working on in the same neighborhood so we were able to do a lot of different types of work from dry walling (which I am now an expert at if you ever need any help in that area) to more landscaping (aka manual labor) to pouring cement for the foundation of on the future houses. The Chief of Police even came to give us a speech and thank us for our work in Dayton. The media also showed up and taped the presentation as well as interviewed a few of our riders. We heard we made both the 7pm and 11pm local news, but never saw it. I think the leaders were trying to get a copy of it. It was a long day full of hard work, but it left us all feeling helpful and satisfied with our efforts.
We were more than rewarded when that night we went to the Dayton Dragons minor league baseball game. Habitat was kind enough to get us all tickets along with coupons for a free Dragons hat and $10 certificates that we could use to buy food with at the concession stands throughout the park. It was an awesome time that we all really enjoyed. Nothing gets better than summer baseball with some friends on a beautiful night in Ohio.
The next day we packed up for our ride to Hartford City, Indiana. We had our longest day so far ahead of us at 96 miles. Luckily the Chief of Police extended his efforts to us once again by providing us with a police escort out of the city. We not only had two officers on bicycles, but also had two police cars complete with flashing lights to stop traffic for us at red lights. It was probably one of the coolest experiences I have had so far on the trip. We seriously felt like we were in a parade or something with all the people staring at the spectacle we were making riding by. I asked the two officers on the bikes if they felt like riding with us the entire 96 mile day with promise of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, but they declined (though the sandwiches did sound
tempting they admitted haha).
The rest of the day although long and at times fairly hard wasn’t too bad until the last 10 or so miles when the clouds became dark, the wind picked up, and it looked like it could start pouring down rain at any minute. We saw lightning and immediately pulled into the first place we could find cover, which happened to be a small car mechanic shop on the side of the road. We were really lucky it was there since there literally was nothing else around except for fields and houses
and cows. As soon as we pulled up to the front door and were about to turn the knob to go in, a woman opened the door and ushered us in. At this point the thunder and lightning were terrible and no sooner than we got inside it started torrentially down pouring. The mechanics were really nice and let us stay there until the storm passed about 45 minutes later. The church we were staying at ended up being only a couple miles down the rode… we were so close to beating the storm, but yet so far.
The next day was an 80 mile ride to Lafayette, Indiana. This was a really tough day for me since I decided to go way to fast and push myself way too hard for the first 40 miles of the ride. After lunch, the second 40 miles were brutal and I was so tired that at one point without realizing how close we were to the church, I felt I could not pedal anymore into what we later heard were head on winds of up to 35mph, and I had to stop and take a rest for 15 minutes or so. The church was only a few miles down the road, but from confusion of road signs, we thought we still had like 10-15 more miles. I was very happy to see otherwise and collapsed on the floor when I got there never feeling more happy to be done with my day of riding. We actually had a tornado warning later that night where they made us all go into the bathrooms and wait for about a half hour before they told us it was safe to come out. The storms and weather has been pretty strange so far for our trip.
88 miles to Gilman, Illinois was the last of our really hard days. This day was the hardest of the entire trip for a bunch of people on the trip. I definitely thought it was hard, but for me personally a couple days in CT and PA climbing the mountains was way harder. I think just the combination of three 80+ mile days in a row and the strong head winds all day left people cursing Mark Bush’s name (the originator of Bike and Build; why did he think it was a good idea to ride east to west against the winds?). We all made it though (plus there was our first time change when we crossed the Illinois border) and we were greeted by a girl on the trip’s parents who are Korean and made us an authentic Korean BBQ dinner. The food was amazing! Homemade dumplings, grilled veggies, rice, and much more was provided and it was all so delcious and a great change of pace from the food we are normally fed 
on B&B. It was a real treat that everyone really appreciated.
Thankfully, the ride to Pontiac, Illinois was only 44 miles. I had a great day of riding! I rode a lot of it alone which was a nice change. Since it was so short, and the weather was so beautiful it gave me a good amount of much needed alone time to soak up the sun, scenery, think about a lot of different things, reflect on where I am currently
at in my life, and sing songs to myself. I really enjoyed my day of pedaling =)
Pontiac is also where we had our first real complete day off (1 of 3 for the entire trip). I woke up this morning and went out to a great breakfast with some of the greatest new people in my life. We laughed, recapped the events from last night’s trip to the bar, and enjoyed the great food, coffee, and company. The rest of the day I spent cleaning my bike, watching a movie, eating, and
napping. It was a much needed day of rest and recovery that we all were so happy to have. Tomorrow we are off once again though on our bicycles for Peru, Illinois. Although it is a short only 50ish mile day, we are getting up at 5am to leave an hour earlier in hopes of arriving early in Peru. I Bike & Build alum from the Central US route last year lives close by and is throwing us a pool party =) Should be a good time. As much as we all loved our day off, I think we are all refreshed, anxious, and more than excited to get back on our bicycles and keep on pedaling.
I’m still in awe sometimes of where I am, and the fact that I have ridden my bicycle here. From talk at the bar last night, I am pretty sure we are well over 1,200 miles of riding so far and about a third of our adventure is already over…. Unreal.
We were more than rewarded when that night we went to the Dayton Dragons minor league baseball game. Habitat was kind enough to get us all tickets along with coupons for a free Dragons hat and $10 certificates that we could use to buy food with at the concession stands throughout the park. It was an awesome time that we all really enjoyed. Nothing gets better than summer baseball with some friends on a beautiful night in Ohio.The next day we packed up for our ride to Hartford City, Indiana. We had our longest day so far ahead of us at 96 miles. Luckily the Chief of Police extended his efforts to us once again by providing us with a police escort out of the city. We not only had two officers on bicycles, but also had two police cars complete with flashing lights to stop traffic for us at red lights. It was probably one of the coolest experiences I have had so far on the trip. We seriously felt like we were in a parade or something with all the people staring at the spectacle we were making riding by. I asked the two officers on the bikes if they felt like riding with us the entire 96 mile day with promise of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, but they declined (though the sandwiches did sound
tempting they admitted haha).The rest of the day although long and at times fairly hard wasn’t too bad until the last 10 or so miles when the clouds became dark, the wind picked up, and it looked like it could start pouring down rain at any minute. We saw lightning and immediately pulled into the first place we could find cover, which happened to be a small car mechanic shop on the side of the road. We were really lucky it was there since there literally was nothing else around except for fields and houses
and cows. As soon as we pulled up to the front door and were about to turn the knob to go in, a woman opened the door and ushered us in. At this point the thunder and lightning were terrible and no sooner than we got inside it started torrentially down pouring. The mechanics were really nice and let us stay there until the storm passed about 45 minutes later. The church we were staying at ended up being only a couple miles down the rode… we were so close to beating the storm, but yet so far.
The next day was an 80 mile ride to Lafayette, Indiana. This was a really tough day for me since I decided to go way to fast and push myself way too hard for the first 40 miles of the ride. After lunch, the second 40 miles were brutal and I was so tired that at one point without realizing how close we were to the church, I felt I could not pedal anymore into what we later heard were head on winds of up to 35mph, and I had to stop and take a rest for 15 minutes or so. The church was only a few miles down the road, but from confusion of road signs, we thought we still had like 10-15 more miles. I was very happy to see otherwise and collapsed on the floor when I got there never feeling more happy to be done with my day of riding. We actually had a tornado warning later that night where they made us all go into the bathrooms and wait for about a half hour before they told us it was safe to come out. The storms and weather has been pretty strange so far for our trip.
88 miles to Gilman, Illinois was the last of our really hard days. This day was the hardest of the entire trip for a bunch of people on the trip. I definitely thought it was hard, but for me personally a couple days in CT and PA climbing the mountains was way harder. I think just the combination of three 80+ mile days in a row and the strong head winds all day left people cursing Mark Bush’s name (the originator of Bike and Build; why did he think it was a good idea to ride east to west against the winds?). We all made it though (plus there was our first time change when we crossed the Illinois border) and we were greeted by a girl on the trip’s parents who are Korean and made us an authentic Korean BBQ dinner. The food was amazing! Homemade dumplings, grilled veggies, rice, and much more was provided and it was all so delcious and a great change of pace from the food we are normally fed 
on B&B. It was a real treat that everyone really appreciated.Thankfully, the ride to Pontiac, Illinois was only 44 miles. I had a great day of riding! I rode a lot of it alone which was a nice change. Since it was so short, and the weather was so beautiful it gave me a good amount of much needed alone time to soak up the sun, scenery, think about a lot of different things, reflect on where I am currently
at in my life, and sing songs to myself. I really enjoyed my day of pedaling =)Pontiac is also where we had our first real complete day off (1 of 3 for the entire trip). I woke up this morning and went out to a great breakfast with some of the greatest new people in my life. We laughed, recapped the events from last night’s trip to the bar, and enjoyed the great food, coffee, and company. The rest of the day I spent cleaning my bike, watching a movie, eating, and
napping. It was a much needed day of rest and recovery that we all were so happy to have. Tomorrow we are off once again though on our bicycles for Peru, Illinois. Although it is a short only 50ish mile day, we are getting up at 5am to leave an hour earlier in hopes of arriving early in Peru. I Bike & Build alum from the Central US route last year lives close by and is throwing us a pool party =) Should be a good time. As much as we all loved our day off, I think we are all refreshed, anxious, and more than excited to get back on our bicycles and keep on pedaling.
I’m still in awe sometimes of where I am, and the fact that I have ridden my bicycle here. From talk at the bar last night, I am pretty sure we are well over 1,200 miles of riding so far and about a third of our adventure is already over…. Unreal.
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