A Superior Day Off & Ride Into Superior

Hello from Superior, Montana and the local public library. =)

The century ride into Helena was awesome. For some reason I felt really good all day, and overall the ride went smoothly with a few stops for lunches, Hannah Wagley getting some prickly stickers out of her chammys, and some pee breaks. Although it was windy at points, it really wasn't too difficult a day with a lot of downhills and flats involved with a few short climbs in between. I enjoyed riding behind Barb and listening to her jazz and other choice of music for part of the second half of the day blasting from her i-pod speaker she has hanging out the back of her camelback. The worst part of the ride was about 20 miles left when I realized my camelback was leaking uncontrollably. It leaked all down my back and into my chammys, which ended up soaking them and making the last 15 miles pretty unbearable due to a very wett butt that was asking for chaffing.

Everything turned out ok, though, after some mild confusion on finding the church, and more confusion involving showers. We were suppose to showe at a nearby gym, but when we got there they were closed (since it was Sunday) and we could not get in contact with the woman who was suppose to be there to open it for us. We ended up heading back to the church where some people hose showered. Dinner was provided that night by the church, and it was a delicious burrito bar complete with homemade corn salsa (so good!). After dinner people walked to another gym about half a mile away to shower, but I was feeling lazy and anxious to get to a bar to watch the Red Sox/Yankees game so decided to "man up" (that's for you Sohia lol) and use the hose. It was extremely freezing, but I lived. bunch of us went to a cool microbrewery to watch the baseball game. The Sox won (yay!), but still ended up losing the series 2-1 (oh well, better than getting swept right?).

The next day we had a fairly short ride of 55ish miles into Lincoln, and I was feeling so tired all day. After about 7 miles or so in the morning, we started climbing a mountain pass, which at first did not seem to be too bad. I was tired and riding alone because I was cranky and didn't want to pass my bad mood along to others when I thought I was getting close to the top of the mountain. I went around a right turn, and then saw the steep switchbacks lurking ahead of me. I was totally not mentally prepared for this climb at all, and it was pretty brutal for the rest of the climb. It was not as steep as Teton Pass for the most part, except maybe the last couple switchbacks, but it was definitely longer. Getting to the top was really nice. People were cheering and the van was waiting for us with food. The decline wasn't even very enjoyable because the wind was so bad it literally almost whipped us off the road more than a few times. I had an all around tough day, which included more camelback leakings and wet clothing, and was so happy to get to the high school we were staying at.

I took a shower, and layed down on my Thermarest with intentions of reading my book (Devil in the White City) when I woke up 2 hours later with the book in my hand (unopened) lying in a pile of my drool. I passed out and took the best nap ever, that was MUCH needed and it felt great. I ended up reading, and finishing my book, before a dinner of cold cuts for sandwiches. A handful of us walked to the restaurant next door to the school, "The Pit Stop", for after dinner ice cream. I got a cone of chocolate soft serve that was good, but Lisa splurged and got the Huckelberry ice cream that I was a little unsure about, but after my taste of hers I can honestly say it was delicious. I got a pretty good night's sleep (a rarity for me on B&B) in the hallway of a school that has all grades from K-12 next to the lockers.

The ride to Missoula was really good. I rode with Lindsey all day, and it really helped set a good pace for me as well as keep me in great spirits. Knowing when we got there we had a day off the next day also helped a lot. It was a really pretty ride and we got to follow the river for a good majority of the day, which was really nice. The water was so clear and shallow in most places you could see even from the road on my bike straight down to the bottom and see all the stones. It was really cool. The green mountains surronding us here in Montana are gorgeous and make for such a great place to ride. We got into Missoula, showered, made dinner (whole wheat spaghetti and sauted veggies with olive oil and stewed tomatoes with the itlalian seasonings in them- thanks mom, it's a big B&B hit with the riders), and got ready to go out and explore Missoula's night life.

We found a cool bar to hang out at for most of the night and we all enjoyed the evening. I slept later than I have on any other day of the trip (9:15 am) and woke up to people already out and about and around town. I set lofty goals for my day that included making myself an omlette (spinach, mushroom, and cheddar - turned out so good!), finding a new leak free bladder for my camelback (had to call 4 different stores, and bike 3 miles to get it, but success), and nap. All goals were accomplished. I even went tubing down the river with about 10 other people. Frannie found a place that picks you up in a cool bus, lets you rent tubes, drives you up the river, you float down, and then they pick you back off and drop you off. For $12 we found it to be a good deal and decided to give it a go. If the water was warmer it would have been way better, but unfortunately it was FREEZING! We floated for a while and it was quite an adventure, and fun, but about five or six of us ended up getting out and walking the last mile and a half out of five to the place the bus was picking us up because it was just way too cold and we thought we were going to get hypothermia. Poor Lisa's feet were practically blue when we got out and it took her a good 20 minutes of walking before she got feeling back in them lol. It was probably a funny sight to see us girls walking down a major highway in our bikinis and carrying tubes. We got a couple honks from truckers (so unneccessary). =S

Missoula was by far my favortie day off, and I would love to go back and see more of the town some day. I was a little sad to leave this morning, but it was not as bad as the other days after a day off. I had a great ride in the morning with five people, and then stopped with Frannie and Dubansky for coffee a little less than 20 miles in. It was nice and relaxing, and my body felt really good after the rest the day before. I rode with the girls to lunch at a great park, and made myself a sanwich and enjoyed the grass with Julie (the girl who broke her arm came back in Missoula!). I ended up leaving lunch alone and riding the next 20 or so miles alone. It is nice to ride alone sometimes and think and be able to really soak up and enjoy the scenery. Plus you just need some alone time on B&B or you might go crazy lol. I stopped about 7 miles from Superior when I saw bikes on the side of the road. Some riders decided to go swimming and I went down to say hi. I put my feet in and that was about it since the water is just way too cold for me. The rest of the ride was so pretty, as was the general trend for the day. We are staying at Superior Elementary School tonight and then heading for Wallace, Idaho tomorrow.

It's crazy, but there are only 9 days of biking left, and 2 build days and then we will all be saying goodye and heading back into the real world and real life. I don't know where the whole summer has gone so quickly, but in less than 2 weeks B&B will be over. I think we are all trying not to think about it and just enjoy the time we have left. I know it's going to be mixed emotions when our adventure is over. All I'm hoping is that other people have flights around the same time I do because if I have to go to the airport alone I think it's going to be really sad. I am hoping someone else will be there, and we can say goodbye and go to our respective terminals. I just want to hold on to Bike & Build for as long as I possibly can, until the last moment when I have to go get on my plane back to Ft. Lauderdale...

PS- not very many pictures from Montanta due to the fact that I thought my camera was broken for about three days. I was suspect that my leaky camelback had damaged my camera that I normally keep in my jersey pocket, but turns out I just needed to change the batteries in it... whoops ;)

Teton Pass & More

We started the day into Ashton, Idaho by climbing the much talked about Teton Pass. I was really nervous and excited going into the start of the climb, and when we got to the bottom there was an overwhelming feeling like "ok this is it, there's no turning back now". I started climbing with Dubansky, Lindsey, and Marita and ended up catching up to Kourtney and Kate. We all slowly chugged up the enourmous 10% grade climb that left us taking multiple breaks in between and moving at about 4-5mph. Although it was by far the toughest climb we have ever done, and will do on the trip, taking us about an hour and a half, it was still manageable due to our new cycling fitness.

Climbing Teton Pass was one of the most exhilirating experiences I have ever accomplished in my life. The feeling you get from all the hard work climbing up a mountain is so incredible. The best part of the entire climb was getting to the top and having everyone up there cheering you on. =) It was so awesome that all of us stayed and waited for the very last one of us to climb the mountain and cheered each other on until the very end. It really brought us together as one cohesive unit, and we all shared the moment blissfully. I really felt like I was on a team again, and it felt amazing to share the accomplsihment with so many people I've come to care so much about.

The decent was so fun! But also a little scary. I reached 45 mph before my trouble ridden computer stopped working. It was really cool to go that fast, but the switchbacks provided some tight turns that required a lot of hard braking and hoping that my brake pads were not worn out after 3,000 something miles. Luckily, it all turned out ok and provided an amazing and safe decent right into Idaho.

The rest of the day was somewhat anticlimatic since Teton Pass was such an emotional high, and then we still had about 50 miles to ride. For some reason I also had it in my head that after Teton Pass there wasn't going to be much climbing, which turned out to be extremely wrong. Idaho was full of hills and some short climbs, which was fine, but I was just not mentally prepared for them. Idaho was really pretty though; it reminded me a lot of Iowa except you could see the mountains to the right. The best part of the whole ride after in Idaho was that you could see the back of the Tetons and knowing that we just climbed over them... wow.

The next day we biked into West Yellowstone, Montana. I decided to take the day nice and slow, and use it as a recovery day in preparation for the following two long days. The 55 mile ride was really pretty with mountains and great company. I rode all day with Frannie, and we took our time and arrived in West Yellowstone just as the first shuttle was leaving to go to Yellowstone National Park. Frannie and I scoped out the public library for a bit before the second shuttle came back to take us to the park. We took a scenic drive once insde and saw the most amazing scenery including rivers, moutains, trees, a bear, and some deer. It was so beautifel. It was also really crazy how much damage there was as far as trees being knocked down and dead due to a wildfire years ago.

We went and saw some geysers, hot springs, bacteria ponds, and bubbling mud. It was all so unbelievable and like nothing I have ever seen in person. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see Yellowstone. I feel like it's a place you hear about, and see pictures of, but there's nothing like experiencing it yourself in person. I would love to be able to go back again one day and spend more time there. It's so huge, and we only got to see so little. We did go for a swim too in the river, and it was really fun until Eagle Scout Jake had to ruin it all and tell us there were leeches... I definitely got out immediately.

Today's ride was so amazing. I never knew it was possible until today to have 80 miles of downhill. We even got to bike through part of Yellowstone National Park, and it was so gorgeous. The ride today is my second favorite so far of the trip. My first still being the ride into Jackson, WY and then today is a close second. I rode pretty much the entire day with Sophia who had 3 flats for the day, but nothing could keep us down with the amazing scenery and complete downhill trend of the ride. We seriously flew the entire 90 mile day at an average of 20mph. It was the most fun ride, and one of the most scenic. We followed a gorgous river the whole day until coming into the town of Bozeman. Which was so cool coming into and being able to see mountains surrounding you on three out of four sides of you... so incredible.

Tomorrow is going to be a 100 mile day of mostly flats and downhills once again (yes!). We are heading for Helena and hopefully it will be a cool town to explore for a bit when we get in, if we have any energy left to do so. Otherwise, I am looing forward to our day off in Missoula which is quickly approaching, and hoping for the return of Julie on that day. She is going to the doctor soon and seeing if the cast can come off and be replaced with a brace instead. The last message I got from her didn't sound very optimistic, but I am crossing my fingers since I miss that girl like crazy. I am also trying to see if I can find a rodeo in Missoula for our day off. I think it would be really fun for us to get to see an authentic rodeo in the wild west lol. We will see what I can find.

Wyoming... Fo Sho the BEST State

First let me apologize for not being able to update the blog in quite a while (due in part to no internet in places and mostly due to laziness), but let me hopefully make up for it with lots of gorgeous pictures of the most amazing state I have ever seen.
This is my ode to Wyoming...

The two rides into Casper both turned out to be short, under 60 mile days, as planned (isn't weird that those are now considered "short" rides now lol). Douglas and Casper were both great rides with the scenery ever changing and pleasing to the pupils. We had our build day in Casper, which was a really great town that I wish I had gotten the opportunity to explore more. Since we were staying at a campsite on the opposite end of town, and I was too lazy to get back on my bicycle and go into town, I just never got around to it while we were there. We all rolled up to the campsite expecting to have to pitch tents and camp, but were pleasantly surprised when we found out the campsite was allowing us to stay in the lodge on the floor for the two nights we were spending there. Yay! It was a treat to have air conditioning, nice showers, and a great campfire the night before our build day. We all hung out around the fire, made smores, and chatted until bed time. And of course the great fire was made by Jake Curtis aka Eagle Scout extraordinaire, but everyone else that night kept referring to him as a "Man Scout" instead of Boy Scout. =) Overall it was really nice to just relax a bit and chill around the fire with some good people.

The build day was with Habitat and for the most part it was a really productive day with a lot of projects going on to keep most of us busy. We were all starving though since they didn't really feed us enough at lunch, didn't seem to have enough water and mostly had sodas, and we were at the build site until later than expected. It was a bad combo that led to dehydration and/or altitude sickness for a few people, as well as a general air of exhaustion and crankiness due to the heat, dust, dirt, long day, and not enough food/water. Luckily the Habitat was kind enough to provide us with dinner. And not just any dinner, but a buffet! They sure made up for the screw up the night before of forgetting to provide us dinner, and the lack of lunch and H2O at the build site with the all you can eat buffet. People took major advantage of the situation at hand and definitely stuffed their faces to the point of being full beyond belief. We all reasoned the gluttony away with thoughts of the next day's 98 mile ride through complete desolation to Shoshoni.


Brooke has a book with her on the trip that tells all about the geological formations throughout Wyoming I believe, and it also talks about the landscape etc. It has a passage in it about the ride from Casper to Shoshoni, describing it as one of the most boring drives you can ever take. It says it is completely desolate, and there is absolutely nothing to look at and no gas stations, towns, or anything for almost 100 straight miles. Needless to say after reading this and then talking to locals who confirmed the description, we were not looking forward to this near century mile day.

The day and ride turned out to be surprisingly good. Despite the fact that there really wasn't much out there the entire day, the scenery was still cool enough to distract us (thank you Nebraska for making us appreciate Wyoming's beauty to its fullest) and we even got to experience Hell's Half Acre at 1st lunch. Hell's Half Acre is this really awesome canyon that Native Americans used to drive their cattle down into to slaughter them. The view was so cool! I wish we could have stayed longer, but since it was such a long day we all got back on the road after refueling and exploring the canyon. The rest of the ride went really well, with the wind dying down, and a majority of the way being slightly downhill. We all stopped at an amazing malt shop as soon as we got into Shoshoni that we had heard about from locals who highly recommended it, and it did not let us down. I got a mint oreo milkshake that was so good! We stayed that night at the Shoshoni Firehouse, which was kinda cool, but also a slight disappointment when we got there and 1) there were no firemen and 2) it was a one story building with no cool pole to slide down... oh well.

The ride into Lander although a short day left me feeling tired. It was only about 47 miles, and the first 20 or so me and a few other riders were flying. I was feeling good, the Wyoming scenery was not letting me down on beauty, and we were just enjoying the ride until Brooke got a flat and we all stopped to help her. We went from being the first group to last when sweep caught up with us, but it was fine since we cruised the rest of the way to lunch. After lunch, with only 16 miles left, the wind picked up quite a bit and I think the century ride the day before was catching up with my legs and I was tired. I managed to finish out the ride though and arrive in Lander hungry and happy to be there. I got an omlette with Marty and then ended up falling asleep in the grass at the town park while he changed a flat.

We woke up to people discussing going for a hike the heard about from some locals and Marty and I decided to join. 17 of us piled into the van and took the short 7ish mile scenic drive up one of the mountains where the hike began. The hike was really fun and at view at the top was so cool. There were waterfalls and everyone was in good spirits from the natural beauty surrounding us. Dinner was really good and I was really hungry. I ate a lot haha and lets just leave it at that. The best part about staying in Lander was that we all got to have a host family for the night. Me, Frannie, Hannah W., and Ashley got to stay with Donna and her adorable 3 children. Donna also let us do some laundry, use here hot tub, take showers, and made us pancakes, eggs to order, and toast in the morning. I felt like we were at a spa. It was nice to sleep in a bed and really be taken care of for a night in a real house.

Dubois was a beautiful 75 mile ride through the Wind River Indian reservation. I decided to take it slow and use it as a recovery ride day since 1) I was tired and 2) in preparation for the ride the following day in which there was going to be a lo of climbing. I ended up having a great day in which I rode the entire time with Lindsey. We just went at a nice pace, enjoyed the scenery, each other's company, and made it feeling good about the day. The church we stayed at was a tiny Lutheran church that was so cute and seriously looked like a log cabin. I have totally fallen in love with the west and their cute small towns and architecture, and of course gorgeous untouched natural beauty. I don't see myself living here though I don't think, but it is definitely a wonderful place to visit and vacation.

The ride into Jackson is one we had all been anticipating for weeks. We had heard so much about Jackson Hole, how beautiful the ride was going to be, how hard the climb was, and how we would be able to see the Teton Mountainis once we got over the climb. Everything we heard was true, and lived up to all of our expectations plus a million times more. The climb was pretty long, 20 miles, but gradual enough grade that it was doable at 8mph up the majority of it. We had our 1st lunch at the top next to a beautiful lake where we shortly after passed the sign for the Continental Divide and learned we were 9,000 something feet in the air (no wonder it was freezing up there).

After first lunch, I cannot even describe the rest of the day and just how amazing it was. The ride into Jackson was by far the best ride we have had so far on the entire trip. I don't think I stopped smiling the entire rest of the ride (55 miles!). My face kinda hurt at the end of the day haha. =) Once we started the decent (17 miles of downhill!) and made a turn to follow the mountain, there on the left in the distance you could see the Teton Mountains. We all started screaming and yelling out of pure joy and excitement. The Tetons are BEAUTIFUL! And extremely high. So high that the clouds were running into the tops of some of the peaks and there is definitely snow up there that you could see from the distance. After our unbelievable 17 mile decent, the rest of the ride was relatively flat. We ended up biking towards the Tetons and then turning south towards Jackson Hole and running parallel to the mountain range the remainder of the ride into town. We were all on an emotional high the rest of the ride. I am still in awe of the Teton's beauty. My pictures definitely do not do them justice. About 4 miles from town a bunch of us stopped to swim in a stream alongside the road. With the mountains setting the backdrop, it was a perfect end to a perfect day.

The build today in Jackson was unbelievable. Every single one of us was busy the entire day. The two site supervisors were so awesome. Trace and Katie were both way cool, organized, fun, and made our build day so enjoyable. The majority of us worked all day on different tasks preparing for concrete to be laid for the foundation of two sites. Around 2:30 we unexpectedly got to lay the foundation for one of the houses which was so fun. It was a great end to the best build day I think we've had so far. It was proof that when you have energetic, excited, good humored, organized site supervisors who know how to effectively us their volunteers great things can be accomplished, and the volunteers can have an awesome experience as well.

Tomorrow is suppose to be around a 75 mile day in which we are heading for Ashton, Idaho. We are going over Teton Pass tomorrow and I am a little nervous about it. I know it is going to be absolutely incredible to make it to the top. The view is suppose to be spectacular, and Wyoming has not been one to disappoint on these types of things. From everything we have heard from locals about Teton Pass, we are thinking it is going to be about 6 or 7 miles of really steep 10% uphill grades. Jake Stangel who has done the pass on the Central route last year says they pretty much went 4mph up most of it and it's near impossible to do it without stopping for a few breaks in between. I am anxious about how hard it will be, but know how empowering of a feeling it is to know I have propelled myself up there with my own body and sheer determination. It's overwhelming just how amazing a feeling it is and I know will be tomorrow. Hopefully you all enjoy the pictures, but I know they do not do Wyoming's beauty enough justice. I am going to try to get to bed on the early side to hopefully get some good sleep in preparation for my conquering of the Tetons tomorrow. =)

Horray Wyoming!

Today's 81 mile ride into Wyoming was awesome! The conditions for riding were great with the morning being cooler, no wind to fight, and the scenery was beautiful. We were all really excited to leave Nebraska and start seeing some mountains in the distance as well as rock formations and other fun stuff. The day off yesterday helped so much, and my body today felt great. I seriously don't even feel like we rode 80 miles today. I am a little sleepy and really hungry, but otherwise I felt like we rode like 40 miles.

We are staying in Lusk, WY at the Baptist church. The town is so cute! When we got in I went to the coffee shop and got a great iced latte. I also picked up some awesome Wyoming postcards that I am excited to mail out. If anyone would like a postcard sent to them by the way, just post your address for me or email it to me at j.lortie2@umiami.edu.

Tomorrow and the next day I don't think are going to be too long or hard of rides. I know we are heading for Casper where we have a build day, and supposedly it is only 110 miles or so from where we are now in Lusk so I'm assuming the next couple days are going to be fairly short. I am looking forward to the rest of the scenery from here on out until we get to Seattle. I know there are going to be a bunch of pretty tough climbing days ahead, but the views and mountains and gorgeous lanscapes should make it all worth it. Some how we all managed to survive the plains, cornfields, and headwinds... wow, I rode my bike to Wyoming....

Oh, another interesting fact. I am yet to get a flat tire on the road. Back in like Pennslyvania I think I must have ripped my tube at the valve when I pumped my tire up in the morning, but I rode all day on it without a problem. Then a couple hours after reaching our host site my back tire was completely flat with there being a rip at the valve I found when changing it.

Other than that I have no flats, and I don't really even count the slow leak I had as one. What luck! I highly reccommend Armadillo tires. So far they have treated me very well. Watch now I probably jinxed myself for talking about this on my blog, and next time I post I will probably have gotten like 3 flats in the same day or something ridiculous haha. I also have taken over 300 pictures now and ran out of memory on my card in my camera. I am going to save them onto my thumb drive later on tonight so that I will be ready to go now that we are in the wild west =)

Day Off in Chadron, NE

The ride into Chadron was gorgeous! It was a short 47 miles, and even on sweep we managed to get there before noon. I swept with Lisa and it was really nice to be able to share some quality time with her and learn more about her. We had a really great ride together. The weather was perfect, the terrain has started changing (less nothing-ness and more trees), and the wind seemed to just completely go away for the day. We cruised all the way to Chadron with absolutely no issues, no one getting lost (we've been on the same highway through the entire state so it's hard to get lost now), and getting in only a few minutes behind the last riders. It has been a really tough week of riding, and we all were in good spirits to have such an easy ride and a day off.

We all hung out last night at the local fair grounds, and had a great time laying in the bleachers drinking some beers, talking, and looking at the stars. We were in bleachers that overlooked a horse track, and some people thought it would be funny to pretend to be horses and "race". About five people got down there and started prancing around like horses, showing off and allowing us watching from the stands to place our bets on who we thought the winner would be. I chose Barbara, mostly because I had seen her run earlier and knew she was pretty fast. They sprinted about 50 yards and sure enough Barbara won due to my amazing screams of encouragement I'm sure lol. It was a good night that we all desperately needed.

Today people woke up around 8 or 9, which it's sad to say is sleeping in for us now, and I went with some people to get an egg and cheese sandwich and coffee. I'm now at the Chadron Public Library (so no pictures right now, but I'll add some when I can) with some other B&Bers. Plans for the day are not much; write some postcards, watch a movie in my sleeping bag, maybe nap, eat, and possibly walk around town. My bike also needs a good cleaning. So yeah, my agenda is pretty lame for today, but I have a feeling I'm going to love every minute of it. My body, and everyone else's, was really needing this time to do nothing and hopefully recover a bit.

Tomorrow we enter Wyoming! Hopefully that state will not hate my cell phone and I will finally get service again. I think it's suppose to be about an 80 or 90 mile ride, but I'm not sure. Ohhh and a girl on the trip, Brooke, cut my hair last night and it looks so good! I absolutely love it. She trimmed like an inch off, put 3 long layers in the back, and gave me some side sweepy bangs kinda. It looks really good. I straigtened it last night (can you believe a girl on the trip brought a hair straitener? lol) and it was so awesome.

ok, my time is pretty much up now (you only get a half hour of computer time in the library here) so I will say goodbye for now and leave with just one more thought. The weirdest/coolest thing about B&B is that no matter how hard your day was, how bad the ride was, how windy/hot/cold/rainy of a day it was, how boring of a ride it was...etc at the end of it I never can remember the bad parts. All I remember is how amazing it was, how much fun I had, and all the good parts. I think the trip has to be this hard at times to be able to really appreciate all the amazing parts through the day. Even though it's tough and both physically and mentally challenging, it is an unique adventure that only people who have done it can completely understand what I mean when I say at the end of the day all you remember is the good.

Not a Fan of Nebraska

Interesting fact about Plainview, NE: there’s a clown museum. I didn’t go… but I hear I didn’t miss much except a bunch of creepy clown stuff and a strange lady working there.

The day started off like no other day of my life up until this point, and I’m pretty positive no other day of my life will ever start off this way ever again. We had a nice 5am wakeup and by 6am were at the local bar for breakfast and bowling. Yes, this bar not only is open for breakfast every morning, but also has a bowling alley and tanning bed inside of it. We ordered our food and some people bowled while waiting for it to be ready. I ate a huge delicious breakfast, and sat around waiting for other people to finish since our food was coming out one plate at a time. I was not looking forward to getting on my bike and all, and stalled as much as possible hoping the time would not come where my butt would have to touch the seat, but eventually I was one of only a handful of people left and so set off on the 83 mile journey to Stuart.

Around mile 30 I was feeling pretty good, and wondering if it was possible that I had been hating my bike as much as I did this morning. There was s fossil museum we heard about from some locals where we had stayed the night before, and a few adventurous people decided to take the 7 mile (3.5 one way and 3.5 back) detour to check it out. It ended up being a great decision and probably the coolest thing I will see in Nebraska. About 12 million years ago ash from volcano eruptions in South Dakota traveled to Nebraska via winds, killing all the animals and also fossilizing their skeletons. They have been excavating the areas since the 1970s and have found fossils of all kinds of animal fossils like elephants, zebras, and hippos. It was so cool! They were even digging outside while we were there, and one of the geologist guys found a snake fossil, which he told us is like super rare. They thought it even might be a new species of snake that they found… so so cool. I can’t even tell you how awesome it was to see these fossils; definitely the best part of NE so far and the way things are going, I don’t see it getting much better.

After lunch the ride ended up getting tougher with winds and heat both increasing and civilization decreasing. We ended up getting into Stuart with a total mileage of 90. The people at the church were so nice, and one guy even chased down myself and another girl who were walking in the complete wrong direction to the local auditorium where showers were. He pulled up in his car and told us we were going the wrong way, then drove us to the showers; now that’s service (and it was so nice!). I talked to the nicest couple after dinner who were huge UN fans and we chatted about college sports and all kinds of fun stuff. Sleep came easy that night, and I woke up feeling positive about the ride to Valentine.

Valentine’s ride ended up being my hardest by far. It was an 87 mile ride that took so long. There were so many parts of the day that we were literally biking 10mph while going down hill. The headwinds were so brutal all day long and never quit. By the time we finally reached Valentine with its hearts on EVERY sign and place possible in the town we all just felt like flipping out slightly. People get loopy when tired on the bike, which is always quite entertaining though lol. My butt and body were hurting at the end of yesterday, and I wasn’t even sure how I made it into town, but some how we all just kept pedaling until we reached the church. They didn’t provide us with dinner, but one of the girls who rode in the van that day due to butt related injuries was nice enough to have dinner made for us when we all arrived. We had a salad bar and a taco bar and both were awesome. I was so exhausted I went to bed immediately after our group meeting around 9. Group meeting for the week or what we call our “Town Hall” meetings was interesting last night with a lot of talk about butt problems and saddle sores. We think it apparently may be spreading through the laundry and discussed experimenting with color safe bleach to try to better kill the bacteria that may be causing this epidemic… will keep you updated.

This morning I was not into the thought of riding my bicycle, again, for 93 miles. We were heading for Gordon, NE. Another long day… Brooke and I figured it out and after tomorrow’s ride and then our day off after that (finally) we will have average 86 miles a day over six days. The day actually turned out to be a lot better than I thought it was going to be. The sunrise and clouds this morning were gorgeous! The wind was bad, but not as bad as yesterday, and although it was still a long tough ride the company I had made it not so bad. The day actually started out really slowly since I stopped with a few other people to help a girl change her tire only to have it deflate immediately due to a bad valve on the new tube. We changed it again a second time and were finally off. By this point we were far behind everyone else, and that’s the way it stayed for the remainder of the ride. Unfortunaltey, a lot of riders ended up riding in the van today due to exhaustion and/or butt problems. I think the total number in the van today for either the entire day or part of the day was around 7 or 8. The van at one point had to actually go the church to drop people and their bikes off to make room to go pick up more people. My butt was crying a lot of the day, but it made it another ride and hopefully should last me until our day off after tomorrow’s ride.

I am sweeping again tomorrow (always interesting). Thankfully it is a short day of only 47 miles so hopefully it won’t be too long or bad a day. At this point we are all looking forward to our day off more than anything and that will provide plenty of motivation to get to the host ASAP. Overall, we have come to a consensus that we all HATE Nebraska (except the two riders from here). The scenery for the most part sucks (don’t be fooled by the few good pictures I have posted), the wind is AWFUL, and it is driving us all to the point of insanity and delirium on our bicycles. One guy was even having a conversation with the state of NE today… alone. Telling it how much he hates is and how he will not let it get the best of him… Marita pulled up in the van and witnessed some of it. We are all looking forward to being out of this awful state, and would suggest no one ever ride their bikes from east to west across this miserable state.

Nebraska ~ Holler!

Yesterday was a super eventful and LONG day that ended in all of us completing our first century (wow) and also entering the state of Nebraska, two of our riders' home state (whoooo!). The day was hot, long, and hilly, but all around a good day. About 10 miles before our second lunch, myself and Marty unfortunately missed a turn and had absolutely no idea until we were eventually chased down by Marita in the van who regretfully told us we had gone 5 miles too far. So we turned around (what other choice do we have on this trip? lol). Those 5 miles of backtracking revealed to us that not only did we go 5 miles in the wrong direction, but we were also going slightly up hilll and into the wind. It was not too much fun, but at least the 5 miles back were slightly down hill and we had a tail wind haha.

We eventually made it back to the right road, and were greeted with a monstrous hill (great). From there we kept telling each other (but I think it was more to motivate ourselves personally) to just keep pedaling and make it to second lunch. We eventually arrive, after more climbing, and collapsed in the shade. After some food and fluids for energy we set off again just ahead of sweeps with everyone esle already gone. The first few miles were rough since we were already at mile 90 and we were joking about how hard it was to even get above 9mph. After the legs started warming up again I think my body went into such a focused state of mind and energy I didn't even know I had began to kick in. I was so in the zone and just kept pedaling. Marty would try to talk to me and my responses were one word answers until it got to the point that he realized I was not in a chatty mood haha.

We evetually crossed over the bridge into Nebraska (extremely busy bridge full of cars and semitrucks; no picture was taken beacuse I was more worried about my life) and Frannie's mom actually called and left me a message in the middle of my crossing the state line ;) Getting the the YMCA was really exhilirating and such an awesome feeling. Marty and my's mileage for the day ended up being 115.7 miles... brutal. I think everyone else was around 103 (still a century - we rock!).

It was kind of funny how after the ride everyone showered, ate, and probably 75% of us were comfy in our sleeping bags and alseep by 7:30. Exhaustion had hit us all hard. The YMCA we stayed at in South Sioux City was really nice though. Definitely one of the nicest we have seen to date, and I was a little sad to not have taken advantage of the steam room, pool, or hot tub. Sleep was my number one priority, and I was totally one of the people sound asleep before a lot of Americans have even eaten dinner (oh what B&B does to your body).

We woke up today at the usual 5am for a 77 mile ride to Plainview, NE. The first half of the ride was awesome. I rode with Brooke the first 40 miles and our amazing convos made the miles melt away. We stopped for lunch at a great spot found by Shira. There was a cute snack bar type of walk up window thing where you order food with picnic tables outside of it. We all ate food from the trailer and most of us ended up ordering ice cream, smoothies, fries, onion rings and other goodies from the place. The mango smoothie was so delicious, and really hit the spot on such a hot day.

The second half of the ride was fairly uneventful, but a struggle for me due to increasing back/shoulder pain of the course of the past week or so and it just seems to be getting worse, the heat, and some butt pain, which I am hoping is not turning into a saddle sore (but am sad to think it might be). Hopefully I will be able to take care of these things early and they won't develop into anything that may lead to me having to ride in the van. I will keep you updated.

We are styaing at yet another church tonight and they are giving us dinner and breakfast (always a plus). There's about 15 of us crammed into the very tiny single room Plainview Public Library right now using the computers or reading the newspaper. I think we have overwhelmed the very old, but very kind, librarian. Us making a spectacle and people staring... what else is new haha. This was an impromtu internet stop though so I do not have my camera with me and cannot post any pictures at this time =( I will add some next time I can.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Stuart, NE about 70 or 80 miles away. These back to back to back long days are starting to wear on us a bit. We are all already counting down the days to our second day off on July 14th... soooo close. We have already been promised by locals that Nebraska, which we are in for 7 days, is boring and full of fields and nothingness. I am hoping they are wrong.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my awesome brother Josh! Sorry I can't be there, and sorry I didn't send a card, but I got super sweet postcards today so you can expect one in the near future. =)

Build Day in Carroll, Iowa

We left Clinton, Iowa with our route redirected towards Mount Vernon instead of the original Cedar Rapids due to flooding. The day ended up being about 80 or 90 miles and the entire way it was beautiful rolling hills. Unfortunately, one of the girls on the trip, Julie, had to be taken to the hospital that morning because her arm was hurting so badly from the night before when she thought it would be a good idea to participate in a Tae Kwon Do class (she’s a black belt) at the YMCA we were staying at. She was sparring with some 15 year old boy in the class who as she put it, was not in complete control of his limbs (haha), and he kicked her in the arm really hard.

This fiasco caused the van to have to wait with her at the hospital where they determined it was broken and had to cast her entire arm. =( This left the rest of us biking people for the day in the town of Lost Nation hungry and van-less. Yes, there is a town in Iowa called Lost Nation, and yes, we found it so we are not sure now if it is still lost or why exactly it is called Lost Nation since there were plenty of signs pointing out how to get there, but this is an entirely different story. Instead we all ended up at a Shell gas station where we had an impromptu lunch of purchased gas station food (mmm… yumm… crackers and cheese, tostino’s pizza rolls, burritos, chips, candy, ice cream, turkey sandwiches). The van was still an hour behind us at this point and we were starving with not many other choices. We decided to have a more formal lunch around mile 65 where we all got to sign Julie’s cast. Julie was in surprisingly high spirits, and even though she is a super optimistic and happy person in general who would probably look at this type of situation in a positive light, I feel that the pain killers they gave her at the hospital probably had a little to do with her loopy behavior =0 lol.

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Julie (we are now down to 29 riders, so sad) who is going home for a couple weeks and will hopefully be back to finish the ride with us once the arm is healed and cast is cut off. Marshalltown, Iowa was our place of destination for the 4^th of July and we were all sad to see Julie go, but excited for what our evening would hold. The ride once again, as is becoming a given in Iowa (my favorite state so far), was beautiful full of rolling hills, green green fields of never ending corn and farmland, and big blue skies.

Since our route was redirected to keep us from staying in our original destination city of Cedar Rapids because of the floods, we had to stay in Mount Vernon, but on our way to Marshalltown we did get to ride through part of downtown Cedar Rapids. The sight was so sad. It smelled bad. The flooding had destroyed so many of the houses. Nailed to every house were damage assessment papers which claimed the waters that caused the flood damage to be as high as 13 feet. We all literally stopped in the middle of the streets not knowing what else to do but stare. Household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, etc. littered the sidewalks and debris and trash was everywhere. It made me feel so bad that we couldn’t do anything to help. I felt terrible to just keep riding and not be able to stay and do something, anything, to help this community. This moment was, and probably will be, my low for the entire trip. It was a reality check I think we all sort of needed. It was a good reminder of our true purpose in this journey, and just how important the affordable housing cause is as well as general community service, helping people in need, and giving back to those who are less fortunate really is.

We got to the church we were staying at and dinner was still hours away and I was hungry. Town was less than a mile away and a few of us decided to ride back in to get a snack at the Sonic we had seen. As we were sitting there eating, more B&B cyclists started to arrive (I was in the first group to arrive that day) and we called out to them to come join us. By the end, about half our group was there and as always we drew lots of attention and curiosity from the locals who for some odd reason can always tell we are from out of town lol.

Showers were also an interesting situation that day since it was the 4^th of July and pretty much any place that we would normally shower (schools, YMCAs, gyms) were closed for the holiday. Our only option was the hose outside the church so we all put on bathing suits, and although the water was freezing, it was actually really fun. Dinner consisted of an awesome BBQ that we made for ourselves using the grill outside the church. We all ate and once it started to get dark we shuttled over in our 15 passenger van to a local park that we heard was having 4^th celebrations and fireworks. The night was perfect, full of relaxing, fireworks, and as always great company. We all laid in the grass together, using each other as a pillow, and talked, laughed, ate popcorn, and waited for the fireworks to start. It was definitely a memorable 4^th of July, and one that was totally enjoyable despite the fact that we were all so far from home and friends and family. We really have become a Bike & Build family… so cute =)

The ride to Ames was a short day of only 40 miles. It was a great ride that we all flew through and arrived in town in time for lunch. The majority of us decided to splurge a little and eat at a great Chinese restaurant we found in town. The food was fantastic, cheap, and satisfied all of our cravings for Chinese food. The rest of the day was spent for most people either at the coffee shop, shopping and running errands, relaxing, napping, or at an awesome bike shop in town. It was a great relaxing day that everyone was needing after the few long days before.

The ride from Ames to Carroll was another long one coming in around 83 miles. For me, and I think for a lot of others, it was a pretty hard day. The wind was blowing and we were tired. I passed the time and miles on the bike talking to Marty (one of my favorite riding buddies on the trip) and playing the “would you rather” game. You basically come up with two horrible options, and make the person choose which one they would rather do. It provides miles of entertainment. After coming close to delusion and having to ride on that horrible US 30 once again for about 5 miles, we finally reached Carroll exhausted, hungry, and excited for our build day.

A handful of us 21 year old also went out for “the best margaritas in Iowa” (yeah, not saying too much and they weren’t that great) and had a fun night hanging out and playing charades and naming fun facts. The best part of the night was the ride back to the host site where we stopped along the side of the rode, turned off the headlights, looked out into the dark cornfields and saw thousands and thousands of fireflies all lighting up sporadically as far as your eyes could see. It was so beautiful… I can’t even describe it. We all sat there in the van in complete silence and in awe of just how perfect and magical that moment was. When I close my eyes I can still picture them twinkling in the field.

Today was the build day with the local Habitat for Humanity and I thought it was by far above and beyond our best build day. We got to frame and raise the walls of the house they are building! It was so much fun to have a hammer back in our hands and feel like we were being really productive. Seeing how much we accomplished in that one day, and basically starting with nothing there, and ending with the frame of a house complete was such a great feeling. Although I still wish we could have done something to help Cedar Rapids and all the people who have lost their homes there, it was nice today to feel like we at least made a difference in one family’s life.

Tomorrow we are heading into South Sioux City, Nebraska which the rumor mill is saying is over 100 miles away (maybe 110ish?). Goodbye Iowa… you treated us Bike and Builders oh so well and we will miss you. Hello Nebraska and what we are predicting to be more endless cornfields… But on a positive note, tomorrow we will all finally have completed our first century mile ride! Oh, and also according to the rumor mill, sometime in the next couple days we are reaching the half way point of our trip. Time sure has flown by, and although 30something more days of this trip seems like a long time, I have a feeling it is all going to slip by way too fast.

I am Officially WEST of the Mississippi River!

The morning after our day off in Pontiac I was cranky. We woke up at 5am, I did not get enough coffee at breakfast, and my bum was feeling so nice after the day off my bike was not looking too good to me. The great thing about this trip though is that I had not other option than to get on my bicycle and head to Peru, IL. So that is exactly what I did.

I rode about 10 miles and found a gas station along the road we were on. I stopped, got a cup of coffee, and sat outside where I talked to some curious locals about our trip. The coffee was awesome and did the trick of immediately breaking me out of my grouchy mood (I think that means I'm also officially a caffeine feind, but whatever). The day was perfect, the wind not so bad, and there was only 50 miles until our destination.

The ride was a beautiful one, and it left me wondering why I didn't want to get on my bike that morning. Once we arrived at the host site we all put on our bathing suits for a pool party being thrown for us at a Bike and Build Alum's gf's grandparent's house (try to follow that one). The house was perfect, the weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and the company was as always fantastic. We all ate, swam, read, chatted, and lounged by the pool until dinner time when we went back to the church and enjoyed a pasta dinner. It really felt like at the end of the day that we hadn't even ridden earlier that morning it was so relaxing.

This morning we woke up once again at 5am (what we think is going to be the new wake up time to try and beat this brutal midwest wind) and set off for Clinton, Iowa. I was in a much better mood this morning due to the best breakfast we have had so far on the trip made for us by the cutest old church ladies I've ever seen in my life complete with three cups of coffee and I was ready to roll. The mileage was 81 miles with lunch around mile 45. I cruise to lunch with barely any trouble, had a great lunch full of wonderful leftovers and donated veggies from the Pontiac supermarket, and started pedaling once again for Iowa and rumors that we were going to be crossing over the Mississippi River.

After a windy and semi-dangerous 35 mile ride on a road under construction with no shoulder and 18 wheeler trucks whizzing past at uncomfortable speeds and closeness, the rumors turned out to be true (for once on B&B haha jk)! We did in fact get into Iowa, and then immediately biked over the monstrous Mississippi River, which I was thinking about it today and I believe today was the first time in my life I have ever actually seen the Mississippi River in person. It was so cool though! It looked exactly how they describe it in like the adventures of Huck Finn lol.

We are staying at the local YMCA in Clinton (on the Mississippi according to the town sign). The "teen club" here made us dinner and then challenged us to what we thought was a friendly game of dodgeball. Little did we know they were hustlers haha. They in fact are not just a teen club that does nice community service activities, but in fact they are also a competetive dodgeball team. After watching them warmup a bit I was scared and did not really want to play, but decided I needed to get over my fears and do it for Bike & Build! So we all got out there and got out butts kicked pretty good by a bunch of high school kids. I have never been so scared of high school kids in my life by the way... they throw those balls hard haha.

Tomorrow we were suppose to be going to Cedar Rapids, Iowa but the town was severly affected by the floods and our route hs been changed instead to another city. I am not sure where exactly we are going, but the rumor mill is saying that it will be about 80 miles away. Tomorrow's route meeting will tell all. The internet has been rather spotty by the way so that is the reason for no posts for the pretty long period of time. I am trying to post as much as possible and will continue to try my best!

Oh, if you guys are bored and want to laugh a lot, check out a blog of a Bike and Build route leader on the Boston to Santa Barbara route name Jose. We have officially incorporated into our morning route meetings a "Jose quote of the day" which displays just how ridiculous this guy is.

I have attahed the link to his blog below for your convenience... happy reading lol.

http://www.bikefleet.blogspot.com/