The past few days have been grueling when it comes to biking. We have gone through three sets of mountain ranges with high mileage each day. Amish and Mennonite country was super exciting (horse drawn plows and farm equipment!). And even though the climbs are hard, the views are amazing.
I will try to take more photos on the road and actually post them on facebook and picasa
Unfortunately I got sick recently and had to take a day off after completing the century day(100 miles of riding in one day in mountains). I pumped myself full of day quill to get through the century and pretty much collapsed that night. The next day I felt so horrible that I rode in the van and the leaders yelled at me to go to sleep as soon as I got to the host location. 10 hours of sleep later I felt much better and biked the next day.
Now we are in Pittsburgh and have a day off! It is a much needed rest for everyone, and we're all excited to check out the city and get out of our chamois and spandex(if only for one day)!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Building...er...moving furniture
We are in Poughkeepsie New York right now staying in a boarding house with real beds (yes, this is a big deal) After a few more days of biking across rolling hills and steep inclines we had another build day. While its not really a rest day, it allows our legs to have a rest while we help out Habitat for Humanity.
Yesterday's ride was epic. It was nice riding, not too hilly, but it was very long. 81 miles takes a long time when you're just starting out biking. A bunch of us wound up getting lost at the end when it started raining and we got into our host site 2 hours later than the 4:00 limit.
We were very cranky and needed a cookie, but settled for a hot shower.
All in all things are going really well. I had been having problems with my knee because of a tight IT band that rubs on my knee. Good news: I messed with my bike fit and it didnt hurt after 86 miles in one day!! Hopefully this keeps up.
Yesterday's ride was epic. It was nice riding, not too hilly, but it was very long. 81 miles takes a long time when you're just starting out biking. A bunch of us wound up getting lost at the end when it started raining and we got into our host site 2 hours later than the 4:00 limit.
We were very cranky and needed a cookie, but settled for a hot shower.
All in all things are going really well. I had been having problems with my knee because of a tight IT band that rubs on my knee. Good news: I messed with my bike fit and it didnt hurt after 86 miles in one day!! Hopefully this keeps up.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Mail Drops
Support me by Sending me things! I love food, or letters, or whatever you want to send!
Mail must be sent through the US Postal Service, and please make sure you send it with enough time to arrive by the pick-up date. If you mail misses us, then the post office will forward it to the mail drop two weeks ahead.
Mail should get addressed to:
Bike & Build
Attn: Jessica Leon
General Delivery
ADDRESS
TOWN, STATE ZIP
The address, town, state, and zip are as follows:
Thursday, June 19, 2008
55 Mansion Street
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Thursday, June 26, 2008
700 Grant Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Thursday, July 3, 2008
206 E 4th St
Bloomington, IN 47408
Thursday, July 10, 2008
500 W Chestnut Expy
Springfield, MO 65801
Thursday, July 17, 2008
900 Garth Brooks Blvd.
Yukon, OK 73099
Thursday, July 24, 2008
415 N Pennsylvania Avenue
Roswell, NM 88201
Thursday, July 31, 2008
223 N. Williamson Avenue
Winslow, AZ 86047
Thursday, August 7, 2008
201 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89125
Thursday, August 14, 2008
836 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93102-9998
Build Day
Let me start out by explaining a little bit about what this trip is all about: This route is dedicated to the memory of Chris Webber, an awesome guy who was one of the directors of bike and build. We stopped at his home in Andover, MA and met his family at a BBQ that they put on for us yesterday. It was great meeting them all and hearing about what a great guy Chris was. The family has been incredibly generous to our trip by providing us food and helping to drive us to their home.A guy named Tony from Merrimack Valley Habitat For Humanity also came to speak with us about how Habitat for Humanity is run and some history about the site we were going to work at.
Today we worked with Habitat for Humanity in Lawrence, MA. We worked on three different houses because we are such a big group. I mainly worked on this two family home with a handicapped residence on the bottom floor and a regular home on the top floor. After moving very heavy sheets of wood up the stairs for support, I mainly helped put in scaffolding. The scaffolding was put in against the house and secured via bolts and nails (much different from the scaffolding I was used to). I also worked on the roof of the house. The two floors had been constructed but the beams for the roof had to be put in so I moved more heavy wood (this time in the form of planks) and climbed up on top of the house to place the beams in the right place.
Everyone took lots and lots of pictures that are posted here!
Today we worked with Habitat for Humanity in Lawrence, MA. We worked on three different houses because we are such a big group. I mainly worked on this two family home with a handicapped residence on the bottom floor and a regular home on the top floor. After moving very heavy sheets of wood up the stairs for support, I mainly helped put in scaffolding. The scaffolding was put in against the house and secured via bolts and nails (much different from the scaffolding I was used to). I also worked on the roof of the house. The two floors had been constructed but the beams for the roof had to be put in so I moved more heavy wood (this time in the form of planks) and climbed up on top of the house to place the beams in the right place.
Everyone took lots and lots of pictures that are posted here!
Friday, June 13, 2008
The Beginnnig
So far, Bike and Build has been amazing. Through going on some long rides with Devon, Jo, Jess, and Talia I had discovered that 1. I <3 Biking 2. My IT band is tight and 3. I'm totally excited to bike across the country
Orientation was a great start to our trip. The church we stayed in was incredibly generous to us and offered their giant Bingo room for a few days, and bought us several delicious catered meals! Trips like these remind me that there are generous, caring people here and around the world.
After an amazingly generous breakfast from the church, we dipped our bikes in the ocean this morning and went off for our first ride. It was only 20 miles to Andover, and our first build day is tomorrow! The trip leaders did a great job of picking a route that ramps up slowly in mileage.
Orientation was a great start to our trip. The church we stayed in was incredibly generous to us and offered their giant Bingo room for a few days, and bought us several delicious catered meals! Trips like these remind me that there are generous, caring people here and around the world.
After an amazingly generous breakfast from the church, we dipped our bikes in the ocean this morning and went off for our first ride. It was only 20 miles to Andover, and our first build day is tomorrow! The trip leaders did a great job of picking a route that ramps up slowly in mileage.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Training: Providence and Cape Cod
Training for bike and build has been a little bit slow. I mainly go on 20 -30 mile rides but recently I've been gong on longer ones to get used to the mileage. To get my sweat equity, which is required of everyone, I worked at a Habitat for Humanity site in Providence RI. I took the commuter rail with Talia to Providence, biked to the site, then met Jo and Devon later on in the day.
We stayed in a Hotel that night and biked back from Providence to Boston!
We stayed in a Hotel that night and biked back from Providence to Boston!
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