Our last day. Sleeping in is great, I guess. Doesn’t make much of a difference, I can’t sleep past 5:00 to save my life. This morning we had a wake up time of 7 I think. I was up at 3. I guess I was just excited, I don’t really know. I laid there for awhile, probably dozed in and out of sleep for awhile. We packed up pretty slowly. Angela made personalized cue sheets. If I havent explained cue sheets before, they are the directions we get every morning for our route, and most days they have some kind of funny or inspirational quote, but this morning everyone had a personalized note from Angela. Mine said “You are the marvelous light.” It comes from a song that everyone always asks me to play. It is a song I used to play at youth group in high school. It meant a lot to me to have her say that to me. One of the best parts of this trip is having oppurtunities to talk with people and share my faith and my background. One of the ways I did that was through music. All I know is christian music, so thats what I played all summer and everyone seemed to enjoy listening. That is where Angela heard me play a song called Marvelous Light. She requests it all the time and I even sing it to her on the bike some days. This is really one of the first trips I have taken outside of church or boy scouts, so I didn’t know what to expect, but it has certainly been a blessing and as I said at the beginning, God told me the second day that I was exactly where He wanted me and I knew that every single day of the trip. Anyways I am rambling as I often do when talking about these types of things. Being called a marvelous light meant a lot. Our cue sheet was half a page long despite our route only being 30 miles long. We didn’t stay on any road for more than 4 miles, so we were hitting stoplights left and right. We were in no rush, so we didn’t mind at all. We stopped a mile out to regroup. We could see the ocean from where we stopped which was awesome. I was excited, but several people, especially Claire, refused to look that way. As I said I agreed to save my sadness for Saturday, so I was excited and had a big smile on my face. We rode down as a huge group to the beach. When we actually saw the sand of the beach for the first time there was a lot of screaming. We all couldn’t comprehend it all. We got to the beach and threw our camelbaks and shoes off and carried our bikes across the hot (very very hot) sand to the water. We took some pictures and then dipped our tires in the water. There were family members everywhere taking pictures, everyone was all smiles, mostly anyways. After some pictures Claire, Dan, Michelle and I took our jerseys off and ran into the water. We splashed around for awhile and enjoyed the pacific ocean water that we had biked over 3500 miles to get to. We had a big group hug, and fell over in the water onto Claire. It was really fun. I felt like we were in a dream. I had that feeling several times on the trip. Sometimes things just feel to good to be real. We regrouped at a park on the beach and had champange and sparkling cider (yeah everyone under 21!) and celebrated. The leaders said a few words as well as Brendan, our program director, and a woman from a local affordable housing agency. We had lunch at the park and just hung around for awhile. After we all calmed down we had to get back on our bikes to ride 4 miles to the church. That was the shortest 4 miles I have ever biked in my life. We unpacked the trailer, cleaned the van and took inventory of all the Bike and Build property in preperation for next years trip. After that our Bike and Build experience was officially over, but we were allowed to stay in the church until Sunday morning. Michelle, Claire, Dan and I went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant. For anyone who knows me well this may come as a surprise because if its not a cheeseburger or chicken fingers I probably wont eat it, or atleast it wont be first on my list. The food was amazing. I was pleasantly surprised. We enjoyed a nice long, relaxed meal. After that we went to a grocery store to find an ATM. We got back to the church and called a cab to go to a party. A former Bike and Build rider lives in San Diego and had us over to his house. My normal group of 3 and I hung out on the patio in the back for awhile looking over the town. It was really cool looking out at night over the city. We all just hung out and converse. After awhile we danced a little. We even got Dan Thomas to dance, which I figured what impossible. We called a cab at 12 but it didn’t show up until 1. I didn’t mind, any time sleeping is time not spent with everyone, so I dreaded going to sleep the last couple of nights.

The next morning we got up a little later than normal. After eating breakfast Michelle and I rode our bikes down the beach. The beach was only a couple blocks away, but we figured we would just ride. The beach where we were was really cool. There were lots of rocks and not much beach, so we sat up on a rock and watched the water hit the rocks. We sat there for over an hour. It was really nice and relaxing. After that we headed to town to do some shopping and then back to the church to take our bikes apart for shipping. This is when the day got a lot more interesting. I was working on taking my bike apart and was trying to take my pedals off and had a little accident. The wrench slipped off the pedal and I slammed my hand into the gears on my bike. It really didn’t hurt that bad but I looked down and I was bleeding. One of the cuts was pretty deep so I went inside to get a better look. I cleaned the blood off and saw how deep it was. It didn’t really hurt at all, but I started feeling really dizzy and so I sat down on the floor of the kitchen. Michelle was on the phone with her parents in the kitchen and I heard her say “I have to go now” and hang up. At that point I laid all the way down and felt a lot better. I never passed out thankfully. We cleaned it out and tried to get the chain lube and grease out of it as much as possible. I decided it was best to go get it looked at, so Dan Carmody who is from San Deigo drove me since he picked up his car. We were in the waiting room at the emergency room for awhile, but I finally got back there and ended up getting 3 stitches. It never really hurt that much, it was just really annoying to spend two hours of the last day at the hospital. Everyone liked seeing the battle wounds and David Grant helped me get the pedals off. I packed up my bike which is riding back in the trailer across country instead of being shipped. I went with the group shipping there bikes anyways and it turned into an interesting ordeal. We went to four shipping stores because they kept wanting to charge ridiculous prices. The first place wanted to charge 200 dollars. We found a place that would do it for 90. Michelle’s bike box was an inch bigger however and so they would have to charge her like 100 dollars more, so she decided to just take it on the plane instead. We got back and left quickly to go have dinner with Michelle’s parents and her great-aunt and uncle. I had lasagna and it was amazing. After dinner Claire, Dan, Michelle and I went to watch the sunset at the beach. It was so amazing, and such a good end to the trip. We sat there forever and just enjoyed the view until it got dark. I took a shower when I got back since I would be traveling the next day all day long. We stayed up pretty late, but we had to get up pretty early the next morning.

Michelle and I woke up super early to ride in the van to the airport. We went around and woke everyone up one by one to say goodbye which was really entertaining. I enjoyed watching peoples reactions as we woke them up. We packed up the van and headed off. Ben and Angela drove us. We got there an unloaded, said goodbye to Ben and Angela and went to check in. I checked in pretty quickly and headed to my gate. Michelle had her bike with her and so they made her switch lines and it took forever for her to check in. She was really frustrated because she wanted to say goodbye and was worried she wouldnt make it through check-in. Luckily she did. I am good at embarrassing her, so I will do it once again. We have both liked each other the entire trip so saying goodbye was really hard. She is from Minnesota and I am from North Carolina, so we are kind of far apart. She practically ran down the terminal and made it while they were already boarding my plane. I was glad she made it. We said our goodbyes, there was crying involved, and just like we were in the movies or something she watched me walk down the long hallway onto the plane. Probably one of the hardest goodbyes I have ever experienced, but we will stay in touch and I am sure I will see her again. I think it finally hit me that Bike and Build was over when the plane engine powered up and I felt my body get pushed back into the seat as we took off. It was a rough plane ride, but I had my ipod, gummy worms, and sour patch kids for comfort so I survived the 4 hours flight to Atlanta. I had the joy of spending 5 hours there in Atlanta. My flight was delayed an hour because of rain and I got to watch as everyones bags were left out in the rain. Luckily my bag had arrived so early, in fact two planes before, so they had put mine far to the side under a covered area so my stuff was only damp. There is nothing like waiting 4 hours for a 50 minute plane ride. The sun was setting so I enjoyed a nice view as I reminisced about everyone I left behind and remembered everyones smiling faces. I still don’t think it has all completely sunk in yet, but I am sure it will. I told myself for so long that I would save my sadness for Saturday, and that is just what I did.

There are lots of pictures up now! Please enjoy!

There is nothing like waking up to rain, but luckily it wasnt too bad on our ride from Wenden to Blythe. I joined my normal three for a nice wet morning ride. It wasnt raining when we left so I spent all morning avoiding puddles at all cost, for the sake of the dryness of my butt, just to be rained on later. The ride in the rain flew by, and it really wasnt that cold so I didnt mind it too much. We had lunch right before getting onto interstate 40. I never like highways, especially because usually riding on them is against the law, but we got on and saw a “Bikes use shoulder only” sign (right next to the speed limit 75 mph sign), which was more than surprising. It wasnt too bad on the highway. Dodging the thousands of truck tires wasn’t that fun but oh well. After our ride along the highway we crossed the dreaded California state line. As exciting as it was, California represents the end of our trip. We took our normal state line pictures. There were bugs flying everywhere for some reason. They looked like flies to me but apparently someone said they were bees. Good thing I am not allergic. Despite the sadness that comes with entering the last state, I decided to save my sadness for Saturday. I kept saying that to people mostly because I like the alliteration. It was Sunday so we couldnt enter the church as we arrived around 11, so we hit up the local Taco Bell for a delicious nutritious meal. Is it really meat? I dont know but it tastes good. After that we rumaged through the Dollar Store for no reason. I had been riding on a flat since the last mile of the highway. I didnt want to change it so I just rode on it until it got too bad and then walked back from the Dollar Store. Michelle and I went to Starbucks. Claire was already there writing postcards. Michelle helped me finish writing part two of my Bike and Build song. I am not sure if I mentioned the song I wrote earlier in the trip. I wrote a song about Bike and Build love, since so many people have crushes on eachother. The original song is just about Bike and Build love in general, but in the second I called each couple out by name, purely for the sake of embarrassing them. That night after dinner I shared the song. It was well recieved with much laughter. There is nothing like embarrassing lots of people. Our group is really good at doing that, which is one of the things I will miss about everyone. We are so laid back and love to joke around we eachother. Everything is better with laughter. After I played the song I got a strange feeling that I was done with the trip or something. The build up to the second song and all the work I did made it seem like after I sang it my work was done. Thank goodness the trip wasnt over though.

So I hated Blythe, I just didnt know it until the next morning. I changed two flat tires before going to bed in Blythe, which isn’t a huge deal. What sucks is after changing two flat tires the night before, I woke up to both of them being flat again. In addition the zipper on my seat bag broke, so nothing was going my way. I wasn’t in a great mood that morning. I feel really bad for my chore group because I was no help, I had to change two flats. I hate bad moods. I always feel really selfish when I am in a bad mood because things could be a lot worse and lets face it, when you bike across the country things aren’t going to go perfectly. Michelle tried to cheer me up which I really appreciated. She did finally get me to smile and my day began to be a lot brighter. My flats were not the only of the day. Michelle got a flat at mile 0.7, followed quickly by another flat for me, one for Dan Carmody, and then Claire. Needless to say we spent a lot of time with sweep that morning. The road we were on was covered in what they call “dips” which is there way of saying they didn’t feel like doing much work building the road and just paved over the hills, so the road is constantly up and down which just stinks because you have to shift a lot. The motorists out here aren’t as nice, we got a lot of honks. We passed through a town of 7 residents. Gatorade was like 3.75 and water 4.25 a gallon. Bathrooms cost 2 dollars. Interesting town. We climbed up to the top of a giant dune to lunch. Angela, our wonderful New Jersey girl decided to try to drive the van and trailor through the sand, and it of course got stuck. She felt pretty dumb, but what can you expect from a city girl. Luckily a huge truck stopped to help us. We were able to push the van out and then had the truck pull the trailer out. We hooked them up with some t-shirts and were very grateful. After lunch we were ready to get to town. It had been a very long, very hot day so a big group of us road along in a paceline at 24-25 mph for the remaining 10 miles. It felt good to go fast and we were all ready to get out of the heat. We got stuck at lots of stoplights in town and had to feel the heat radiate off the pavement. Upon arriving we hit up the gas station for chocolate milk (the poor mans recovery drink) and candy. We took hose showers, which feel great when  it is so hot and then headed to Pizza Hut for dinner. We had a meeting that night to decide on which grants to award. We all discussed how we felt each organization fit into our goal of spreading awareness of affordable housing issues to youth and young adults around our age. All of the grants were really great. I personally really supported Winston-Salem because of the fact that they truly target youth involvement. We also all liked Mountain Housing in Asheville. After the meeting we headed to bed. It took me awhile to go to sleep. I couldn’t help but think about the end. I tried to listen to music so I wouldn’t have to listen to the voice in my head saying “you are going to leave all of these people in a couple of days and it will all be over,” but I couldn’t drown it out. Luckily I am always exhausted so I did eventually fall asleep.

Today was another big day through the heat. Not only was it hot, the end of the day included a 4000 foot climb that got steeper as it went on. I woke up at 4:43 for the 4:30 wake-up but still managed to be the third bag outside to the trailer. Michelle and Cole were sweep today. I usually ride with Michelle everyday, but we both agreed that we didnt want to see eachother all day because that would mean we had some sort of tire problem. Our group as a whole has improved in biking skill so much that most of us ride around the same pace. Basically the only thing that puts one group in front of another is flat tires. We went through a border patrol station. We just rode straight through. Apparently if you are on a bike you don’t have to be checked. Ana Lagos was in my group and we all joked around that we were smuggling her in because she is from Mexico. We jokingly told her to hide behind people and never to talk because they might catch on to our plan to smuggle her in.  Swaroop got a flat and we were all really excited because we all needed a break. It was a little windy, very sandy, and very hot. I am not going to lie, the heat sucks. Some say its a dry heat, and I guess it is, but it doesn’t matter. It is hot, that is all there is to it. Ben set up a tarp for us at lunch for more shade. We crossed into San Diego county. That afternoon we had some tire issues. Mine was the first to go. I changed the tube and while pumping the sidewall of the tire blew out. I tried to let the pressure before the tube exploded, but I couldn’t in time so it blew up in my face. Dan and I couldn’t hear for 3 minutes. Claire was down the road relieving herself (I guess thats the best way to put it) and said it sounded like a gunshot. We had a waterstop, which was much needed. I don’t drink much water, or didn’t most the trip. I don’t know why, I just dont get thirsty. I once went 7 days without refilling my Camelbak, but today I drank 2 Camelbaks and several bottles. After the waterstop Claire’s back tire exploded, literally. It was torn to shreads, probably  because she had needed to change the tire for 2 weeks but hadnt. I will never forget the look on her face when I looked back after hearing her tire explode. She had the biggest eyes. After that the climbing began. I dropped Claire and Dan on accident. I hated to leave them but its hard to climb not going your own pace. We hit this huge hill, we now refer to it as the wall. It was so pointless, the road could have easily gone around, but instead they built the road straight up a random hill. After that the real mountain began. It was a really tough climb. I caught a couple of people going up the mountain which was surprising because we were so far behind. I never got swept (thats what we call it when sweep catches up to you, usually when you are changing tires). I was glad because Michelle and I had agreed we didnt want to see eachother all day. Unfortunately I found out at the top fo the mountain that Claire and Dan were not so lucky. Dan had tire problems several times. When I got to the top there was construction and they had a pilot car to follow. I tried to chase him up the mountain which was really fun. I lost him eventually, but it was entertaining for me. I tried to wait for Claire and Dan at the top but they were really far behind. I had a great 2 dollar milkshake. We had breakfast for dinner that night, pancakes, bacon and eggs. We had a meeting to look at all the pictures from the scavenger hunt and decide the winner. It was really funny and entertaining.

Out of Julian into El Cajon was an amazing ride.

Thanks for following me and for the support, and post about the end will be up soon!

least. 

In Prescott we had a build day. I took the second van to the work site. Everyone was working on landscaping on a house, but it was really crowded so Ben, Hannah, Dave, Michelle and I rode in the back of a truck to another house to build a retaining wall. The soil here is so rocky. We kept on pulling out huge rocks we could barely pick up. We were working with a man named Daryl. He was really nice. He is from Rochester which is where Michelle is from so they talked for awhile about Minnesota. We ate lunch at 10 and then continued working all afternoon. Claire joined us in the afternoon at our worksite. During one of our water breaks we climbed into a giant drainage pipe. It was probably 20 degrees cooler in there which was really nice. When we left we stopped at a bike shop for supplies. We have had dozens of flats the last couple of days so everyone was in desperate need of tubes. We probably had over 20 flats between Williams and Prescott. On our walk back from the bike shop we saw a barber shop so I got a much needed haircut. It is nice and cool now, and my hair isnt always in my face anymore. Habitat provided a dinner for us and after eating we all headed to bed.

Today we got up pretty early to try to beat the heat as much as possible. We did a little bit of climbing this morning and reached 6100 feet. It was nice and cool all morning. I felt great. My legs have been needing a break for awhile so the build day was nice. After lunch we went down a huge mountain. Unfortunately we could feel it get hotter with every foot that we went down. When we got into town we had gone all the way down to 2000 feet. It is much hotter down here. About 3 miles out I got a flat, but luckily there was a gas station in sight so we went there to find shade to change it. The church here is really nice. I took a shower with a hose, which normally I do not enjoy, but with it being so hot it was one of the best showers of the trip. We are now watching Forrest Gump. Everyone wants to see the part where he runs through Monument Valley since we went through there. 

I am really surprised at how beautiful it is here in Arizona. It is nothing like what I expected, although now that we have dropped in elevation it may be more like I pictured it. I have talked with several people about how beautiful it is. When we came through the rockies we kept seeing better  and better views and we all expected things to get browner and uglier, but they havent yet. We are getting up super early tomorrow to beat the heat. 

The church in Tuba City cooked us oatmeal and bagels for breakfast. When we left Suzie, the navajo woman, cried. She got to know Becky and Dan pretty well so she hugged them and cried. It was really sweet. The morning ride was pretty uneventful. We planned on having lunch around mile 40 or so, but we saw the van and trailor at mile 30. Scott was going to drive to the Grand Canyon to reserved a spot in the campground because it is first come first serve, but they do not allow groups so that did not work out. He came to tell us we would be biking a little extra today. Our ride suddenly changed from 57 miles to over 90 miles. Sometimes you just have to be flexible and roll with it. We had lunch 10 miles later and tried to figure out exactly where we could sleep. At lunch there was a pretty cool canyon carved out by the Little Colorado River. The ride from lunch to the Grand Canyon was uphill. We were all ready to see the giant hole in the ground. We got to the visitors center and walked down to see the Grand Canyon. To be honest I was not that impressed at first. We took some pictures and continued our ride around the South Rim. The first time we came close enough to see it from the road I was amazed. For some reason seeing it while riding on my bike makes it that much cooler. It might have been a better angle as well, but everything seems to look better on a bike. We took our time all afternoon. Second lunch was at a lookout so we ate lunch overlooking the canyon. We decided we wanted to wait for Claire who was riding sweep today to take a picture. We tried to wait as long as we could but a storm came in and chased us away. We rode to our campsite four miles outside of the park. When we got there we threw up a tent and just barely got our stuff in when it started raining. A couple of us crowded under  a tarp and Lance cooked dinner standing on the picnic table. It was really bad but really fun as well. After eating we made a break for the tent and went to bed. Despite the fact that our tent felt like a waterbed underneath because a river was running beneath our tent we remained pretty dry. The rain is so calming that I actually had the best night of sleeping in a tent so far this trip. Camping is always interesting because we always have to squeeze 6 people in a tent made for 4 or 5, but it makes it that much more fun. It was one of the most memorable days of the trip so far!

We didn’t have a specific wake up time today, but we always get up early, so today was no different. After packing wet tents Michelle, Claire, Dan and I headed out for a short 50 mile day. My legs were feeling it today, so I am glad it was so short. The day was pretty uneventful overall, but fun nonetheless. It is great to have a slow day just to talk to eachother. Michelle and I pulled Claire and Dan for the first 28 miles and then they pulled us the rest of the way. I showered in a pastors RV which was interesting. The shower was a little short, but it was awesome since I didnt shower the night before. Not showering after 90 miles of biking is not fun. This afternoon has been really relaxing.

After working with Habitat we went to downtown Durango which was a lot of fun. There are a ton of cyclist in Durango. I needed to pick up a new journal because I have almost filled an entire journal with stories from the trip, so we went to a local book store. My dad emailed them in advance to see if they had journals and somehow mentioned our trip and what we were doing so Peter, one of the workers, was very interested in meeting some of us. He was really nice. He is an avid cyclist and unicyclist. He gave me a big discount and then wrote a blank check for Claire, Dan, Michelle and I to go down the street to get icecream. It was so generous and really nice! We hung out downtown for awhile and then headed back to the church to cook dinner and head to bed.

Out of Durango we headed to Cortez. It was really cold when we left, but it warmed up quickly when we started climbing our last mountain in Colorado. I really enjoy climbing, so I will miss all the mountains. We made it to lunch at like 9 or so and ended up just hanging around for 2 hours or so. We only had 45 miles to go so we relaxed all day. We had a couple of short climbs in the afternoon so I decided to go really fast, and went 17 miles and hour up the hills as compared to my normal 8 or 9. Sometimes it is fun to make it hurt a little and fly. Reminds me of cross country in high school. When we got in we had several meetings and had to do laundry, but we were in so early that we were able to sit around a lot and relax. After crossing Colorado in like 6 days, its nice to rest a lot.

Out of Cortez I was sweep which was a lot of fun. Several other riders decided to join us on sweep. We stopped at a casino just to joke around a little. I cant gamble of course and probably wouldn’t, but it was fun to watch, Overall we came out a dollar richer as a group. Emily managed to lose 5 dollars and win it back to come out even. We ate lunch at 4 corners and chilled there for a long time. A lot of tourists came up to talk to us which was cool. We stopped at the Arizona welcome sign on the way out of lunch and a van stopped and 2 women and 3 kids got out. They said something about taking a picture so we figured they wanted us to take a picture of them, but they actually wanted a picture with us. We put there three kids on our shoulders and took pictures, and then we drafted behind there car for several miles. It was fun. We stopped at a DOT weigh station and got on the scales to see how much we weighed. It only measured in 50 pound incriments,  but it was fun. We got in early once again. Red Mesa consists of a high school and a gas station, so it was interesting staying there. I took a 3 hour nap, ate dinner, and went back to bed.

Leaving Red Mesa was once again a relaxed ride. We went 56 miles. We considered riding over 100 so we could ride through Monument Valley, but decided it was too hot to try, and everyone loves the shorter days, especially since our bodies need a break. When we got to lunch I didnt feel great. I almost passed out which was kind of random so I sat in the van for a couple minutes and felt a lot better. The rest of the ride was really tiring, but I made it through. We got in a little after 11. After hose showers we decided to take a tour bus through Monument Valley. The tour bus was an old bus with no windows, so it was a little windy going down the highway at 60 miles an hour. Monument Valley was gorgeous. I was blown away. Apparently it is in a lot of movies. It is the site where Forrest Gump stopped running in the movie, and also they filmed Mission Impossible 3 on one of the rock formations. It was so much fun and it was beautiful. We cooked spaghetti when we got back, and after finishing this post I am headed to bed.

Our ride out of Colorado Springs was amazing. We started the day by biking through the Garden of the Gods and took tons of pictures. We then headed up highway 24, which goes through a beautiful valley. The whole day was gorgeous. We could see Pikes Peak most of the day. When we descended into Buena Vista we thought we would be away from the beautiful mountains, but right in front of us were several 14000 foot mountains. We descended several miles into Buena Vista and with the wind it got pretty cold, so we stopped at the first coffee shop we could find for the best hot chocolate I think I have ever had.

Coming out of Buena Vista we were invited to a community pancake breakfast which was amazing. We had quite a bit of climbing to do. Michelle and I stuck together up the mountain. We took our time and enjoyed the scenery. We reached Monarch Pass at over 11000 feet, and it was such a good feeling. We took lots of pictures and enjoyed more great hot chocolate and some fudge. It is always such a good feeling to reach the top of a mountain. Michelle and I left lunch early before everyone else and descended for several miles. It was an awesome descent, but when we reached the bottom we had to stop at a gas station because it started pouring down rain. We didnt want the rest of the group descending such a steep mountain in the rain so we tried to call, but had no service. One girl trying to pull into the gas station slipped on the slick road and fell, so we ran out to help her. It was pretty scary, but she was alright and everyone else made it in fine, just all freezing cold. The gas station had a laundry dryer, so they all dried clothes. The rest of the day was pretty easy. We had a tailwind so we were going 30 miles an hour on flat ground.

Our ride from Gunnison to Ouray was pretty challenging. We had several big climbs, which were at a really nice grade so I didnt mind them that much. We ate lunch on this huge lake that was gorgeous, but of course saying it was pretty will never give it justice. I dont think my pictures will give it justice either. On the last descent I got stung by a bee on the neck which hurt pretty bad. The last 30 miles were uphill on a really bumpy road, but when we got to Ouray it was all worth it because Ouray is in the tiniest little valley with huge cliffs on all sides. It was amazing. We had scourching showers at the hot springs that night.

Our ride out of Ouray was one of the best rides so far, but also one of the hardest. We started out climbing a huge mountain. We had no time to warm up, just started climbing right out of the church parking lot. The views were amazing. The road is called the million dollar highway because it cost a million dollars per mile to build in 1930, so it was really expensive. The road is built next to 1000 foot cliffs with no gaurdrails so they can push the snow off in winter. It was scary, but awesome. We climbed back up to 11000 feet again. The whole day consisted of three climbs, and the view just got better and better. Once again words will never do it justice. The last descent I let the group have a head start so I could fly down the mountain. I ended up hitting 47.7 miles and hour at one point, the fastest I have gone this trip so far. Everyone is amazed at the beauty of Colorado, and I definitely am going to miss the mountains.

Hopefully I can get pictures up soon, but its been hard to find a computer!

Continuing from earlier:

I didn’t sleep much at all in Coldwater, mostly because we were camping and it was windy and cold. We packed up pretty quick to get on the road and as we left we heard what we thought were tornado sirens, but we aren’t completely sure. The sky had some really cool clouds though, but nothing too dark so we weren’t worried. The wind was at our backs for awhile, but then the road turned and we were met with some pretty bad looking clouds. We tried to make it to the lunch stop to beat out the storm. The winds picked up and kept blowing us sideways. Sometimes they would blow my bike 2 feet to the side. It was sort of freaky, but fun at the same time. We made it to lunch at mile 40 without too much rain and jumped in the van. It looked like the storm was about to dump on us but it never did. After lunch the road turned straight into the wind, so we were going around 8 miles an hour on flat ground. It was really tough. I would much prefer climbing up mountains to the wind. Claire, Michelle, Dan Thomas and I all switched off pulling through the wind. We caught Travis and Emily and got them to join our group. The winds did die down a little, but we had to fight the winds all the way into Dodge City. Emily had a little mental breakdown because of the wind, but she was fine, just a little frustrated. The challenges are different everyday, but everyone always makes it.

Our trip from Dodge City to Garden City was one of my favorite days so far this trip. I had to wake up earlier than everyone else because we had to have the kitchen cleaned before church, and we needed to keep stuff in the freezer and refrigerator, so we got up a couple minutes before everyone else. I was sweep that day with Patrick, meaning I had to stay at the back with emergency supplies to ensure everyone made it through the day fine. A couple of other people decided to ride sweep with us, so since we had such a big group we called ourselves the vacuum. It was Patrick, Travis, Emily, Michelle and I. We hung out at the church for awhile in the morning playing on the jungle gym. Patrick and I take the most pictures of anyone on the trip, so we joked for awhile about that day being the most photographed day of the trip. We told life stories as we rode, stopped to see some ruts from the Sante Fe Trail, and just really had a relaxing day. Dan set up a slip and slide at lunch and we had a really long lunch break. After lunch we saw a sign for an airport and decided to try to get a picture with a plane, so we convinced a worker to let us on the tarmac which was really cool. The entire day we just went a slow pace and joked around with eachother. It was one of the best rides so far. Even though it was only 54 miles we still came in just a little before 5 that night.

From Garden City to Lamar was a really good ride. This morning Michelle felt really bad though, so pretty much the first 40 miles she didn’t really do much beyond staring at my back tire hoping to make it to lunch. I felt really bad for her, but like most of us she didn’t want to ride in the van. I am like her, they would have to drag me into that van if I got sick. I really want to finish the whole ride, but of course I know that some things are out of our control. She felt better after a nap at lunch though. We crossed a time zone at lunch which was really cool. After lunch we crossed into Colorado. Once again I feel like we are flying through states so quickly. We took a bunch of pictures with the Colorado sign and then headed out again to finish the day. Most of the group stopped for Mexican about 10 miles out, but I just wanted to get the ride done, and Mexican food doesn’t sound that great while riding. I rode with Michelle, Renee, Maura and Hannah into town. Maura and Renee had never been the first group into a host site, so they were really excited. I was glad to get in because it was blazing hot. I went to the grocery store to get icecream for everyone because it was blazing hot. Icecream is a lifesaver on this trip.

From Lamar to Rocky Ford was a shorter trip, but despite it being shorter it was a tough day. We got an extra hour of sleep because we switched in time zones and we also slept in because of the shorter day, but it was still tough to wake up. The wind was hard pretty much all day so we had to ride single file so we could help eachother out getting through the wind. We all decided we would take 5 minute pulls in the front so that everyone could rest for awhile in the back. We rode all the way to lunch without a single stop. It got hot in the afternoon so when we came through a small town I spent the entire time with my eyes peeled for any place that would have icecream. Luckily there was a Sonic. That made the last 10 miles a lot more bearable. It was definitely one of those days you just want to get through. We saw a pretty bad trainwreck on the way into town. A car got hit trying to cross. It is the second trainwreck we have seen so far. Dinner was great, and we had a bike clinic for kids. It started pouring down rain halfway through so we had to move it inside, but it went really well. It is fun playing with kids at the bike clinics.

The final push of our 8 day stretch of biking into Colorado Springs was the longest day of our trip. We biked 125 miles from Rocky Ford to Colorado Springs, and despite it being a very long day, it was probably one of the most fun and most memorable days so far.

We usually do most of our work packing up and preparing for the ride in the morning, but because the day was going to be so long we did everything we could the night before so it would be easy to get on the road. We woke up at 4:30, packed up and ate and hit the road. The morning was great, but we had several flat tires and kept having to stop. We thought all of the flat tires had put our group far behind, but when we got to the first lunch spot we realized the entire group was still pretty close together. I had a couple of really good conversations with some girls I hadn’t really hung out with yet this trip. Maura and I talked for like an hour about growing up and about faith and stuff. It was really cool. After awhile we started being able to see the mountains. I have been to Colorado Springs before, so I know how the mountains seem to rise out of nothing. Maura, Becky and Renee and I were riding a little behind the rest of the group and they couldn’t stop commenting on how beautiful it was. I kept telling them it was just going to get better. We started getting into some really pretty valleys before we hit our second lunch spot. Despite being at the back when we got to second lunch the lead group was still there. The rest of the ride was gorgeous. We started hitting some pretty steep hills but at one point we hit a huge descent and dropped into this gorgeous valley. There were some storm clouds over the mountains which made it look even cooler. Michelle was in front of me screaming “This is the best view ever.” As we got into town we get stuck in a storm. We had some pretty heavy crosswinds and we decided to stop because we were worried we would get knocked over, and it started hailing a little. After 10 minutes the wind died down and we were able to continue through the rain. Michelle and Claire both got flats at the same time so we stopped under and overpass to change flat number 7 and 8 of the day for our group. We caught up with Devon and got her to ride with us for the rest of the ride. She doesn’t like traffic so we wanted her to ride with us through town. Our directions got changed so we had to do a little exploring to find the church. It was so great to make it. We got in about 6:30, so it was a long day but definitely one I will always remember.

We just finished our build day in Colorado Springs. We framed the lower level of a house, and we got a lot done before the storms started coming in. Everyone is really tired. I am looking forward to a day off tomorrow!

After passing through North Carolina and Tennessee, some of the longest states in the country, it seems like we have been flying from state to state. The rest of our day off in Bartlesville was so great. Sometimes being lazy is the best thing for you. Some of our group went to downtown Bartlesville to hang out and see the sites, but I thought just hanging out in the church was plenty for me. It was so good to just lay around and rest. I dont think I will ever be able to get enough rest.

Our ride out of Bartlesville was great until mile 20 when we got a call that Angela, one of our trip leaders, had fallen on the road and busted up her elbow pretty bad. It was really nerve racking because I was in the front group up ahead of everyone, and each of us had a voicemail with very limited information so we didn’t really know what was going on. Luckily she was ok. She got 8 or 9 stitches in her elbow but it could have been a lot worse. Because of the accident the van was unable to make it to lunch, so we stopped at a Sonic at mile 25 and ate despite not being hungry, and grabbed snacks at a gas station. The ride was really pretty, but long stretches of straight road does make it tough mentally to keep riding. We really just wanted some shade. We found and abandoned gas station at mile 50, which was amazing! We all dumped our snacks in a pile between us and ate. The rest of the ride was great, and I was proud of the group coping with the lack of a lunch stop. Angela is doing fine, but she will probably be driving in the van for awhile.

Our ride from Ponca City to Cherokee was so much fun. A couple of the guys decided they wanted to get all of the guys to ride together in a big group for the morning, so we all rode in a really tight group and flew all morning. It got really windy, but since I am a pretty small guy I could croutch behind other bigger guys and hide from the wind. When we got to lunch I got pretty tired. My legs felt great but I just wanted a nap, so I sat down on a cooler and leaned against the trailor and took a 45 minute nap which was amazing. Pretty much everyone filed through lunch and I just left with one of the later groups. That afternoon got pretty hot. We were burning up but at a water stop a local man drove by and told us about a spring in the area with a huge pipe so we went and stuck our heads under it to cool down. The rest of the ride was much more pleasant after that. We played a couple of cycling games to pass the time and went straight to a local icecream shop upon arriving in town.

Our ride out of Oklahoma into Kansas was really good. I felt great in the morning and flew through the first 40 miles. The wind was at our back for a change, but that did change as we reached the afternoon. The wind was so strong that when we left lunch Michelle and I decided not to pedal for awhile to see how fast we could go with just the power of the wind. We went an entire mile without pedaling and got up to 19 miles an hour. It was really cool. In the afternoon I rode with Renee, Maura, and Michelle. They are hilarious. We played a game called the alphabet game where you basically take turns coming up with random things and then try to repeat them in order. When it got to Maura’s turn she said “russle sprouts.” We all kind of wondered what she said and then proceeded to tell her it was “brussel sprouts.” Apparently she has been calling them the wrong thing all her life, so we had fun making fun of her for awhile. I got a flat that afternoon. While I was changing it I heard the rattle of a rattlesnake so I moved into the road to change it. The girls asked me why I moved and I said “well that’s the sound of a rattlesnake.” They all jumped up and started freaking out. It was really funny. Once again we headed straight for some icecream. After that we headed to our campsite for the night. It was on a lake so we all went swimming which felt so great as it was hot all day. We had to cook on a camp stove, but it was great. That night we watched a sunset and I played guitar while watching it. It was a really good night. Unfortunately it was really really hot. I didn’t get my sleeping bag out because it was burning up. Michelle decided it would be funny to dump an entire bottle of water on me, which was surprising to say the least at first, but it actually felt really good. Unfortunately after being so warm it got cold later that night. I didn’t sleep much at all.

Sorry it has been so long. We only have one computer so I will have to continue updating later. It’s a lot to read since it has been so long!

We woke up the next morning to thunderstorms, which was really great to wake up to. I really like the sound of rain and lightning is really cool to watch outside.  We waited out the storm because of the lightning, so I got in some rounds of ping pong with Travis and Dennis. It was great to get on the road but the roads were still wet so we still got soaked. The first 20 miles we were dealing with the winds from the storm, so the riding was really tough. We tried to break the wind for eachother as much as possible. We crossed a big bridge and I couldn’t believe how big the waves were in the lake. We caught a break at one point and the wind completely stopped, so we went from going 16 miles and hour to 26 miles an hour, and it didn’t seem like we were really trying that hard. Angela and I rode together for a long time. We went through some small towns and got stuck at a railroad crossing at one point. When we got to lunch we thought we were in the back of the group, but it turned out that the other groups took a wrong turn so we passed everyone without knowing it. The whole ride was great. We seemed to be on a road in the middle of nowhere, which was really nice because it was really pretty and not really that busy. We stopped a couple of times to save turtles crossing the road. 

When we got into Bartlesville the church had a big signs for us. We waited for sweep to come in and then headed for showers. If I haven’t explained sweep yet, we have two riders that are designated to be last everyday. They carry their cell phones and a first aid kit it anyone needs help. When I got back from showers my Nannie, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Chuck were waiting for me in the parking lot. I introduced them to some of my friends and we left for dinner. It was so great to see them and talk. We went to Chili’s for dinner and got a big chocolate dessert. Everyone keeps telling me they are jealous I have so much family on our route! It was great to see and talk to them.

After they left headed back to Tulsa we tried to go out to go bowling but it closed before we got there. 

This morning we didnt have breakfast until 9:30 but I was up before that. After a wonderful breakfast we did a bike clinic for kids at the church. We told them about our trip, explained some simple bike safety and the different parts of the bike, and then we helped them pump up tires, clean chains, and clean bikes. Then we took them on a short ride around the parking lot for awhile. Then we all got on our bikes and did a couple circles around the parking lots to show them how fast we could go. I think we got up near 30 miles an hour. I think the kids enjoyed it and I had a lot of fun. 

This afternoon we have just been hanging out at the church. Some people have headed to the bike shop and some downtown, but I have just been relaxing and enjoying my day off. We are having another big dinner tonight and tomorrow we will head out again. 

I uploaded a lot of pictures, so please enjoy!