Day 6-16

I doubt you want to hear play-by-plays of my daily outings, which include, and are usually limited to, frequent gas station stops and periodic CVS runs, group showers, gigantic meals, lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of biking, much much less sleeping, and a little thing known as Chamois Butt'r.

I mentioned saddle sores earlier.  I would like you to know, they are real.  And they are painful.  And while the pain of major uphills and long distance cycling ends when you pull into the host's driveway, the destruction of your crotch stays with you.  And becomes a focal point for conversations and a point of disturbance for many.

I have never applied this many creams and powders to my butt in my life. 

Especially not in public.

But things change when you enter the world of Bike and Build, and my saddle's effect on my behind becomes regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner conversation.  If any future B&Bers would like some words of advice, I would like to recommend Gold Bond.  And watch out for the menthol kind if you are particularly sensitive to tingling.

Is this appropriate to be writing on a blog?

Let's move on to food.  The first few days, I tried to be polite with my eating.  Probably consumed about 2500 calories or so.  Then I had my first 80 mile day.  And felt like I was dying.  And realized that it was due to lack of hustle during mealtimes.  Since then, I consistently stuff my face every day and wake up hungry for more in the morning.  Apparently biking for 8 hours a day over the Appalachians is really good exercise?  Who knew.  But food has never tasted this good.

Build days are fuunnnnnnnn.  We are sometimes split up between different sites, but it's a break from spandex and bike shoes and we are SO thankful every time.  

As for sickness, Alana got a pretty bad virus and was out for 3 days of biking, and then I got a bit of what she had and was out for 1 day.  That one day happened to be 1/2 of the mileage of West Virginia (93 miles with the most insane uphills), but apparently throwing up over the side of your bike is what professionals may deem a "safety violation," so I sat fetal-style in the van with the other sicklings.  But the next day, despite a continuation of illness, I biked the entire route and felt pretty good about it, and have felt healthy ever since.

Minus the knees.  Almost everyone on B&B has become pill-poppers.  Ibuprofen should sponsor us and would save us about $30 a week.  It's ridiculous.  But, along with the butt sores, it's another way for us all to unite.

And, I would like to note, 10-20 minutes of ice every hour is EXTREMELY effective, and my knees feel great once again.  This goes out to a certain someone who always refuses to ice his shoulder, despite recommendations from multiple peers...

Day 5 - Emporia, VA

I was really excited.  I was going to ride sweep.  Which means I was required to go slow.  And I was going to do it with Beau.  Who is really, absurdly funny.

And then I made a huge mistake.*

That day didn't have the best travel route planned.  We were on a major, major state highway with speed limits of 65 and signs that declared no cyclists allowed.  But we were still going.  And while I was going, I hit a pothole.  And flew into traffic.  And listened as cars going 65+ mph swerved and skidded to avoid me.  And then I got up, dragged my bike off to the shoulder, and shivered for a little while as Beau called the van.  And then we noticed that I cracked my helmet, which is basically equivalent to cracking your skull if you were without helmet.

This makes me proud.

The bruise that covers about 10 inches of my thigh also makes me proud.  And the quarter of an inch deep cut on only one finger makes me proud.  (Thanks to gloves and arm warmers, my right side of my body is fully intact.)

Being required to ride in the van to Victoria, VA did not make me proud, but was quite understandable because I was really shaky and possibly had a concussion (I didn't).  Neat, huh?  So say your prayers, everyone, and I promise to not follow closely behind other riders from now on.

But Emporia was neat.  I got to ride on swings and finally learned how to clean a bike correctly.

*Arrested Development quote, for those who watch.  I didn't really make a huge mistake.  Potholes happen, and 2 feet of shoulder make it difficult to avoid them.  Avoiding major highways is B&B's plan from now on, though, so calm your nerves.

Day 4 - Suffolk, VA

We woke up at 6 AM.  Crazy for a college student.  Crazy.  But we did it, and we enjoyed it.  And we didn't have to put on bike shorts because it was build day!!!!

So I mentioned how we had dinner at a coffee place the night before, right?  Well we got that dinner for free.  And then we biked to a nice seafood place and got breakfast for free.  And then we got lunch for free, and then a second dinner for free.  How, you may ask?  Because a certain Suffolkian woman is the nicest person I've ever met.  So, for the build day, I helped clean her house.

Note to donors: her house is the headquarters for about half of the supplies for Suffolk's tornado cleanup, and she is the head for about 600 volunteers and the go-to lady whenever your confused about where to be and when.  She also paid for Lois's new wheel (destroyed in our earlier crash).  She's incredible.  

There were also lots of spiders under her house (where I spent much of my day).

Then we biked to the YMCA and got showers, and slept in the gym and met an adorable Scottish woman that took good care of us.  Cory and I played pool, some other people did our laundry, and everyone reorganized their suitcase because it is quite difficult to live out of.  Then we went to bed in preparation for the next day's ride.

Day 3 - Virginia Beach, VA

Wheel-dipping day! 

I have trouble with awkward ceremonies, I've realized.  I never know who to sit with.  And wheel-dipping day applied.  But yes, I dipped my back tire (very, very carefully) into the Atlantic Ocean and then biked off for my longest ride ever (at that time) of 51 miles.  Asthma got in the way (and continued to for at least another week until a new prescription was filled and the full extent of my alveoli were put to use) and I got pretty frustrated, and then I fell at a stop light (due to clipless petals, once again) and finally found my niche with (Mom will love this) Alana, Cory, Mary, and probably a few others that I don't remember (I am writing this 2 weeks later).  And we complained about how we didn't train and everyone's going to fast, and hence we all bonded and had a marvelous time.  But then, about 4 miles from lunch, we had a pile-up.  Lois, Mary, me, and Alana (in that order, hence the poor grammar) were biking pretty close and when Lois stopped suddenly, we all ran into each other.  Two wheels were destroyed (Lois's and Mary's) and two were out of true--aka wobbly, which is not good and makes it difficult to ride and is bad for the bike--mine and Alana's.  So the van picked up Lois and Mary and Alana and I huffed it back to lunch where we enjoyed our first experience of mixing and matching different middlings our our sandwiches.  What has been used so far: peanut butter, jelly, honey, chex mix, trail mix, cheerios, apples, graham crackers, frosting, nutella, chips, and more.  After that I first realized the pain of exercising on a full stomach, and finally about a week and a half later I decided to nix lunch and eat protein/carb bars throughout the day so that I have a steady flow of energy and no stomach pains that require me to stretch every few minutes the first 7 miles out of lunch.  It's marvelous, although I really do miss the sandwiches.

Finally we completed our ride and were EXTREMELY proud of ourselves.  We went to the library and suck out the internet (my addiction, since that time, has been broken, so I apologize for the lack of emails), then got dinner at a coffee place and a second dinner at a pub, had a huge group gathering to watch The Office season finale (not that funny, but huge plot twists) and then went to bed excited about the coming summer.

Day 2 - Virginia Beach, VA

After a short night's rest (George played the guitar for a LONG time) we awoke to a bright and early 7 AM wakeup call.  We were required to practice packing up (we are vagabonds, remember) so naturally we started with our bedding.  Eventually I found out that thermarests are a lot like space blankets in that once you take them out of their packaging, they never fit back in.  But after about 30 minutes (extremely productive, right?) I got mine to fit, and decided that the extra quarter of an inch saved was not worth the half hour wasted, so I threw away the packaging and now have a rampant green roll of comfort floating around in my bag.  After packing, some new friends and I walked down to a coffee place where it was rumored that Bike and Builders could get some free caffeine.  That rumor was a lie.  We attempted to ask for donations--but that really requires about a week to finesse (and we had only had a few hours) or the compliance of Eli Schwartz, master of free food/clothing/bike gear/etc.  So then we had more safety talks and watched a particularly funny video of a man who really shouldn't have been on a bike learning about safety.  And we all mocked him because we are such professional cyclists, right?  But then two older gentlemen show up to give us more safety talks, and we begin to cringe.  One semi-professional adventure cyclist (which is now what I am considered, minus the semi-professional part) was once biking down a kind of busy street that had a lot of parked cars when one of the doors to that car opened, and so she swerved...but then got hit by a bus and died.  And then a married couple were hit from behind waiting for a red light, but they survived.  And then we were warned with the final words, "while you are biking, EVERYONE is trying to kill you."  And then we went on a warm-up ride!

15 miles never hurt so much.  Virginia air, believe it or not, does not suit asthmatic lungs.  And of course everyone was trying to impress each other with our speed and prowess, so an average of about 18 to 20 miles per hour was maintained and I got really nervous about the next two and half months.  And then as we pulled back into the church we were staying at, I clipped out incorrectly and fell.  Of course.  

And then we stuffed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches down our faces.*

Then we were shipped off to the YMCA where I enjoyed my first communal shower and all the girls got comfortable with each other really fast.  Nothing like failed attempts to remove bike grease from legs to really bring a group together.  Then we walked over to the post office and mailed back all the extra stuff (ex. a fourth t-shirt, a third pair of socks...makes me reminiscent of The Jungle Book and that bare necessities song) that I packed.  Then off to the bike shop* to bond with the owners and haggle some gear and be commended for our outlandishness.  

Dinner at the church* was incredible.  People are so supportive of what we are doing the the leaders do an amazing job of organizing where we stay and letting the hosts know what we are doing with ourselves.  After that one of the guys from the bike shop inspired us to love our bikes even more, and two alumni from last year's trip frightened us with even more stories of pain and punishment from the road.  One girl broke her collarbone the first week, was hit (hard) by a car a little bit later, developed drug-resistant staff infection in her saddle sores (which, I'm not sure if you know, are in your crotchal region and are quite similar to severe diaper rash, I have found out), among other things.  Later I found out that I am probably this girl's equivalent on my year of the trip.

*This is a common theme throughout the summer.

Day 1 Continued - Virginia Beach, VA

Ok so I left off pretty quickly last time because my friend Lisa Birnbaum came to visit and we decided to get dinner together.  So I apologize profusely and now back to Day 1!

So after the icebreakers and safety talks, a guy came in to talk about affordable housing in Virginia Beach, which I won't delve in to.  But it was pretty interesting to hear about how vacation hot spots vary in their poverty housing status--during the winter a lot of the motels are cheap so the homeless use them, but then during the summer the prices spike and the former tenants are back on the street.  

So after that presentation, the group painted the trailer (photos will come eventually) and bonded some more, and later that night George played the guitar for us.  It was truly a bizarre experience.  And then we all blew up our thermarests and experienced our first night sans pillows and real bedding!

Day 1 - Virginia Beach, VA

Oh man. Sorry this took so long. The thing about sleeping in churches and YMCAs every night is that internet access is minimal, and the thing about biking through the Appalachians is that personal interest in internet access is minimal. But I will do my best and not quit my blogging attempts (like a certain sibling I know).

So the day started off at about 4 AM with traditional airport duties. I woke up and realized I really didn't train and really knew nothing about bikes, and questioned whether this whole biking across the country thing was an intelligent idea. But I got over it pretty quickly, and eventually arrived at the Norfolk airport where I met Brian (Idaho native, just graduated from Colby College in California) while waiting a bit for Beau, Sonya, Eli, Dylan, and James to pick us up. Stuffing all of us in 2 cars (with our bikes and gigantic bags) was a nice bonding experience and made me less nervous about the trip. After a little drive we showed up at Virginia Beach 2 hours ahead of schedule and met the leaders, reassembled our bikes, and tried to figure out what in the world we were doing with ourselves. More and more people showed up and everyone opened up pretty quick. I guess this kind of trip isn't for the timid. We got lunch and ate it on the beach and had a delightful time until 2 when orientation officially began. We had icebreakers (one involving shoes, another involving scars, etc) and safety talks. One guy came in and told us about Virginia Beach's problems with affordable housing which was really awesome because, to be honest, not many of us know much about it.

Be right back!

Day (-)1 - Orlando, FL

Hello everyone!
Well, I leave for Virginia Beach tomorrow morning and I have to say I'm a bit nervous. Training has been the focus of my past few weeks but hills are hard to come by in central Florida and I'm pretty sure the Appalachians are going to give me a scare. But we'll see, and eventually (in a few weeks) I'll be in good enough shape where biking for 6 to 10 hours a day doesn't seem like never-ending torture. But anyways, Dad is harassing me to go on a 60 mile ride today so I better be off! Hope this is somewhat entertaining, I'll try to bring my A-game humor-wise.

Thanks for reading!
Megan