Final Entry :-(

As I sit here in my Grandparents apartment in San Francisco, Ca, I've had plenty of time to reflect on the amazing journey that I just completed. I'll first explain the days I left off and then my extreme withdraw from the bike and build life. After our final build day in Prescott, we started our seven day biking stretch into San Diego. We first headed to Wickenburg, Az. This was the day in which we were to drop 4,000 ft in 60 miles, which also meant we would gain about 20 degrees of heat. Now we were told it was going to be hot, however, I don't think anyone was really aware of how hot 114 degrees is until we made our descent down the mountain and realized it for ourselves. It was the strangest feeling going down the very windy mountain and feeling it getting hotter and hotter. When we finally reached the bottom, it had to be over 100 degrees and we had about 20-30 more miles to go to get into our host site. We pace-lined it the rest of the way in, averaging about 22 mph, just to get out of the heat. I believed we arrived around 10 or 11 am look at our phones to realize that we were riding in 114 degree heat. We all sat in an air conditioning room for about an hour, trying to regain strength and courage to go walk 1/2 mile down the road to a pool and showers. I think the walk was just as difficult as the ride.

After this first experience with the heat, we started to wake up at 4 am to try and beat the heat of the day. Our next ride was only 48 miles and to Wenden, Az. This was mine and Ginger's last sweep day and we made sweep history, getting in at 9:20 am. It was awesome. The ride wasn't to bad, hot (but not as hot as it could have been) and pretty flat.

The next day was our ride into Blythe, CA. Blythe is right on the border of California, so we got there right at the end of the day and took plenty of pictures with the state sign. Oh and this was also the last day in which I fell on my bike and I definetly went out in style. We were pace lining in the morning, and I was feeling great because I was keeping up with Drew and Nhan (the Macho Men of the group), when all of a sudden Drew's leg cramped up so he pulled out, and then as Nhan was saying slowing I was asking Drew if he was okay and didn't here the slowing call. I somehow locked my front tire with Neel's back tire, unclipped both my feet, fell off my seat, and begin to drag my feet on the ground while slamming my breaks (its what we call a JJ stop, named after the 7 year old kid from the Chapel Hill bike Clinic). Anyways what was so cool about it, was that there were sparks coming out from under my feet from my cleats and the road colliding. When I finally stopped, it wasn't much of a fall, but a tip over because there wasn't anything left for me to do. That was about all for that day.

The next day was an emotional day for us all as we were all reminded of the dangers of biking cross country. About 2 miles out from our host site, 3 of our riders were struck by a pick-up truck from behind. All three were airlifted to the hospital in Palm Springs and given proper medical treatment. Two were discharged that night with minor injuries, and one is still recovering, but should make a full recovery in due time. The whole day was very scary for our entire group because we were unable to get any details until late at night. However, the situation was handled amazingly by our leaders and the locals from Brawley (where we were headed that night). The rest of us made it safely to Brawley, crossing over the Sand Dunes where Tremors was filmed (population 6, but 2 were on vacation).

The next few days were rough, as we were missing a part of our group still. The ride into Julian was physically one of the hardest days for me as I bonked at about mile 35 of 70. It was an extremely hot day in the dessert, so hot that my phone wouldn't even work because it got over heated, and we had a huge climb at the end of the day. After I was feeling better in Julian, CA we went out for pizza and a the famous Julian's apple pie. It was about 3 miles to the pizza place and we didn't have a ride, and no one wanted to ride their bikes after the day so we decided to hitchhike. After walking no more than .1 mi the nine of us got picked up by a Prius...and all fit. On the way back it took a little longer but we got picked up by a pick-up truck. The best part about it was driving by the people who decided to bike and seeing their faces as we passed them both times.

Ok, I'm just going to skip the day into El Cajon, mostly because I was way to excited to remember anything from that day (except that we the first time we saw the ocean right after a climb we all waited for everyone to do the cupid shuffle). My mind was to focused on the next day into San Diego. We woke up at 8 AM, unheard of in the bike and build world, finished watching Anchorman, had a dance party, and a couple of us painted our faces for Minitank (the nickname of the person who was still in the hospital recovering). We finally got on the road at 10 am and rode with all 31 of us. We stopped several times due to one flat and 2 broken spokes and to make sure we were all together. With about a mile away we all stopped again to regroup and to pick up one of the people that was in the accident to ride in the last mile with us (the other one rode the whole ride in one gear because his bike wouldn't change gears). At this point we could see the ocean and were all freaking out. As we turned the corner onto the boardwalk, we were all screaming, the beach was packed with random people cheering us on. We found the first place we could to drop our bikes, strip down and run to the beach. It was one of the most incredible feelings in the world to run into the ocean with this amazing group of people after all that we've been through. This trip was an experience of a lifetime and something I will never forget. I've met so many incredible people and seen some of the most beautiful places our country has to offer.

Arizona before the real heat

Its been awhile since my last update, but that's only because I am
having so much fun, and never want to stop hanging out with people
long enough to write a blog entry. We left the sketchyness of Tuba
City and entered the beautiful grand canyon. The ride itself was quite
challenging, as there were some suprise climbs and headwind up to the
grand canyon. It was pretty amazing getting to ride through the entire
park and seeing all the different look outs. After about 20 miles of
riding around in the park we got to our campsite and hung out for a
bit. The only downside I would have to say about the grand canyon was
it was very touristy. They had all kinds of grocery stores and gift
shops...and even there own post office, which kind of threw me off
guard. When we got in Michelle, Andy and I went to a local cafe and
basically chilled for an hour and a half. Afterwards we went back to
the campsite, people made hobo meals and watched the full moon rise.
Afterwards we slept 9 people in our tent because last time we camped
the krazy Kansas storm took out one of our tents. We woke up to a
beautiful morning and headed out to Williams, Az. What we thought was
going to be an 80 mile ride really turned into a 65 mile ride, which
meant we could make some stops along the way. While causually riding
on the open road, going at a solid pace, danielle, dennis and I spot
bedrock city, home of the flintstones. As we stopped and stared at it
strangely, we noticed that there were some fellow bike and builders
there. We went to Fred's diner, and had an amazing breakfast sandwhich
and a 5 cent coffee. The rest of the ride was pretty nice and as we
entered Williams, I finally realized that people really do live in
Arizona. I was starting to think Arizona was made up of cacti and
constant headwind. Williams marked the last day in which our chore
group had to make dinner, and it was a glorious dinner at that. We
made hamburger sliders, mash potatoes, and salad (all of which was
donated from local restaurants). After dinner, there was a church
group blasting terrible self-conducted Christian music, so I decided
to go out with a couple of people and watch the tour de France. We met
some other local cyclists, who told us of a much better route to take
the next day to Prescott. Instead of having to take I-40, we took this
beautiful mountain road, followed by a 10 mile gravel stretch. The
gravel road was a bit scary at first, but once I realized I could go
more than 5 mph on it, it wasn't so bad. The rest of the ride was
nice, a couple of small climbs but nothing too bad.

Prescott is where we have spent the past three nights. The first night
all 31 of us went out for kareoke. It was so much fun. I personally
sang "Scrubs" by TLC with danielle and michelle, "I believe I can fly"
with amy (in which anna was air lifted the entire song "flying"), and
"Ring of Fire" by jonny cash with Steve. We basically took over the
place and it was awesome. The next morning was our first build day
here. We were split up into two groups. One house was doing painting
and landscaping, and the other one was doing dry wall. I went to the
house doing the painting. It was a lot of fun, and pretty relaxing.
We were all pretty tired that day, and the Arizona heat wasn't
helping, but we got through it. When we got back I passed out and took
a nice nap, woke up to bike to a dinner that the habitat office put on
for us. Here we got to eat dinner with the families of the house we
were building for. The lady we were building for, Tony, was so sweet.
You could really tell she appreciated everything we were doing. After
dinner we went downtown, where there was live music being played on
the town square. We dances until it was over, once again kind of
taking over the place, and then went to a local coffee shop to hang
out and hear some locals at the open mic. Today we had our last build
day of the trip :-(, and I went back to work on painting the house. We
were a much more lively group, and tony even made us sloppy joes and
chocolate milk for lunch. It definetly beat the usual pb&j we our
constantly eating. At the end of the day we were finished painting and
landscaping the entire house. We said goodbye to toby after taking a
group picture with her and went back to the middle school we were
staying at to take another nap. Afterwards a couple of us went to a
local Mexican restaurant (okay, I've had better) an then came back to
work on Gabe's birthday suprise. We took his entire bike apart, seran
wrapped all the pieces, then duck taped them, then put them in various
locations. It was awesome. Hopefully he won't get to mad, since he
lies putting bikes together. He hasn't gotten back yet, so we haven't
seen his reaction, but u can't wait to see it tomorrow.

We are told that tomorrow is suppose to be mostly downhill, as we are
dropping 4,000 ft, but it is also suppose to be extremely hot as were
gaining about 20 degrees. Tomorrow the weather forcast is a high of
115 and a low of 85, it should be interesting.

Well that's about all I have to report. I can't believe I only have 7
days left of this trip. It is so unreal.

Beginning of Arizona

I haven't written in a while, mainly because for the last four nights
I have been on dinner crew, and had to make dinner for everyone. It's
been fun, but I don't get in my daily nap, or blog session. So for the
updates, we rode into Cortez, Co on the 3rd. It was a short ride,
don't remember to much from it, but the next day was awesome. We left
Cortez to head to teec nos pos, Az for our fourth of July celebration.
We rode through four corners, which was pretty cool, I took some
awesome pictures. However, I did not take part in the human pyramid
from fear that my 8th grade broken wrist incident would happen once
again. Instead, I took the picture. We stayed at four corners for
awhile to eat lunch and then headed out for the last 20 or so miles.
Teec nos pos was quite the desolate town. There was a medical center
and a school, we stayed at the school. The whole day we were awaiting
the infamous thrift store prom. We decorated the gym, including a
photo booth, and then began the dance party. It was incredibly fun. We
danced the night away in our awesome outfits. Me and my date, the
wonderful Andrew Erwin, had matching outfits. I rocked a jean dress,
while he wore a jean onesie, and we both had tie dye headbands. The
night started off with the pledge of allegiance, and everything got
crazy from there. We stayed up extra late...probably until midnight,
which is huge in the bike and build world.

The next morning we were all extremely tired and took a couple extra
hours to get ready, while finishing the amazing left over dairy queen
ice cream cake. The day thankfully was a shorter day, all on one road
to Kayenta, Az. In Kayenta we made the most delicious dinner we have
had yet, brought to you by the one and only genghis khan chore group
(all our chore groups our named after fearless dictators). We made
stir fry with tofu and brown rice, and it was delicious. After dinner
we played wiffle ball an then poker with popcorn kernels. I won
everyones popcorn in poker, totally beginners luck. Today we arrived
in Tuba City to some interesting locals, had dinner, and then did an
affordable housing presentation. Now it's bed time, good night.

I rocked the Rockies!

I could basically sum up the past few days with the words Colorado is
freakin awesome. We've been in the rocky mountains for about a week
now and it's been absolutely incredible. At the beginning of the trip
I would have never thought that I would ever like climbing up a
mountain, but now I absolutely love it. The views have been amazing,
and the descents down are sooo much fun. This past ride going into
Durango, I hit my top speed of the trip at 53.4 mph. It was going
straight down a 7% grade (no curves), standing up, leaning forward,
and tucked in. It was awesome, although I don't know if I'll ever be
able to do that again.

These past few days we've biked from Gunnison to Ouray, which was an
absolutely gorgeous ride. This was our last planned century ride, and
it had a couple of climbs early on, nothing too terrible. Before we
got in anna, Neel, Bennett, and I went swimming in the river right by
the road. Ouray was a really cool town, very touristy, but also
absolutely beautiful. It's hard to describe all these places, not even
the pictures do it justice.

We left Ouray to head to Durango. As soon as we left the church we
started our climb to about 11,100 ft for about 12 miles. One of my
favorite parts of this ride was seeing all of these giant natural
waterfalls on the side of the mountain. It was also a bit scary at
times because it was one of those mountains with no guard rail and
just dropped right down. When we got to the top we dropped another
3,000 ft and climbed back up to approx 10,000 ft for 7 miles, then we
dropped again and did our last climb to another 10,000 ft for about 3
miles, and then... it was 30 miles down hill. It was a hard day, but
so fun. I rode with cindy the whole day and had a blast, we were
straight up jammin on those mountains.

Today we had a build day in Durango and worked on a duplex with
habitat and ameri cor. We painted the outside, did installation, and
amanda and I got to put on the last piece of siding for the house. The
rest of the day we had a BBQ with some of the locals, went for a walk
by the river, and just hung out.