Mountains, dogs, storms oh my!

Last night in Cleveland we had lots of Olive Garden that was donated! It was delicious! I’m pretty sure I’ve been eating for at least two people each day. It’s necessary to keep eating with the amount of riding we are doing; however, with all the free food we eat way more than needed! After dinner the church has many couches and a big tv we watched Independence Day on followed by a group meeting about safety and chores. Unfortunately, we had a rider take a fall the other day and after a visit to the hospital found out he broke his wrist in a few places and headed home today.  After the meeting I found myself stationed up on a couch and Avatar was playing. The ride today was a nice 61 miles rolling hills and a mountain climb up the Cumberlin Gap. It was so steep! Going down the mountain was a bit more scary to me rather than enjoyable. There were many sharp twists/turns and it was again very steep downhill. I was breaking the entire way and still going about 30mph. My hands are so sore! A few of us stopped in at Wendys before lunch and got some chicken sammiches and in Dunlap (where we are staying) we got some 6inch subs from Subway! We are staying in the Tennessee National Guard Armory! Apparently we are sleeping on cots tonight and we just showered here in the group shower. There was a leftover bar of soap in the shower that nobody wanted to use and we figured somebody had just dropped it! (haha get it? Don’t drop the soap!) I’m not sure what we are doing for dinner tonight. I hear its family dinner tonight which means we are probably making pasta, beans, and rice perhaps but we shall see. Oh! We changed time zones today! We are an hour behind now in Dunlap TN so that means we gained an hour of sleeping! I can for sure see myself getting stronger now. My legs (quads, hammies, calves) are feeling rock hard! It’ll be interesting to see where I’ll be at the end of July. My legs will for sure be fit, but not sure about everything else with all this eating! While biking, it sure gives plenty of time for lots of thinking. I need to continue cycling when I come back for sure and perhaps join the UCF Cycle club or Tri-Knights. I’ve learned that this summer is not the time to be a picky eater, so I eat everything that is in front of me in order to make it through the day. When I come back it will be a challenge to eat less and healthier. I’m enjoying this adventure so far and the thought of applying to be a trip leader next summer crossed my mind. It’s such a whole different world biking cross country. Anyways, I’ve been writing long blog entries lately and will try to shorten some of them. I haven’t had internet lately and currently don’t have cell service but I will post the blogs when I can!

We biked into Swanee today about 47miles up a mountain and got caught in a storm. Most of us had to walk up the most of the mountain which was at a 12% gradient. At about mile 25 a storm pulled in fast and most of us were a little spread out but within site of each other or within a mile of two. I ended up pulling into an empty church that had steps and a little balcony covering. On my way in I slid out on the wet gravel and my bike and self are great my hip is a little bruised up now. I ended up waiting under the covering for about 2 hours while the van came around and was picking people up from the front first. A nice guy pulled over in the rain and handed me a rain coat and a cold Gatorade. Some people are just so generous, its absolutely incredible to see first hand just how kind people can be. I continued on when it cleared and met up with others and rode in.  Sewanee and such a small town! It basically only has a college here. Oh and today we got chased by at least 10 dogs. It provided motivation to go faster! We’re staying at our first Catholic Church called St. Marys Sewanee. It’s old and pretty yet I find it rather eerie and creepy. There are small rooms we are staying in with twin sized beds which is nice. Theres old paintings and  walls are pretty scratched up. It reminds me of the book “The Yellow Wallpaper” that I read back in high school. The view from the church is amazing! It’s a nice overlook on a valley that just keeps going on and on! I’m posting pictures tonight too! Thanks for reading!

Mountains oh my!

I’m not even sure where to start! The past two days have been amazing! The ride to  Gatlinburg  TN was a rough one but a great one in my opinion. We biked up the Blue Ridge Parkway! It was  mostly uphill and I was going about 4-5mph most of the time. We even walked a little! Haha! It took so many hours to get to the top! I will post pictures soon and I took some videos so check out those too! The views were absolutely incredible! The mountains that went on forever looked like a painting. The ride down was crazy! I was going about 30mph and top speed was 38mph. There were also dark tunnels that was kinda interesting and reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when they go through the tunnel in the boat and everything pretty much spins and goes by fast. It was such an incredible experience to have biked the blue ridge parkway. So surreal! It even got a little chilly at the top. I learned that little bags of fruit snacks and small bags of peanut m&m’s helped me through it with little spurts of sugar. We had lunch at the bottom which was around mile 40. I had a great talk with leader ryan about the ride up and down blue ridge and I learned we’d basically be riding it again but into Gatlinburg. It was suppose to be a 73 mile ride. We got a few miles out and a car had pulled over in front of me and started reversing so I panicked and took a little tumble at about 5mph on my gear side. Everything was fine but I was a bit surprised the car never stopped. We continued on and another rider was having trouble so we had to pull over. We didn’t have cell phone service so another rider biked up to call the van. It was an interesting 3 hour wait for the support van. We flagged down a trooper to get a responder to contact but the van showed up around 7pm. We then rode into Gatlinburg and picked up other riders because it was getting dark. Our fastest riders made it to the host at about 6pm and were super spent. It was such a tough ride! We stayed at Crazy Horse Campground and slept in an arcade room. Once we had showered we had to drive into town to get dinner. It was so late and we got to bed around 11pm. Sleeping in the arcade room was rather weird and kinda creepy with all the lights and weird noises. We ended up unplugging then and sleeping. I didn’t have time that night to blog so I’m currently in Maryville TN now. Today was such an amazing day! I was happier than ever today. We left Gatlinburg, (thankfully, I wasn’t fond of the town. The mountains were beautiful but the town was simply a junky tourist town in my opinion) and rode 53 miles to Maryville. About 13miles in we stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts and got iced latte with a crispy crème doughnuts! We continued on and I rode mainly with Lo and Meegan. We had a rough climb at first but then we ran in Laurel Falls and locked our bikes up. We hiked about 1.3miles to the falls and it was so nice! We took some pictures too! From then (mile 20) on it was mostly downhill and flat. I was averaging about 21mph for a long stretch. We were biking along Little River and it was super pretty! So many folks were swimming, tubing, and kayaking. We decided to stop at a swim stop and lock our bikes up. The three of us jumped from this big rock straight into the water! It was freezing but felt great. Then, surprise surprise Simon Carbone was in Gatlinburg! He’s a great friend I met in highschool! We hungout a bit there and took a picture! Its such a small world and was great seeing you Simon! We continued on and 2 other riders caught up with us and we ran into a rope swing! It was so great! We stopped of course, and each climbed this tree with wooden steps and to a swing at it into the water! This was my first time on a rope swing! It was a bit nerve-wrecking for me. I was literally hugging the tree at the top and scared to let go! But with the help of the others I took of and basically belly flopped! Haha! Finally, we biked on and were close but we found some locals jumping from a bridge into the water. It looked absolutely crazy and is illegal! After talking to the folks we had such a jolly time and decided to park our bikes on the side of the bridge and jump! I jumped off a bridge for my first and last time ever! It was super scary but so thrilling! The water was super cold and all the folks were nice and fun. Then, we biked to a bike shop where our bikes were cleaned and tuned up. I bought batteries for my head light and rummaged through the clearance and found the last pair of nice Hincapie socks for $3!!! What a deal! We are staying at a Boys & Girls club tonight. We showered in a portable shower trailer. It was pretty neat actually! It had 5 showers! Now we are getting ready for dinner now! This blog post is super long and I might be my longest! These past two days have just been absolutely incredible. I tried to explain everything that happened but honestly, its simply an experience that is hard to put into words. I’m having such a great time! Thank you again to everything that has supported me. I’m learning so much, having the time of my life, and simply thankful and blessed to be having this adventure. J

The night in Maryville was pretty nice. We had a good wraps with pasta and fruit salad donated to us but we were all still hungry. So we went to this Mexican restaurant last night and I split a combo with 2 others and just had a small burrito with a frozen peach margarita. When we finished a group went back out in the town to go listen so some karaoke music and then a group of us went back to sleep. It was pouring rain and we had over half a mile to walk! So we used plastic bags for phones and wallets and danced back to the host in the rain. I brushed my teeth and passed out really fast in what is called the “quiet room” for those that sleep earlier. This room was freezing cold! I slept till about 6:30am and we went to the build site. However, it was still pouring down rain so Habitat called and told us they were calling off the build. So we went to Starbucks where they gave us all (15 of us) free coffees and a bunch of different coffee cakes and breads to share! We then did some grocery shopping at Krogers and Target and they gave us day old breads and fruits which was nice! We also got a pot and some rice/beans so we can cook some and I just bought some extra sunscreen. I’m getting a gradual farmers tan so I’m doing pretty well with reapplying! Now we are back at the host for some free time, laundry, then affordable housing presentation and more free time. I’m posting many pictures and videos so check them out! I will try to start getting postcards, writing, and mailing them out! 

Waynesville

Theres a few things I forgot to add in my last blog since its been a few days since I've had internet. I'm sure the more west I get and into smaller towns the less likely it is for me to have internet but I will do my best to continue updating. Last night in Ashville I went to a local icecream place that had really great salted caramel icecream! Then a few of us watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie that was pretty good. In Waynesville, Zaxbys donated dinner to us all! Very nice of them. It's amazing to see just how generous people are. A small health food place here also gave us a bunch of cereal, rice milk, brown rice, protein powder and cookies as well as a Thai Spice for the great meal that we split between 5 people! I'm about to hit the hay for some sleep on a couch! We just got mail, thank you Ginny&Ed for the sweet card, mom&pop for the nice card and tubes (hopefully no more flats!), and Janet and Hoyle for the kind postcard! I loved getting mail today from everyone, it made my evening great and love all the support. I'm really in need of anything as of now, cards and postcards are simply great though! I'll be stopping in a grocery store soon for more sunscreen, toothbrush, and paste! Thank you again to everyone that has been reading and sending me messages. I really appreciate all the support. It really motivates me to keep pushing!

Mountains!

In Forest City we woke to fruit salad, meaty gravy with biscuits, and sausage! It was about a 60mile ride to Ashville into the mountains. I did the second half today and my achilles are feeling so much better actually. There were some really pretty views! We passed the continental divide too! Ashville is a very neat town. We are staying on the west side and biked by the Biltmore, largest home! We tried getting in free on our bikes but got a little discount that still would have made a simple bike through $40 -__- So we continued on through the town to our host. Once there we walked through a little farmers market with lots of veggies, eggs, flowers and all sorts of interesting things. Showers were at the YMCA and way too fast! I’ve learned to take 5 minute showers! Ashville is a rather interesting town. Its very earthy, natural, hippie, and rather organic place. There’s lots of art and music as well. After a yummy earth fare pizza and salad, we went to a bar that looked like a movie theatre where there was a blue grass concert going on! It was actually pretty neat and many people were there! The group I like most had a acoustic, banjo, mandolin, stand up base, and fiddler. They were really good! Today (Wednesday) we had a build day in Ashville where a group worked with Ashville Habitat and another group (that I was in) worked with Mountain Housing. I mostly primed the ceilings and walls the entire day and we had a great Jasons Deli lunch! They even gave us all t-shirts! Afterwards, we met up with the other half of our group for a wall raising ceremony. This was actually pretty neat and gave me and others I believe a better understanding of what we are actually doing when we prime, nail, and build. The family that will soon live in the house was present and various sponsors and volunteers to watch and partake in the first wall being raised. We then took showers and now I’m blogging with no internet once again so I will post these as soon as I can. Tmrw we go into Waynesville which is about 30miles.

Finally have internet! In Waynesville NC now! Its a very nice town! Wish we had more time here, it seems like a peaceful little cute town to walk around. The ride today was nice and right in the mountains! The climbs are pretty rough but the downhills I fly on. I hit 37mph at my fastest I believe and slowest was about 4-5mph going uphill. We just got done with showers and now are getting ready for dinner! I'll try to post pictures later tonight. Tmrw will be a tough ride for sure!

Build day in Charlotte

Today we woke up to a great breakfest consisting of waffles, pancakes, bacon, and grits! We got to sleep in till 6:30am and were at the build site by 8am. Today was interesting, we got to basically start on the house. We put up walls, lots of nailing, caulking walls, and putting up installation. After the build we had showers, made a grocery store run, and then had a nice Memorial Day bbq at the Charlotte habitat offices. We had all kinda of burgers, weenie dogs, potatoe salad, bean salads, watermelon, chips, and brownies! We are doing some laundry now and hitting the hay for bed. We have about 70 miles tmrw into Forest City and then about 85miles to Ashville. I've been icing, elevating, and taking ibprofin for my achillies. Hopefully they get better soon. I am posting a few pictures now! :) Thanks for reading and the comments!

87 miles to Charlotte NC

Today was a rough day but I made it into Charlotte! The first 15miles started off great from Winston with no breaks. It was actually pretty chilly this morning when we left around 7am so I wore my leg and arm warmers for the first time. Then my achillies started acting up till about mile 40 when they finally got lose. After our 82 miles yesterday everyone was really feeling it today. So it was pretty rough the entire day but really pretty out! I have a few pictures I'll post later. Theres so many wheat farms here and strawberry farms! Lots of cows and goats again and some horses. I also saw way too much roadkill today including about 5 snakes. I had to take many breaks today. My ass was hurting as well as achillies. My legs are doing pretty well and I can feel them getting stronger! My quads and hamstrings are for sure gaining muscle but not sure if I've lost weight yet. We eat ALOT and so far I understand the need for lots of food an snacks for rides like this. The ride into Charlotte was great. I rode with Emerson and she was very supportive and kept me going the whole way through! Once we saw the Charlotte skyline we knew we were getting close to the church. Surprisingly, the last 10miles or so was pretty downhill or flat. For once, I didnt come in last! I arrived around 5pm or so but three of our top riders took a wrong turn and it made for a 26mile detour for them extra. They did about 114 miles today! Once we pulled into the church a nice family that was hosting us had snacks and drinks layed out and the littly girl (about 4years old) was telling me about her bike ride today! I think the family did about 12 miles today and she was telling me that she kept going in front of her dad haha it was cute. After showers, which included a great mersa shower gel to protect us, we had a nice salad with avocado, cranberries, carrots, cucumbers, and other veggies along with pizza including chicken/pinapple pizza that was pretty good. Many riders ventured downtown for some nascar party going on. I'm pretty worn out and icing my achillies. Trying to ice, elevate, and get some heel inserts tmrw to try to take stress off the achillies so the tendonitis doesnt get worse. Other than the achillies, I'm pretty sore overall but feeling great. Tmrw we do a build here in Charlotte and I think we get to sleep in till about 630am! This adventure is for sure a test of will power and determination. I try comparing this adventure to my past sports such as volleyball and rowing but cycling is for sure on its own. I start at 7am and go till about 5pm each day. Its interesting to think about how I'm solely dedicating an entire summer to just biking and building. With volleyball and rowing it was simply a few hours of practice then race. I've learned that bike&build is not a race, its marathon and I'm in it to simply finish. I can't say today was easy, and there were many times when I pulled over, sat down, and asked myself what the hell I was doing in the middle of nowhere biking! But its a great feeling to bike into the host with a crowd of fellow riders and hosts cheering you on and there with food and water. Thank you to all that have been reading, commenting, and calling! I really appreciate all the support and love hearing from everyone! Thanks for the comments Ginny&Ed Becca and Mom&Pop for reading!

82 miles- Winston Salem NC

Today we left Chapel Hill for a windy, hilly, chilly ride to Winston Salem NC. It was absolutely beautiful out today! More pictures to come but I posted a few. We woke at 5am and set off around 6:30am. I got 2 flats about 20 miles in and finally figured out what was causing them. I had a spoke going through the rim tape so one of the sweeps, Ryan helped me out and put new tape on and now no flats hopefully for awhile! I will try to patch the tubes up later and use them again. The two sweeps, Ryan and Daniell really helped me out today with the flats, rim taping, and just being really supportive on the up hills and teaching me new things about cycling. The ride started off pretty rough. I strained both achillies tendons so they are pretty painful mostly when I walk downstairs. But once I got on the bike they stretched out and felt good. Still icing them! I lowered my seat a notch and screwed my cleats more back on the bottom of my shoes to help. My body is still getting used to the excessive exercise and eating alot. Today was pretty rough on my stomach but I made it through after many gas station visits! haha! At lunch there was a strawberry farm that some riders went to and picked a batch for everyone! The views today were the best so far. So much green, pretty sky, lots of animals, lots of nice folks that pulled over to make sure we were okay when we stopped to rest. Oddly enough, on such a ride, I guess you start to have weird thoughts, or at least I do. I recognized just how much more we utilize our senses on bikes. The ride today was smelling so fresh with trees, flowers, and well cow shit too. I keep my eyes opened to the road ahead and tire in front alllll the time and glance around when I can while listening for cars behind. My hands are pretty sore from gripping the handles too tight when I get nervous going down hill or grip on when going up. All riders seem to be safe! We had one minor crash with 3 riders today. All of the them are well, just buises and scrapes and their bikes are being repaired. We rolled in to the church around 6:15pm (pretty late!) and then had a nice taco bar the church made for us. Showers were at the local YMCA and really nice! It had a hot tub in the womens locker room too! Many riders went out to a local brewery in town after dinner. I sat back and decided to blog, stretch, and bed soon. Tmrw is another big ride over 80 miles! Thanks for reading and all the comments! I appreciate all the support from everyone! Night!