Wear Sunscreen

Woke up this morning in the fog knowing I had the longest day ahead of me.

I did pace lines all day and about 25 miles in we hit North Dakota. We had 114 miles on highway 2. Talk about boring. At least there is a big sholder.

Between miles 60 and 65 I didn't know if I was going to make it. I was dying.

At second lunch (mile 80) Michael, chris, beth and I made a dumb and dumber spoof. And totally redeam yourself! It involved putting on sunscreen, which is ironic because I forgot to put any on today. That was a mistake but I don't think it's horrible.

With 15 miles to go, I started the epic pull. I pulled for 9 miles, then told Michael and chris they each had to do two miles and I would pull the end. We flew in about 20 miles an hour, and I love it because of the adrenaline rush that comes from it.

We went for a shower tonight at Lakewood bible camp, this is the camp from the documentary Jesus Camp. On the drive back we saw devils lake - all the trees closest to the lake are dead. There is too much sulfur in the lake. It looks really different. Also, the lake is experiencing unexplained flooding which is causing huge problems for the community. This is one I retesting place.

Sunset:



Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 118.46

Avg Speed: 16.37

Max Speed: 24.17


-- Diane

Location:Devils Lake, ND

Pulling Angela

Sweep challenge of the day was to change the lyrics to build
Me up buttercup, so Angela (AP) and I wrote this in the first 8 miles...

Why don't you lube me up
D'Z nuts baby
Just to let me down
And rub me around
And the worst of all
You always chafe baby
When you say you won't
But I love you still
I need you
More than Vaseline baby
You know that I have from porstmouth
So lube me up
D'Z nuts don't chafe my butt.

Saddles galore, it don't matter no more
I still chafe
You gave me saddle sores
Assos is new
And it looks a little blue
But what's great?
It makes my booty shake

Hey hey hey baby baby I try to find
A better butt'r
That keeps me feelin fine

On my bike
I'll be aisde hwy 2
Waiting for you

Oooooo ooooooo

Then we rode together the rest of the day talking. We rolled along at a good clip all day, but after second lunch, I was ready to get in, so I began a 10 mile pull. A pull is where you would normally stay in front of a group blocking wind and cycling hard for 30 seconds to a minute. I pulled Angela for 10 miles, so I got a workout in for sure. It felt great tho. Tired and exhausted, I arrived at the church for nachos and a nap. I naped till dinner and woke up and ate more. Tomorrow is a 115 mile day, so I'll need lots of energy!


Stats of the Day

Total Mileage: 91.42
Avg Speed: 17.49
Max Speed: 24.59


-- Diane

Location:Crookston, MN

A Decorated Bike

So much happened today how to I recap all the amazingness? My morning started with a rose. Someone told me to meet them st the trailer at lunch. I went down to eat breakfast to find my bike decorated and more roses.




Then sam asked me to go to walmmart with him before we left. I told him I was no spring chicken but that I would go. So when I did arrive at lunch I began playing volleyball. My team huddled and all of a sudden started singing L is for the way you look at me... And then Kyle G appeared and asked me to prom. So summer and William meet again.

Some of the other guys rode horses to ask their date, dressed like 300, made a stalkerish slideshow, or dressed like this guy -


Obviously we are all having fun with it!

Jaime and I also made a commercial for the competition of the day, it was me laying in the same position as a kangaroo (which we found at an attraction on the road) and selling aussie hair products. More roo for
your do!

Of course I did laundry tonight. Doing 32 peoples clothes take up alot of dryers.


Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 77.24

Avg Speed: 16.17

Max Speed: 25.96


-- Diane

Location:Bemidji, MN

Sweep Sandwich Sweepstakes

So today Leisl and I were sweep. While I enjoyed being with Leisl all day, boy was it a tough day to get through. We had super strong headwinds, and rather than push through them I had to go through them slowly because I couldn't pass people. We left this morning at 8 and didn't get in until 6. That's a long day on the bike.

But backing up slightly, last night I came up with this idea, jess did the drawing and I did the letters -


We put it on the trailer so people can add their ailments to the picture.

So today Leisl and I made our sweep challenge who can make us the best sandwich at lunch. Best presentation went to Jillian -as seen below:



But the overall winner was Kira and mark for their cookie sandwhich.

Nolan also had a bit of fun on the golf carts at lunch today too...




We stopped at a garage sale to wait for some fellow bikers and met three little blonde boys with mullets. They were named mitchel, bubba, and gale. Talk about naming children :). Once we finally got here, we ate, I showered and had to give an affordable housing presentation on hope VI right away. Chris and I didn't rehearse but I think it went well. I never did like talking for long in front of a group so I kept it short.

Now I'm just exhaused from the long day.

Stats of the day:

Total Mileage: 85.01

Avg Speed: 12.31

Max Speed: 23.45

-- Diane

Cliff Jump

So we spent the whole day on a bike path basically, and about 20 miles outside of Duluth, we went over a high bridge with rocks and a river below. We stopped and talked to the locals. They said you could jump from the rocks or the bridge. So all the guys I was with and Kristen went for it. I was so scared when Travis jumped in first because no one actually checked it was deep enough.



Then we got into duluth and enjoyed the rest of the night because it is a day off today!

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 76.23

Avg Speed: 15.81

Max Speed: 28.34. - which I hit on a flat playing catch up.

-- Diane

Christmas Songs

Home stays in st Paul were interesting. Per (pronounced Pear) didn't wake up this morning to take us back to the church, so we had Elvis come pick us up. And thus we finally left the per orchard.

Yesterday we removed lead paint from a house all day. Don't worry we had masks and gloves, but still made for a dirty job.

So today we made up Christmas songs modified for sweep. Steven and I spent all day redoing frosty the snowman. Here's how it turned out:

KK the sweepers
From wisconsin and Texas
With a first aid kit, a spare inner tube, and two cell phones just in case.

Kate is our home girl
With a very blinged out bike
And there's special k, who runs every day, and wears magnets round her wrist.

There must have been some DM on that old green sash they wore. For when they placed it on themselves they began to bike in back.

Oh KK the sweepers, came along a rider down.
So they yelled hey sweep my front tires low can you help me on my way?

Fippity fipple fipple,
Fippity fipple Fipple
Off to sand stone
Fippity fipple fipple,
Fippity fipple Fipple
Over the hills we go

KK the swepers
Will they ever get to lunch
They have to wait for everyone to eat
Before they can bike away

Last into the town
With a journal left to write
No one crashed today
Hip hip horray
Time for Christmas in July.

We'll see if we win. Steven and I rode together all day - it was fun and I like riding with him because he'll stop anywhere and do anything!

After dinner I was back on laundry rotation, so I'm sitting at the laundromat now. I think I just made a bunch of people mad because I wanted to go clean the tarp in the trailer because it smelt really gross and was dirty. I guess no one else thought it needed cleaning or didn't want to do it, but I'm pretty sure people don't like me right now. Oh well such is life. The tarp is clean. Hopefully it blows over.

Well we had Christmas in July. I got 20 fake nails which should come in handy for prom! I wonder who drew my name tonight.

Steven and I also presented our song, won first prize and a free bike cleaning!! Nailed it :)

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 94.83
Avg Speed: 14.61
Max Speed: 23.27


-- Diane

Location:Sandstone,United States

Pirates of the Road

So we hit a new state today! I started the morning with Andrew and Angela, until Andrews rear derailer snapped in the middle of a hill. He had to get in the van because you can't fix that on the road. Angela and I continued until lunch.

At lunch I made the breakfast club - pixie stick and potatoe chips on a piece of bread. It actually tasted pretty good. We also pelted beth with water ballon and met an awesome dog named buster.

Back on the road and it was Nolan, Jaime, and Travis and me. We were pirates and would catch up to other riders, prepare to board and CHARGE! We used our water bottles as cannons and would take over their ships. It was pretty fun and we made really good time.

Usually when we come into big cities, the roads are a bit heavy, but we used a bike path today that was awesome!

Got to our hosts tonight and it was like home alone. Our hosts went out and left us here which was nice to relax!

Stats of the Day:

Total mileage: 78.81

Avg Speed: 14.42

Max Speed: 35.43

-- Diane

Location:St Paul, MN

Rain rain go away.

So this morning it was pouring! But we bike anyway, everything went into ziplock bags and off we went after a dance party in the rain.

The challenge of the day was to write haikus. We have 3 good ones seen below:

Haikus:

T-Bear, Drew, Sweet Dee
Leap Frog in the Sprinklin' Showers
Thumb Wrestle They Shall

We have a video of this one!

Worship Us Nolan
Decidant sweet muscle, YES!
We are Josh's calves.

This is golden - if we take home gold it will be with this one. We have a picture of joshs calves to go with this one.

Snow, wind, rain, or hail
Sam, t-bear, sweet Dee, prevail
Challengers, Bring IT!

This one is not one we say outloud. We are just proud we are 2 for 2 in competitions!

Once we got in, we pelted Josh with water ballons and introduced him to Alejandro.




He was excited when he found his towel so he could take a shower.

Later we showcased our haikus. Lots of really good ones. And the winner is...

Jillian, Kelsey, and Steven -

Oh soggy shammy
You chafe my parts red and raw
Love you anyway

I really though we had a winner but the team really stepped up and got into it this time. Also a competition we didn't enter was best sweep gift. Here is sweep chowing down on the second place prize - two pickles on a stick.




Total Mileage: 65.97

Avg Speed: 15.69

Max Speed: 25.23


-- Diane

Location:Pepin, WI

Planning Joshs Birthday

For anyone who hasn't heard, deepest sympathy to the P2S route as they lost a leader in a collision yesterday. All of the groups are feeling the dangers of what we are doing, and can hardly grasp the reality of what has happened. If you want to read more, bike and build has an official statement on their website.

We woke up this morning, still shaken from the events last night. We opted to leave later and give everyone some time to recouperate. In the mean time, Nolan enjoyed opening his bike much like a kid on chirstmas, and vowed to get beth back a million times over.

We also played about an hour of knockout in the school gym.





Then it was time to get on our bikes and ride. We stopped about 5 miles into the trip to see a bathtub on the side of the road. That's right, a bathtub. A spring with the best water in the county cam flowing out of a pipe into this tub. So we all filled up our waterbottles with the cool water and continued on our way. (don't worry we were told we could drink the water)

Jamie and I stopped about 10 miles from lunch and he downed half a gallon of chocolate milk and a box of Nilla wafers! He was prematurly bonking haha! The scenery was awesome with rolling hills of farmland.

At lunch I couldn't eat enough. My body kept telling me to eat more. I think it had to do with the century from yesterday. Then I passed out under a tree for about an hour. I woke up, ate a little more and headed out with sam Andrew and mark.

We stopped at a wendys because the boys wanted frosties and met a man with about a million questions for us. Travis though he was weird and choose to sit by a lamp post outside for the rest of the stop.

We continued on and stopped at a kmart to go shopping for joshs birthday tomorrow. We bought Alejandro the piñata. He rode on the back of marks bike for 10 miles.



We stuffed it with joshs clothes and will set it up for him tomorrow.

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 65.01

Avg Speed: 14.91

Max Speed: 31.66

-- Diane

Location:Lacross, WI

One Month Anniversary

Today is the one month anniversary of our bike and build trip. To celebrate, Kyle and I rode past a goodwill and decided to stop in and dress up. He was William Wallace V and I was Summer Brownfoot. He was wearing John Lennon glasses a vest and a plaid skirt we cut to knee length. I was wearing a flowery shirt with trumpet sleeves, and a purple and white cheerleadibg skirt. We didn't tell anyone we were doing this, just showed up at second lunch. Everyone loved it! Kyle and I also spent most of our time changing the lyrics of sonny and chers duet I got you to apply to bike and build. It will most likey be revealed at the talent show.

Jumping back a minute, first lunch was on a dairy farm - lots of flies but I liked hanging with the cows.



This was our second century. It was rolling hills so harder than Chicago. We pulled into the school, and they have a track so I did a couple pick ups to keep the turnover up :) haha. There are all these stuffed animals in the school which is a bit weird, but Nolan took a deer head down and snuck up on Leisl with the rest of us watching. Hilaious!

Sam and Kyle and I then spent some time making a scavenger hunt for the group. Also town meeting:

High - chalk day
Low - moldy mail

Also best prank ever...this is nolans bike



Stats of the Day

Total Mileage: 106.41

Avg Speed: 14.88

Max Speed: 36.88


-- Diane

Chalk Day

Stats from entering Jainsville that I forget to post:

Total Mileage: 73.11

Avg Speed: 15.47

Max Speed: 29.44

Woke up 15 min late today. That was bad - now I'm just a little behind forgeting things here and there like shorts for when we get to th host site.

Talk about a change of pace in the day. Sweep decided to hold two competitions - best jumping picture and best chalking. Well long story short, Travis sam and I won both competitions. You can see all of the chalking we did here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2146142&id=4811965&l=058bac2e06

We chalked many scenes, from swimming pools to Godzilla to laser fights on the moon to modern art. We jumped on a cow swinger slid and on a trampoline and got some free watermellon.

It took us 8 hours to go 40 miles we stopped so much.

Last night we went out to a pub and Angela and I played some pool. We started good but couldn't hold on.

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 44.84

Avg Speed: 13.92

Max Speed: 28.20

-- Diane

Location:Madison, WI

Big Booty

So today's build site was pretty typical though it was real hot out. We roofed, installed windows and doors, and did siding. I was allover the power tools - saws mostly. I had saw dust everywhere, and did some back bending moves to get down the scaffolding.

Then best part of the day was we went to kates house for a party. They had ladder golf - a game I had never played before, a cheese hat, and lots of hand slapping games. Best part, they made us shirts -








Awesome! It was a fun night and I'm really starting to feel at home with everyone. It's good.

-- Diane

Location:Janesville, WI

Head Winds!

We entered Wisconsin today!




This was supposed to be a jumping picture but it got taken too soon. Oh well.

We got to lunch and played two games of sand volleyball. Awesome! I got sand down my pants but nothing you can't brush off.

After lunch was interesting...Angela, Paul, Sam, and I left lunch, and Angela and I were talking and were in the back and sam and Paul missed the turn. Well I decided I'd go catch them but they were 300 meters ahead. So I sprinted. Up a hill at close to 24mph yelling for them to stop. I wish I had a louder voice! I caught them completley out of breath. We continued and stopped about 15 miles out for some shade under a tree at this point it was Nolan sam and I and we learned Nolan had eaten a whole jar of pickles, juice included for lunch. Yuck! We got back on our bikes and began flying. We were facing awesome headwinds, but we didn't care, adreniline kicked in. We killed 10 miles and kates mom appeared with popsicles! I had two just what I needed cuz I was out of water. Then we killed the last 5 miles, yelling encouragement the whole way - again awesome biking high!

Will post stats tomorrow my bike is not near me. Went to sarahs for a sweet bonfire!

Gnight. We build tomorrow.

-- Diane

Moldy Mail

After visiting wrigley this morning we left at 1030 for a 50 mile ride. The going was slow with lots of lights leaving the city but we made it. Josh and I used sticks to chalk when we were on a limestone trail.

When we got here we got in the lake, myself included even though I couldn't see the bottom.

Mail came! I got a letter from Taylor and Daisy Mae. Yes Taylor, you have better spelling than me! A post card from doug where I learned of takas late night whereabouts (don't do that). And pumpkin bread from my mom, which would have tasted wonderful except it had mold :(

I returned to the post office to mail Erica her bday present and doug his shirt and my clothes that I do not need. Thy just take up space in my suitcase.

Then I went to dinner with Leslie (my new roommate in dc) and her parents. It was really fun!

Upon returning, I got a new tattoo-


Yep it sparkles!

Then I entered Travis and Andrews fort which is deluxe because it is dark and has a fan. Not too jealous tho because Andrew snores.

Overall excellent day.

Stats of the Day:

Total mileage: 49.67

Avg Speed: 14.41

Max Speed: 26.34

-- Diane

Location:Grays Lake, IL

Chi-Town

So yesterday we came into Chicago, completing our first century!

We started the day with a tailwind, meaning you would think you could fly anywhere you move so fast without and working. After first lunch we approached Gary, indiana and went right through the heart of it. There were potholes everywhere and clearly was not the place to get a flat or take a break.

Second lunch was just before Chicago, and after we came into the city from the southside. Angela and chris and I made a wrong turn and got stuck even longer in the wrong section of town than we should have. I would say for the first time this trip I didn't feel safe in my bike. The combo of road conditions, heavy traffic, and neighborhood made me nervous.

When we finally got on the bike path, we saw lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. I jumped in lake michigan and rode the last 10 miles with sand in my shammy due to a depth perception error of how shallow the water was. Still worth it.

We went out for deep dish last night. I had trouble using the metro - why I dunno it's not like I've never done it before. But I just couldn't put the peices together - maybe it was something to do with the 106 miles I had biked earlier.

This morning I woke up at 7 (we got lucky and wake up is at 9), and biked to wrigley field with lesil. It was cool!





Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 106.48

Avg Speed: 15.22

Max Speed: 26.39

-- Diane

Location:Chicago, IL

Taking A Nap

So yesterday we biked, today we build. Rode a long way yesterday, crossing into Indiana and passing through Notre Dame. I found an awesome grassy spot in the afternoon and pulled over and took a nap before continuing out to second lunch for root beer floats. Awesome! We hit a big mix of roads yesterday - bumpy ones, busy ones, no sholder ones, smooth ones. You had to pay attention.

After pulling into a Mennonite church and reading their display on their church, we went to a pool party organized by Nolans family. Pool party was awesome and I got the ever important shower.

Today we woke up real early and got to the build site. Lots of action...laid sod, weed wacked, planted flowers, cleaned garages, set up fencing around a porch, and pulled some pranks. Overall, good build day.







As far as pranks, we had Nolan in a trashcan while pulling in a sucker (chris) to throw something away only to find a person in the trash can.

Thr other prank involved Michael and the porta potty. We had a set of steps, and waited patiently for someone to enter the porta potty. We even handed out Gatorade to everyone to speed up the process. So when Michael got in, we quickly assembled by yelling sprinkler, and moved the steps in front of the door and sat on them. I would guess Michael didn't like being stuck in the porta potty!

Town hall meeting tonight:

High - llama kisses
Low - not being able to ride into Avon lake.

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 94.87

Avg Speed: 15.25

Max Speed: 28.48


-- Diane

Location:South Bend, IN

Is your mama a llama?

Started the day off practicing riding with no hands! I'm getting better. I rode with a ton of people. Started with the BBG's before lunch, then switched it up with lesiel, Kelsey, Kristen, chris, and a few others. We talked and sang and got through the miles. Then we saw the llamas!



Sorry for the finger in the screen. We kissed putter and chipper for a while - they were awesosmly curious!

Got through Ohio and into Michigan-




Took a shower watched Spain score a goal, forgot my towel, cleaned my bike, did a bike clinic, had a potato bar for dinner, listened to a presentation, entertained by marks Alaska stories, got my towel back, and did an affordable housing presentation.

Tonights topic was health care reform. Well you know what this started - another strong opinioned talk. These are good though. I sit back and listened to what everyone thinks and make my own decisions in my head.

So tired. Want to go to bed. Indiana tomorrow!!!

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 78.23

Avg. Speed: 13.80

Max Speed: 23.50


-- Diane

Location:Camden, MI

Riding Alone

So I woke up pretty refreshed this morning but still pretty upset about yesterday. I started my ride with people and by 1st lunch wasn't feeling well. I didn't have any appetite (weird for me) but forced myself to eat a little something.

From there till second lunch I rode by myself and I rode first. There was no one infront of me and no one catching me so it was like I was by myself. Turned out, this was exactly what I needed. I cried a little and screamed a little - no one could hear me. When I got to second lunch I downed a whole bottle of Gatorade and all of a sudden I was ready to be social again. I had finally got the bad energy out of me.

So I rode the last 20 miles with a group, but in the 89th mile I saw this sign:





So of course I stopped and got doug a shirt!

When we arrived here tonight Abby told me about a game where you put people you meet on your friends teams. All you do is point someone out and say he's on your team. So I am proud to announce the number 1 draft pick of my team: (the man in the middle)




We had a team building exercise tonight where we had to compliment everyone else and then they complimented us back. I had no problem complimenting people but I was so embaressed when it was my turn to be complimented. It's weird being put on the spot like that. My face red, really hot, no fun. In the end it was good tho - left everyone feeling good I think.

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 93.09

Avg. Speed: 16.58

Max Speed: 25.68

-- Diane

Location:Bowling Green, OH

It can't all be berries and creme

Well for all the good days that happen, there will be bad ones too. I'm not going to write much because it doesn't make sense to complain, but today was not the best of days.

The leaders decided the weather was too bad to ride in, so we were taken in vans to Avon lake. This really upsets me because now I have not biked the whole way and the situation was out of my control.

I'm not going to talk about all the not so good stuff that happened today but I'm just hoping that it all happened at once.

On the bright side, the host here is super nice and I'm sleeping in a water bed tonight! This is out first time staying with hosts in small numbers at their houses and being transported back to the church in the morning. Don't worry I'm with someone else from
the group still.

Tomorrows another day, and I just hope I don't wake up in a pool of water :)


-- Diane

Location:Avon Lake, OH

I shouldn't start fights.

Slept in today because it was a build day. Got up at 7:30 to the sound of my thermarest being deflated. It was kyles new technique to wake me up.

We were going to paint all day. When we got to the site, the fence looked like this:



And further down it was missing pieces of wood. When we finished, it looked like this:




Kelsey called it smokers tooth white. We also painted the building, and I was up on the ladder for most of it.

As we were cleaning up the battle began. Steven and I grabbed one tub of water and poured it all over Travis. Sam was going to empty the second jug so Travis and I went overto pour the third jug of water on him. This was sucessful but we acted too soon and sam had ammo to get us back. So of course I got soaked. My plan backfired but it was still fun. Travis also got skunked with a strip of white paint going down his dark hair.

We came back, showered and had affordable housing presentations. One was on homelessness which inspired a huge convo about it. I didn't have much to say because I don't know that much about it, but it was interesting to listen to 31 other peoples views.

Stats of the Yesterday:

Total Mileage: 76.42

Avg Speed: 14.86

Max Speed: 31.96

-- Diane

Location:Ashtabula, OH

3 states

It's hard to write alot on the day before a build day because we stay busy later, but here's the short version...

Yesterday was town hall:

High- epic dance party when we got back from mini golf and go karts

Low - packing my bag every morning

Today's highlights included:

Amazing lunch from nolans parents.

Thinking I had a flat only to find it was a leaf in my brakes.

Crossing through 3 states.

Sticking my head in the ice machine.

Watching sam spill soda everywhere.

Swiming and getting a real towel at the host site.

Realizing I really want a russel terrier of my own (I think that's the breed of dog).

Not so awesome highlights of the day include:

Sam flipping over his handle bars and landing on his back when he got stuck in tracks and shot out. Luckily he was fine!

I rode the last 15 miles by myself because I wanted to. It was good I got cranking but I was def dehydrated. When I got to the church I called doug because I was just exhaused and slightly out of it. I realized I gotta take care of myself out there. It's hot and the days are getting longer.

Also, to make Travis happy, I would like to say that I do have better grammar than this blog. I type on my iPhone so as long as it is legible I don't worry about it at all.

I can't believe we are already over 600 miles into the trip! Spent a while tonight talking with Sam and Kyle about life. Good talk but we missed Club Northern. Bummer. Oh well. Build day tomorrow - I'll be painting, and will have pics tomorrow. Also the stats from today because my bike is not near me right now.

-- Diane

Location:Ashtabula, OH

Stop

Today we woke up at 5. I almost slept next to Paul last night but moved at the last minute for an area with more space. Great decision because Paul ended up in a pool of water. We slept in a basement and I guess the ground leaked.

Josh and I were sweep, which means we are the last two bikers on the route. We carry the med kit and have sashes to wear. The roads were so rough today! I saw the stadium the sabers play in, and narrowly avoided many cars as we entered downtown buffalo at 9am! Liz fell and there were 3 flat tires.




We also ran into a guy who was on his last day of his bike tour around the perimeter of the US. His website is tourduculture.com.

We stopped at mile 67 for a lake side dive. We were on lake erie and some people gave us a cookout and we swam in the lake.



It was grape country today -




At the host we swam in a pool, played some games and showered. Then an epic foosball game went down with me Kira mark and sam. I didn't win. Steven and my ping pong game ended when we lost the ball.

Josh and I hit every stop light on the route. Changed right as we got up to them. Horrible!

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 87.59

Avg Speed: 14.24

Max Speed: 35.53

-- Diane

Location:Clinton St,Westfield,United States

Are We In A War Zone?

Short ride today. Only 20 miles, and I decided to make it a workout. Nothing really eventful happened because it was so short but the last 2 miles of road had half of the road torn up for construction. We decided it looked like a war zone.

The church tonight is not in the best of neighborhoods. Lots of plywood windows in buildings and the building across from us has bullet holes through the window. Needless to say I haven't gone anywhere alone and will not be leaving the church after dark.

After taking cold showers at the Y we went over to Niagra Falls and canada. It was like a 45 min walk but so worth it.



I'm standing on rainbow bridge here walking over to Canada. We did the maid of the mist and I felt like I was in another world. The falls are incredible and they are in the shape of a horseshoe so you are completely surrounded at one point on the boat ride. It was a little scary too.

Walked back and had to pay a 50 cent toll to get back into the US. Really? I have to pay to come back into America??? Walked back the 45 min and my legs are shot. Oh well, still worth it!

Stats of the Day:

Total Mileage: 21.00

Avg Speed: 16.62

Max Speed: 23.5
-- Diane

Knee high by the 4th of July

Started the day out with tight IT bands but after warming up and stretching it was fine. Today was one of the flatest days of riding we've had. Biggest highlight was when we found Dominique DeCocoa, a camel on the side of the road.



She wouldn't come play with us, but I filmed a fansatic video of Michael talking about Dominique.

Roads were good today for talking, but everyone in the group is slowly learning about pace lines which makes it easier to ride with everyone.

After taking a shower with the hose, we headed to see the locks for the Erie canal in lockport and also to take a walk through a cave and underground boat tour. This is the entrance:




Inside was sweet too but no flash on the iPhone.

After the caves I power napped almost through dinner. Fireworks and bed time again. Niagra falls tomorrow!

Stats of the day:

Total Mileage: 59.13

Avg Speed: 15.61

Max speed: 26.5

-- Diane

I'm on a Bike and I'm Going Fast

So yesterday was a 90+ mile day. So long! The cue sheet (directions) was a mess as the mileage didn't line up with the turns we were supposed to make.

While trying to figure out one of the turns I only had one foot unclipped and Kelly jumped infront of me and cut me off. Needless to say I fell over and got a scrape and bruise but it's no big deal.





Lunch was awesome deli sandwiches from kiras mom but I had a bad stomach ache for like 2 hours after lunch. I also power naped at lunch. Good life decision.

After lunch we grinded through like 30 miles before I started feeling good again. In the last 15 miles of the trip Abby and I missed a turn and got lost. We stopped and asked someone where Lansing Rd was. He acted like it was far far away, knowing it couldn't be more than 2 miles, I told him look we've already biked 80 miles, it's no big deal. So we had another slight detour before finding the right street.

I felt really good for having biked 90 miles. The group of us went out last night, where I played the best pool of my night. I took a celebrity shot and made 4 balls in a row! Paul said he wanted to play me 1 on 1 but I said no. (I was quitting while I wad ahead!). Rushi knows my true ability with pool. We also had an awesome dance party - it was fun!

Today we were supposed to build, but there was some sort of miscommunication with the build site so we ended up having the day off. I didn't like this because part of the trip is building and interacting with the families.

Instead I took my bike to the bike shop and had the annoying clicking sound fixed. Took a little Teflon tape but I can sneak up on people again :). I know I said I felt good after the ride yesterday but today I was def feeling it! Quads! We had lunch then I played soccer and four square. Squeek! Heather is a soccer pro ;). I took a nap and then we went to a place after dinner for go karts and mini golf. Best part? It was free! The go karts were so fun - we were doing the wave and getting high fives from the put crew while we waited for the green flag. Then when we got out there we were all bumping and Running into eachother.

Tomorrow we bike!


-- Diane

Location:Rochester, NY

I fell over today

I'm pretty tired. It was a 90+ mile day. I will blog about it tomorrow but I'm okay from my fall. It was at a stop light and I only had one foot unclipped. No real injuries.

Stats of the day:

Total Mileage: 90.61

Avg Speed: 15.03 mph

Max Speed: 33 mph


-- Diane

Location:Rochester, NY

I'm getting married!

I decided to write down everything I ate today:

Breakfast:
Bowl of cereal
Blueberry Muffin
Banana and peanut butter
Toast
Egg thing

Lunch:
Donut
PB and J
7 cookies
Handful of pretzles
Handful of carrots

Snacks:
Cookie
Crackers
Lollipop
Snickers bar

Dinner:
Macaronni salad
Salad
Mac and cheese
Pasta
Garlic bread
2 cupcakes

And I'm usually still hungry 2 hours later!

I made a mistake this morning. I knew it was supposed to be 65 as a high today but when I got outside it was so sunny so I packed my cold weather gear. That's was a mistakes. I was cold but luckily Stephanie let me borrow her jacket and sam let me borrow his arm warmers so I survived.

I was riding with angela when her chain came off and we had to pull over to fix it and got passed by the whole group. We needed a screwdriver to adjust the front derailler and luckily I keep this on me so we were golden.






Caught up with Dennis Jamie and Nolan and had a 5 min quote session of dumb and dumber. Then Jamie and I had a long convo about oil and oil companies. Jamie doesn't have a car because he doesn't like oil. It was a really good talk and we agree to disagree a little bit.

At lunch heather bought a princess set and took the ring and proposed to me. The date is set for the bike and build talent show. There will be pictures.




After lunch we sat in a field of daisys for a while then Travis and I counted how many American flags we saw in the last 10 miles of our ride. 56! We also sang the 50 states in alphabetical order. Very entertaining!

At the host tonight my group, the BBG's had to give a presentation about bike and build - it was good but boy do I hate giving presentations.

We did laundry tonight and it was mail so thank you mom or sending me the strap so I didn't have to search for all my stuff today!

Nolan is a prankster. He put rocks in Angelas camelbak the other day - she biked like 50 miles that way! Today he took chris' mail package and removed the contents and left the letter and put some of his stuff out of his suitcase in the package and sealed it back up. We got chris on video opening it. It wad funny.

Got to the church and took a hour long nap but I'm ready for bed again.

Stats of the day:

Total Mileage: 65.75

Avg Speed: 13.75 mph

Max Speed: 32 mph

-- Diane

Location:County Route 35,Fulton,United States