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

Longest Ride to Date

Last night we had a town hall meeting in which we had to each do highs and lows of the week. I'll share mine here too:

High - being forced to stop in the middle of a hill to see a moose in the middle of the road.

Low - sleeping. I suck at sleeping through the night and it's not that easy for me here either - not to mention I talk in my sleep all the time.


So today was challenging. First of all, last night was hilarious. We all sleep on thermarests on the floor in the same big room, so if you snore or talk in your sleep like me everyone knows about it. Also thermarests are not quiet- they make a rustling noise everytime you move positions in your sleep. So last night Dennis gets up and comes back and bangs his knee on the pew really loud. This woke up maybe a third of the group who began stiring on the thermarests. This noise then caused everyone else to wake up and shift too, esentially causing a group roll over in the middle of the night.

Today was freezing! If I had cell phone service I'd know the temp but let's just call it fall weather not end of June weather. I mailed some postcards, and then the cue sheet said 65.1 miles then turn left. So we rode on one road a really long way. Made it to lunch where Andrew and I sat in the back of the trailer for warmth.

The day eventually warmed up but it was a long time coming. After lunch we stopped a little ways down the road in a town called Old Forge. We picked up some sweet stickers including one that said "Stop for Moose, it could save your life!". While we talked to the lady in the store, she decided to call the newspaper so we got our pictures taken.

Heather, Sam, and I headed out of there together and settled in for the last 30 miles of the day. On the way we picked up steven and Tony and rode on the best road so far this summer. It was a slow windy downhill where we didn't have to brake, felt safe and could just enjoy the view!

Stephen had a good quote - "I tend to judge how steep a hill is by how my legs feel at the beginning, and that one felt like steps."

When we got to the host I did some adjusting of my bike which is cool that I'm learning how to make adjustments I used to rely on the bike shop for.

Also got interviewed with Andrew here in boonsville for this paper. Two in one day!

After dinner, Beth, Angela, and Kristen and I went for a walk and talked. It was fun.

The days are so full, and my phone died today so sorry for the lack of photos.

Stats of the day:

Total Mileage: 76.23

Avg Speed: 15.91 mph

Max Speed: 34.1 mph

It was really windy, but I feel so accomplished when I finish the day


-- Diane

Location:Main St,Boonville,United States

Wrong Turn

For the second night in a row we don't have cell service, but no worries, we will reenter civilization one day.

Started a day with a climb out of the white mountains and ended up taking a wrong turn causing us to go back up a hill we went down. Total extra mileage: 4...with hills.






Today was long and grueling lots and lots of long steep hills. We don't have low enough gears to pedal easy so lots of people have sore knees including myself.

We are in a wilderness county tonight which partially means more bears than people. We are in the heart of the aderondacks.

We stopped at a crossing of the Hudson river and I found a caboose that reminded me of Honkey...so mom maybe you can pass this pic on to him?





Today I'm really just exhausted. Got showers at the ambulance station. Perks of getting in first mean picking sleeping spots first and getting showers first, but sometimes you miss random dance parties which is a bummer. I'll have to work on a balance.

Stats of the day:

Total Mileage: 62.04

Avg Speed: 13.4 mph

So tired. Gnight!


-- Diane

Location:Indian Lake, NY