Days 3 & 4

I just finished our first ride day - a 60 mile ride…the longest that I’ve ever ridden on a bicycle. It wasn’t too bad. Yes my butt killed at one point but I've learned that rest stops are key. I think everyone else downplayed their training because I got passed by just about everyone within the first 10 minutes. But Matthew, Meghan and I formed the caboose and it was fabulous. Actually I was literally the caboose because I was good for watching for cars coming from behind and Matthew was in front because he had the directions. Meghan was the ‘penultimum’ or however you say it. I burned 2600 calories which is pretty ridiculous…we’re supposed to consume upwards of 6000 calories a day – probably not going to be an issue. So today we went from Jacksonville, FL to Glen St. Mary’s, FL and we are staying in the gym of a Baptist church tonight. The floor is a little hard but the showers are on premises which is amazing. We’re kind of in the boonies so postcards are hard to come by, but I promise I’ll start them as soon as I can.

Yesterday we built with Jacksonville Habitat. We worked on a few different homes because we are such a big group, but my group worked on a roof. When we got there at 8am there was only the frame of a house and when we left at 4pm, there was a wooden roof (no shingles yet…we’re not that good). I am convinced that I will get injured only off of my bicycle because yesterday I smashed my thumb with a hammer…the same thumb that was sore from putting new tires on my bike. It feels a lot better now and didn’t impede my bike riding at all, obviously. But so it goes. Anyway, we worked with Paul, who volunteered with Habitat for 12 years and then has been working full time for them for the past 4. He’s put his sweat and tears into all 160 houses that the Jacksonville Habitat has built…pretty awesome.

Off to snack and chat until dinner...