08.21 San Francisco, CA

Congrats SUS 07!!!

Sorry for the delay finish, but the past few days have been kind of crazy. So I left off in Napa.

08.15: We rode about 50 miles to Camp Taylor near Point Reyes. I rode with Team Tardy and it was a great day. We had lots of '&' stops, including a goat farm and best of all, a cheese factory where we bought bread, cheese and wine and had a little party on a bridge about .5 mile from our campsite. We also stopped earlier in the day at Starbucks and a drugstore to buy flair for our surprise. Our afternoon was spent decorating a pillowcase cape for each SUS07 rider. We put nicknames on them for everyone and then piled on the flair (stickers, ribbons, etc.) Team Tardy-style. We hid them in our tent because we wanted to give them out at the bridge the next day. That night we all had chores to do...I cleaned/bleaches the coolers which was oh so much fun. We had a campfire, sausages and s'mores that night and all sat around and reminisced about the summer.

08.16 I woke up this morning with butterflies in my stomach. I could not believe that in a few short hours I would be DONE and be with Evan and my family. The ride was short - only 25 miles and it went by really fast. I rode with Team Tardy again and we were singing and Matthew was telling everyone we passed that we had ridden all the way from Florida. My first view of the bay took my breath away and riding into the Golden Gate vista point to meet everyone blowing my party horn with Team Tardy was beyond words. We stopped and sang the first part of a Shania Twain song,

Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday

They said, "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together still going strong

Then we gave out the capes one by one and it was picture time etc. At that moment, all the bad parts of the summer were gone and I was just amazed by this awesome group of people who just biked across the country. All the tourists were so funny because they had no idea what was going on. After a little while, we lined up and biked across the bridge wearing our capes. It was pretty spectacular. The bridge is HUGE and we went right into a fog. There were about 50 people awaiting us on the other side with signs and cheers. I was shaking. My mom, dad, Lexi and Evan greeted me with flowers and hugs. We made our way over to the beach where the riders dipped their front wheels into the water and then most of us jumped in. After rounds bike over head photos, we had a great lunch provided by Molly's parents and champagne and toasts (my dad added a corny poem to the toast of course). The Providence to San Francisco Bike and Build trip arrived about an hour after us (we beat them! hehe) and some people went over to say hi. I left with my parents and Evan to drop my bike off at Evan's apartment and then drive to the hotel. We enjoyed the hot tub for a while and I relished the hot shower (and comfy beds). We drove back to the city to Don Ramon's for the Bike and Build dinner. Good food, good talk, presentations, awards, etc.

And now it's OVER. And I'm so happy. It was a great experience...that I will never do again. haha. A new chapter is opening for me. Time for apartment hunting and city exploring. Welcome to San Francisco. :)

08.16 SAN FRANCISCO, CA

I MADE IT TO SAN FRANCISCO!!!!

blog to be updated early next week...

08.14 Napa, CA

So I have just ridden my last century...probably ever! woo-hoo! The ride in today was beautiful through orchards and vineyards, but difficult. It was flat for the first 75 miles...then 20 miles of major hills, although they weren't as bad as expected. After about 18 miles of the hills I was feeling pretty good and hoping to get one more difficult hill...and boy did I get what I wished for. The last hill kicked my butt and I had my official last hissy fit on the road. The descent was pretty scary - very curvy roads with speed limits of 20mph...I got a blister from braking so much. But we all made it in eventually and I got a Jamba Juice to congratulate myself. We are staying at a really nice church with amazing people. They took us to their homes for showers, made us delicious food, and we did a presentation as well as a presentation of a check to their Habitat chapter. It was a great host to end with (we're camping tomorrow night).

We stopped for lunch today in Davis, the town of UC Davis where Molly went to school so it was cool to see her old stomping grounds.

Last night we had a meeting to discuss where our funds will be distributed. We have about $60,000 to donate to Affordable Housing Hurricane Relief. We decided to divide that by 27 and each person gets to decide where his/her money goes (choice of 3 locations).

Okay I'm exhausted right now so I'm going to sign off. Last full day tomorrow to Point Reyes. I'll try to update pictures then. Goodnight :)

08.13 Yuba City, CA

Greetings from Yuba City, CA! We just finished our last build day and it went really well. We only worked on one house so as usual with 25 people (2 are still sick), it was a bit hectic and there were some ‘I have nothing to do’ moments. But we got a lot done, especially for a house that only gets worked on one day a week – usually Saturdays. The house is for Barbara, a single mom and her adopted son. It will hopefully be done around Christmas time. We worked on a bunch of different projects – everything from roofing to pouring the cement front walkway. It’s definitely a great feeling to start with a house that is just a frame and by lunchtime have enough roof on to sit in shade during lunch. Now we’re all scattered doing random errands etc before we get served dinner and take showers.

Our ride in yesterday was alright, pretty uneventful. We went from 3000-something feet in elevation to 60 feet in elevation. That doesn’t mean there weren’t any hills though. We did our share of climbing. We also went over this dam that was just beautiful. The water was turquoise – it looked tropical! We arrived in Yuba City in late afternoon and had a huge (indoor) BBQ with the members of the Baptist Church and also gave our presentation. It was a good night overall and I fell asleep watching ‘Harold and Maude,’ a great movie if you’ve never seen it.

A hard ride into Napa tomorrow. Not sure if I’ll get to update before we get to San Francisco on Thursday but I’ll definitely do a last entry there! Much love.

08.11 Downieville, CA

All I have to say is, Welcome to Paradise. I LOVE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. The first part of our 70 mile ride today out of Tahoe was rough...two hard climbs, lots of little climbs, etc. But I summited Yuba Pass, had some lunch and then the next 20 miles were amazing. All downhill...literally. Some of us stopped at one point to go check out Yuba River which was running along the road all down the mountain. We climbed down the rocks to the water. This water was SO COLD, it was basically last winter's ski season coming down the mountains. We just waded in a little and sat on the sunny rocks. It was amazing and just the thing I needed to ground me and wake me up to the paradise around me. The rest of the ride was just as beautiful - I haven't seen so many pine trees since I used to live in Colorado. The green is overwhelming after the desert of Nevada. We're staying in the backyard of a couple's house who own the campground here. And honestly, I have found the place that I want to live. Their house is gorgeous, with a beautiful backyard, pool, hammocks, 2 golden retrievers...all while being rustic and in the middle of nowhere. They are SO nice, letting us sleep on their lawn, use their showers, kitchen, wireless, etc.

The rest of my day in Tahoe was really nice yesterday. I took the free trolley back to the campsite from the Internet Cafe and joined some people at the beach across the street. Eventually I went to do laundry (my job this week) and wandered around a craft fair and got some delicious fudge tracks ice cream to occupy myself. I grabbed dinner with Josh and Sean afterwards - we had a little wireless internet party.

Oh man, I'm so full right now...on brownies and other delicious treats from everyone's mail drops. Dinner is being cooked so hopefully I'll get my appetite back. I'm not too worried about it :) Only 5 days left of eating whatever I want!

08.10 Lake Tahoe, CALIFORNIA!!!

I MADE IT TO CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!!! Okay, I just had to get that out…now I can recap the past few days…

08.07 The rest of my sick day from Eureka, NV to Austin, NV was fairly uneventful. All of us sickies eventually made it to the town hall we stayed at in Austin and we just laid around and ate a little. The one spectacle of the night was Spencer being bet $10 that he couldn’t climb the mountain in 10 minutes…and despite his sickness, he did it. He climbed the mountain/hill across the street to the top of the ‘A’ for Austin (all the towns in Nevada have their first letter at the top of a hill) in about 7 minutes. Crazy crazy boy.

08.08 I actually felt great when I woke up this morning…I was hungry (such a great feeling after being sick) and was excited to get on my bike. We had our longest day ahead of us…a supposed 118 miles to Fallon, NV (an actual city!). We left around 6:30am and it was SO COLD. Some of us had to stop for about half an hour because we literally could not bike. My fingers were freezing off and my body just would not function. It was not a great start to the day and it just got worse from there. The ride was hard, long, hot, boring and just generally miserable. I still didn’t feel wonderful which just added to the delirium of biking in the desert. The last 30 miles after second lunch were the worst because we biked through the literal desert. I’m talking sand for miles, no plants, mirages in the distance. The white stuff on the side of the road is sand: There was an actual sand mountain; I felt like I was in freaking Egypt of something. Thank god for the entertaining people who wrote things with rocks on the ride of the road…I read those for miles and didn’t go completely crazy. The Habitat Bike Challenge who passed through before us left this rock bicycle:

Around mile 102, when I didn’t know if I could make the last 15 miles, the van came around with popsicles and the great news that there were only 8 miles left. We also were passing through the Fallon airforce base and I saw a helicopter practicing rescues with people dangling from wires. This is the area where parts of Top Gun were filmed…you know the scenes where they are practicing flying and it looks like the middle of nowhere? yeah. So it was great to enter a city and see trees and greenness. We stayed at a Methodist church and had wonderful food (burritos).

08.09 Today was 94 miles into California and Lake Tahoe. Just for future reference, I HATE NEVADA. The people are great (besides the motorcyclist who told us to ‘Get off the f’ing road’) but I will never return to this state. The ride to Lake Tahoe was one of our most physically challenging…we climbed a total of 3000 ft and 2300 of those feet were in 10 miles. Climbing up that mountain was ridiculous…the head wind was awful and I have never yelled so loudly at the wind/roads. I still can’t believe I actually made it up. Especially after seeing the ‘Bear X-ing’ sign. Summiting was amazing…and the descent to the lake was indescribable. I was speeding down this mountain road in the forest and all of a sudden, BAM there is this huge, beautiful lake. I teared up I was so happy and it was so beautiful. The last 15 miles into California were just amazing, and honestly, I really feel at home. I think I was meant to be born in Northern California. I really could live at Lake Tahoe forever. I mean maybe I’m just really happy to be here after the week from hell…but seriously it’s awesome. I was the 5^th person to arrive which was unusual and the 5 of us just hung out and ate delicious treats from Molly’s sister and Claude’s girlfriend and set up the tents at Sandy Beach Campground. The night was SO COLD and I unfortunately got stuck in a tent by myself because some people went out to dinner unannounced and never came back. I think they went to Molly’s grandparents’ house but I’m not sure. So my night was chilly but it was nice after the desert. Now I’m in the Java Hut, an awesome coffee shop about 1.5 miles from our campground. I might go parasailing with Bre later…we’ll see what the prices are like. Anyway, check out the pics. Less than a week until San Francisco!!!!!! Much love.

08.07 Eureka/Austin, NV

We have been hit by the plague. It’s 7:30am and only about 10 riders are setting out for the 70 mile day. We are going to have to play some major van and trailer acrobatics to get 17 riders, bikes and bags to Austin, NV today. We have no idea why everyone is sick…it started last night. People, including myself, began to feel nauseated and then everyone started throwing up. I haven’t thrown up that hard in a long time. ick. It didn’t help that we had eaten tuna sandwiches for dinner either. I’ll tell you a little about yesterday which actually was a pretty good day overall.

I was sweep with Delilah yesterday. We had a really good day, though long and hot. The day started with a fabulous breakfast in Ely, NV from the pastor and his wife. I ate 3.5 pancakes, eggs, 3 sausages, and fruit. yummmm. It’s possible that the breakfast is the culprit for our sickness but it was still delicious all the same. The ride was only 80 miles but it was pretty difficult. Around mile 13 Delilah and I had to give some inspiration to Lauren, Emily and John who were just not feeling the ride. We broke out some music and I danced around in my uni-shorts. We did some cartwheels and chalked ‘Lonelyestest Highway’ on the road and took pictures hugging each other. The rest of the morning was alright…Emily had some hip issues so we walked our bikes up the big hill to lunch and pretended we were protesting. After lunch Delilah and I didn’t see anyone but we took our time because it was hot, dusty and WINDY. We had good convos all day so it was entertaining. J It was another day of firsts…my first #2 on the side of the road; I hit 3000 miles; and I reached 39 mph going downhill. Once we reached Eureka, NV we stopped at a little diner for some smoothies and sandwiches (also could be the culprit for sickness because I lot of people ate there). The diner had dollar bills on the wall signed by people passing through so we made a Bike & Build SUS ’07 one. After this, the day started going downhill. We got to the elementary school around 5:30pm and then Delilah, Carly, Emily, and I (all of whom got in really late) had to make dinner for everyone since we’re dinner crew. So we had to make these tuna sandwiches and a three bean salad while everyone who had gotten in early afternoon sat around and napped and watched Seinfeld. It sucked but that’s how chore groups work I guess. Around this time I started feeling really ill. I ate a tuna sandwich thinking maybe I just needed more in my system after such a long day. I lay down around 8:15pm and puked my brains out around 9. I felt soooo much better afterwards and fell right asleep. Overnight lots of people got sick and in the morning we all looked like zombies. My stomach feels okay right now but I’m really weak and achy. Some people who decided to ride really shouldn’t but we can’t force them to stay. It’s funny how we think we’re invincible. Just because I can ride 100 miles when healthy doesn’t mean I can or should ride any distance while sick. And we have two centuries the next two days. So right now all us sickies are hanging out in Eureka, napping, resting, etc while our bikes get taken to Austin and soon we’ll begin the shuttling craziness. I feel bad because all 4 leaders are sick too but they have to drive the van. Keep us in your thoughts today J

08.05 Ely, NV

Yesterday we biked 96 miles and crossed into Nevada. It was an awful day...there was a typical amount of climbing but it was SO HOT. And besides Las Vegas and Reno, there is basically nothing in Nevada. Here were my feelings at the state sign:
Jeff and Andrea spiced things up a little by creating the Nevada Scavenger Hunt but I was concentrating so hard on just getting through the day that I didn't start anything. I did discover one thing that helped me a lot...I clipped my phone to my jersey and played music on it (yay for new phones!). It got me up the hills and put me in an oh so much better mood. Before the last big climb, I stopped at the Panaca Market which has the motto: "Conveniently Located in the Middle of Nowhere." Tells you a little about our day...And just before I turned to go to the next town, there was a sign that said, "Next services, 113 miles." A little preview for the next day. Anyway,I arrived in Pioche, NV around 4...and little did I know that we had switched to Pacific time, so it was really 3pm. Pioche is an old mining town and consists of maybe 400 people and 1 street. I felt like I had stepped into the 19th century. But of all things, they had a Bank of America which I hadn't seen in about 4 states. Yay for cash! I got a root beer float at a little diner with some people and hung around in this random park (green grass = unnatural in NV) until the church was opened for us. We were supposed to hold a bike clinic for little kids at 5 but no one showed up. Pioche was nice but not exactly the most happening town. The pastor and some church ladies served us a delicious meal; Marco helped me fix my brakes; and bedtime it was.

Today we rode 107 miles to Ely, NV (pronounced eelee) and there was literally NOTHING in between Pioche and Ely. This was my longest ride day so far and thankfully it went really fast.

Does the road EVER end?

The roads were great and we had a tailwind, so by 11am I had ridden 80 miles. The scenery was really nice, though it didn't change one bit. At mile 3 I had mountains to my right, left, front and back...and it was the same at mile 95. At mile 80 we hopped on Route 50, which is called the Loneliest Road in America. We'll be on that for the next 4 days...We had a climb from mile 80-86ish and it was one of our most difficult. I averaged about 5 mph and proved Molly's rule wrong that if you go under 5mph you'll tip over. I definitely hit 4mph. I thought the hill would be much longer so at mile 85.5 I had a slight hissy fit/tantrum complaining that I couldn't do this for another hour (remember I was by myself). Then I rounded the bend and I was at the top of the hill. And I felt stupid. But so it goes. On the way down the hill, the wind was ridiculous. When you ride your bike for so long and times get rough, sometimes the only way to feel better and the only thing you can do is yell at inanimate things. I've yelled at the hills before and today I yelled at the wind..."Okay wind, if you keep it up, I can't bike anymore! Seriously...what the *#@^?"

I also used my music again today which helped a lot. Shout out to my Ecuador chicos/chicas...I rocked out to 'Me Vale' Alexa-style on my bike...alone...in the middle of Nevada. Good times :)

Arriving in Ely, I have never been happier to see a McDonalds before in my life. I've also never felt so great after eating McDonalds. I figure biking 107 miles balances out a little McDonalds trans-fat. Now I'm relaxing in the Baptist church with wireless after a wonderful shower at the Ramada Inn down the street (fresh towels...oh the small pleasures in life).

Hope everyone is doing well. I know times are busy but keep me updated on your lives! Much love.

08.03 Cedar City, UT

Wow - what an amazing day! Today was one of those days that reminds me why I am doing Bike & Build. We got off to a slow start (it took us a record 3.5 hours to leave this morning because we had to be shuttled 2 miles on a gravel road from our campsite to the main road). The first 23 miles were very difficult climbing, though the landscape was gorgeous - blue sky, white clouds, green meadows, pine trees, aspen trees...amazing. We reached our highest elevation of 9930 ft today (some people biked an extra 10 miles to reach 10,000 ft and see Cedar Breaks Park but I had absolutely no desire to do that). The last 20 miles was all downhill...we lost 4000 ft in those 20 miles and boy did we go FAST. I hit 37 mph going down the switchback. It's scary but I'm learning to love it. The temperature differences are amazing...I was freezing at the summit and sweating at the bottom. It's funny because it was hard to fully enjoy the views going up the hill because I was working so hard, and it was hard to enjoy the views going down because I was so scared! But the scenery really was spectacular and it was such an amazing feeling to descend that hill. We got in nice and early (around noon) and some of us ate lunch at the Main Street Grill and now we're at the library. This town, Cedar City, is so beautiful. It has a nice suburb feel to it and it's right at the foot of these gorgeous mountains. We're staying at a church finally (5 days of camping = not so fun).

Yesterday we were at Long Valley Junction, UT at Camp Lutherwood (back to my roots! I was born in Long Valley...New Jersey...). It was a similar 45 mile day to today with lots of climbing. Long Valley Junction isn't actually a town...it's literally a junction of two roads and a gas station. There just happens to be a campsite there also. We paid a little extra to sleep in bunks so we got a 'real' bed which was nice. A fabulous change from the night before when it poured and everything got soaked. Some people got a hotel room that night (in Kanab, UT) but thankfully my stuff was pretty dry. Anyway, last night we, dinner crew, made a wonderful concoction for dinner...basically a stew of all stuff we had lying around...potatoes, onions, carrots, spinach, beans, corn, broth, tomato soup...and it was sooooo good. We even had enough potatoes/onions left over to make hash browns this morning.

So overall, I'm in a great mood today and hopefully that will last to psych me up for our 95 mile ride tomorrow into Nevada. Lots of love.

08.01 Kanab, UT

Okay, a quick update while I finally have some wireless internet in Kanab, Utah at an RV park. I left you in Page, AZ after 2 centuries. On 7/29 we rode to Jacob Lake, AZ and it was one of our most difficult days - 80 miles of mostly climbing. We gained about 4000 ft of elevation and experienced all sorts of weather - extreme heat in the valleys, thunderstorms and chilly weather in the mountains. The morning started with some hills and then we descended one of our biggest mesas yet (see the pics). We rode into Marble Canyon which was beautiful and then we went back up with an 11 mile climb. The change of scenery was so drastic; I couldn't get over it. We went from desert valleys to mountain forests. Being greeted by the smell of pine trees and the sound of tiny road-side streams was fabulous after the horrible heat and dryness of the desert below. We were supposed to camp at Jacob Lake (there isn't actually a lake) but we worked our magic to stay at the Inn. There was a restaurant and gift shop and some of us enjoyed what we thought would be our 'Last Dinner' before 4 more nights of camping. Beer, ice cream and pasta never tasted so good. I slept really well that night on a real bed.
Our highest elevation yet...and yes I'm wearing my uni over my jersey for easy access...Bike & Build is not a fashion show :)

On 7/30 we headed 45 miles to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Our campsite was literally 200 feet from the edge and it was beautiful! We arrived late morning and had the rest of the day to relax and explore. I finished Harry Potter which was amazing and just hung out. Dinner crew made some great burgers and we were all looking forward to our day off. Some of us went to Point Imperial after dinner which is the highest point in all of the Grand Canyon. We couldn't see the sunset or the moonrise but the lightening storms were spectacular. It rained most of the night but thankfully we didn't get too wet in our tents. I did have one of the most terrifying experiences of my life though that night...having to pee during at thunderstorm. It was thundering and lightening but not raining too hard and I really really had to pee. I was too scared to walk all the way to the bathroom in the pitch black so I walked about five steps from our tent and popped a squat. It was the scariest 5 minutes of my life, haha.

7/31 was our day off at the Canyon and I basically did nothing. Some people got up early and hiked all day and I think they are crazy. I slept in until 6:30ish and then some of us did the 1.5 mile 'hike' to the lodge. We had breakfast buffet and ate waaaay too much per usual. Then we just lounged around on the leather couches in the room with huge windows overlooking the canyon. I realized that when you are moving around so much, you really learn to make each place you stay a home. We literally take over the places we go. In normal life, I would never take a nap on a random couch in a tourist location. But there we were, reading, sleeping, chatting amongst all the tourists. And we definitely knew we were around tourists from all the different language we heard. Lunch was again at the lodge. I tried to be sort of healthy and eat a salad. But per my Bike and Build diet, I was still hungry and ended up getting the molten chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream for dessert. yuummm. I am going to have to learn how to eat again once I stop exercising so much! After lunch, I headed back by myself (a nice, reflective hike) to clean my bike, shower, and start to make dinner for everyone. My chore group started our week of dinner crew and we made delicious burritos at the campsite, complete with s'mores for dessert. We could see the sunset that night which was beautiful and the stars came out. I star-gazed for a while before turning in.

This morning (August 1st! only 2 weeks left from tomorrow!) we woke up kind of late (6:30ish) and took our sweet time cleaning up the camp site, like normal. We had to ride back the exact same 45 miles to Jacob Lake (so the Grand Canyon was a detour, but totally worth it - although there are rumors that the North Rim isn't actually part of the true Grand Canyon?). We stopped for lunch at Jacob Lake and then rode another 40 miles to Kanab, Utah. The ride was uneventful, kind of sad actually because I hit the Utah sign while I was riding by myself, so I had to use my camera's self timer to take a pic, haha. But so it goes. Having internet is really nice, but stressing me out too. The whole apartment searching thing is way over my head and I'm considering just stopping until I actually get there. Anyway, the rain has finally stopped and the internet is slowing (hopefully I'll get my pics up) and so I'll leave you here. Hope everyone is well :)