Orientation | Jacksonville | St. Augustine

Forgot to post this photo with my nephew when I was in Birmingham. Future cyclist, Calvin:

Orientation began last Wednesday in Jacksonville, Florida, where we able to meet the entire team and our leaders. We did a lot of team building activities. 11 weeks is a long time to be around the same people, so unity is very important this summer. The leaders talked about bike safety, nutrition, bike fitting, and many other topics. I've been cycling for about 2 years now, but it is always good to hear the basics, and I was able to help some teammates with some basic bike maintenance and setup. 

One night we were able to score some discounted bowling. We talked to the manager and got 50% off. Bike and Build calls this donation magic or DM for short. There will be much DM'ing this summer.

On Friday we had our first build day in Jacksonville. We split up to go to three build sites. I ended up at a home that was getting refurbished by Habitat. It was a two-story duplex, which I think is atypical for Habitat, but this model works for them for a few reasons: land is expensive in Florida, refurbishing is cheaper, and the duplex saves energy. The home was about a week from being complete. We were charged with sodding the entire backyard. 8 large pallets of sod were in the front yard. Enter wheelbarrows and much heavy lifting. We had a motivated crew and we finished just in time at the end of the day. My back still hurts. Lifting my friends was easier than the sod...

I also got to remove a stump in the yard. Our supervisor, Bob, asked if anyone was good with an axe. I lit up with excitement like a kid in a candy store. Sadly, I don't have any action shots, but it was a good, sweaty time. I love manual labor. Seriously. No sarcasm.

Saturday we got on bikes and headed for the beach. I guess cross-country riders often dip their rear tire in one ocean and their front tire in the other, so Bike and Build does this on each route.

Lining up for the wheel dipping and photos.

Being a little crazy with the bike. The waves got a bit strong, but I was able to hold my ground, fortunately.

We made it to St. Augustine and DM'ed some carousel rides. Jay and Jessie having a good time:

Saw a flamenco performance:

We didn't have dinner provided from our host the first night, so we were charged by our leaders to find food. Along our way to St. Augustine, we stopped at castle on the side of the road. Because we stopped there, we saw a sign for an estate sale. We met some folks there and Braden, a 14-year old local. He does triathlons and really enjoys cycling. He heard that we needed food and took Stephanie and I around town to places he thought would donate. And we totally scored some drinks from Subway, three 18" cheese pizzas from  Giovanni Cucina and some rice and beans from Burrito Works. If you're in St. Augustine, go give them some business. They were really generous.

We get to paint our trailer. Jay had a friend make a cool design for some t-shirts, and we were able to project it on our trailer. I'll post the final product later.

Our first day of riding was Allison's birthday. We celebrated appropriately with ice cream cake.