Welcome to the Blog

I'd like to welcome any new readers to the blog since I've been meeting a lot of new people in my fundraising efforts for this year. You can find a lot of information on the blog. Just check out some of the menus at the top of the page. 

I got switched routes to South Carolina to Santa Cruz (SC2SC) this week. I thought I would be graduating this semester when I first signed up for Bike & Build, so the end date wasn't of much concern for me at the time. I looked at the calendar and realized the Providence to Seattle (P2S) route ends the day before classes start in the fall. That simply won't work. Last year I slept quite a bit after the trip was done. I would want to visit my sister near Seattle at the end of the trip once I got done hanging out with my team in Seattle. I would certainly be a couple weeks late to class (even if I was physically present sooner).

I wish I could figure out how to rotate this. I am ready to go this year with many, many tubes.

Emily sent me a screen shot of the Bike & Build website. I happened to be on there. It's random and dynamic, so you'll see someone else there if you visit the website.

Calvary Baptist Church let me stop in last Sunday and set up a table in the foyer. Several people were interested and donated. Thanks to Amy Anthony for working with me last minute to schedule this. I stayed up all night working on the poster board. I had just gotten back from a visit to Chicago for a conference and to help my brother and his wife with their bicycles. They made a generous donation for the services. I stopped by Walmart and picked up the pre-cut letters, construction paper, and the poster board. I went to Walgreens at 3:30am and printed the pictures. I continued to work through the night and ran out of double sided tape. I went back to Walgreens and got more. I ran out again as I was finishing. But let me say I don't recommend the tape I bought. Scotch Removable Double Sided Tape. I should have purchased the permanent version. I basically retaped everything with regular tape throughout the morning as it was falling off.

Calvary Fundraiser

I found an etsy shop with some cool ideas for old spokes. This was my attempt:

A little small

I was much more successful with key chain chainlinks from my ride last year. I was originally going to sell them, but I've been giving them away. They make for a good reminder of cyclists when you're driving. I told my friends at church to use it as a prayer reminder. A friend told he liked the idea of the literal prayer chain. I hadn't thought of it exaclty like that, but I now using that phrase.

We held a fundraiser event at Chick-fil-A. They accidentally double booked us with another group. A bit frustrating, but what can you do? I don't think I have much of a right to get upset when Chick-fil-A is donating to our cause. We made friends with the other group and shared the space.

Chick-fil-A

Went on a training ride with some people for Cover Indiana. This was after church on Sunday. Still haven't slept at this point, but it was a really fun ride!

A little water never hurt anyone, right?