Day 1 - Orientation Day 1 - Charleston, SC

Where do I start? The last few days are already becoming a blur. This is why I will be blogging this summer (hopefully better this time around). I know I would remember a lot more from last year if I wrote down the events of the day and some of my thoughts. Live and learn... and just bike across the United States again. Maybe it'll help make up to my loyal readers and donors. I also promised some friends I would write so they could live vicariously through me since they aren't able to bike this year. So fasten your seat belt. It's going to be a long, long wild ride.

We're two cars behind the FedEx truck - Louisville, KY

Elaina's dad, Jack,  graciously picked me, my bike, and my overweight bin (Bike and Build luggage is not to exceed 50 lbs) from Lafayette, IN, on Monday morning. They had already come a couple hours from Chicago, and we had another 12 in front of us to Charleston. The plan was to go about 7 hours to Asheville, NC, spend the night there, and go on a easy spin the next morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway. As it turns out, the Blue Ridge Parkway knows nothing of easy. We parked at a scenic outlook and started climbing. I was expecting rolling hills, but we kept going up and up. My legs didn't warm up for a good thirty minutes. I was falling behind Elaina and Jack quite a bit. Maybe it was the double century attempt two days prior where I was only able to bike 140 miles in a day. That story deserves a separate post later. So. Up and up we went. Jack is an avid cyclist, but as I aluded to earlier they are from the Chicago area, which is not exacty hilly. He commented after a mile that this was a record for him - this was the biggest hill he'd ever done. LIttle did we know that we were going to continue for another 4000 feet over the course of 14 miles. I didn't want to put too much effort into this ride since Bike and Build was starting in less than a week. I started last year feeling tired and there is no reason to repeat that. Long story short, we made it to the summit of Mt. Pisgah after a couple hours. We turned around and descended back to the car in less than 30 minutes. That was sooo much fun. We all couldn't get over how awesome the ride was.

We met a few people on the way up. One was a cyclist who crashed on one of the descents nearby 8 years ago. He lost consciousness for 8 days. He comes back every year to ride it. Pretty cool. Some might say "pretty dumb," but I think it's an accomplishment to come back and conquer a "demon" year after year.

We changed clothes and hit the road again after some Chick-fil-a. Mmm. That hit the spot! We made it Charleston. The Bike & Build adventure was about to begin.

I don't remember feeling nervous last year. I was still a bit sick. This year I got a few nerves a few minutes before we showed up at the church hosting our orientation. What are these people going to be like? Will I get along with them? Will I be able to avoid comparing this trip to last year? The nerves disappeared quickly when we started interacting with everyone trickling in, but it was still weird to be back with Bike and Build. I still am not sure that it has completely hit me yet.

Orientation was nearly a repeat of last year with (oh gosh, I'm already comparing) ice breakers and presentations about bike safety, affordable housing, and the other usual suspects. It was really interesting to repeat orientation knowing to some extent of what the summer has in store. We had a guest speaker with a bicycle lawyer, Peter. He had a lot of great thoughts on bicycle safety. I was hoping he was sticking around for dinner (since he bought it I believe) and talk with him some more, but he made his exit without my notice, unfortunately. He also gave us water bottles. Pink water bottles. Yes! Check him out on bikelaw.com.
One of our last activities was a rotation through five stations where a leader would explain some skill or aspect of B&B. Chore groups, changing a flat tire, bicycle maintenance, donation magic, and the fifth was a brainstorming session on our own of what should be painted on our trailer.


Oh, the last presentation was on health with lots of great pictures of saddle sores and infections, perfect right before bed.

And I saw Natalie!!! She is a program director that was in charge of my trip last year, so it was a pleasant surprise to see her this week since the other program director, Brendan, is in charge of the South Carolina route.

Natalie!