Sweep Day

Today I rode sweep with Jess from MIT. Sweep's job is to ride behind everyone else and make sure that everyone gets in safely. The day started out wonderfully--me and Jess stopped at Burger King for cinniminis which we ate outside of Kroger. Then we got a call from 2 riders who were lost, so we waited for them to get back to where we were and then rode away with them. After that, my pedal, which had fallen off in a previous ride, started to feel like it was going to fall off again. So, I stopped to take a look at it and realized that it was screwed on crooked. Me and Jess and Devin got the pedal off with a lot of effort, and were about to attempt to screw it on straight when a cyclist stopped to ask if we were ok. We explained what was going on and she said she would call her husband, who was a mechanic, to take a look. He came and unfortunately gave me the bad news that I was going to need a new crank because the threads on mine are completely worn down. He innovated a way to get the pedal to stay on there and we continued down the road. However, after that stop, we were so far away from the group that the van had to come pick us up to bring us to lunch. As we were leaving lunch, my chain fell off and I was getting really frustrated at that point with the ride. Then Jess and I ran into Emily and Devin who had just taken a spill on some gravel. We thought everything was ok with them, but it turns out that Emily's derailer was completely ruined, so we had to call the van once again. The van came and picked us up and took us to dinner at our host site, which is a church in Newcomerstown, Ohio. So, even though I was on the bike for about 8 hours today, I only rode about 30 miles and now I am going to the bike store tomorrow to buy a new crank. :(

Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio all in one day

Yesterday, I went to the Carnegie Science Museum and saw a movie at the Omnimax theatre about "The Wild Ocean" in Africa! Then I went to The Point, which is where 2 rivers meet to form the Ohio river...I dipped my left foot in one river, my right in the other, and both into the Ohio river...just to be symbolic..Today we crossed from Pennsylvania into a tiny sliver of West Virginia and then into Ohio. The day was only 44 miles and hilly. I got chased breifly by a dog but other than that the day was pretty uneventful... We are staying at a church in Stubenville, Ohio, which is the birthplace of Dean Martin....sweet

Day Off in Pittsburgh, PA

It's been quite a while since my last post, mainly because finding Internet access is so hard, but also because I'm generally way too worn out to write! The last 6 days have been straight biking...right through the Appalachian Mountains! Some highlights include a 96 mile day ride into State College, PA. That day was long but awesome because halfway through the ride me and a couple other riders found a swimming spot at a lake on top of one of the mountains! Swimming has never felt so refreshing!! After that, we had a ride into Pittsfield, Pa which took us on a 14% grade down hill which was fun but also kind of scary!! Today is the first day we have had off on the whole trip! Plans for today include Indian food, Carnegie Science museum and seeing the beautiful sights of Pittsburgh!

Build Day in Andover

Yesterday, we had a DELICIOUS dinner at the Webbers' home and played whiffle ball in their yard, which was a lot of fun! Also, Tony, a director of Habitat gave a very motivational speech about why he enjoys working for Habitat. He said that the reason it is imperative that people are able to own their own homes is that people who own homes are more likely to have their children go to college and grow up to be homeowners as well.
Today was our first Build Day! We woke up (after sleeping in for about 40 minutes :) and had a delicious breakfast provided by the Webbers of Dunkin Doughnuts, bagels, and oj! Then it was off to the construction site! This particular site in Lawrence, MA had three houses that had been previously constructed, but destroyed in a horrible block fire earlier in the spring. So, today, our job was to rebuild these houses so that the families could move back into them. I nailed a lot of dry wall and helped put it up, which was awesome to see! A whole wall in a place where there was nothing a couple hours before! The workers there were pretty nice, but I miss the friendly site managers that I met at the Asheville Habitat site! We got interviewed by the local newspaper the Eagle Tribune of Lawrence, MA. Then, the site manager, Emerson, invited us to sign the drywall we had recently put up! That was neat...we wrote Bike and Build B2SB08, so the future volunteers that come through the site will know exactly who helped on that house!
`Tomorrow we are biking 45 miles to Fitchburg, MA, where we will give a bike clinic to local children! Im excited to teach them some bike safety skills and all that jazz.

Beginning in Andover

My mom, uncle, and I drove to Revere Beach on Tuesday morning and stopped to eat at Friendly's along the way. Then, we drove to St Anthony's Catholic church to meet up with the rest of my group. After meeting all of my fellow Bike and Builders on Tuesday, we painted our trailer (I put a nice UNC logo on there to represent!). This was followed by many presentations on bike safety, bike maintainance, and personal hygiene skills. We ordered pizza and slept on our Thermarests. The next day, we had a "Shakedown Ride" which is like a warm-up ride. We rode a total of about 15 miles to the ocean and back...it was gorgeous! Also, I got my first flat tire on this ride! It's a good thing that we had learned how to fix flats the day before, because it's not an easy task. When we got back to the church, the church hosts served us a wonderful dinner of catered pasta, salad, and desserts! Delicious! Then, me and a couple of other people took the T subway into downtown Boston and went to a little pastry shop where I got a canoli. Then, we asked the store for a food donation, and they gave us huge bags of bread, cookies, and meat. It's amazing how generous people can be when you just ask them. The next day, we woke up even earlier (6am!) and ate breakfast and then rode our bikes to Revere beach for some photos. Then, we started our trek across the country! We rode about 25 miles to Andover, MA where we are staying at a fancy elementary school called Pike School.

Train Ride to Boston

Arrived in Boston yesterday! My mom, uncle, and I woke up at 4:30 on Monday morning to drive out to Greensboro, NC to catch the Amtrack train. It was early, but I slept alot in the car. We had a bit of trouble finding the train station, (apparently they have moved it since the map we were using was made!!) But we made it onto the train and headed up to Washington DC. The train was nice...air conditioned and comfortable. However, since it was over 90 degress outside, the train tracks were expanding, so it wasn't safe to travel at the normal speed of 80 mph, so instead, we went about 40 mph! This was fine for us because we had been scheduled to have a 5 hour layover in DC, which, because of the slow train was reduced to only an hour. We boarded the train in DC at 10 pm and rode to Boston. We arrived in Boston at 7:50 am on Tuesday and then went and explored the city! We saw the New England Aquarium, Harvard Square, the Boston commmons, and some of the Harvard campus. Finally, we got to the hotel around 8 pm and got some much-needed sleep and showers! Today, I will meet up with my Bike and Build group in Revere, MA! Can't wait!!