Bike and Blog - A Day in the Life...Finally

Totally been slacking on blogging, but I finally had time and access (partially because I was in charge of the journal for my team today, so I wrote that and incorporated a lot of copy and paste action) to write a post about my day. So here ya go. Just FYI, I did sweep today (which means no riders were allowed to be behind me).

Today’s 55 miles were riddled with complications. The day started normally, though my sweep partner Emily gave me the heads-up that her bike issues might slow down our ride. About 11 miles in, one of her spokes popped and we had to pull off to wait for the support van. Despite the bad situation, Emily and I exchanged stories and stayed cheery.


When Chris arrived in the van, music thumping, he hopped out and into his chamois. He’d been itching to ride anyway, so he was more than willing to trade places with Emily since her bike was out of order at the moment. Chris and I resumed the ride, traveling another eight miles to lunch. Another rider, Danielle, was having problems with flats, and was patching her tube when we arrived. She finished within a few minutes and left with our teammate Mike.


After a quick lunch Chris decided to change his seat, but to his horror discovered the screw thread had been stripped, rendering his bike out of order as well. He was forced to van himself, leaving me to try and sweep all by my lonesome.


About 15 miles from lunch, and two close calls with un-leashed dogs, I stopped at a traffic light and heard a call from my left. There stood Danielle, front tire loose, tube in hand. I pulled off and she said she’d gotten another flat, bringing her to a total of five for the trip. Since she had just patched the tube and replaced the tape, the reason her flats persisted was a mystery. Eventually we figured out it was just a bad patch so we replaced the tube.


The van arrived with Chris and Emily, music thumping, and the two team leaders jumped out with extra materials. As I watched Danielle, Emily and Chris break out into random dance from the current song, I thought to myself, this is what Bike and Build is all about. All three of them had bike problems in the same day, but they didn’t let the lemons sour their face. They turned the lemons into Bike-and-Build-ade (sorry for the horrible pun) and kept on a smile.


The van left and Danielle became my third sweep partner for the day. The remainder of the day rolled along normally and we arrived at the host around two. There was a lunch that we missed around 12:00, but kept on making that Bike-and-Build-ade. A few people managed to go to a festival in town, and I walked around the Ohio State outskirts with a few people. Another rider, Clair, even talked Brueggers Bagels (a local bagel shop) into donating some bagels for our breakfast, and she also got Jimmy Johns to give us some subs.


The host church (King Ave United Methodist) separated us by gender, placing us in spacious, air conditioned rooms. The showers were at Ohio State and amazingly private, instead of the communal cleaning quarters we’re accustomed to. Had some wonderful conversations with the members and the host even provided my favorite thing in the whole wide world! You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream. There was an ice cream buffet for all the riders, and I’m slightly embarrassed to admit I got four bowls.

Through the questionable weather and biking woes, team P2S persevered. We overcame the obstacles in our way, kept positive, and remembered why we are doing this trip. I thought the awesome dinner provided by the host filled me up and put a neat little bow on this gift I call today. Can’t wait to unwrap tomorrow.

Some previous bike and builders also stopped by and dropped off ice cream for tomorrow's lunch!! Woot woot to that. Already looks like it'll be a glorious day! Today's my dad's birthday, and I met a guy named Paul, coincidence (dad's name is Paul). Anywho, sorry for the lack of pictures, but I didn't have time/access for that. Hopefully next time I'll get some up. Welp thanks for listening with your eyes.

Bike and Blog - Sorry For the Wait

It's been way too long since I've blogged, and I apologize to everyone that wanted to follow my cross-country journey but couldn't without me blogging. Good news is that I've been snapping enough pictures to tell my story without words. Bad news is I can't show them to you yet because I can't seem to upload them very well. I'll keep trying and I'll try to keep you posted. Eventually I'll get them to you. The ones I have up will have to do for now.

Can I just pause and say so far the trip is awesome? Well I'm doing it anyway...THIS TRIP IS AWESOME! If you're under 25 it's necessary for you to do Bike and Build before your life ends. You think life's good, but you haven't lived until you've hopped on a bicycle and started riding from one side of the country to the next. I'm no stranger to meeting new characters, but seeing the determination and variety of success in so many people is inspiring. Whether it's watching the smile of a teammate as they conquer a 2-mile-long hill, or playing telestrations (don't ask me if that's spelled right) for an hour and seeing how creative people can be, this trip is giving me a lot.

I started the trip because I like helping people, but so far it's been the people that have been helping me. I already posted about how blown away I was with the willingness of my donors to give, and I'm getting blown away again by how amazing a group of young adults can be. I haven't seen any drama (of course that doesn't mean it won't occur later), but I have seen tons of hard work and I've seen more sweat produced than my previous gym dripped out in a week. All the creativity, happiness, and hard work is overwhelming.

I wish I could go into greater details about the amazing things that are happening on this trip, but it would be a book (might do that one day). I am keeping a journal, and feel free to give me a call if you want to hear about how things are, but so far I don't have regular access to internet or a computer. If my journal interests you, I'll be willing to share it with you at the end, but for now you'll have to settle for my sporadic blog.

If I can post more regularly I'll start to go into more depth about what's actually happening on the trip, but for now I'll just say that things are going swelltacular! We're in Youngstown, Ohio at the moment, but tomorrow we're moving on. Track me online if you haven't already. Go to Bikeandbuild.org, click on Providence to Seattle, and follow the route.

Welp, that's all I have for now so thanks for listening with your eyes. Again, I hope I can go into more depth soon, but hope the pictures provide a little window.

Bike and Blog - Yank My Chain (Part 2)

So I was going to wait until I actually started the trip, but meh I wanted to write one more post before I go.

I never realized how hard it would be to leave a job, but this last week has been tough. It's been weird walking through the gym and seeing members that I don't really know that still wish me luck on my trip. It's been sad knowing that my regulars will no longer be my regulars (whether it's a member that decided to start working out with me in the last month, or whether it's my regulars that have been with me since the beginning, it sucks having to say goodbye). Though, I will say that it's been great knowing that I'll never have to bother another guy about dead lifting, cleans, or plyometrics again.

I had to forego my sensitivity to germs (not germaphobia!!!) and give hugs to sweaty members after a good class because it might have been the last time I saw some of them. Even co-workers were giving out hugs and I loved every second of it (even with you Ali lol). Wish I could stay with the Planet forever, but a guy's got to do what a guy's got to do (sorry for the lameness of that).

Of course it wouldn't be an event unless one of my longest running members gave me a gift, (picture) and my coworker even painted me a picture (picture 2). It's been an awesome year and a half and it's been a blessing working with everyone at the gym. I can't wait until our paths cross again.

"How blessed I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

(The member gave me a card, a buttload of candy, and a 15 dollar subway gift card. Too nice to me!)

(Ana painted me a picture that I'd been asking her for since day 3 and a half. Thanks Ana! It's going up on my wall!)

Welp that's all I have for today. So until next time, thanks for listening with your eyes. 

Bike and Blog - Yank My Chain

I can't believe this Journey is about to begin. I've been itching to do Bike and Build for a little under 2 years now, and it's finally time to quit talking and start peddling. I've done all the pre-trip requirements, and all that's left is the need to raise 110 measly dollars (which I'm sure you'll donate by clicking here).

I was reflecting on the past couple of months and can't believe how far I've come. I started my training struggling to complete an 8-mile ride, and today I finished another 66-or-so-mile ride. When they told me I had to raise 4500 dollars, I can honestly say I thought no one would help me out and I would be donating my own savings in order to go on this trip, but that's not how it happened. You all came through, and it's overwhelming to know that I have your support. My friends, family, and co-workers simply gave me upwards of 4500 just because I asked (and maybe begged). God has truly blessed me with a wonderful support web.

If you've been following my journey at all you know that these past six months have been the hardest of my life. Situation after situation has sucked my bank account dry, but God kept me through it all and blessed me with generous people so that I did not have to give away the money that I did not and do not have. Though these past six months have been the hardest, they have been some of the most rewarding. I won't go too far into how bad life's been, because I haven't really felt it. Life's been crappy but I've been encouraged and haven't thought much about the bad times after they occur. If it isn't a member in the gym buying me a half pint of ice cream because I looked down, it's a coworker making me laugh when all I wanted to do was run away. If it wasn't my sister helping me when I needed her, it was my mother writing me a note telling me to keep my head up when all I could see were my laces. If it wasn't an old friend telling me how they missed me, it was my girlfriend surprising me with a gift I don't deserve. I'm not the best at expressing gratitude, so I won't attempt with some elaborate garnishment, but thank you to everyone who has helped me get to where I am.

In other news, my girlfriend bought me a new phone (lol cause she knew I wouldn't do it) so I can now text again. Feel free to send me a text just in case the number was lost during the sim card switch. I wanted to upload a few pics of food that I have, but they're on my camera and the cord is back at the house (which if you haven't figured it out, I am not). So you'll have to enjoy these lavish pictures from our ride today (pirated) from JoBeth...arrrr)

The guy's book is finished for the most part, my training is finished for the most part, and my fundraising is almost finished. I can finally breathe. I'll wrap up this last week of work, do some exploring in Boston/Providence, then bathe myself in the grease of a summer that boasts to be the most memorable of my life. Welp, that's all I have for this edition, so until next time thanks for listening with your eyes.