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.
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