Bike & Build: The Mountains: Appala(tion) & Perspiration

"We were young, we were wild, we were restless. Had to go, had to fly, had to get away. Took a chance on that feeling. We were lovin blind, borderline reckless, we were livin for the minute we were spinnin in, maybe we were a lot of things, but we weren't crazy."

So sorry for the delay- I'm blogging from Huntington, West Virginia, where I finally have phone service and internet access again! Such a luxury!

First build site

Last time I blogged, we were in Charlottesville, Virginia. While we were there, we had our first two build days. It was great to get off the bike (and out of our spandex!). We worked at Charlottesville's Habitat for Humanity, where we put down a floor and raised some walls. After we built, we got a chance to explore UVA and downtown Charlottesville.

After our build days, we were warned by our leaders that we had the most difficult riding days ahead of us. It was Appalachian time. Before our first day of climbing, a bunch of Bike & Build alumni came to our host site at 5am to cook us breakfast and pump us up for the big day. "You'll need it," they told us. And we did.

soaking in the views at lunch

Although it was incredibly rough getting up the 4,000+ foot mountains, the views from the top made it worth it. On our fist day, we rode along the Blue Ridge Parkway, where I was tempted to stop every quarter mile to soak up the breathtaking views of the valleys below. I've never appreciated how beautiful our country is as much as I did that day.

After flying down the mountains at over 40mph, we coasted into the quaint town of Lexington, VA. After that was 2 more days of mountaining. Although it was slow and painful, we rode the entire way, because as Jacob Smith sassily reminded us, "this is NOT walk-your-bike-and-build." It was a struggle, but the scenery was so remarkable that I smiled nearly the entire ride. My cheeks hurt more than my butt!

West Virginia State Border!

After a particularly long climb, we hit the our first state border! Onward and upward into "wild and wonderful West Viriginia"! We coasted down the mountains, through middle-of-nowhere towns (one host town had no phone service at all, and I had to use a payphone to call mom. Such a complicated device- I don't know why old people complain about the complexity of cell phones!). Although there wasn't much going on in these small mountain towns, our hosts here were definitely the best cooks we've had thus far. We were spoiled with feasts that included the most incredible homemade biscuits that have ever blessed my stomach.

Just yesterday, we reached Charleston, West Virginia. Since most of the ride was downhill (yay!), we got into town early and had a chance to explore. I think I may have found a strong contender for America's best ice cream at Ellen's Homemade Ice Cream on Capitol Street. I'll post an update on that soon!

Sights in West Virginia

It's time for dinner- something that a cyclist NEVER wants to miss out on. I'm hoping to post a lot more pictures soon, because words cannot describe all of the things that I'm seeing.

Miss and love you all,