Wheel Dipping & Riding

I am alive.  I won't lie- it hasn't been easy. But it wouldn't be an accomplishment if it was easy, eh?

Wheel Dip Ceremony in the Atlantic

And currently, I'm situated at our host site (a UVA sorority house) in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I'm not sure how to consolidate thirty pages of journaling into one blog.  This is going to be a little sloppy and disorganized, but SO much has happened in the past week that there's no way to help that. But I'll start at the beginning, in VA Beach.

Enchanted Swamplands!

After two days of orientation and ice breakers, we epically dipped our wheels in the Atlantic and began our ride.  Although the 50 mile ride was completely flat, I struggled through the blistering heat.  I worried that I maybe wasn't cut out for this.  However, after a solid night of sleep and literally gallons of water into my system, I've recovered and have been going strong.

Morning View

On Monday, we rode through gorgeous farmlands of rural eastern Virginia.  When stopping to fix a flat, we watched the wind ripple over the fields of grain.  We zipped through lush swampy areas from which we expected fairies to emerge because they seemed so enchanted.  We clambered into abandoned farm houses and explored some rickety dock houses.  To celebrate Memorial Day, we belted out "God Bless America" while we rode under the spacious skies, through the amber waves of grain and fruited plains, from sea to shining sea.  We stopped in Waverly for the night, a small and aging town where a gracious church put us up, cleansed us with a hose shower, and stuffed us with classic Southern fried chicken.


On Tuesday, temperatures peaked at over 100 degrees and the sun bore down on us.  We were sweating even at 5 AM.  After getting lost a couple of times (we like to call it "bonus miles"), we finally made it to Pocahontas State Park.  It was hard not to run when our leaders brought us to the campsites's pool area!

Today, we hit the hills.  The ride was like a roller coaster as we coasted down and powered up the slopes.  The scenery was remarkable- deep green forests were broken up by farms that lay slanted on the slopes.  After we rolled over the sparkling James River, we stopped in the small artsy town of Scottsville where Beth and I FINALLY got our first ice cream cones!  All I can say is that it's the best we've had thus far.  After lots more hills, we made it to our destination!


Here is where I'll get random as I spill out some of my thoughts collected thus far:


My group is incredible.  Never have I been surrounded by such a positive, determined group of people.  Never an hour passes by without laughter.  Nobody is left behind on any ride, in any mile, on any hill because we're all like family now and have eachother's backs.


We do push-ups before we ride, ab workouts after we ride, and are planning on going for a run on our build day (tomorrow).  This is crazy even for my standards. And for those of you who know me well, that's pretty ridiculous.


It's remarkable how quickly one's body can adapt.  I couldn't sleep, I struggled to wake up at 5am, I wasn't hungry at lunch, I had to remind myself to drink water, and my body hurt like hell on the first two days.  Now, I sleep like a rock, jump out of my sleeping bag, am famished by 9:30am (lunch time!), I drink gallons of water automatically, and my legs are feeling just fineeeee after 80 miles of hills.  When is that normal for a 20-year-old? Only on Bike & Build.


I wake up every morning and remind myself how lucky I am.  This trip could not be more amazing, and it's only day 5.  I wish I could properly relay how ridiculously incredible this all is, but there's no way to convey it all.


Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! We're hitting the Appalachians after our 2 build days here in Charlottesville, so I'll try to update you again after that.


Gotta go- time to explore downtown Charlottesville!