I had the intention to keep a blog from day one, but I didn't realize how exhausted I would be at the end of each day. I also had a rocky start with two visits to the ER within the span of one week (see details below). However, from now onward I want to dedicate time each day to keeping this blog up to date so that I can remember each inspiring or funny moment on this trip and also because I owe it to my generous donors and my very supportive parents to keep them updated on how this trip is going. I have quite a few days to catch up on which will be tough because time is skewed while on Bike and Build. Each day seems to blend together and events from just this morning seem like they happened yesterday. One of the greatest parts of this trip is that every day feels like Saturday. I don't even know what day of the week it is today. I will be writing this blog on the tiny screen of my iPhone, which has a decorative cracked pattern radiating in all directions on the front screen (due to a streak of bad luck I've had lately) so it may not be my finest work.
Here is a somewhat hazy account of the last two weeks (some I wrote the day of and others I am writing in retrospect).
June 17
The day I have been awaiting for so long is finally here! I slept for about 3 hours last night due to last minute packing (packing minimally for 2.5 months is tough) and bike adjustments and also because I was simply too excited to sleep. My mom kindly offered to drive me up to Portland and at about 1 PM, we rolled into the parking lot of St. Peter's Church in Portland.
I exited the car and walked over to the parking lot where the people I would be spending my summer with were signing in and assembling bikes. So far, all of the 32 other individuals on my trip seem really fun and I am so thrilled to get to know them better over the next few months. We spent the day doing orientation-related things like get-to-know-you games and going over safety policies. Other than getting stung by a colony of fire ants, everything is going really well so far!
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to learn more about an affordable housing organization in my own community called Abby's House. Located in Worcester, the organization provides shelter, housing, and support to homeless women in Worcester and their children. I interviewed Parlee, the shelter advocate there, who was very kind and informative. I admire how they have created a close knit community between the staff, volunteers (many of whom have been volunteering there for close to 20 years), and clients, and I find their impact in the community to be very inspiring. This opportunity to learn more about local affordable housing issues and interview someone who works hard to provide so many women with a decent lifestyle gave me extra motivation to push the limits of my mental and physical abilities on this trip to impact people's lives in my community and communities across the U.S.
June 18
We spent the day doing bike drills and went on an 11 mile shake down ride to practice riding with each other. The conditions were very windy and I was nearly blown over a few times. At night, we celebrated Emma's birthday by going down the street to a townie bar called Howie's. We had a great time playing songs on the jukebox, dancing, and playing darts. I was on a team with Mason and Katie D. against Simon, Kelsey, and Lindsey. Unfortunately, I brought my team down because I was struggling to hit the general vicinity of the board.
June 19
We had a build day with Habitat for Humanity in Freeport, Maine (home of the L.L.Bean factory store). My group was assigned the task of putting blue board on the sides of the house. With 33 of us contributing, we made a lot of progress on the house during our 7 hours there.
Before:
We came back to the host and helped serve meals to members of the community since it was the night of the church's regular community dinner. Once the day's events were finished, we spent our free time painting our trailer (it is a tradition for each trip to design and paint their trailer each year). I made sure to tack on the little hook of Massachusetts since it was initially overlooked (gotta represent the home state).
June 20
Portland, ME to Kittery, ME: 59.3 miles
Our first ride day! We got up at 6 AM, eager to finally hit the road. We rode our bikes a couple of miles to Eastern Beach for our wheel dip ceremony. We brought our bikes onto the beach and after taking several pictures and building excitement, we ceremonially dipped our back wheels into the Atlantic Ocean. Two and a half months from now I will be writing about dipping our front wheels into the Pacific Ocean to signal the end of our trip. As I dipped my wheel, I ruminated how I anticipate being a changed person with a recent history of many interesting experiences when I dip my wheel on a new coast.
My desk for the next two and a half months:
We proceeded to start our 60 mile ride to our first destination - Kittery, ME. The weather was perfect at 70 degrees and the ride had beautiful scenery. A good portion of the ride was on a scenic gravel trail and along coastal Maine. Along our ride, we met a man in his 70's on a recumbent bike who was riding with his granddaughter. He asked where we were riding and informed us that he had ridden across the country twice and along both coasts. We asked him about his experience and he provided us with some wisdom - that we will learn a lot about ourselves and our limits (for example, realizing that we are capable of going an extra mile or 10 miles when our mind instinctively says no) and that our hearts, not our head, is what will drive us to continue our journey. He was riding with his granddaughter who had reached a milestone that day by riding 12 miles with him (her incentive being ice cream). She reminded me of myself at that age when my dad would have to incentivize his invitations to me to ride with him, whether it be ice cream or letting me get my ears pierced after months of pleading. Now here I am biking 4000 miles out of my own will.
We rode through York county, which included a really nice quaint town that we found when we made a wrong turn. We came upon a spot with a great view of the ocean. Note how picturesque this photo is with the sailboat in the background:
We arrived at the Second Christian Congregational Church in Kittery, ME well after 4 PM (the time we are supposed to arrive by) and immediately headed to the showers down the street. The shower heads spewed boiling hot water and burned my already burnt skin as I attempted to ignore the pain and wash myself. The hosts at the church provided us with an amazing dinner with baked Mac and cheese, salad, meatballs, baked ziti, (a million other delicious things), brownies, and fruit. After dinner, a group of us headed to Portsmouth, NH, just a short walk away, to check out the town and grab a drink.
The host site in Kittery:
June 21
Kittery, ME to Andover, MA: 46.7 miles
Our second ride day was a tri-state day, during which we would be in ME, NH, and MA. We crossed into Portsmouth, NH where we walked around the town and I grabbed a refreshing coconut iced coffee at a coffee shop in the town center.
The bridge that connects Maine and New Hampshire:
On the way, we made several wrong turns but in one instance our wrong turn brought us to a stand along the road that had strawberries and cookies to pay for by the honor system. As a few people in my group bought cookies, the owner came out of her house with a pot full of fresh cut peonies that she wanted to give us to thank us for stopping. This is one of many simple gestures by kind strangers that I have encountered on this trip and each one has instantly brightened my day. I placed my flower in my camelback and enjoyed how the scent of it diffused across my nose every so often so I could ignore the stench that was coming from the rest of me.
For lunch, we stopped at Margoux's dad's car dealership, where we had quite the extravagant meal. They served us lobster rolls, tuna rolls, hamburgers, hotdogs, and many things in between. I stuffed myself beyond capacity, neglecting to account for how difficult it would be to ride over 30 miles on a full stomach.
A couple of hours later, we stopped at a place called Benson's ice cream. I consumed ice cream that we received through "donation magic" (a term for items that are donated when a member of our group explains our cause). So far, I am very well fed on this trip.
We arrived at the Pike School in Andover, our overnight location, which basically allowed us to live in luxury because there were showers on site (so convenient). For dinner, we went to Chris Webber's Family's house. Chris Webber was the first program director for Bike and Build and tragically died in a pedestrian accident several years ago. His family has been hosting dinners for the Maine to Santa Barbara route riders for the past seven years. The Webber family was very hospitable, welcoming us into their home and serving us an amazing Thanksgiving-like meal. I and a few others played whiffle ball with a few of the young kids in the extended family. We all gathered around an amazing cake they had, which had our route written on the cake.
June 22
Andover, MA to Fitchburg, MA: 43.5 miles
My parents joined us for our ride today. We all stopped for a swim in a lake that was next to the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. Once we arrived in Fitchburg, we were greeted en route by a man named Neil who was on his bike. Neil was a very amiable and extroverted older man and was our host at the First Parish Church.
Fitchburg is the second hilliest town in the United States, so needless to say, the ride was taxing on the quads. My knee, which had been bothering me for weeks, started getting more painful with more riding. After the ride, my parents took me to the ER to get it checked out and by some miracle I was able to get an MRI done within an hour of being there. The worst case scenarios started running through my head and I dreaded the thought of having to rest for several days without riding or worse, having to leave the trip. The ER doctor determined that I should follow up with an Orthopedic surgeon the next day. When I got back to the host site, we concluded the day with a Town Hall, a weekly meeting during which we as a group discuss our highs and lows for the week and communicate any concerns we have.
June 23
We spent the day building with Habitat for Humanity in Fitchburg. I started off the morning installing siding. My mom came by to drop off Klondike bars (a big hit amongst all of us on the warm day) and to take me to an orthopedic follow up appointment to have my knee checked out. I nervously sat in the waiting room, annoyed at the ill timing of my knee problems. After meeting everyone and after months of training and fundraising, I was determined to continue riding. Thankfully, the doctor told me the pain was due to tendinitis - nothing serious enough that would prevent me from continuing my trip. I came back to the build site and helped install laminate flooring. A group of us went out to a place called Hong Kong Cafe to get a drink and after conversing with the owner about Bike and Build, we scored crab rangoons on the house!
June 24
Fitchburg to Northampton: 66.4 miles
The rides kept getting hillier. There were a few very steep climbs, including one that appeared to be perpendicular to the road. Along the way, we stopped at an Al Paca farm where we hung out with some Al Pacas.
We stopped for lunch at Janine's Frostee, where they generously gave all of us free ice cream. I got almond joy ice cream (my current favorite flavor). The host prepared an awesome meal with a variety of foods, including lots of meatballs, Mac and cheese, and gave us incredible brownies and a cake for dessert.
June 25
Northampton to Pittsfield: 42.8 miles
We woke up at 6 AM, many of us sore from the previous day of riding which involved over 60 miles of rolling hills. We had yet to tackle the Berkshires, which would surely bring longer and steeper inclines. We packed up our bags and put them in the trailer in record time due to a recently implemented deterrent to being the last person to do this after 6:30 am - this individual would have to experience the humiliation of wearing underwear on his or her head for the entire duration of the ride. This proved to be an excellent way to abide to the time constraint. We proceeded to eat breakfast, which was presented to us in a large black garbage bag filled to the brim with bagels, donuts, and muffins that Dunkin Donuts donated to us. After happily devouring our carb loaded breakfast and cleaning up the host site, we prepared our bikes and had route meeting. We were pleasantly surprised to see a route plan that took up no more than half a page and indicated that there would be a 28 mile stretch with no turns. Such a feature is a relief to riders like me for whom the number of turns is directly proportional to the likelihood of getting lost. It also allows more opportunities to enjoy the view beyond the piece of paper attached to our brake cables. Our ride was relatively short at 42.8 miles, but was still challenging with many hills. As expected, the ride delivered great views of the mountains and farms of western Massachusetts. I rode with Katy and Carson. We stopped along the ride to dip our feet in the river that paralleled the road. It was a very refreshing interlude on a humid day. We continued on the strenuous ride and just when I was about to pat myself on the back for putting in a good effort on one of the steep inclines that I thought was a component of the anticipated Berkshire mountains, I came upon a sign about a mile later informing me that I was entering the Berkshires. That hill was a mere speed bump compared to what was to come. However, our intensive climbing was not put to waste. Towards the end of the ride, we were rewarded with a long lasting downhill to coast on effortlessly for nearly two miles. In my opinion, the pain I endured riding uphill was worth the cool breeze and exhilaration that I experienced on the descent. We rolled into Pittsfield, MA where our host site for the next two nights, the First United Methodist Church, was located. Several of us explored downtown Pittsfield and got coffee at a local coffee shop. The hosts generously provided us with a place to shower and served us a delicious meal, which included chicken breast, green beans, and salad followed by brownies and fruit for dessert. Since the next day was a build day, many of us took advantage of our 1 AM curfew by hanging out at a local and cozy bar called Thistle and Mirth.
June 26
Today we spent the day building with the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Pittsield. I joined the group tasked with building a deck. It was not an easy job and there was a lot of trial and error involved since the concrete foundation was very uneven and asymmetrical. We spent 8.5 hours shedding blood, sweat (lots of sweat. It was hot outside.), and tears on the deck. Ron, the construction manager of our project, was a little dismayed at our lack of expertise in building decks, but we did our best and had a solid product to show for it.
The deck we worked on:
After the hard day of work, we wanted to check out the beach at Onota lake. We were initially reluctant to go since it was two miles away, but Ron's son offered to drive us there. So, we hopped in the back of his pickup truck and enjoyed the breezy and bumpy ride. The swim in Onota lake was very refreshing and the scenic mountains around the lake made the swim even more enjoyable.
In the back of the pickup truck:
Onota lake:
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