its been exactly one month since we arrived, 3600 miles later, in sunny san diego. i've unpacked my bag, printed hundreds of pictures, returned to some lazy habits, visited missed friends, and rediscovered normal life.
i believe the time has finally come to bid you adieu.
i'd hoped by now to be able to express some sentiment of complete closure or to articulate a litany of lessons learned. instead, i've come to discover that bike and build has meant too much for me to box it up and put in my past.
it'd be ridiculous to describe the experience as amazing because it was so much more than that. specific moments stick in my mind as clearly as if they'd occurred this morning & i hope that they'll always remain so fresh. i'd planned to list my most memorable 2-3 rides, but once i got started.... anyway my 30+ most memorable moments:
1 - singing american pie with lisa.2 - the incredibly smooth road through the woods on our first 96-mile day where we stopped to play on hay bales.
3 - the first mountain of the appalachians where i bought my first lapel pins.
4 - the ashville ymca & the kovachs'.
5 - that day i sprinted to the finish behind ben.
6 - daus mountain road and the pit bulls at mile 8.
7 - the monotony of route 70 in eastern arkansas.
8 - experiencing the ozark mountians.
9 - girl's ride.
10 - girl talk.
11 - rachel's bachelorette/birthday party.
12 - the day in kansas where the wind broke me, but my riders saved me with five minute (and one two-hour) pulls.
13 - exploring the regional airport on vacuum day.
14 - THE TALENT SHOW - all my dreams coming true.
15 - riding a double-decker bike.
16 - riding 126 miles into colorado springs through torrential rain and hail.
17 - hot chocolate at the top of monarch pass.
18 - nervous snickers-bar-eating at the bottom of monarch pass.
19 - reaching the lake of unspeakable beauty and the weather clearing up just in time.
20 - climbing the rockies with becky.
21 - the million dollar highway, climbing with women, and breaking 47 mph with earth magnet renee.
22 - eating dinner at my aunt and uncle's in durango.
23 - four corners & the strange women who made us take photos with their children at the arizona state line.
24 - the high school on the reservation, and the eerie windstorm that inspired me.
25 - team sparkyl - both before and after our transformation.
26 - most especially the grand canyon. riding with dennis in the morning, frolicking on the rim for fifty miles, flying to the campsite, being absolutely drenched at the camp site, freezing showers at the spigot, eating cold spaghetti and green beans by headlamp... easily my most perfect day.
27 - descending 3,000 feet and gaining 25 degrees into the desert with becky & arriving very nearly first.
28 - riding back from 'batman returns' in the complete darkness of night.
29 - crossing the state line into california and swimming in the colorado river.
30 - the unexpected climb into julian.
31 - climbing while sick and knowing that people would be waiting for me at the top of each hill.
32 - the sound of strangers cheering for us as we made our final descent into the pacific.
33 - cole train, obviously. saved the best for last.
34 - the people.
to my supporters i can't thank you enough for making this trip possible. we contributed to affordable housing every place we visited, and though the conditions may vary, the basic human right to shelter does not. with the funds we raised we helped housing organizations from coast to coast, helped finance a habitat home in north carolina, and awarded grants to four great causes. i thank you also on a personal level. i've learned a lot this summer - reinforced some things i knew about myself, and discovered an inner strength i won't soon forget. now that i've done this, what else can i do?
i'll close this blog by reinterpreting my five 'rules of bike and build' into generally applicable life lessions. this is the stuff self-help books are made of, but whatever:
1. EFI.
--> you can do anything you set your mind to.
2. don't talk about tomorrow until tomorrow.
--> don't worry about things you have no control over.
3. never stop in the middle of an incline.
--> when life gets tough, don't stop pushing.
4. point stuff out in advance.
--> be prepared and look to the future.
5. fill in the back seat first!
--> be considerate of those around you.
to my nc2sd2008-ers, i hope you all know how much each of you has meant to me. i won't soon forget any of you, and i have strong faith that you all will be doing amazing things very soon. i can't wait to hear all about them.
thank you, everyone.
LOVE you all -
emily
24 August 2008
09 August 2008
all my pictures
its been a while since i promised a comprehensive trip wrap-up post. sadly, i'm not ready to write it. life post-bike and build has been surprisingly hard, and perhaps full of emotions only my tripmates can understand. this is probably exacerbated by the fact that i haven't had much to do lately except think about how much i miss everyone and everything. i've just for the first time read through all of my entries, and it was a strange walk through all my memories. i'm definitely glad that i made notes for myself, even though i'm not normally a journal-writing person.
if you're reading, though, and still interested, i'll point you to photos. as a group, we have a shared flickr account of our photos. each rider has a collection, and mine is found here. enjoy!
if you're reading, though, and still interested, i'll point you to photos. as a group, we have a shared flickr account of our photos. each rider has a collection, and mine is found here. enjoy!
28 July 2008
some pictures
1. there is a desert in california, did you know?
2. pacific ocean!!
3. celebration on the beach :)
2. pacific ocean!!
3. celebration on the beach :)
26 July 2008
day 63+
day 63. el cajon-san diego, ca. 28 miles.
-upon returning from the library where i composed my last blog entry, i realized that i had a mere 36 hours left before my arrival at the airport. this is where the end-of-bike-and-build tears began.
-today i have the honor of riding sweep with patrick. this is highly appropriate, as my plan is to ride as slowly as possible so as to delay the end of this trip indefinitely.
-the greater part of day 63 was spent in tears, but i will leave the degree of my emotional pathetic-ness to your imagination. suffice it to say that it was a sad day.
-we spent the day riding through san diego, and it was pretty stop-and-go through 28 miles of stoplights. joining pat and i on sweep were rachel (go figure, wanting to finish with her fiance), travis, becky, dan, david, maura, and renee. an all-star cast i do believe.
-at mile 24 we all reconvened for our final descent into the ocean. enter more tears, plus one emotional pre-celebratory diet coke with maggie and becky.
-it was a shock to all of us to round the corner and see ocean ahead.... lots of pictures and emotions were had as we rolled down the hill.
-hitting the beach, everyone was cheering for us and shouting congratulations at us - i don't know if this was because i was at the back of the pack or because someone had told them we were coming, but it was easily one of the most amazing things that has ever happened in my life. enter more tears and loss of control.
-once we reached the sand, we ditched our shoes and camelbaks and had quick hugs with the family and friends that came to the end. then we picked up our beloved bicycles and walked over the (hot!) sand, handed our cameras to strangers, assembled in line, and as a group dipped our tires into the pacific.
-from there on out, the scene unfolded as you might expect a pre-prom photo session to occur and we took lots and lots of pictures of ourselves. then we swam in the ocean, but not with our bikes because saltwater is corrosive and we are now real cyclists and know better. would've been fun, though.
-we enjoyed an amazing lunch on the beach set up for us by dan carmody's dad. unfortunately my stomach is still on the funky side and so i didn't get to stuff my face as i would have liked. however, i am hoping that this bug will shrink my stomach back to human-size and so am not too upset about it.
-following lunch and still more photos, we had to bike FOUR MORE MILES(!!!) to the church in la jolla, where we had the sad duty of cleaning out the van and trailer one final time. we all signed the roof of the trailer, which was a neat way to leave our mark, and i spent the afternoon coercing people into signing my bike and build yearbook. clearly, i am still primed for middle school.
-after an hour checking out the waves at the beach, it was time for a quick shower and then dinner before heading out to a final party at todd san diego's house - a former bike and builder who was kind enough to host us.
-its hard to believe we're done, but its true. thanks so much to everyone who has read these entries, and to all of you who supported this trip. you all mean the world to me.
day 1 post-bb. san diego, ca-fairfax, va. the width of the north american continent.
-i really just want to ride my bike. sadly, not an option today.
-morning begins with more crying in the bathroom. continues with packing my bag, and then a lot more crying as i have a chance to say goodbye to almost everyone. special thanks to cole train for the official send-off, and for the honka-honka salute from my beloved bike horn. extra special thank to d.carmody for the ride to the airport!
-because i had to leave so early, i didn't have the chance to box up or ship my bike. so another HUGE thank you to patrick and rachel, who offered to not only get my bike in the mail, but to go to the trouble of disassembling and boxing it. i can't thank you enough.
-then i got on a plane and went home. i couldn't help but do some more crying as we flew over the very familiar terrain of the desert and four corners area. it was a tough flight for me, but once cloud cover took over i was able to compose myself and feel a lot less awkward next to my seatmates.
-i'm back in fairfax now, and find that its 3am and i've spent the last few hours reading other bike-and-builder blogs. clearly its going to be tough to let this go, but i suppose its time. i'm off to bed now, but check back for a little while yet as i finally get some photos online, and hopefully come to some general observations or reflections.
-upon returning from the library where i composed my last blog entry, i realized that i had a mere 36 hours left before my arrival at the airport. this is where the end-of-bike-and-build tears began.
-today i have the honor of riding sweep with patrick. this is highly appropriate, as my plan is to ride as slowly as possible so as to delay the end of this trip indefinitely.
-the greater part of day 63 was spent in tears, but i will leave the degree of my emotional pathetic-ness to your imagination. suffice it to say that it was a sad day.
-we spent the day riding through san diego, and it was pretty stop-and-go through 28 miles of stoplights. joining pat and i on sweep were rachel (go figure, wanting to finish with her fiance), travis, becky, dan, david, maura, and renee. an all-star cast i do believe.
-at mile 24 we all reconvened for our final descent into the ocean. enter more tears, plus one emotional pre-celebratory diet coke with maggie and becky.
-it was a shock to all of us to round the corner and see ocean ahead.... lots of pictures and emotions were had as we rolled down the hill.
-hitting the beach, everyone was cheering for us and shouting congratulations at us - i don't know if this was because i was at the back of the pack or because someone had told them we were coming, but it was easily one of the most amazing things that has ever happened in my life. enter more tears and loss of control.
-once we reached the sand, we ditched our shoes and camelbaks and had quick hugs with the family and friends that came to the end. then we picked up our beloved bicycles and walked over the (hot!) sand, handed our cameras to strangers, assembled in line, and as a group dipped our tires into the pacific.
-from there on out, the scene unfolded as you might expect a pre-prom photo session to occur and we took lots and lots of pictures of ourselves. then we swam in the ocean, but not with our bikes because saltwater is corrosive and we are now real cyclists and know better. would've been fun, though.
-we enjoyed an amazing lunch on the beach set up for us by dan carmody's dad. unfortunately my stomach is still on the funky side and so i didn't get to stuff my face as i would have liked. however, i am hoping that this bug will shrink my stomach back to human-size and so am not too upset about it.
-following lunch and still more photos, we had to bike FOUR MORE MILES(!!!) to the church in la jolla, where we had the sad duty of cleaning out the van and trailer one final time. we all signed the roof of the trailer, which was a neat way to leave our mark, and i spent the afternoon coercing people into signing my bike and build yearbook. clearly, i am still primed for middle school.
-after an hour checking out the waves at the beach, it was time for a quick shower and then dinner before heading out to a final party at todd san diego's house - a former bike and builder who was kind enough to host us.
-its hard to believe we're done, but its true. thanks so much to everyone who has read these entries, and to all of you who supported this trip. you all mean the world to me.
day 1 post-bb. san diego, ca-fairfax, va. the width of the north american continent.
-i really just want to ride my bike. sadly, not an option today.
-morning begins with more crying in the bathroom. continues with packing my bag, and then a lot more crying as i have a chance to say goodbye to almost everyone. special thanks to cole train for the official send-off, and for the honka-honka salute from my beloved bike horn. extra special thank to d.carmody for the ride to the airport!
-because i had to leave so early, i didn't have the chance to box up or ship my bike. so another HUGE thank you to patrick and rachel, who offered to not only get my bike in the mail, but to go to the trouble of disassembling and boxing it. i can't thank you enough.
-then i got on a plane and went home. i couldn't help but do some more crying as we flew over the very familiar terrain of the desert and four corners area. it was a tough flight for me, but once cloud cover took over i was able to compose myself and feel a lot less awkward next to my seatmates.
-i'm back in fairfax now, and find that its 3am and i've spent the last few hours reading other bike-and-builder blogs. clearly its going to be tough to let this go, but i suppose its time. i'm off to bed now, but check back for a little while yet as i finally get some photos online, and hopefully come to some general observations or reflections.
23 July 2008
days 59-62
day 59. wenden, az-blythe, ca. 68 miles.
-riding with dennis, travis, and becky - my faves!
-oddly riding in the rain in the morning - in arizona?
-riding on I-10 for 35 miles - yikes!
-enter CALIFORNIA today.
-pit stop to swim in the super-beautiful colorado river.
-day of flats galore. i hate the interstate.
day 60. blythe-brawley, ca. 89 miles.
-super-early wakeup day for riding in the desert.
-ride with becky & we are superstars together.
-ride of dips and dunes - roller coaster like hills and then massive sand dunes.
-last 10 miles are 10 miles of doom... feel like death, but we make it.
-think we see zebras, but they are just cows with stripy shadows.
-we're still in by 1230 - the reward for uber-early wakeup.
-pizza hut dinner!
day 61. brawley-julian, ca. 72 miles.
-santa ana mountains, 4000 ft climbing.
-hardest ride yet. still keep myself out of the granny gear, yesssss.
-enter san diego county!
-in the evening, barrel reveal. sparkyl, sadly, does not win.
-start to feel sick in the evening. not good.
day 62. julian-el cajon, ca. 53 miles.
-i am sick.
-i ride verrrrrry slowly.
-granny gear returns.
-hills of doom; including some 10% grades.
-i make it in, hooray! EFI, friends.
-tomorrow is the beach - ultimate sadness. look forward to a full report as soon as possible.
-riding with dennis, travis, and becky - my faves!
-oddly riding in the rain in the morning - in arizona?
-riding on I-10 for 35 miles - yikes!
-enter CALIFORNIA today.
-pit stop to swim in the super-beautiful colorado river.
-day of flats galore. i hate the interstate.
day 60. blythe-brawley, ca. 89 miles.
-super-early wakeup day for riding in the desert.
-ride with becky & we are superstars together.
-ride of dips and dunes - roller coaster like hills and then massive sand dunes.
-last 10 miles are 10 miles of doom... feel like death, but we make it.
-think we see zebras, but they are just cows with stripy shadows.
-we're still in by 1230 - the reward for uber-early wakeup.
-pizza hut dinner!
day 61. brawley-julian, ca. 72 miles.
-santa ana mountains, 4000 ft climbing.
-hardest ride yet. still keep myself out of the granny gear, yesssss.
-enter san diego county!
-in the evening, barrel reveal. sparkyl, sadly, does not win.
-start to feel sick in the evening. not good.
day 62. julian-el cajon, ca. 53 miles.
-i am sick.
-i ride verrrrrry slowly.
-granny gear returns.
-hills of doom; including some 10% grades.
-i make it in, hooray! EFI, friends.
-tomorrow is the beach - ultimate sadness. look forward to a full report as soon as possible.
19 July 2008
days 55-58
day 55. williams-prescott,az. 71 miles.
-barrel day!
-barrel is our scavenger hunt/race day that previously caused a day of ultimate dysfunction with my team, sparkyl.
-sparkyl's goals are as follows:
1. flamboyancy/costumes
2. annoyance/sabotage
3. facebook photos
4. winning barrel
-because of a sickness overwhelming our trip & because dennis quit sparkyl the last time we tried to ride together, sparkyl is down to seven members from its original ten. this is ok, we are strong and now lean and ready to race.
-our costumes are 100% sparkles. hopefully pictures will be forthcoming because words will not suffice. key ingredients include an abundance of body tattoos, gel sparkle pens, and make-up designed for five year olds. the boys look especially nice with sparkly facial hair drawn on by claire. goal number 1: check.
-while decorating our bikes, we discover that the 'silver snakes' have let all the air out of our tires. this will not be tolerated!
-i spend the morning with claire and samuel completing objectives in williams. objectives completed include but are not limited to: pumping a strangers gas, being kissed by a local, buying chocolate with only pennies, having a shopping cart race, getting a stranger's phone number, riding a local's bike, riding a motorcycle, having 'team sparkyl' formally announced on the PA, and riding our bikes inside a store. plus many others i've already forgotten.
-we hit the road and then rode 15 miles on I-40. this is apparently legal in arizona, and wasn't actually too bad. speed limit: 75. yikes!
-passing team 'daus manschaft' on the interstate, goal number 2 is achieved by silly-stringing each member in passing. yessssss sabotage/annoyance.
-the interstate is sadly a breeding ground for staples and other enemies of the tire. before lunch i personally have two flats, our team has 7, and the group as a whole has over 15 flats. not cool, arizona, not cool.
-lunch today is a "lunchtime barrel bonanza", featuring a series of team contests. because we are bike and build, these are mostly bike or water related - gotta stay hydrated! games include a water baloon toss, a disassemble and reassemble bike challenge, and several water drinking games - including water pong, water flip cup, and water chugging. yes i feel like a college student again. sparkyl wins the lunch games and i feel reaaaaalllly full of water. soooo hydrated.
-after the bonanza, we decide to call it quits for the objectives. the sickness is claiming more and more riders, and so we opt to get ourselves into prescott and just leave the points where they lay. i get to ride in with lisa and dave, which is sweet and the rest of the ride is pretty smooth.
-anticipating our build day tomorrow, several of us headed out for the night, eating dinner and then stopped into a few bars. one had a comedy show going, and we enjoyed dennis' bike-related heckling of the comedy MC.
day 56. prescott, az. build day.
-spent the day building a rock wall along the side of a recently-completed house's property.
-this is a really fun/satisfying activity; however, it should be noted that the rocks are freaking huge and weigh as much as humans. at the end of the day, i am proud and tired.
-further, it is hot in arizona. we start working at 7am and i am sweating from minute one.
-lunch is provided and i eat the best chicken salad of my life. it includes broccoli, grapes, celery, onions, and cranberries in addition to obviously chicken and some sort of tasty sauce.
-its our last mail day. thanks christina for the surprise package!
-spend afternoon walking around prescott and enjoying the cuteness of the town. habitat sets us up with a great dinner - perfect build day!
day 57. prescott-wickenburg, az. 58 miles.
-its patrick's birthday, so becky and i head out first to chalk some celebratory remarks along the route.
-instead of the 'super-downhill' route ben promises, we discover we are instead climbing mountains today. we are saddened but power-through.
-the sickness claims another of our number on the surprise mountains. we now have five victims: swaroop, maura, angela, dan thomas, and renee.
-after lunch we have a sweet decent, falling 3,300 feet and race to the church. i ride with becky and we are averaging 20-24 mph on the flats. we are the 3rd and 4th people in at 11am and feel pretty good about ourselves.
-the day is pretty awesome from this point on: we eat ice cream and then watch forrest gump. we have a group meeting where we must tragically discuss end-of-trip issues, then eat lasagna and finally i ride my bike to the movie theatre and watch batman. not too shabby a day, i don't think.
day 58. wickenburg-wenden, az. 49 miles.
-pretty flat day.... nothing too eventful about the route. there are lots of saguaro cacti along the road, and we have mountains on either side of us - this makes for a pretty view.
-riding again with becky & we have a nice ride with good conversation. after lunch, we ride a graham schnaars-style mile which is the highlight of the day.
-we're in by 10:30am and have a rather empty day ahead to rest up for another day of desert riding tomorrow. looking forward to a girls' lunch this afternoon & potentially a nap.
-barrel day!
-barrel is our scavenger hunt/race day that previously caused a day of ultimate dysfunction with my team, sparkyl.
-sparkyl's goals are as follows:
1. flamboyancy/costumes
2. annoyance/sabotage
3. facebook photos
4. winning barrel
-because of a sickness overwhelming our trip & because dennis quit sparkyl the last time we tried to ride together, sparkyl is down to seven members from its original ten. this is ok, we are strong and now lean and ready to race.
-our costumes are 100% sparkles. hopefully pictures will be forthcoming because words will not suffice. key ingredients include an abundance of body tattoos, gel sparkle pens, and make-up designed for five year olds. the boys look especially nice with sparkly facial hair drawn on by claire. goal number 1: check.
-while decorating our bikes, we discover that the 'silver snakes' have let all the air out of our tires. this will not be tolerated!
-i spend the morning with claire and samuel completing objectives in williams. objectives completed include but are not limited to: pumping a strangers gas, being kissed by a local, buying chocolate with only pennies, having a shopping cart race, getting a stranger's phone number, riding a local's bike, riding a motorcycle, having 'team sparkyl' formally announced on the PA, and riding our bikes inside a store. plus many others i've already forgotten.
-we hit the road and then rode 15 miles on I-40. this is apparently legal in arizona, and wasn't actually too bad. speed limit: 75. yikes!
-passing team 'daus manschaft' on the interstate, goal number 2 is achieved by silly-stringing each member in passing. yessssss sabotage/annoyance.
-the interstate is sadly a breeding ground for staples and other enemies of the tire. before lunch i personally have two flats, our team has 7, and the group as a whole has over 15 flats. not cool, arizona, not cool.
-lunch today is a "lunchtime barrel bonanza", featuring a series of team contests. because we are bike and build, these are mostly bike or water related - gotta stay hydrated! games include a water baloon toss, a disassemble and reassemble bike challenge, and several water drinking games - including water pong, water flip cup, and water chugging. yes i feel like a college student again. sparkyl wins the lunch games and i feel reaaaaalllly full of water. soooo hydrated.
-after the bonanza, we decide to call it quits for the objectives. the sickness is claiming more and more riders, and so we opt to get ourselves into prescott and just leave the points where they lay. i get to ride in with lisa and dave, which is sweet and the rest of the ride is pretty smooth.
-anticipating our build day tomorrow, several of us headed out for the night, eating dinner and then stopped into a few bars. one had a comedy show going, and we enjoyed dennis' bike-related heckling of the comedy MC.
day 56. prescott, az. build day.
-spent the day building a rock wall along the side of a recently-completed house's property.
-this is a really fun/satisfying activity; however, it should be noted that the rocks are freaking huge and weigh as much as humans. at the end of the day, i am proud and tired.
-further, it is hot in arizona. we start working at 7am and i am sweating from minute one.
-lunch is provided and i eat the best chicken salad of my life. it includes broccoli, grapes, celery, onions, and cranberries in addition to obviously chicken and some sort of tasty sauce.
-its our last mail day. thanks christina for the surprise package!
-spend afternoon walking around prescott and enjoying the cuteness of the town. habitat sets us up with a great dinner - perfect build day!
day 57. prescott-wickenburg, az. 58 miles.
-its patrick's birthday, so becky and i head out first to chalk some celebratory remarks along the route.
-instead of the 'super-downhill' route ben promises, we discover we are instead climbing mountains today. we are saddened but power-through.
-the sickness claims another of our number on the surprise mountains. we now have five victims: swaroop, maura, angela, dan thomas, and renee.
-after lunch we have a sweet decent, falling 3,300 feet and race to the church. i ride with becky and we are averaging 20-24 mph on the flats. we are the 3rd and 4th people in at 11am and feel pretty good about ourselves.
-the day is pretty awesome from this point on: we eat ice cream and then watch forrest gump. we have a group meeting where we must tragically discuss end-of-trip issues, then eat lasagna and finally i ride my bike to the movie theatre and watch batman. not too shabby a day, i don't think.
day 58. wickenburg-wenden, az. 49 miles.
-pretty flat day.... nothing too eventful about the route. there are lots of saguaro cacti along the road, and we have mountains on either side of us - this makes for a pretty view.
-riding again with becky & we have a nice ride with good conversation. after lunch, we ride a graham schnaars-style mile which is the highlight of the day.
-we're in by 10:30am and have a rather empty day ahead to rest up for another day of desert riding tomorrow. looking forward to a girls' lunch this afternoon & potentially a nap.
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