Why I Ride

If you had asked me in the beginning of this trip why I was riding my bike across the country this summer, I probably would have given you a generic answer; probably something about affordable housing, trying to stay in shape for rowing, adventure, etc... I would have told you that every day I couldn't wait to get back on the road, and ride with my new best friends and discover new places with no fear at all of what the day had in store for me.

If you asked me now, since the recent death of Paige Hicks, my answer would be a little different. I am no longer fearless on the road, but I'm not afraid to ride. I'm uncomfortable sometimes, but I try to keep myself safe, and hope for the best. I still look forward to riding with the people who I consider to be more like family than friends at this point, but I worry about their safety. When we roll out in the morning, I never quite get comfortable again until I see the last people coast into our new host location. I have faith that we will all be fine, but I'm still anxious until I know everyone is ok.

I still ride for affordable housing, and I'm still riding to stay in shape for crew, and I still crave the adventure every day. But if you asked me what I'm riding for now, I'd tell you that I'm riding for my friends and for my family. I'm riding for those who have supported me both monetarily and with their thoughts and prayers. I'm riding for fellow SC2SC riders and the other 223 B&Bers I haven't even met. I'm riding for P2S because I can't even imagine what you guys are going through right now, and this is the only way I know how to support all of you. I'm riding for you, Paige, because it's what you would have wanted. I pray for the safety for all of the B&Bers past, present and future. We will never forget Paige, even those of us who never had the privilege of knowing her personally. We ride in her honor. In the words of the great Billy Joel, "Only the good die young."

In a week this trip will be half over, and we will be in Colorado Springs preparing for our Blitz Build. I can't believe that we have already biked halfway across the country, and that we have gone almost 2000 miles. I'll be honest, it doesn't always feel like sunshine and roses, but at the end of the day when I sit back and think about what I've done so far and what I'm doing, it's still a pretty incredible feeling. We left Oklahoma yesterday, which was a blessing. The people were very generous, but the terrain was not fun to ride at all. It was continuous rolling hills, and head winds for most of the state, so it was nice to finally get out of it. A couple of us climbed the state-line sign for Texas, which was pretty fun, but the rest of the day's riding was pretty rough. There was about an 8 mile stretch that was slightly uphill and into a headwind that Sebass and I basically raced each other to get through it as quickly as we could. It was draining, but it felt really good to power through it and finish it. Later we had to ride on a gravel road for about 7 miles which wasn't very fun, and I fell and landed on my broken elbow. It hurt a lot, and I skinned my knee, but I kept riding and ended up getting to the host location first. It was a pretty discouraging ride, but it felt good to get to the host, and I saw a lot of farmers combining wheat, which was pretty cool. It made me feel a little more at home. Today we got some luck and had a nice tail-wind, and it helped a lot. Sebass and I got up to 30 mph for about a mile stretch, which was a lot of fun. I hope the winds are behind us again tomorrow, because it makes riding a lot easier.

This trip has more than surpassed my wildest expectations so far. Between the incredible riders and leaders in my group and the never-ending generosity of our hosts, I have never experienced anything quite like this. Having never seriously biked before committing to this trip, I was pretty nervous coming into orientation, but by the end of the first day I knew I had made the right decision. The riding has come along better than I was expecting. Each day I feel more and more like I am becoming a real cyclist, which is pretty exciting. I'm hoping within the next couple of weeks I will be able to consistently keep up with the fastest group of riders. The two build days we have done so far have been awesome too. At the first one we tore the roof off a house and put a new one on in one day. I helped with everything from tearing the old shingles off to laying down new plywood to laying the new shingles. I have always enjoyed building when I've had the opportunity to do it, so I had an awesome time helping with that project. Today we did some demolition work in an apartment complex which was a lot of fun. We got to knock out some cinder block walls with hammers, and tear drywall off of the walls and ceilings. Tomorrow we ride again, and I'm looking forward to getting back on the saddle. We're only a week and a half into the trip, and I already know that this is going to be one of the greatest summers of my life, with some of the greatest people in the world.