Why look for a job when you graduate when you could bike across the country instead...

Hello all and welcome! So the title of my blog is a bit misleading... yes I did decide on a trip of this sort because I didn't know what else to do after school ended, but there are a million other reasons that led me to sign up for Bike and Build. One being the fact that I love Habitat for Humanity/building houses. Also biking is an awesome way to see the country side (I mean really there's only so much you can get out of being stuck in a car in traffic on the interstate...) And lastly and most importantly, the issue at hand... affordable housing. I'm sure everyone reading this has noticed increased foreclosure and housing problems locally, maybe the issue touches close to home or maybe you've only witnessed it second hand, but the more I learn about it the more widespread and serious I realize the problem really is. So I may not have gone into the trip with the mindset that I have now, but my dedication to the cause grows daily. For this reason, I must say that I am in awe of the generosity and amount of support that I received in fundraising for this trip and would like to thank each and every one of you for your contribution.

So as for the biking...
I'm not gonna lie, I've been talking about this trip for ages and its only now hit me just how real it is. Orientation started on Wednesday (my birthday!) and in true Jacqui fashion I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off all morning trying to finish packing and buying last minute equipment. But alas, i made it (albeit 3 hrs late) and met the 31 other people that I will be biking across the country with! No worries, my nerves were immediately settled when i got there, cause everyone in our group is really, really cool and super nice/helpful. So I don't need to be told twice when our trip leaders say 'this is going to be the best summer of your life' because I have no doubts.

We had some presentations from former riders about what our typical riding day will look like (lets just say I'm not entirely thrilled for the 3:45 am awakenings which will happen further down the road when we reach the desert), but everything I've heard so far has comforted me and convinced me that I will have no problem making it to Santa Barbara (::knock on wood::). We only took a short shakedown ride yesterday along the coast in Revere to practice riding as a large group, which surprisingly is a lot different than riding alone (how I trained for the most part). In large groups the leaders encourage us to communicate all the time (which inevitably involves lots of yelling) in regards to which direction cars are coming from, potholes or construction, turns, etc... but that kinda works out well for us cause then everyone walking down the street notices us and asks what we're doing. And this is where our awesome bike and build spiel comes in handy... the more we can get the word out the better. I'm not sure, that may have been my indirect way of tell everyone who reads this to TELL THEIR FRIENDS!! but yeah.

So, it wasn't until this morning that we actually departed from Boston on our way to the west coast... although counter-intuitively we did not head southwest out of the city, but rather north to Andover, MA. We started this morning by biking down to the beach in Revere for a quick tire dipping (yes we really do intend to go all the way from coast to coast, Atlantic to Pacific) at which point it started to rain. But that was kind of expected seeing as the weather forecast is rain EVERY DAY for at least the next week... fun fun. That aside we were all still really pumped to get on the road and get some miles under our belts. Our ride today was rather short... okay correction, really short (only 20 some miles), but it took a little longer for me than most. Not because I wasn't up to snuff on my training or slower than the rest of the group or anything like that. It took me and two of the other guys on the trip 3 hrs to get that short distance because one of our fellow riders got not one... not two... but three flat tires on todays ride alone. So it wasn't until the third change that we finally found the puncture in the outside edge of the tire (just a quick explanation for those who don't know, but bike tires have the inner tubing as well as the actual outer rubber tire and changing a flat often involves simply patching or replacing the tubing putting the outer cover back on). So three inner tubings later we finally used a makeshift way of patching the outer tire by placing a folded dollar bill on the inside, then replacing the tubing, then pumping up the tire so it suctions the hole. This method had been mentioned randomly for like 30 sec by one of the leaders during a discussion and it totally worked!!! yea super cool, i think. So we made it! And now the three of us have mad experience when it comes to changing tires!

Tomorrow's our first build day in Lawrence, MA so we're all keeping our fingers crossed that its not down-pouring too much (otherwise it may be canceled). Hope everyone's doing well and staying drier than I am!

Peace!

P.S. I just realized that accessing this through the Bike and Build website doesn't let you see titles/pretty backgrounds/etc... (its not very blog-esque) so if you want to see the actual blog its http://jacquisbiketrip.blogspot.com.