70 miles today from Coudersport to Warren.
For the first half of riding, I was with Jake Curtis, Kourtney, and Kate. We kept a pretty good steady pace until we hit the hills, when I had to take off. On the hills today, I was really glad I hit the trainers fairly hard over winter break, because they taught me to keep a really steady and constant cadence for long periods of time. They were boring, but honestly, I'd just watch dvd's the entire time, and it was fine (got in all my rom coms ;).
Lunch was pretty miserable, actually. It had started to rain during the ride, which actually wasn't that bad, but it was freezing cold while we ate. We all crowded into the van and trailer and watched it pour for a while, until some people bit the bullet and headed out, notably Katherine. It was actually really encouraging to see my fellow B&B-ers continuing to ride through the rain, and it helped me get out of the trailer and back on the bike.
The second half was somewhat cold and rainy too, but the rain petered out soon enough, and the scenery on the road was beautiful: shorn rock faces, trees and green forest grounds, reservoirs. I stayed with Jake Curtis for the most part, but we joined up with Shira, Mark, Peter, Jake Schorr, and Hana for parts of it.
And then at the YMCA, we got to sit in the sauna and have as long of a shower as we wanted. That may not sound like much, but for much of the time, we have to hurry our showers because we need to drive to a separate facility to do so and because the van can only take half of us at a time. On Bike and Build, we develop a great appreciation for hot showers, food, beds, and many other things normally taken for granted.
One of the reasons why I wanted to do this ride was because I see it as a productive alternative to the military. I've always been interested in boot camp, and being able to take a lot of physical stress, but I have issues with killing people. On Bike and Build, I get plenty of physical duress, and in stead of destroying things, I get to create houses for people who need them. As "Rent" says, "The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation."
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You have never told me about militaty experience. I totally with it. For me I had lost too much time for the military service, almost 3 years. So I can say I lost much more than earned. But a little more than two months would be fine. You wil learn how to react to unexpected situations, how to survive from harsh environment, how to help each each other to overcome hardships (this, I think is the most important),and even if you want to quit you cannot because of some unknown things, etc.
Any case, I can imagine you folks squeezed in a tiny van watching pouring rain outside. When I went to a rainger training while serving military duty, we sat in A-type tent (very old ones, some used during the 2nd world war), watching heavy rain outside, and felt happy because we did not have brutal training and PT exercises on the rainy days.........
By the way, when can we see some photos?
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