Inhabit Life

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Welcome to Route 2

We have now hopped on route two and will be traveling along it for more days than I'd like to discuss. Today we pedaling 82 miles, 62 of which were on a single road. As dreadful as I thought it would be, I actually enjoyed it. The sides of the road were pine and aspen forests, a big change from what we came through in the lower midwest. The road was mostly flat and we averaged high speeds.

We've instituted a new activity called "Sweepstakes," which involves sweep (the two riders who ride in the back) coming up with a challenge for the day. At the end of the day all of the entries are judged and the winner gets something special (i.e. first in line for dinner, massage...etc).Well we have a common phrase that we use in Bike and Build, "Safety is Sexy," to encourage and promote safety on the road as much as possible. So, today the sweepstakes were to take pictures inspired by this phrase. You can only imagine the fun we had...I won't go into more details, but it made the miles pass very quickly as we brainstormed for the most creative picture. Tonight our sweeps, Caity and Hanna, will determine a winner. I cannot wait to see everyone's submissions.

Tonight we are in Grand Rapids, MN, birthplace of Judy Garland. The church we are staying at is right next to the Judy Garland Children's Museum!

And to back track quickly, here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

Shoveling gravel

Shoveling soil

Dirt finally spread out and raked

Dirt tamped down

Finally, to answer some questions from the comments...we have planned many times to use the slackline that I brought, however, other things have sounded more interesting. It awaits much use in North Dakota and Montana as we enter the land of small and tiny towns.

Welcome to Route 2

This morning, however, the first 5 miles were far from flat. In order to get out of Duluth you must climb up from Lake Superior. We climbed for a solid 2 miles before seeing any sort of flatter terrain.Once at the top we had a lovely break at Caribou Coffee, where I enjoyed a nice iced latte!

We've instituted a new activity called "Sweepstakes," which involves sweep (the two riders who ride in the back) coming up with a challenge for the day. At the end of the day all of the entries are judged and the winner gets something special (i.e. first in line for dinner, massage...etc).Well we have a common phrase that we use in Bike and Build, "Safety is Sexy," to encourage and promote safety on the road as much as possible. So, today the sweepstakes were to take pictures inspired by this phrase. You can only imagine the fun we had...I won't go into more details, but it made the miles pass very quickly as we brainstormed for the most creative picture. Tonight our sweeps, Caity and Hanna, will determine a winner. I cannot wait to see everyone's submissions.

Tonight we are in Grand Rapids, MN, birthplace of Judy Garland. The church we are staying at is right next to the Judy Garland Children's Museum!

And to back track quickly, here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Foundation Work

Sometimes it's just the little thing that keep you going. Like yesterday I got a great package from my family with sports beans, energy gu, and new bars. It was quite exciting and I'm looking forward to trying them out as we head into North Dakota.

Today was our eighth build day and we spent most the day in the basement of a foundation. We began with people filling buckets with gravel from the inside and handing them to people on ladders, who handed them to someone on the top of the foundation wall to pour them into the outside pit. It was a messy job because the basement was full of puddled water. I enjoyed scaling the top of the wall to pour buckets over the edge.

Once this was complete we had to take a huge pile of soil (that was in the basement) and spread it evenly across the entire floor. This job took the rest of the day. We has tons of shovelers, wheel barrowers, and rakers working to move the soil and even it out. As we got closer to finishing Ambroise used the tamper machine to press the soil down.

We prepared the floor so that the cemetery can be poured, which completes the basement for now. Next week they are going to move the house on top of the foundation. This particular build took a house from another site and moved it here, so the majority of the work from here on out will be rebuilding and remodeling.

Tonight we have pizza and I'll find some time to decompress and relax for our upcoming 3 days of long mileage.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Van Day

Today I rode in the van because my pedal was not spinning at all. It was interesting getting a perspective on what happens for the driver each day. Sean, Tyce, and I sought out a great lunch spot in a park shelter. During the several hours we stayed there, Tyce and I went to Cozy's for omelettes and coffee. It was great to get good protein, a warm drink, and get to know Tyce more.

We spent the rest of lunch playing ukulele and reading. The route today was nuts because of the flooding from a month ago. People diverted from the cue sheet and took three different routes. Being in van we made lots of phone calls to keep people on track.

Once we got to the host I took my bike .5 miles away to the Ski Hut to get things worked out. I was treated wonderfully and they were so so so helpful. We talked a lot about my pedals and which ones I should get. I decided to stay with my speedplays because I'm used to them. I did, however, upgrade to a better pedal because that's what they had and because they're more durable. The bike mechanics pulled off my old cleats and found that they were put on poorly the first time. They definitely took care of me cause they knew I had so mch farther to bike. The new pedals clip in and out so easily. I also got a free Ski Hut water bottle and the guy that helped me is going to order some great chamois butter for me by tomorrow.

To top the evening off 11 of us went to see the new batman movie and it was amazing!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Aunties and Pedal Trouble

Thunder and lightening greeted us Tuesday morning and forced us to wait at the church for at least an hour before leaving. We finally departed in pouring down rain and started our 44 miles on the same road we had been on for several days. The morning was fairly miserable because of the rain and because of the massive hills that kept appearing. There were several that I thought were super long and took so much endurance to keep climbing. After riding most the morning alone, I caught up with Ashley on the hills and we powered through to lunch together, both starving and losing energy quickly. The scenic views were incredible, especially with rainy mist filling the valley, but it was tough to enjoy them in our physical and mental state.

After a freezing cold rest at lunch, I took off with Lexi and we knocked out 20 miles before anybody caught up with us. Once we neared the city, we hopped on a bike path, which took us right next to my aunts' new house!

Our last couple miles took us up the steepest hill on St. Paul. Thank goodness it wasn't too long. At the top I was greeted by Aunt Cynthia and the new dog, Annie! It was great. Upon our arrival at the church Cynthia picked me up and took me back to her and Aunt Kit's house.

The evening consisted of taking a great shower, visiting with Kit and Cynthia, snuggling with Annie, walking Annie, and eating pad thai at a fabulous Thai restaurant. It was just what I needed to load up for the next day. I was so happy to see family and really relax for a night.

Sleeping was definitely the second best part of the night, because I got to sleep in bed with a pillow. I have gotten used to the therma rest wedged in between the church pews, but a real bed makes a big difference. This morning Kit greeted me in the kitchen with grapefruit juice and the best breakfast of the trip so far. I enjoyed a big bowl of hot 10 grain cereal with Greek yogurt, frozen blueberries, and Vermont maple syrup. It was delectable!

Our ride today turned out to be only 94 mile; we were all expecting over 100. The majority of the route was on a bike path, which was great even though my legs and butt were screaming today. Our first lunch was in a little town on a lake, which I waded into for a bit, trying to delay our departure.

The route felt particularly long today; it helped when we started drafting on a long windier road. Kelsey held a great pace and Nate (behind her) blocked the wind well for Caity and me. About 20 miles from our host my pedal started acting really weird (as I described it to my fellow riders, it felt like Prof. Quarral was putting a curse on my broomstick). It turned out my pedal was really stiff and hardly turning indepedently from the axel. I called the van to pick me up and I'm going to spend some time tonight working on it. I'm almost definitely sure the ball barrings are shot and that I am going to have to buy new pedals tomorrow in Duluth...whether or not I can ride is another question. We'll see how the pedal loosens up overnight.

Showering today was certainly an adventure. We hooked up a tarp on the side of the church and showered with a hose. It was freezing cold, but very refreshing and lovely to be clean. There's really nothing like being clean after being extraordinarily dirty. It's much better than your average everyday shower.

And pictures...