Sumter / Columbia, SC

Looking at the schedule it seemed like we were going to ramp up slowly to higher mileage days, but the second day disprove that. The scheduled said 65 miles which was okay at first but due to some wrong turns and people chalking the wrong path it turned into a crazy humid and hot 90 mile day. It was a lot hotter than yesterday with the sun beating on us through the whole ride. As we entered the town of Sumter, I luckily found a bar and restocked the water supply, which was crucial to reach the final destination in Sumter.




Once we got there I still had some energy to play some basketball. Playing some knockout, 50 on board, and a new game I learned called Australia. Also let Natalie give me the Friar Tuck haircut to let her check that off her bucket list. Then I just buzzed my head... the transformation can be seen below.



Laundry was done for the first time to conclude the evening. You can try to imagine how bad it smelled but I promise you it was a lot worse.


Shot some more hoops and hit the sack to get ready for the ride to tomorrow.

The ride to Columbia, SC was a breeze compared to the ride to Sumter. It was way hillier but we did not get lost nearly as bad and it was only slightly over 46 miles even with a slight detour int eh beginning due to a parade. Without even eating a big lunch I coasted to our final destination by myself as I pounded out the last 20 miles or so.



We were hoping to get some tickets to a baseball game tonight but that plan fell through the cracks so as of now just waiting to eat dinner and then going to head out and celebrate one of our Natalie's, birthday! Should be a blast! Don't like the long posts let me know I can try to do it more frequently but no promises.

Orientation, Build Day, and Farewell to Atlantic Ocean

So before Orientation really started Aksh (oldest brother) and I came to Charleston two days early. Staying at a Hotel turned out to be an awesome decision compared to the the original plan to camp out with some riders before Orientation since I learned during Orientation about the miserable time they had with the rain. The one day that Aksh and I had in Charleston we covered lots of ground going to Sullivans Island, Isle of Palm, and Fort Moultrie. The beaches were awesome since they weren't too crowded and you could see nearby dolphins swimming in the ocean.

So far for Bike and Build we have had 3 days of Orientation, a build day, and our farewell to the Atlantic Ocean as we biked 56 miles out to Moncks Corner, SC. So lets just break it down in that order.

Aksh dropped me off early at the Church where Orientation was going to be held on May 24th where I met my fellow 31 riders. I got there relatively early and got to meet everyone as they filtered in slowly. We started off the day with some ice breakers. There were multiple presentation about the organization, bike maintenance, bike safety, chores, daily schedules, and so on. Following presentations we had dinner and some time to just relax and get to know each other better. The following day we had our shakedown ride to Fort Moultrie which was about a 20 miles round trip. I got to check out the cannons again at the Fort but didn't stay to long, leaving well before many other riders. The rest of the day we basically had to ourselves which was pretty awesome since we had a 1 am curfew since we were building the next day.




So for our first build day we woke at 7 am and got ready with our bike and build t-shirts and ate breakfast. The shuttles took us to build site around 9 am to redo the roof aka re-shingling the roof in one day! It was kind of fun being up on the roof the whole day and we were extremely lucky it did not rain. The local news station came to the build site and the news report can be seen below.. check it out!! Following the bike lawyer that gave us the bike safety presentation sponsored a dinner at Sticky fingers where I scarfed down 5 pulled pork sandwiches along with chicken, some beans and of course coleslaw.




So the day after our build day we officially set off to the Santa Cruz. We once again went to Fort Moultrie to say goodbye to the Atlantic Ocean and biked to the Moncks Corner, SC which was a total of 56 miles.




The day couldn't of been any better and it was an incredible feeling to finally being this journey. We took a lunch break around 23 miles eating the left over donated food that we had been eating the last couple days. The last leg of the ride was a little difficult as I ran out of water and rode solo into the wind. I arrived at the second behind the first group of riders.



We rode another 3 miles to a nearby lake, which felt amazing after today's ride in the hot and humid weather. We ate dinner, showered, and of course drove to Wendy's to get some frosty's before we hit the sack, which I am going to do now. Already past curfew by 30 minutes so I got to get some sleep before the 65 mile day ahead to Sumter, SC.. so goodnight.

Charleston in T-minus 1 day

So I have official finished my undergrad at the University of Rochester and have been chillen out in DC this last week with the oldest brother. Things worked out really well with him coming up for graduation and living basically at the midpoint between Charleston and Rochester. The stay in DC has been awesome, with a 40 mile bike ride to Mt. Vernon with a bike and build alum, Stuart Carter. The ride was by the river, which was awesome since the weather cooperated. Biking is a really popular activity in big cities with many recreational and serious bikers, and that was full on display even on a Wednesday afternoon. They actual have stop signs for bikers, and Stuart warned me that cops actually hand out tickets for people who don't obey the signs, crazy! I made sure to stop and watch out for cops since it would suck to have my first ticket come from not stopping on a bike. Biking through the city was awesome since they have biking lanes on most of the roads to encourage the activity and you fly by cars since they are inching through traffic. The ride definitely got me excited for the trip because the ride was a blast and I heard some of the awesome stories from Stuart experience 3 years back. To sum up what he said he basically said he wishes he could do it again because it was truly the best summer of his life!

Tomorrow we will be heading down to Charleston and just hang out for the last 2 days before the start of this adventure.
Everything I will need for the next 2 months fits on my bike, camelback, or duffle bag



Everything is packed and ready to go! Excitement is building up as I will be meet a couple of riders on Sunday, where we will either split the costs of a hotel or be camping out somewhere near Charleston. Then on Monday Bike and Build will officially begin. I will try to posts some stuff after orientation and our first build day, but I am not sure how much time I will have to put up pics and post stuff. I am hoping for twice a week but I will have to wait and see how the daily bike and build schedule works.