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.

Much Overdue Update

So a lot has happened since my last post, with the most notable event being the change in route. I switched from P2SF to SC2SC, mainly due to the fact that SC2SC ends about a week earlier than P2SF. Switching routes was something that I considered emailing the director about but decided that it would be very unlikely that someone would switch routes so late in the game and not worth all the hassle. About a week later I got an incredibly lucky email that someone actually wanted to switch as well and just couldn't pass on the opportunity. The route is actually a little longer and also has a blitz build where we will build a whole house in Colorado from the ground up in about a week!

Other landmarks include volunteering with the Flower City Habitat for Humanity for about 6 hours to gain some construction experience and getting the required medical form filled out basically saying that I am medical able to bike for 6-8 hours a day. How fit I am to actually embark on the adventure is a different story, which the medical from really does not take into consideration.

I got my bike a while back, and have been trying to bike whenever I had a chance. I got fitted to my bike by a professional from Full Moon Vista (Kyle's da Man), which is honestly the best the bike shop in Rochester. I went to almost all the bike shops in Rochester but the Full Moon Vista staff was easily the nicest and most helpful. They love to help and never try to sell unnecessary products that are more expensive. They also have a cute dog that wanders the shop, which makes it that much better. Ever since then I have been biking about 15 miles 3-4 days a week for about 2 weeks now. Unfortunately the SC2SC route starts earlier than I planned meaning I won't have nearly as much time to train after graduation. During my short rides so far I have learned 2 things:

1) Don't unclip one foot and lean the other way
2) I truly love biking.



I have also ordered the majority of my biking equipment from our Bokoo sponsors (got shipped today!) and some bike shops over in the UK. I will try to write more often with the trip so close... but that never ending school work has to get finished first.

4,000 and MORE

Today marks the day when I not only reached the 4,000 dollar requirement but surpassed it by 300 dollars!! I would like to thank all who have donated for making a task that looked impossible possible. I can't express how much of a relief it is, for both me and my parents who were equally if not more worried than I was. With this done I can focus more on school, training, and buying equipment. I started on the latter one yesterday as I went to inquire about getting fitted so I can order the right bike. I am still waiting for the directors to send me an email with information on ordering the bike but they are still catching up with everything that has piled up over the holidays.

I went to Full Moon Vista Bike shop, which was located right in the heart of the downtown. The shops appearance and customer service were both awesome. They seemed very knowledgeable and they also have one of the best fitters in the region. Prices seemed a little high with a basic fitting costing 75 dollars! I talked to the manager and got his email along with the owners so I could email them both about my summer plans which would hopefully convince them to help me in buying hundreds of dollars worth of equipment. Once I hear back from them I will take what they say and try to go to other local bike shops in the Rochester area and see if I maybe able to receive more support from other shops.

Thank you all for donating and following along and I will try to post more stuff as I complete the different requirements prior to the trip. Feel free to comment with any advice or suggestions.

First Post !!!

So fall semester is finally over and it feels great but there is not much time to relax. Plans for break include studying for GMATs and of course fundraising like crazy. At the beginning of break I had about $450 but quickly jumped up to $1200 just a couple weeks into break. This more than doubles the amount required for the New Years Deadline and I would like to thank all of you who have donated so far to make that possible. The next deadline is 2,000 dollars by 4/11/10, which I am on good pace to reach. Since I have surpassed the $1,000 dollar mark I am eligible to order the bike that I will be sitting on for most of my summer, which is the Giant Defy 2!!
Once my last semester at school begins I will begin my training for this cross country bike trip. Many of my fellow riders have started spinning classes already so I do have some ground to make up. Before the snow melts here in Rochester training will be interchanging 4 times a week between the stationary bike and lifting weights with the occasional run around the indoor track. Hopefully exams and homework won't be too time consuming as the load this semester is a lot lighter. Once the snow does melt I will kick it outside as soon as possible and try to rack up as many miles before heading to Providence.

I will mainly be posting stuff once the trip starts but will try to post a couple of updates as the trip approaches. Feel free to subscribe to stay up to date on the adventure. I would recommend keeping low expectations on the quality of writing since I am an awful writer and also new to writing blogs, but this is something I want to get better at so any comments / suggestion will be much appreciated.