Kansas City, MO - different than Kansas City, KS

Hello faithful readers!
Today we built in Kansas City, MO. We worked on a house for Habitat that needed some landscaping and exterior renovation. They had planned for us to take all of the shingles off of the outside of the house and take all the trim off the house and thought it would take us all day. Turns out that 31 of us can take off shingles a lot faster than expected and we had finished those jobs in a few hours. I thank the Ezzells for letting me help on Ben's house otherwise the shingle pulling could've take much much longer and wouldn't have been so efficient. Most of the build days I have done something that I did for the first time on Ben's house. It's good to have some experience! The best part of the build day (my favorite part of every day.. food!) was lunch. We had pizza ordered in from Habitat and Haley got us hooked up with sandwiches from McCormick and Schmicks!! They were amazing and the energy from all of that food kept me building strong the rest of the day. After that we all hung around the Plaza and got some cheesecake. Life is pretty rough for the Bike and Builders! Tonight I think we're all going out because we have a short day tomorrow = 40 something miles.

Yesterday was crazy! We had our first century ride. Sorry about the lack of clarification on the last blog.. a century ride = a ride of 100 miles or more. We got up in Sedalia at 4:00am to start the day. It was thundering, lightning, and pouring down rain as we ate breakfast and got ready. We started riding at around 6 and ventured into the pouring down rain. I took off with the first group of people to leave.. the fast group.. to see if I could keep up with their pace on the long day. The way to describe the first 30 miles is downpour. It rained so hard at some points it felt like it was hailing. We had to stop a few times and wait for it to stop lightning and thundering, but we patiently enjoyed the temporary break from riding. We rolled into lunch at around 9:30 after 45 miles. We stopped for a quick lunch because of the weather and then pressed on. Me, John, and Boss took the lead out of lunch and we rode at a moderate pace (around 15 mph) and talked. The weather started to clear so we took a break in a oat field at around mile 70. The groups behind us caught up to us and we took some group pictures. I survived riding with the fast group all the way until mile 92. Everyone in the group wanted a different type of food or didn't want to stop to eat. Alicia and I split from the group and went to the Salvation Army. While we were at the Salvation Army, Alicia talked to a man in line in front of her and he bought our clothing because he supported our cause. After the Salvation Army we rode to Taco Bell to get some snacks. We wasted a bunch of time at both of those places then decided we should finish the ride. In case you were wondering, Kansas City is not flat! It was lots of hills, but we made it to mile 100 and stopped and took a picture. I will upload it on here whenever I get a chance! We finished the day by 4:00 and I enjoyed the rest of the day celebrating with each rider as they came into the host location. A century is definitely an accomplishment and I'm proud of all the riders for making it.

Other than the events of the last few days, I think everyone should know the amazing amounts of food that everyone eats on these trips. I seriously eat better on Bike and Build than I would if I were at home. The PB&J sandwiches for lunch may be a downgrade to my daily salads, but other than that, I eat nonstop. I just thought I should let you all know how hard life is here! haha.

Life is good. Hope everything is amazing wherever you all are!