Charleston, SC to Moncks Corner, SC - And so it begins..

Hey everyone!
Thank you so much for donating to me and helping make this possible. I did make it to my $4000 goal and I can't believe this summer is already here. Because this is my first blog from the summer, I may be a little rusty in my blogging techniques. Bear with me through this post as I get back in the groove of blogging and Biking & Building.
Today was our first day of riding and we rode 57 miles from Charleston, SC to Moncks Corner, SC. This morning we got up early to get everything and everyone ready for the ride. We started out by taking a 12 mile ride to Sullivan's island to go to an accessible beach for the wheel dip. When we got there, the local morning news was there to interview one of the other leaders Travis and take shots of the beginning of our journey. We said some words of inspiration, dipped our wheels in the ocean, and took off towards Moncks Corner. Travis and I left the beach and headed kept a strong pace for the first half of the ride. A lot of the riders missed a turn early in the route and ended up adding 12 miles to their routes. (This is a common B&B mistake that I made more than once). Because a significant number of riders missed this turn, Travis and I ended up out in front of all the other riders and chalked the turns. At lunch we devoured leftover pizza/veggie burgers/nacho cheese and chips from the weekend. After lunch we were riding on roads that were less traveled by cars so we could all ride double file and talk with each other. I rode with Paul, Katy, Michael, Lizzy, & Karen for the afternoon and got to know each of them a little better. The terrain was extremely flat and South Carolina is extremely hot and humid. I cannot express enough just how hot and humid it is! I don't think I have stopped sweating for a moment since I got here and today I was fighting the humidity/heat trying to stay hydrated for the ride. We made it in around 3:00 and celebrated finishing the first day. The church told us about a lake in town and about 20 of us made our first side trip of the summer and added 6 miles to go swimming before dinner. We had Subway donated for dinner by the church and it filled my craving for $5 footlongs that I have not given into yet. I am extremely tired and sore today which was surprising. Looks like my body doesn't remember what it's like to sit on a bicycle seat for 6 hours a day. Can't wait until I'm not sore anymore.
Yesterday was our first build day in West Ashley. It was one of the best build days I've ever had with Bike & Build and was a lot of fun. We made local media come interview Megan and do a story about us. Hopefully the video will work and I will post the link here: (if the video sides are cut off like blogspot tends to do.. try to doubleclick the video and it should open in a new window.)

Our build was working on roofing/putting shingles on a house. When we got there, we asked if the build site manager thought we would be able to finish the job during the day we were there. He said that he didn't think it would be possible, but that he just wants to get as far along as possible. Well.. amazingly enough our group worked very hard and pulled off all the shingles off the house, laid down new plywood, and put new shingles back on the roof all in one day. It was awesome to see how dedicated our riders are this summer and to be able to see the finished roof that we put on this person's house. The Charleston Habitat for Humanity was fulled equipped to have all 32 of us working with tools and staying occupied the entire day. I saw a lot of teamwork from our riders in getting the build finished and I think our group will be able to accomplish and have an awesome summer.
On Monday & Tuesday we had rider orientation and all of the riders showed up! I was excited and nervous for their arrival because I was worried that I didn't have everything ready to go for their orientation. All in all orientation was fun and I think everyone was ready for it to be over so we could all get out on our way to Santa Cruz, CA!
Well.. I'm not sure what else to say for now because I'm extremely tired and we have a 66 mile ride tomorrow. Thank you all again for your donations and I will be getting on thank you cards as soon as my summer calms down and my body gets used to the physical strain of riding a bicycle all day again. Hope everything is going well for everyone reading and I'll be out on the road making sure we're being safe on our way to California. I'll update again soon when I have time!