Scottsboro, AL - Bama!

Hello people.. it is pretty late so I will go straight into telling you about my days. I will hopefully be uploading pictures tonight as well but we'll see how long my blogging takes.

Today we rode 77 miles from Rome, GA to Scottsboro, AL. We started off the day with a large breakfast provided by the Westminster Presbyterian Church/Habitat for Humanity of Rome, GA. It was great power food of bagels with cream cheese, quiches, and a lot of fruit. We got out on the road at around 8:30. I rode with Katie R. for most of the ride today and we added and dropped other people throughout the day. The ride consisted of mostly rolling foothills of the Appalachians for the first 15 miles before flattening out near the Alabama state line. Kern (Ryan Kern) and Zac caught up with us around mile 17 and we rode with them while debating philosophical topics to pass the time. Although debating philosophical things like the possibility of pure altruism sounds boring, it was very interesting to hear everyone's response and we rode quite quickly while passionately defending our sides of the argument. At mile 24 we arrived at the state line and all took pictures. I was very surprised to see how beautiful Alabama is with all of the mountains and trees. We began our first small climb shortly after the state line. I thought it was pretty rough until we encountered an even larger climb of 1.7 miles at a steep grade at mile 34. While I was climbing this second, much larger climb, I was climbing alone with people in front and behind me. Although I was extremely tired and my legs burned, I kept telling myself to make it to the next turn before getting off my bike and taking a break. As soon as I hit that next turn, I would immediately set my "break spot" to the next turn in the mountain and keep riding up. Eventually I reached the top without ever stopping to take that break and I remembered why I love the challenge that Bike & Build offers. It really tests your mental and physical strength. The lunch stop was at the top of the hill and we had leftover BBQ brisket sandwiches from last nights meal. While at the lunch stop we heard about a trailhead that was half a mile ahead that lead to a waterfall. Nearly everyone stopped at the Little River Waterfalls for some swimming and cliff jumping. It was beautiful and this is a picture of me about to jump off of a 30 ft. cliff.
Picture of Waterfalls:
After about an hour we kept riding and eventually had another steep climb with switchbacks. After that we rode down CR-51 and got chased by 9 different dogs on the same road. A few of them got really close to catching us but all were deterred by me spraying my water bottle in their direction. Just so you know, if you spray water at a dog, the dog thinks you hit it with poison and will yelp and run the other way. Very helpful for biking cross country. Anyway we eventually got tired and needed a break so me, Katie R, Varun, and Melissa laid out in the shade of large tree on the side of the road and relaxed for almost an hour. Because we had moved into Central Time Zone and lost an hour, we were in no hurry to get into the host location early. After our relaxing (and nearly falling asleep) under the tree we headed out to finish the last 16 miles of the route. Picture of shady area below. Very relaxing.
It was just rolling hills for awhile before we had a 3 mile decent that parts were 13% grade. My max speed for the trip I believe is 46.7 mph. After we came off the decent we passed over a large lake/river on our way into Scottsboro. As we were going over the bridge, I looked at the other bridge for the opposite traffic and noticed a large nest sitting atop of the bridge. I immediately noticed a majestic looking bald eagle watching over it's nest. We finished the ride at about 5:15 and the host location provided us with BBQ and a lot of salad. I ate my weight in brisket sandwiches and salad. It was delicious. I then called the girls from OU to see how their B&B trips are going. All in all it was a great day and it was nice to relax and still ride almost 80 miles. It feels good to be back in the groove of Bike & Build!

Yesterday was my first sweep day, which was a 78 mile day into Rome, GA. I was sweep with Sarah Barry and Travis (one of my coleaders) decided that he wanted to take it easy and ride with sweep that day. We didn't want to catch the riders that were at the back so made a couple of pit stops before hitting the road. We went to the Chabad Center in Norcross, GA and bought some things from their garage sale. While we were there, a man wanted to buy a bicycle for his kid but the brakes did not work. Since Travis was with us and he is a bike mechanic, we reconnected the brake cable with one hand and fixed the bike. Fixing the brake cable is easy to do, but it was nice knowing that we were in the right place at the right time and could help out in such a small way. We left and it was our first hilly day so the riders were all getting used to the strain of climbing hills(foothills of the Appalachians). We caught up to the riders around mile 20 and needed something to do so they could get a head start. Travis and I were hungry so we stopped at a Wendy's to get a "snack". I ended up eating a double stack, a crispy chicken sandwich, a side caesar salad, and a spicy chicken wrap, all within a 25 minute period. After that we headed towards the lunch stop at mile 35. By the time we arrived I had already digested the Wendy's from earlier and was ready to eat some more food. The thought of PB&J did not sound good so I made Melissa come "donation magic" a pizza for lunch from Papa Johns. She got me a veggie pizza and I shared it with sweep and the other riders that were there. It was good. After lunch the wind had really picked up and Travis basically pulled Sarah and I through the headwinds towards Rome. We were both very tired at the end but I know if it weren't for Travis that I would've been completely exhausted. We had a BBQ brisket dinner provided for the Habitat for Humanity. The host in Rome also set up for a chiropractor, a bike mechanic, and a massage therapist person all to help us out. It was awesome and greatly appreciated. After that we had our first round of affordable housing presentations and went to bed.

The ride into Norcross, GA from Athens, GA was probably my worst riding day of the trip so far. I rode about 4 miles before the start of a headache that is only comparable to a migraine. Paul passed me and gave me Excedrin to ease the pain and I rode most of the morning with a throbbing headache. I rode with the migraine until lunch and considered vanning it the rest of the day. Because I am stubborn and don't want to give up any more days in the van, I continued to tough it out. I realized at about mile 40 that I was extremely dehydrated and started chugging water and gatorade. My muscles started cramping up and my headache came back towards the end of the ride. Although I wanted to kill someone, Katie R. caught up with me at the end of the ride and pushed through excruciating knee pain through the last 4 miles so I figured me with a headache was nothing. Once we actually arrived in Norcross, I went immediately to lie down and had people bring me Gatorade/water. I attempted to hydrate myself for a few hours before getting up. Karen and Katie went to a CVS and bought me Salt & Vinegar Chips and a real Gatorade to help the process. Gotta love the caring B&B spirit. In Norcross we stayed at the Boys & Girls Club and had dinner provided by a local BBQ place. It was extremely delicious. After dinner everyone went back to the host location and I went undefeated at air hockey and then lost a few games of ping pong.

Well.. I think that pretty much catches us up. It seems like every meal I have eaten for the last 2 weeks has been BBQ Brisket. Man, what a rough life. I'm eating better on B&B than I would if I were at home cooking for myself. We really know how to rough it on B%B. Anyway.. I'm getting extremely tired and should probably head to bed.

Thanks for reading and we'll be in Oklahoma in less than 2 weeks! 12 days to go!
See everyone soon!