Spaghetti Dinner Success

A serious shout out to start this blog post, to my wonderful parents, Walthena & Andrew, & to everyone at St. Andrews in the Fort, as well as anyone else who attended the spaghetti dinner fundraiser last night. My parents were gracious enough to donate all the groceries/supplies so everything was straight profit. The dinner raised, according to my momma's math, $660! That's so awesome. So, while the math is making my head hurt...I estimate that that means about $3,800 has been raised for Bike & Build so far. I'll have a better estimate of my fundraising total in a few days when all the checks make it to B&B. But seriously, I continue to be overwhelmed by all the love & support my friends, family, & total strangers have shown me. While it's true that this money is going to a great cause, and I am solely facilitating this, it still gives me a serious warm-fuzzy feeling to see all the support I'm receiving.

Now, I believe the official count is 35 days 'til I arrive in Jacksonville. I've reached a point where B&B is the only calming thing in my life. Weird to think that the thought of biking across the country would be a calming one. The way I figure, the thought of graduation is petrifying. I mean real life? No thank you. I'll take my spring breaks, lunch time naps and random Holy days off. So B&B is all that stands between graduation & real life. So, thank goodness I've got 78 days that more than likely I'll be way too tired from biking to even think about what's waiting for me at the end. I'll take it. Haha.

The way I've worked out my "training" schedule I'll be running on weekdays, because I usually have to do so as it's nearing dark, and I'll bike on the weekends. For those of you who don't know I'm running the Pittsburgh Half Marathon just 10 days before B&B. Go big or go home, right? So, this weekend look for a post or two about crankin' out some miles. Pictures, of course, to be included.

Now, to start our exploration of New Mexico!

Clayton, NM

• Whoo! Mountain Time! Clayton will be the first city we enter in yet another state I've never been to, and our first city in MST. As I said earlier, while it's exciting to have biked to yet another time zone, I expect we will be more excited as we will pseudo gain an hour of sleep. Our early wake up calls will feel like sleeping in!
• The Hispanic population seems to be steadily increasing in each city we visit. The Hispanic population in Clayton is 51.1% of the total population.
• Clayton is the 1st town on the Santa Fe Trail in the Land of Enchantment (NM) & is located at the base of the Rabbit Ear Mountains.

Mosquero, NM

• The 2000 Census indicates that Mosquero has a population of 120. 77.5% of the population is Hispanic.
• Mosquero is considered a village rather than a city or a town.
• Though this may seem like a small village, a blog post I found while trying to find more info on Mosquero contained lots of pictures & indicated there might be some serious small village charm to be had.

AND...last, but not least, LAS VEGAS!!! (New Mexico)
I originally got SUPER excited when I saw that our route for the summer included a day in Las Vegas. My spirits were quickly crushed when my father pointed out it was Las Vegas, NM. That just seems cruel. Haha. But onward we go.

Las Vegas, NM

• There are two distinct sections of Las Vegas, "Old Town" or the West side, and "New Town", or the East side. The original city was on the west side of the Gallinas River, however, when the railroad was built it was built on the other (East) side of the river, and a "new" town formed there as a result.
• Las Vegas is home to the only remaining Carnegie Library in NM. Pittsburghers, this name should sound familiar, this library was started and built with a donation from Andrew Carnegie, the same Carnegie for whom the museums, CMU, & the libraries are named.
• The Hispanic trend continues. Las Vegas boasts a Hispanic population of 82.94% of their total 14,408.
• Several movies, including Paul, Due Date, No Country for Old Men & Wild Hogs were filed in and around Las Vegas. 

A few more miles & wrapping up Texas

Just did a short ride today, 7 miles, rode up to the park to meet my Mom, Dad, Aunt & Uncle who were walking the dogs and trying to work off some of lunch. Surprisingly my rear end wasn't sore at all, even though it certainly was at the end of my ride yesterday. I take that as a good sign. Great weather, but after all I ate in celebration of Easter 7 miles was really about all I was in the mood for. I mostly wanted to head home for a second nap.

3 donations today bring my fundraising total to $3145. The spaghetti dinner fundraiser, as I mentioned previously, is coming up on Wednesday which I hope will help raise a nice chunk of my remaining $1400. & don't forget I have t-shirts available for sale & they're only $15.

So, now it's time to explore a few more cities & wrap up Texas.

Memphis, TX

• The population of Memphis as of 2010 was only about 300 greater than the cities population 100 years prior in 1910.
• Memphis is home to the Annual Traditional Bowhunters 3D target competition.
• The median income for a household is $23,102, and the per capita income just $13,856.

Amarillo, TX

Cadillac Ranch

• The city of Amarillo is located in two counties, and the Amarillo metropolitan area population extends into 4 different counties.
• Amarillo is the self proclaimed helium capital of the world, and has one of the country's most productive helium fields. (Anyone know what on earth a helium field is?)
• Amarillo is home to a place known as the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Their challenge has been featured on many Food Network and Travel Network shows. Known as the Texas King, The steak is free to anyone who, in one hour or less, can eat the entire meal, consisting of the steak itself, plus bread roll with butter, baked potato, ranch beans, shrimp cocktail, and salad; otherwise, the meal costs $72.00.
• Amarillo is also home to another attraction known as Cadillac Ranch. Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation consisting of old partially buried Cadillac cars. They are covered in graffiti and decorating them is encouraged. I know last years SUS group made a visit to leave their mark on the cars & I can't wait to do the same.

Dalhart, TX

Empty Saddle Monument

• Dalhart is known as the gateway to the Rockies.
• Dalhart is also closer to 6 other state capitals than Austin, the state capital of TX. It's closer to the capitals of NM, OK, CO, WY, KS, NE.
• Dalhart is known as the XIT city. The XIT ranch was traded in exchange for the construction of the Texas State Capital

7 miles today + 200 miles completed = 207 miles / 500, 293 left to ride.

Are we there yet!?

Headed out bright and early this morning for a longish ride on the Loveland Bike Trail with my brother. Thankfully I had packed up some clothes I don't wear much to bring home over break so moving out after graduation will be a bit easier. It was way colder than anticipated, barely above freezing, but even in all my layers it was still a cold morning. The trail is heavily shaded so it was still sort of dark when we got riding. Unfortunately Will was riding an old mountain bike, which did not make for optimal riding conditions, so it was slow going.

I was much more efficient than him with each pedal stroke which made for a slightly frustrating ride for both of us. We rode what we thought was 15 miles or so & took a snack break, then another 5 to make 20 because we were short on time. We headed back towards the car, which we thought was 20 miles away. However, as we got closer we realized that we missed a few mile markers at the beginning of our journey. We had actually ridden 23 miles before turning around. So the last few miles were a bit defeating, as we kept realizing we weren't quite there yet.

Since we were riding a bit slower I rode with camera in hand and stopped for a few photo opportunities. I have way more pictures from riding then I could ever include on here, so I suppose it's time for a FB album with all of them. :) Since I'm sure everyone is interested in seeing them all. Haha.

 

46 miles today + 154 miles completed = 200 miles / 500, 300 left to ride.

 One final brother-sister picture to finish out the ride. I would say its a fair guess that Will will definitely regret his decision to join me for a ride when he wakes up in the morning. Haha.

"You're the reason we can't have nice things."

You know that friend, or maybe you are that friend, the one that has never left a restaurant without part of the meal on their shirt, or can't go more than a few minutes without spilling something, dropping crumbs down their shirt or knocking over their drink? While in real life I am definitely not that friend. I'm absolutely that friend of the bike world. I have not been able to go even near my bike without getting grease all over myself.

Chain grease doesn't come off all that easily. I walked around for 3 days after having scrubbed my calf raw in an attempt to get the grease off, still with grease on my leg. Luckily I remembered what I used back in my rowing days to get the track grease off the back of my legs. The most wonderful, and hard to come by, invention ever. Lava Soap. So far I've only found it in old general stores and down south. I'm on my last bar now, but hopefully during the summer it'll be readily available. The brand was bought by the manufacturers of WD-40 in 1999 & their goal has been to make the brand more widely available in stores.

I planned to explore a few more bike friendly areas of NKY/Cincinnati today, but time got the best of me, so I headed back over to Lunken and did the same 5 mile loop as yesterday. I had to be home for dinner, so I only got 15 miles in, but every 15 miles gets me a bit closer to my 500 mile goal. Again there was a nasty headwind, but I kept my cadence up and managed to crush the 15 miles in under an hour. :)

Long ride in the morning with my brother. I'm hoping for 65 miles if we can both make it. My butt was definitely a bit sore today. I've really never ridden two days in a row. Guess I better start getting used to that.

I officially hit the $3,000 mark today. Only $1,500 left to raise and I'm really excited to be closing in on the total. Don't forget to buy a t-shirt if you haven't already. They're only $15! Also, if you live in NKY there will be a spaghetti dinner at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on Wednesday April 11th to benefit my trek this summer with Bike & Build, so stop by that if you're in the area!

15 miles today + 139 miles completed = 154 miles / 500, 346 left to ride.

A day full of B&B goodness

Today was a day chock full of B&B things. Started out my day bright and early with some sweat equity hours at the Cincinnati Habitat Re-Store. For those of you who don't know what the Re-Store is...it is essentially a secondhand store that carries everything from appliances, furniture, windows, doors, carpeting, flooring. Think of it as a secondhand Lowe's of sorts + furniture. Everything is donated and all of the profits go to fund Habitat houses. It was neat to see how everything worked and had a chance to help clean up and sort some donations. I was pretty busy though & running short on time after I finished up my shift so there are no Re-Store pictures. : /

After lunch it was time for a ride. I headed over to what's known as Lunken Airfield Park (or something like that). Lunken Airport is a small local airport (in Cincinnati) where many of the planes are owned and piloted by individuals. I got to see a few planes taking off, and managed to not snag any pictures which included planes. It was SUPER windy. A constant cross/headwind kept me from doing the 30 miles I originally planned. Instead I banked 20 & called it a day. Better than nothing & I used it as an opportunity to play around with shifting gears and keeping a higher cadence than I am used to. Not sure if I like it or not, but we'll give it another shot.

RV parked across from the trailhead.

Came home to a surprise homemade chocolate cream pie & had a delicious dinner.

My brother makes it home from school tomorrow night & our plan is to hit the Loveland Bike Trail bright & early on Saturday, for what I hope might be a 50+ mile ride! :)

While the original plan was to spend two mornings volunteering at the Habitat Re-Store, unfortunately they are closed tomorrow for Good Friday. So, my sweat equity hours have been cut short, but I hope when I get back to Pittsburgh I'll be able to get on a build site or two.
  
20 miles today + 119 miles completed = 139 miles / 500, 361 left to ride.

T-shirts, Texas & almost to Three Thousand

Okay, so first and foremost I want to thank EVERYONE that has donated to Bike and Build and the affordable housing cause. Whether you've donated because you truly believe in the affordable housing cause, because you love me, or both, (& let's hope it's the last one) I really appreciate it. We have 17 build days this summer & our route will get to make a huge impact. In just a few short days I went from feeling hopeless and far behind regarding my fundraising efforts to energized and ready to take on the fundraising world. I'm only $75 away from reaching the $3,000 mark. Which would leave me with just $1,500 left to raise and almost a month to do it in. I've received several donations in the past few days from fellow college students which really warms my heart. I know what it's like to be in college & be short on cash despite having a job. & to see friends of mine who are willing to part with some of that $, no matter how many dollars it may be, really means a lot to me.

So, I am in KY for a hella long Easter Break. No classes for 8 days. Brought my bike & accessories & can't wait to get some miles in because the weather should be G-R-E-A-T! So fingers crossed everyone. My goal is 100 miles. I got this.

Alright, now on to explore some more cities. Got our research assignment from B&B today. Each rider has to prepare a presentation on an affordable housing subject that we are assigned and also research a few of the cities we'll pass through. I've got a leg up on everyone else as I've been doing some slight city research already, but I'll go back & do some more thorough research.

Wichita Falls, TX

• Wichita Falls is home to the "World's Littlest Skyscraper".
• Wichita Falls is home to the Hotter'N Hell annual bike ride. This century ride (100 miles), now the largest sanctioned century ride in the country, was started in 1982 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city. Making the ride a 100 miles, in 100 degree weather to celebrate the 100th anniversary. Sadly, we'll miss the ride, though I'm also hopeful we'll miss the 100 degree weather too.
• In case anyone was confused about where Wichita Falls is located their website describes it perfectly..."The City of Wichita Falls is comfortably nestled in the lower North East corner of the Panhandle/Plains area of North Texas." Hahaha

Lawton, OK

• Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (pictured left) is located just northwest of the city...and who said the great plains were flat!?
• Lawton, OK is located in an area of the country known as Tornado Alley.
• The town was founded in August of 1901 when the last of the Indian lands in the Oklahoma Territory, the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation, was opened by the federal government for settlement.

Altus, OK

• Home to Altus Air Force Base, a USAF training base.
• Also located in Tornado Alley.
• The "original" town of Altus was founded in 1886 and was named Frazer, however, it was wiped out by a flood in 1891. At this point the town was relocated, and named Altus, which is Latin for "high place" (Though, there seems to be no disputing this I am still unsure as to how one just relocates a town, isn't it then a different town?)
• Altus tags itself with the phrase a "City with a future to share".

 After our short stint in Oklahoma ( a state to which this will be my first time visiting ) we will head back to Texas for a few more days of riding before we hit New Mexico. So heads up on those posts to come as well as some riding posts, as I'm about to start putting in some serious miles. :)

Last, but not least, t- shirts have arrived. They look great! I've got extras, so don't panic if you didn't pre-order, you can still get one. They are available in S, M, & L & are only $15 & a great way to support my B&B trip & let everybody know it!!!

Dallas, Decatur & 46 days 'til SUS '12

Got an e-mail today from one of our team leaders with lots of orientation details for when we arrive in Jacksonville, which also included the tidbit that there are only 46 days until we all meet up in Jacksonville. It's hard to believe it's so close. The countdown to B&B means a little bit more to me than just B&B. It's also first and formost a fundraising deadline as well, as we must have raised $4,500 to be able to complete the trip, but also just 10 days or so before I will have run another half marathon and graduated college. So some pretty big shit coming up in the coming weeks.

A picture with me & all my racing buddies!

This weekend I ran yet another half marathon. Ran every step. Won't say I killed it, it may have just nearly killed me, but it's just a reminder of how much better I can do if I really put my mind towards the proper training. All the miles for B&B have been demanding a decent chunk of my time, so my exercise time has been split between running & biking. But no excuses & I can't wait to kill it in May.

Just about $1900 left to raise. & there may be some videos posted soon as my most recent mini fundraiser has been that for a $10 donation I will make a whole video of nothing but compliments about the person donating! I was asked by one friend if instead of a video of compliments I would do a minute of insults. I told him that for $10 his insulting wish is my command.

Now, I've been hardcore slacking on this city exploration. So, time to crank out Dallas & Decatur. I met a new friend this weekend racing from Dallas who said if I give her enough notice she may be able to make it out to support us, which would be AWESOME.

Dallas, TX

Known as the High 5 interchange

• According to some pretty well founded rumors this is where we'll be putting a roof on a house...someone is clearly giving us the shaft here...roofing in Texas in the middle of the summer...Yeah.
• 9th largest city in the U.S.
• Host of the Texas state fair which has been held annually since 1886 & brings an estimated $350 million to the city's economy each year.
• Approximately 30% of the population is Hispanic (maybe I'll get to bust out some of my Spanish skillz!)
• & surprisingly enough, the median female income is slightly higher than the median male income.
• Notable people from/residing in the city include: Lance Armstrong, George W. Bush, Vanilla Ice (the rapper) & the Wilson brothers ( Luke & Owen)



Dallas skyline

• In other news, it has been reported that our Dallas hosts is one of the best on the trip & we've been staying there year after year. So, expectations are high as blog posts and personal accounts say nothing but great things about this lady, who is also the Habitat director.

Decatur, TX

Wise County Courthouse

•  As I write this post sources tell me it is 86 degrees. I cannot begin to fathom what June will bring.
• In 1994 Main St. Decatur was designated an official Texas Main Street City.
• The Wise County Courthouse, located in Decatur, is constructed primarily of pink granite from quarries in Burnet,TX.
• Though Decatur is only about 45 miles from Dallas our route will take us 88 miles from Dallas to Decatur. So, for all those wondering if it is really 4,000 miles from coast to coast...let's just say we're definitely taking the scenic route.

So, to sum it up. 46 days 'til orientation in Jacksonville begins, $1900 still to raise, 380 or so training miles still to ride, & almost $57,000 raised so far by all of the SUS teammates put together. :)