Flat Ohio!

I am sitting here after dinner in Hillsboro, Ohio and am a happy happy camper. Brownie and spaghetti in my belly and I got to take a nap post-ride! The past two days, destinations McArthur and Hillsboro have been amazingly flat compared to what went down in the Northeast, and apparently our ride tomorrow is suppose to be the flattest yet! Tomorrow's ride to Cincinnati is also short, somewhere between 50 and 60 miles. The past two days have been steady 70-73 mile rides. We've been doing a lot better as a group getting ourselves together in the morning and arriving at our host sites at a decent time. This could be due to the flat terrain, though. Of course, I have to tell you that it rained for the FIRST 40 MILES OF TODAY'S RIDE. But I survived that.

Before I forget, I would like you all to check out the journal at bikeandbuild.org (there is a journal tab on the left side) for a funny report of today's ride written by one of my closer friends on the trip, Erin. CLICK HERE


Tomorrow is an exciting day for me, because I get to see some family! I also get to stay in a real house (one of my friends on the trip, Carrie Porter) because our living situations for tomorrow night are all houses. I'm pretty excited about sleeping in a house and going out to dinner with family.

I would now like to take time to share with you some funny questions I have been asked due to the fact that I am from Texas:

1. "Does your dad have a gun"? My response: "Uhh, I'm from Austin?" This was asked by my friend Erin, who lived in El Paso for a while (so I suppose she was half joking) and likes Pat Green and is probably more southern/Texan than I am. We've discussed this on many a 70mile bike ride.

2. "Texas?! Where's your passport?" Not kidding. An old man in a gas station asked where I was from and actually asked me this. I tried to laugh but was really just confused.

3. "And you speak English? Not Spanish?" A second question by the old man. He then proceeded to tell me that he was stationed in San Antonio during World War II and that all he remembers about Texas is the Alamo.

4. "Do you carry around a Texas flag? Don't all Texans carry around a Texas flag?" This was asked by a boy in my group who goes to the University of Florida. In response, I asked him why isn't he old, since all people from Florida are old. Probably not the wittiest response, but after 7 hours of riding you make due with what you can come up with.

Today was a mail drop day, and I'd like to thank my family (good care package, Jill), Perry, and Kerry/Molly/Liz for the mail! I love mail, it helps get me through the longs days--- not kidding!

5 more days of riding, and then a day off! How exciting!

I miss everyone back home,
love,
Rachel

Marietta, Ohio already?!

I was just looking at the comments on all the other posts, something I hadn't gotten to do yet. I just wanted to thank everyone for the nice notes! I miss you guys!

We arrived yesterday in Marietta after a long 90 mile day. It was an interesting and overall good day, although three people took spills down a very steep hill (it was very scary, and I am so thankful one of them wasn't me) and a group of about 15 took a 10 mile long detour after missing the first turn out of Cameron, West Virginia. So some people have already reached the 100 mile mark in one day!

Yesterday morning included one climb, but after that it was pretty much smooth sailing. Around mile 20 we reached Ohio which I found extremely fulfilling. A few miles into Ohio, a friend I was riding with, Carrie Porter got a flat, and I ended up changing it for her, which I also found fulfilling, as I haven't had to change one yet and haven't in the past. After we got back on the road, it was pretty much 60 miles down the same road, and was relatively flat. You have no idea how exciting this was for me. We had lunch around mile 50 at a small diner in Sardis, OH. I had a raspberry waffle cone first... you also have no idea how exciting this was for me. After lunch I set off with the same girl and the last 40 miles pretty much flew by. Marietta is an interesting town, I took a walk this morning and many buildings were built in the 1800s. There are also many small shops and whatnots around.

To report on the boy who fell a few days ago and got a concussion, he is doing well, but still has a few days left in the van. He slept pretty much all day every day the first 3 days after his crash, but is definately perking up. His grandparents called him and told him that they heard about his fall but knew that he could get back on the bike and ride. I thought that was really sweet and encouraging of them.

The three people who fell yesterday are all okay, the girl is pretty sore and was shaken up at first but is okay now. One of the boys actually fell over the side of the mountain about 20 feet, but basically has no scratches on his body somehow. The other boy wasn't so lucky, his bike was damaged and he ended up riding single speed the next 60 miles of the trip. For anyone who knows about bikes... wow. He's also pretty scratched up but also optimistic.

I've been talking on the phone with my parents most nights, it's very nice. I also just received a really nice email from my mom that made me really happy. My parents and Perry are planning to visit Kansas- that's only 13 days! I can't wait. Plus, I think I have family to see in Ohio. Things are going great.

Until next time,
Rachel

One note. There was one proud moment where I had three servings of ice cream after an especially difficult day where we were only suppose to go 70 miles and ended up going 90 due to faulty directions. It was awesome.

Still in PA...

Hello all!
Sorry it's been forever, when you're traveling through teeny towns Internet is hard to come by. I am doing fine. I will start with today. We biked 68 miles from Knobsville (don't bother looking it up, not kidding) to Berlin, PA. That included two climbs, about 3 1/2 miles each, the second climb being 2800 feet. I've climbed mountains! On my bike! The biggest news from today was that one of our riders, Cooper, fell and hit his head, so he had to be taken to the hospital by an ambulance. The shoulders of Pennsylvania have not been very impressive. He then had to be airlifted from the first hostpital to another because they didn't have the best equipment to check out his head. He had a concussion, but is back with us. He'll be in the van for at least the next week. Other than that, today was an overall nice day. I took the climbs slow and steady, and the views were very nice.
Yesterday was a tough day to me, as I had a screaming pain in my lower back for the 13 miles before lunch (so from mile 27 to mile 40), and then for the next 18 miles afterward until I finally stopped and one of my trip leaders massaged me. By that time I was in major pain, but it helped. Then we had a terrific (aka terrifying and difficult) climb. 3 miles into it I stopped and another trip leader gave me another massage and I took off my camelbak and left it in the van. There was still a 1/2 mile left of the climb, but my back was feeling mostly better. We stopped at the top at an overlook and took lots of pictures. The total mileage ended at about 87.
The day before was a really nice day, it was rolling hills for the most part, beautiful scenery, nice weather, and good company. The road was the least busy so far.

I can't remember much else right now, except one adventure where we ended up going 88 miles when it should have only been 70. That was a rough day.

Until next time
Rachel
ps. I am up to about 10 cookies a day. A good host is one that provides ice cream. the end.

A short post

The library in Middletown is about to close but I wanted to say a quick hello. When we got here we ate some delicious ice cream. A lot of chocolate was involved in my personal choice. The hills from Plainfield to Middletown were high and many, but I got over them. No issues today, and it was nice and warm! Thank goodness.
For those of you who know my nickname, today a girl on my trip called me Creeper. Coincidence, or not?
until next time!
Rachel

Last day in Providence

Hello everyone! I am writing to you from a library on Brown's campus. Providence is nice, but today is cold, and windy! Apparently conditions are suppose to clear up tomorrow, which is excellent news, considering we leave tomorrow. Wake up is at 6:00am, so you should probably wake up as well and think about me :) Yesterday we took a short, 20 mile ride on Providence Bike Path. Think the Hike and Bike Trail but paved and by an ocean instead of Town Lake. And cold. And windy. In June. I am quickly appreciating Austin's hot summers. Today was a Build Day on a Providence site. We worked on a house that the Providence to Seattle '05 group funded, which is kind of cool. Then we had a safety deal from the EMS guys. So in case I break my arm, I'll know what to do. Except not really.
That's all for now
love, Rachel

Rachel's Ride begins!!

Cycling from Providence to San Franciso with Bike & Build (www.bikeandbuild.org).