Mountains Beyond Mountains

(I've decided it's ok to rip off the title from this post from that of one of my favorite books, but for the record, it was Tracy Kidder's idea.)

So New Mexico treated me pretty well all in all, although the ride from Socorro to Pietown almost broke my spirit (we gained 4000 ft of elevation, ending near 8000 ft.) I definitely felt the altitude, and the beauty of the mountains and the scenery was almost worth it, but I can't lie, yesterday was the hardest day yet. I am incredibly happy to have made it all the way through (it was about 93 miles altogether). On the way a bunch of us detoured to the Very Large Array (of radio telescopes), which were truly incredible. There are 27 of them, they are huge (230 tons each), and they can be rolled around to configure into any number of formations for various purposes. It is located in the middle of nowhere, in a flat desert with no buildings within twenty miles of it, and it is surrounded by mountains, so that interference from cell phone towers etc is minimal. We got to watch a video, walk up to one of the telescopes, learn about quasars (Kaylea, I'll be asking you more about that later) etc. If you've seen the movie Contact, parts were filmed there. The rest of the day was really hard, more climbing, but the views were incredible. In the past few days we have been seeing a lot of old volcanic relics, which the geo nerd in me loved.

Pietown, when after much sweat blood and tears we reached it, was awesome. It has a population of 60, but they put us up in style with a lovely dinner and PIE! It was a glorious way to end a hard day. Today we headed into Arizona, and our final time change of the trip. I can't believe how far we have come, and how close we are to the Grand Canyon! Internet is hard to come by, but I will try to keep posting, and until then, love to all, and thanks for all the support!

Land of Enchantment

I'm on Mountain time! Ever so slowly, we creep west towards California, and now I am in New Mexico, the land of enchantment, with only three states left to go. Yesterday we took a detour to Palo Duro on our way outside Amarillo, the second largest canyon in the US, which was gorgeous (proof above). I loved it, and it whetted my appetite for the Grand Canyon, coming up soon. I rode sweep today into Portales, and had relatively few incidents. We did experience one epic fight with a tire that took the wiles of five of us to wrestly back on to Erin's wheel. Tomorrow we head to Roswell, where, in addition to scoping out the alien invasion, I plan to hit up the world's largest mozzarella cheese factory.





Thanks to much leg work on behalf of a couple girls in my crew, Bike and Build has been getting a lot of publicity. Here are some of the sites and stories :





http://www.fox23.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=CFDE90B7-369D-4C1E-B914-05CB8BD10B81&gsa=true





http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.aspS=8711508





http://myhighplains.com/content/fulltext/?cid=14221





http://www.amarillo.com/stories/072208/new_news4.shtml





http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080716_11_A1_hWHEEL136056

I'm in Texas! I can't believe I made it all the way here, it feels like a different world. (One man here, when we told him we were from Boston, said "Oh, is that in America? This here is Texas".) The landscape is unlike the ones I am familiar with, very empty and dry. The southwest is undiscovered territory for me, and I find it beautiful. We have been leaving early in the morning, before the sunrise. I love seeing the sun rise over the cattle farms and oil rigs.

So I finally arrived in Amarillo today after a long, hot, windy century full of flats and other small surprises. It took the group I was with about eleven hours to get it all done, which is a long time to be in the saddle, but all's well that ends well. Consequently, I am very glad to be building and not biking tomorrow. Texas has been pretty great so far, last night we stayed in Wheeler, a small town with a cool youth group who hung out with us and took some of our crew out shooting last night. Now we are off to the Big Texan restaurant, where Jorge will attempt to eat a 72 ounce steak (if he succeeds, it's free.) Wish us luck!

Oklahoma, OK

We are in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which I have recently decided is one of the best states in the union. We have had a wonderful past couple of days, between the fun couple miles in Kansas, a swim stop in an Oklahoma river, the world's largest McDonald's, a field of glorious sunflowers, and a fun build day here in Tulsa. I love the flat country here, it is pretty hot, but less humid (we haven't had rain since Missouri!) All in all, I am enjoying the West greatly!

The Show Me State

Currently, I am in Joplin, Missouri, after a perfectly lovely 8o mile ride. We rode on old route 66 for quite some time, which was fun. The amazing thing is how short 80 miles feels; our last two biking days were back to back centuries (over 100 miles), and they both involved some rain. Luckily the Ozarks, such as we experienced them, are mostly rolling hills, which made it a lot easier. We had a great time in St. Louis, we ascended the arch, went to the zoo, and had some ethnic food.
Yesterday, after our two centuries, we had a much appreciated break from the saddle when we helped with a build day in Springfield, MO. It was a blitz build, piloted by a construction crew, so we helped with the less skill-requiring stuff like lifting trusses, nailing them in place, anf helping with the styrofoam siding. It was a really hot day, but we cooled off afterwards with some glorious Andy's frozen custard. We also got to experience the joys of the Bass Pro Shop, full of hunting gear, stuffed animals (the real kind) and camping gear.
I will try to post pictures soon, our access to the internet is unpredictable, but I will try, we have some good shots...

St.Louis

I'm back on the bike after a short hiatus due to stitches. It felt great to bike again yesterday, and it was awesome to cross the Mississippi into St.Louis (and Missouri, our ninth state!), where we currently have a day off. I have only two minutes left on my library time, but wanted to say that things are healing and going well, we ascended the arch, had some great food, and are planning an assault on the zoo. I'm officially in the West now!

Hoosier Hospitality

I have been remiss in posting due to lack of easy internet, but I will try to fill in the holes now. I am currently in Bloomington Indiana, after a couple of the most beautiful sunny days we have seen in quite some time. We are all happy that our endless rain seems to have stopped, although judging from the floods visible along today's route, that is not neccessarily a guarantee in these parts.

So since I last posted we have come through Ohio, featuring some thunderstorms and general monsoonesque weather going into Columbus. It seems like a really great city, and it was too bad we weren't there longer. We also had a crazy day there where we spent the morning building with the Columbus Habitat chapter (I can install a mean venetian blind), and then biked 60 miles to our hosts in Yellow Springs. The ride into Yellow Springs was beautiful, and gave me a newfound appreciation for the aesthetics of the midwest. I am sure I will tire of corn and farmhouses, but for now I am enjoying their charms. (Also Katie and I rescued an adorable kitten, so that may have given me rose-colored glasses for a while.)

Yesterday we had beautiful weather for biking, a godsend on a 96 mile day. I was having a great day up until mile 92, just outside our final destination of Rushville. I was in a paceline with my usual crew, and the person in front of me hit a hole, skidded and fell, and I didn't have time to steer around her. I hit her bike, flew (with my bike) over her and landed, mostly on my hands, chin, and left knee. I got off the road quickly and no cars came right away so we were lucky. Long story short, I can definitely say that the good people of Rushville Indiana are some of the nicest around. I have six stitches in my chin (and a rocking huge bandage that makes everyone I pass look at me funny) and five in my knee, with only minor wounds elsewhere. People helped and took me to the ER, one woman from our host took me to her house to shower, helped me get all rebandaged when I couldn't keep my dressings dry, and sent me off with plenty of new first aid supplies. Everyone is so amazingly generous to us, everywhere we go!

I am really bummed that I couldn't ride today, but I was lucky all in all. I am fine, and only my face hurts. I have to go easy on the knee ones, because the stitches can tear, so I will see how that all goes. Cycling is not the lightest on the knees. For now I am taking it easy, luckily we have a build day here tomorrow, so I am sure I can find a chore that requires little bending. Wish me luck, and fast healing!