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Lawrenceville, VA
This morning I woke up at 4am and in case you’re wondering, no 4 hours of sleep is not enough. Especially when you have an 87 mile day ahead of you. But this is why I’m here & I’m happy for this to be my “job” day in and day out. Plus—I get to ride my bike everyday! So I got ready, was first to bring my bag outside so I offered to help NJ hitch the trailer (but bc she’s a boss lady she was good) so I headed inside to get started on cooler crew. We divided everything up again so we would have designated food for lunch and separate food to head straight to the host. It was then time for breakfast (no coffee ???) and we all sat in a circle and ate our breakfast together as Noah enlightened us all about how songs with spelling and with numbers are superior ? Where do these guys come up with this stuff?! I also threw all the stuff I got out for the clinic last night back into the V&T and started getting ready for route meeting.
Nora Jane lead the route meeting
and Amanda did town facts. They were really good and she presented on her organization that she worked with in Louisiana—it helped center us & remind us why we are doing what we do and the real need for Affordable Housing—despite our little sleep and long day ahead.
My ride crew Benson, Magpie, & Sarah—no Ryan since he was deemed sweep with Mikey, rolled out (eventually) after Chris was finally ready to roll. We had some rolling hills and stopped to take photos on hay bails in an effort to look “majestic” for the Sweep challenge. We also stopped for the state line that was severely lacking in a Stateline sign and only listed the change in county ? At least Carolina had one going the opposite direction! GUYS WE’RE IN VIRGINIA NOW!! How did this happen already?! We then stopped for free coffee at this amazing donut shop in Clarksville and of course had to spring for made to order donut! I got the salted caramel & it was everyyything ?? I filled up on a bit more coffee as we chatted with a woman who works at the local newspaper and took a picture for her!
We rolled on and though we agreed to take a short lunch, we ended up hanging for a bit. I was able to text Mom as I ate left over quinoa salad, black bean & corn salad, and a cheese stick. I was a bit irritable on the ride on and off today and was pretty ready to roll out of lunch as people played games. I guess 4 hours of sleep on a long, hot day is not a great idea ?
The afternoon rolled on with the hills and my mood swung back and was elevated when we saw a bunch of trees with toilets on them—toiletries!!! ??? America is weird y’all! I later found out that the guy who did it did it to annoy his neighbors after they complained about him having one. Not sure of the whole story but still very silly! We got to second lunch and grabbed some goldfish, a cookie, & a sprite to share—because we’re being so healthy ? Carly & Noah we’re rockin the lunch van despite how hot it was! Also enjoyable to see their happy souls! ?
We then got on the Tobacco Heritage Trail where
we thought we would have a nice, casual 17 trail miles to the host. Nope! Wrong! Never assume anything will ever be easy on Bike & Build and you’ll never be disappointed! The paved trail turned to gravel and misery and it was a really rough ride to finish with 10ish of those last miles on a sandy, overgrown bike path. It was shaded and away from cars so that was nice, but at the end of a long hot day, it was not any fun! I rode with my team, by myself, with sweep, and with the group in front of us—totaling over 10 riders at one point (it was a trail with no one else on it and no cars, otherwise this never would have happened!). It was just one of those things you have to get through. Just like life has it’s tough patches, sometimes all you can do it push through, sometimes with others and sometimes alone, just to make it to the other side.
At the end of the trail we had NJ & Jess cheering us on and it was a lovey homecoming! We had a disast of a missed turn into the
host and stripped our clothes immediately and threw our bike gear aside not wanting to go near it for a while. Once settled and rejuvenated by a Coke Noah had set aside for me (saint!) we shuttled over to take showers at a gym. I happened to leave my towel in the van so it was paper towel dry off for me ? Luckily Jana and Sarah didn’t mind and only found it assuming ? We all then laid on the floor of the gym as we waited for the rest of the crew to finish showering and it was nice that we were all on the same vibe of just wanting to lay down.
We left through the pouring rain and were welcomed back to the host with a rainbow over our trailer! We had an amazing dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce with salad, grapes, & chocolate chip cookies ? After dinner, most people laid down and napped while I FaceTimed Amanda for her birthday for a bit under the beautiful changing sunset sky! Carly then lead NJ, Aiden, & I in some yoga stretches for a few minutes and oh man did it feel amazing!!
Through I was tempted to nap, I was informed that we were going to have a quick group meeting about our day for tomorrow. We were facing another 90 mile day in the hot sun or we could stop at an alum’s parents’ house at mile 60 for an Above Ground Pony Pool Party. So we took a blind vote and of course it went in my choice vote for the pool party ??
Much more excited for the following day, I ate a cup of left over spaghetti as I folded my clothes fresh off the laundry loop and looked forward to a great ahead!
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