Biking for pie

August 8, 2013

Socorro, NM to Pie Town, NM

We've been getting up at 4:30am lately, which is tiring but it means we get to see some incredible sunrises. Today was no exception. I rode with Jeff and Casey and Jeff got a flat tire not even 2 miles into the ride. The best part was that we Casey and I got to watch the sunrise over the mountains as he changed his tire. 

The ride started out with a 15 mile gradual climb spiraling around a few mountains. The gradual climbs aren't nearly as bad as the steep climbs we had in Pennsylvania though. Plus, our host for the night was awesome and told us she would be waiting at the top with snacks and drinks! It was amazing to see her at the top and take a quick and delicious break. Right after our quick break we encountered some massive headwinds. Headwinds are incredibly frustrating because there's nothing you can do about them except keep biking even though you are putting in so much effort and not getting nearly as much out of it. To make it even better, we biked in the headwind straight through a large construction site! They were only allowing one lane of traffic to come through, and since we were taking so long to get to the other side, they let the oncoming traffic drive through before we had exited! It was one of the more terrifying experiences of the whole trip having a line of traffic driving at us in our lane--not to mention they made the headwind that much harder. Just as we were about to get out of the construction, two police cars with sirens came zooming by us! It was quite a relief to be down with that part of the ride and we quickly made it to the town where we were told a great cafe would be. At the cafe I got blueberry sourdough waffles and they were delicious. The perfect reward for a tough start to the ride. We barely stopped for first lunch since we had just eaten and instead just kept biking straight to second lunch. Most of the ride was either flat or a false flat. False flats can mean two different things--either the road seems flat but is actually a slight incline, or the road conditions make it feel like your tires are flat when they aren't. I've have both happen to me on this trip, but today was just the incline of the road type of false flat. To pass the time, we played some great games. It started as "I'm going to the grocery store and I'm getting _(thing that starts with A)_." The next person would say the same thing and ad something that starts with B, then add a C word, until you get all the way to Z and have to recite everything that is being bought from the grocery store. The next round was "I'm going on Bike & Build and I'm bringing _______." The list was pretty fun to make. 

I'm going on bike and build and I'm bringing 

Axe body spray

A bike

Chain lube

Degreaser

Eyeglasses

A flag

Gatorade

A hammer

An iPhone

Jundies

A kazoo

Long underwear

A map

A nalgeen

An odometer

Pedals

Quick release tires

A razor

Shotbloks

Tire levers

Underwear

Vicks vapor rub

Water

Xtra tubes

Yellow handle bar tape

Zip ties 

Our last one was "I'm going on a road trip and I'm stopping in _______." That one was hard since we had to name cities in the continental US, but the harde the category, the longer it took us and the quicker it felt like we made it to our destination. One interesting thing we passed on our way to Pie Town that Jeff was particularly excited about was something called the Very Large Array, or VLA. It's a collection of satellites in the middle of a field that combine to make up one of the largest satellites in the US. 

The road we were riding on was long and Jeff ended up getting 3 flats over the course of the day!  We took a few pictures but they all started to look the same eventually so I had to get artsy to mix it up.  

Pie Town was around an elevation of 8000ft, so we were climbing for most of the afternoon and it wasn't always gradual climbing.  However, it was still absolutely gorgeous to be back in the land of trees.  It felt like we were riding through Colorado or another state that I equate with forests.  Almost to Pie Town, we hit the Continental Divide!!  That was a super exciting milestone to hit because it was both the highest we've been so far and a marker that we've really made it to the West. 

In Pie Town, we stayed at a hostle called the Toaster House.  It is an interesting little place that houses through hikers of the Continental Divide trail as well as cross-country goers like ourselves.  It's free to stay there and the house is managed by a board in the town.  The guest book was really interesting to look at and read people's stories that had stayed there. 

Pie Town had a population of about 100 people, so the whole town was out when we went to dinner at their Community Center.  We heard some really cool stories from locals and, as the name would suggest, ate some delicious pie!  I had a blackberry pie with banana pudding on top and it was delicious.  I also got this awesome picture of a cowboy!

The night ended with a bonfire and guitar playing/singing under an amazing sky full of stars.  A local around our age joined us and had an amazing voice and sense of humor.  It was the perfect way to end a really fun day.

The Land of Enchantment

August 7, 2013

Carrizozo, NM to Socorro, NM

This morning started off with an amazing detour at the Valley of Fire just outside of Carrizozo.  The Valley of Fire is a huge valley filled with hardened lave from a volcanic eruption that happened many years ago.  It was an amazing site, especially because we got there just as the sun was rising above the mountains in the east.

The ride, like yesterday, was absolutely beautiful.  About 5 miles before lunch, we started a descent that lasted almost 35 miles!  It was breathtaking most of the time.

The whole thing wasn't all downhill, but the uphills weren't bad at all and the general trend was down--it was amazing!  I rode with Jeff, Matt, and Daniel and we made great time while also stopping to take pictures and explore a little.  The shoulder was good so we could ride two abreast and chat during our ride.  While  on a flat, we passed the site of the first atomic bomb explosion.

I can see why they chose New Mexico, there is nothing much going on out here. I can't repeat it enough how amazing the downhills were today.  The climb up was hard and tiring, but knowing that the downhill was going to be gorgeous made it all worth it.  The views after cresting the top of the hill was always amazing.

A bunch of people have started asking people to prom today, so being ahead of the pack we got a few requests to write chalk for people so they could ask people to prom that were ahead of them.  It was fun and made me even more excited for prom!  We chalked at the top of one hill and had some fun taking jumping pictures!

So far New Mexico has completely surprised me in how beautiful it is.  I was not expecting to fall in love with New Mexico but I have.  There is so much more to this state than just desert and cacti.  I'm sad we're blowing through it in four days!  Tonight 3 out of the 5 chore groups gave their presentations on the affordable housing organization they researched for the trip.  It was really cool to learn about the different organizations out there and how specific they are to the region  they work in.  After that I took a sleeping pill and passed out at 9:15pm and woke up just a little bit before our 4:30am wake up.  It was wonderful.

Back in the Mountains

August 6, 2013

Roswell, NM to Carrizozo, NM 

Today I rode with Sam. We are in the same chore group but haven't really ridden together all that much so it was really fun to spend the day with her. We stared out in flat land but could see the mountains in the distance. 

Before we knew it, we were in the mountains! It was unbelievable. Since it had been so long since we had climbed anything real, we were stoked and powering up the hills. All we could think about was the amazing views and what was over the next peak. 

We had some pretty incredible downhills that left us speeding down the hills, mouths wide open in awe. We kept repeating phrases like "No way" and "This is not real". Needless to say, we stopped a lot to take pictures.  We went through some pretty cool small towns today that just seemed to pop up out of nowhere along the route. The sweepstakes for the day was the best pose or portrait with your bike. We had some pretty creative poses if I do say so myself. 

Just before second lunch we stopped with some other riders at Smokey Bear restaurant in the town where the infamous Smokey Bear was rescued from a forest fire. We were all starving for some reason and I ended up eating way too much. After second lunch we continued climbing and reached a peak of over 7000ft in elevation! 

That's the highest we've been all trip. The downhill into Carrizozo was another incredible reward for climbing so much. 

Eventually the downhill began to flatten out and the headwinds made it difficult to coast, but we were still so in awe by how beautiful everything was that we didn't care. We stayed at Carrizozo High School but had dinner at a church nearby. Today was our first night with HOSE SHOWERS! They weren't as bad as I thought they were going to be but I definitely wasn't squeaky clean (not that I really have been on this trip anyway). That night a bunch of us slept outside and were able to see so many stars. However, the motion sensing alarm system in the school was activated at 10pm so any time someone went to the bathroom or walked around the inside of the school, a loud and annoying alarm went off for about 5 minutes. It was even louder outside than it was inside. Luckily someone from the police department came and eventually disabled the alarm so we wouldn't keep setting it off. 

On a different note, our trip is planning a prom for mid-August and I was asked today by my friend Jeff in chalk going up a hill after second lunch. No one had asked anyone yet so I wasn't expecting anything until I saw my name written in the shoulder of the road with "Prom?" above it. I'm excited for prom and the craziness that will ensue from this group. 

UFO Museum and Lakes

August 5, 2013

Day off in Roswell, NM

Today I woke up really late for two reasons.  One, my phone is doing a weird thing where when I am downstairs with no service it goes back an hour from the actual time.  Two, the basement had no windows so it was completely pitch black even though it was light outside.  These two factors combined, I had no idea what time it was or what other people were doing.  By the time I got up, most everybody had already left to go get breakfast, so I just made myself some oatmeal and waited for people to get back.  My first order of business for my day off was to mail home a bunch of things I had accumulated in the past few weeks.  I somehow managed to jam it all into one flat rate box, woo! After the post office, Casey, Jeff, Tessa, and I all walked over to the UFO Museum and Research Center--a must see in Roswell (but only once, according to the locals).  

There were lots of newspaper clippings and testimonies surrounding the mysterious event that happened 50 miles from Roswell in the late 1940s.  Long story short, something crashed into a ranchers field and the material he collected from it looked foreign to him and others he showed it to.  There may have been bodies removed from the site but that part is not as clear.  The theory told by believers is that the government completely covered up the true story and instead claimed that the material was that of a weather balloon.  Who knows what really happened in Roswell, but it was really cool to read about.  There was also lots of stuff about other alien encounters, including an abduction that happened in the White Mountains of New Hampshire! 

In the afternoon, most of the group headed to Bottomless Lakes State Park about 20 miles east of Roswell.  Our hosts hadn't given it the highest of reviews, but they said that most Bike & Build groups spend their day there so we went.  So far New Mexico has completely blown me away.  The drive there was gorgeous through the desert and getting into the park was even cooler.  The lakes are created from sink holes so they're really deep, but the water in them is almost crystal clear. The lake we went to was also surrounded by rocks which added to the asthetic.

We all spent a couple hours there, swimming around and hanging out in the sun.  Four people rented a peddle boat and came out to us after we swam across the lake.  It was really a great time and such a relaxing way to spend our second official day off.  That night we were all exhausted so we crashed in front of the movie Cool Runnings, a comedy about the Jamaican bobsled team in the 80s.  It still amazes me how well we all get along together in all types of situations.  I definitely could not have asked for a better group of people  to be biking across the country with.

Alien invasion--Bike & Build edition

August 4, 2013

Protales, NM to Roswell, NM

This morning I woke up with a flat!  I forgot to mention a while back that I got my first flat on our ride to Joplin... It was actually really exciting and I knew exactly how to change it, which was cool since i've never changed one before.  (i've watched a lot of people change them at this point).  Anyway, I had to change my tube this morning, but then didn't have any problems with it the rest of the day, thankfully.  Today was another big day in ME2SB world--we had TWO birthdays!  What are the chances?!  Amanda turned 22 while Kaitlin turned 23.  They both were decked out in birthday attire for their rides and looked awesome.  The day was spent on the same road for the entire trip with very little change in scenery until we reached the Roswell town lines.  Since no one was on the road, we had a dance party in the middle of the road.  

Like yesterday, we played tons of games today!  It really made the miles fly by.  We started with another round of The Valley of Green Doors, but with other rules.  I made up one that wasn't that difficult of a rule, but it was pretty hard to guess--the first letter of the word had to be in the first half of the alphabet.  It took people a long time to figure it out but that's why we were playing the game--to pass the miles.  We also played the celebrity game.  One person would bike ahead so they couldn't hear us and we would decide which celebrity they would be.  That person would then come back and ask questions such as "Am I a female?" to figure out who they were.  We passed a lot of time playing this game as well.  On the road, we passed a church that we stopped in to use their bathroom. The people there were really nice and asked if they could come outside and pray for us.  Usually I would be a little weirded out by this type of stuff, but lately we've been encountering very religious people who have a mission to spread the word of God and Jesus.  

I didn't realize we would encounter so much religion along this trip, but it has been a very interesting thing to think about.  Further along this desolate road, we came across an abandoned and trashed house.  There was chalk outside telling us to go in to find something cool Bike & Build related.  

It was super cool to have this connection with a past group!  Sometimes it's easy to forget that every summer a different group of young adults does this same exact route (for the most part).  After first lunch, Casey and I biked by ourselves and played a riveting game of categories for almost 2 hours.  Categories works where you choose a category, such as food, and then one person says a food and the next person has to say another that starts with the last letter of the one that was just said.  Apparently we know a lot of foods.  Even though it was a long day, we decided to stop at a really cool canyon along the route.  None of us knew that we had been climbing up a ridge so it was cool to look out at least 50 miles.

From there Casey and I made it to second lunch where we filled up our water and grabbed a snack.  We just happened to stop by another abandoned building, but this one was a little cleaner and looked a little more historic.

We could also finally see a mountain in the distance!!  We haven't seen mountains in a long time and we all got really excited, even though mountains means climbing--I think we're all ready for a change of pace. Once Casey and I got to the Roswell town limits, we were coming up to a stop sign when we saw a man get out of his pick up truck and seem to wait for us beside it. When we got close enough, he yelled out that he had water and ice for us. It was amazing and very much needed.  Casey and I thought that he had been there for a while or at least going to wait for other riders but he got back in his car and left after we headed on our way.  It was kind of strange but also amazing at the same time.  We finally made it to Roswell and were immediately bombarded with alien themed EVERYTHING!  It was cool and weird at the same time.  Fittingly, our theme for the birthday party that night was space.  Most people dressed up as aliens, but another rider and I decided to dress up like outer space!  It was really fun making my costume and then walking around Roswell with everyone.

We got lots of weird looks but when do we not get weird looks?! I love this group of people so much.

Mountain Time

August 3, 2013

Friona, TX to Portales, NM

Another state line crossing today and another time change!  Only two more states left and one more time zone--yikes this trip is flying by!  As always, the state line was really fun.  This time we had a bunch of people so got lots of pictures!

The first town we entered in New Mexico was amusingly called Texico, New Mexico.  Being the mature adults we are, we repeated this fun rhyming town name for the next couple miles.  Just a few miles down the road, we hit the major stop of the day, Joes Boot Shop.  We had heard about this store from previous Bike & Builders as well as the host from Friona.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I walked in I was immediately overwhelmed.  There seemed to be thousands of boots lined up on racks and next to them were tons of belts and hats.

We all headed to the back where we knew that there were sale shoes.  The girls had a bunch of fun trying on the different boots.  Ultimately I chose an awesome black and brown pair that I absolutely love. The rest of the day wasn't much to write home about, so my group played an amazingly fun game called The Valley of the Green Doors for a loooong time.  It's basically a word game where one person comes up with a rule and the rest of the group has to try and figure it out.  The first rule is always the same and the game goes like this.  The person who knows the rule says "In the Valley of the Green Doors you can have bobby pins but not hair." and you have to figure out why you can have one but not the other.  The person keeps saying examples until someone thinks they know the rule and they ask the person if they can bring a certain thing but not another.  The game doesn't end until everyone gets the rule.  It was a really fun game to pass a lot of time.  Once everyone got the first rule someone came up with another and the game started again.  Once we got to Portales we were told to head to a malt shop that was apparently amazing.  (But before we passed it we went by this really cool jet plane!)

I got a chocolate coconut malt and was not disappointed. We stayed the night at Eastern New Mexico University in BEDS!  That night we went to a local church for dinner and the Mayor Pro-Tem declared August 3, 2013 as Bike & Build Day.  It was super cool!  

It's still incredible how excited people get about us coming through  their cities even when we don't build there.  The pastor made a point that I hadn't thought of before about how we affect the towns we pass through--the kids and young adults in these towns see us doing something that is both awesome and extremely helpful to the country.  I hadn't thought about what it would have been like to be a kid seeing a group of young bikers come through my town with a mission such as ours.

Home Stays

August 2, 2013

Amarillo, TX to Friona, TX

We spent the first 30 miles or so of today on a road that parallels a major highway. We usually don't take highways because they are dangerous and instead take out of the way backroads. Taking the paralell road, we were able to take the same route as the major highway without actualy being on it, which was wonderful.  We decided that all major highways should have parallel minor roads.

Eventaully we did merge onto the highway, but at that point it was not nearly as congested and like many of the roads we'd been on before.  However, the headwinds were horrible today--gusting up to 36mph!  The winds were blowing directly in our face for the majority of the trip at around 25mph.  I was riding with four other girls and we realized that if we wanted to conserve our energy we would have to start pacelining.  We decided that each of us would pull the pack for 2 miles and then they would drop back and the next person would lead.  It worked out pefectly because by the time we got through everybody once we had gone 10 miles and were ready for a break.  We didn't pass much on the ride and had lunch in a teeny tiny town.  We met the mayor, Fred, who let us use his shade and bathroom.  The street he lived on was also his last name!  The rest of the day was the same struggle with the headwind, but pacelining at least made it bearable.  

The only thing more intense than the headwinds was the nauseating smell of the cattle feeds.  When we got to Friona, we were immediately shuttled to their local pool to take a dip to cool off. It was amazing and so perfect after such a draining day.

Tonight was very different than others--we all got paired up with host families.  I went with Casey and Tessa to Lucy Beth's house in Friona.  Other people went out to the country, and one group even saw a cow giving birth at a dairy farm!  It was really cool to be sleeping and hanging out in a house again.  Lucy was amazing and we had such a great time staying with her.  The craziest thing was that when we were telling her about our day, we found out that SHE KNEW FRED FROM OUR LUNCH STOP! She grew up in the town we stopped in.  It was such a small world.