First full day

Morning wake up came at 6:05am to the tune "Born in the USA" today. Not a terrible way to start off our first full day. After we got changed we ate breakfast while listening to some presentations on safety, which you can imagine is a pretty big deal for us. We talked about signaling and calling out certain hazards and actions, and then we went outside and got to practice them! We had stations set up to get us practicing all types of things, from calling and pointing out "glass" on the street (drawn in chalk) to pretending we need to stop suddenly for a car door opening. Around 9:00 (yes, this was all accomplished before most of you were even awake!) we met a guy who works with an adorable housing agency in Portland who also happens to be an avid cyclist. Last year he gave a PowerPoint presentation in the basement of the church about the projects in Portland, but since today was so nice out, he decided to take us on a bike tour of some affordable housing projects in Portland. Needless to say, it was pretty amazing. It was our first time biking together as a group and probably the last time we'll ever bike all 28 of us without splitting into smaller groups. The places we saw were pretty cool too. Contrary to popular belief, the affordable housing developments that we saw really brought life to the communities that they were in. In fact, it often happened that once an AH project was developed in a certain part of town, that part if town became a desirable place for families to relocate. It was pretty awesome. Below are some pictures from the AH tour. 

After that ride was over, we all learned and practiced how to change a flat tire. Most likely there's a hole somewhere in the tube that you can patch up with the patch kit, pump the tube back up and stick it back in, bug sometimes you actually need to get a whole new tube. Practicing was really helpful since I hadn't experienced any flats while training, and it turned our to be easier than I expected it to be. However, we realized that I had been training this whole time with brakes that were WAY too tight! They were basically squeezing my tires and therefore I was pedaling through a lot more resistance that I should have been. Thankfully we figured this out now and not 500 more miles down the road!

After lunch we met with a guy from the bike coalition if Maine who taught us all about biking safely in groups and I'm cities. Again, it was a super helpful presentation and I felt much more confident to take on the road afterward when we did a 12 mile practice ride through Portland. On this ride we split up and I'm glad we did because it was much easier to maneuver the hazards with less people. Hazards included things like roads with no shoulders, pot holes, on and off ramps on Rt. 1, and other unpredictable obstacles on our route. It was a beautiful day for the coastal ride (one of the last times we'll see the ocean until we reach Santa Barbara!) and then with a little over 3 miles to go it started drizzling. Honestly I thought it felt great though after biking in the hot sun. It was a great practice ride that got us all pumped for when we really start on Wednesday!

(My friend Daniel loving the ride!)

Tonight was also the first time we got to shower!! Since there's no showers in the church, we had to be shuttled in the van to a USM rec center to use their locker rooms. The shower heads literally had the pressure of power washers. However, I didn't care much because it felt so nice to be clean. I have a feeling I am going to grow to love showers even more on this trip. Dinner was then provided for us at a Bike & Build alums house in Falmouth. The place was beautiful and she shared so many great stories with us about her experience biking across the country.

Overall it was a great day--we've all continued to get to know each other and every person here is awesome. There are so many different characters it would be impossible to try and describe them all. Some things I just won't be able to convey accurately with this blog and the personalities of everyone on this trip seems to be the first one.

Just like college

Today was our first day and even though we didn't do much (no biking) it was still pretty awesome. I met the group at St. Peter's Church in Portland around 2pm. I dropped off my bike, got my bag checked, picked up my Bike & Build shirts, and started getting to know everyone. Right away we were working on painting the trailer that will carry all of our bags and food with a white primer so tomorrow we can paint it with a cool design. My favorite part was that we used chalkboard paint for the insides of the two back doors--not sure what we'll write on them yet but we painted over a fall tracker for the past two ride groups that have used this trailer...I'm really hoping not to fall much more than I already have (only once thankfully) but I'm sure it will be inevitable. 

As would be expected for an orientation, we did a lot of ice breakers, including my favorite "common ground" where one person stands in the middle of the circle and says something about themselves and anyone else who has that thing in common with them runs into the center and has to find a new place to stand. The person who doesn't find a spot is now in the middle and repeats the game. I'm pretty good at the running part so I actually never got in the middle, although I had some ideas of things to say if I had been last (such as gone abroad, have a dog, etc.). Along with name games and ice breakers, we also watched a few presentations given by our leaders on safety, hygiene, and policy. Even though they weren't as exciting as the games, they were important things to go over and understand before we set off.

For dinner we went to St. Mark's Church, also in Portland, and had an amazing meal generously prepared for us by members of the church. The place was newly renovated and absolutely gorgeous. The road out to it was also beautiful and a part of the Old Port half marathon course that I ran two summers ago. I couldn't be happier to be starting this trip in Portland. 

For the night we are staying at the church where I met everyone, sleeping in the aisles on our thermarests and in our sleeping bags. 

I've really enjoyed getting to know everyone in the group so far. There are lots of fun ideas that people have for things to do as we cross the country that I'll keep you posted on. For now though, I am exhausted--despite the fact that we didn't even bike today--so I'm going to call it a night and tomorrow I'll explain more about the details I've learned about the trip and other fun random stories. 

T-minus 1 day!!

Finally made it to Portland!! Surprisingly everything fit in my duffle with room to spare, thankfully because I still need to get my Bike & Build t-shirts and cycling shirts as well as my thermarest. 

I meet the rest of my group tomorrow in Portland at 2pm! From there, the 30 of us will start orientation--assuming that means ice breakers and how to change a tire tube 101, but I'll let you know--before we have our first build day in Portland on Tuesday. It's all starting to get really real. I can't thank everyone enough for their support thus far. Any and all words of encouragement will be greatly appreciated during my first week on the bike!

T-minus 4 days

As I write this, I am sitting on the dock in Stone Harbor, soaking up the last of the summer before I start off across the country.  In three days I will be driving up to Portland with my parents, my bike, and my duffle, prepared for an amazing summer.  In four days I will meet the other riders on the Maine to Santa Barbara ’13 (ME2SB’13) route with me and begin orientation.  In six days we will have our first Build Day in Portland, ME.  And finally, in just one week, I will be setting off on my first day of biking—60 miles from Portland, ME to Kittery, ME.  It is still somewhat surreal to think that I will be spending the good majority of my summer biking from one coast to the other, but I couldn’t be more excited.  As our route is one of the last to start, I’ve been checking out the blogs of some of the other routes to see how their trip is going.  Overall, the two themes of summer for each route are fun and camaraderie.  Yes, they talk about how tough some of the rides can be, especially steep inclines, but they talk about the games they play to keep each other motivated and the crazy things they’re seeing/doing while riding more.  I can’t wait for my own adventure to start.

While I am biking this summer, I will have my phone with me.  However, that doesn’t mean it will always have the best service or I will have much time to use it.  If you would like to get in touch with me, you can either comment on a blog post, send an email to shhirschfeld@gmail.com, leave a message on my phone, get in touch with me on Facebook, or if you’re feeling generous, send me mail or a package to one of the mail drops along our route!  Along with this blog, my group will be keeping a joint one that you can also follow here. There are 11 mail drops, one every week while we’re riding, that things can be sent to.  If you do send something, make sure to send it with ample time to arrive at the post office—if it gets there too late and we’ve already left town, they will forward the mail to the mail drop 2 weeks ahead.  On the envelope or package, make sure to label it “Please hold for pick-up on DATE”.  The address should be formatted like this:

Bike & Build

Attn: Sarah Hirschfeld

General Delivery

Street Address

City, State Zipcode

The mail drop addresses are the following:

June 21

477 Main St

Fitchburg, MA

(978) 345-0864

June 28

9 Pine Hill Rd

Mt Pocono PA 18344

(570) 839-7461

July 05

516 Chestnut St

Coshocton, OH 43812

(740) 622-4821

July 12

520 South Walnut St

Bloomington IN 47401

(812)-334-7013

July 19

500 West Chestnut Expressway

Springfield, MO 65801

July 26

333 West 4th ST

Tulsa OK, 74103

(918)-732-6654

August 02

1010 Main St

Friona, TX 79035

(806) 250-3080

August 09

5 E Main St

Springerville, AZ 85938

(928)-333-4962

August 16

100 Mather Business Ctr

Grand Canyon, AZ

(928) 638-2512

August 23

1500 South California Ave

Parker AZ 85344

(928)-669-8179

August 30

111 S Mill St

Santa Paula, CA 93060

(805) 933-2821

Please stay in touch this summer, and I will try my hardest to do the same!  I can't wait to get started and to share this amazing experience with everyone that has supported me thus far.