Ramblings from the Road

Still Reppin' B&B during Maintenance Hours

2011-05-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

Bike & Build: A Recap

2010-11-07T16:37:00.000-08:00

Bike & Build Central US 2010 - A summer that can not be described through words, pictures, or video. Only by experience. But here is my best effort!

I'll start with the end.

(Click each picture for a larger version)

We ended in Cannon Beach on July 31st, and our group of 31 people (18-26 years old) biked in together for the last quarter mile till the beach. That's me in front, leading the pack with my co-leader, Aileen. It was only appropriate to sport the American flag that day. Lots of crazy emotions that afternoon - if you can imagine what its like to finally reach your end point and know that the end is near after 2.5 months. Especially when it is with people you've been around 24/7, that you have opened your heart to and accepted as your family. We were happy to have arrived, sad to see everyone go.

From May 21st to July 31st 2010, we had biked over 3800 miles from Virginia Beach, VA to Cannon Beach, OR, helped build and work with affordable housing groups in 9 different locations, and each raised over $4000 for affordable housing. We even lived on a budget so that we could donate more money to affordable housing groups; by the end of the summer, we had survived on a budget of $1.17 per person, per day, for ALL food because we had such generous people along the way provide us with food donations and plentiful, filling meals. For our efforts, this was our reward - Haystack Rock.

But before that beach, we started on the east coast, with barely battered bikes and a trailer still painted from the Central US trip in 2009. Everyone was still pretty nervous of the road ahead, unsure of what they had signed up for, but eager and ready to go.

And when you have 3800+ mile journey ahead of you, what other choice do you have but to GO?

So we went - inspired by others, inspired by our commitment, and inspired by all the people that supported us along the way. And the things and people we saw? Let's just say that America is pretty awesome.

Outside of Dillwyn, VA, a group of my riders stopped for a break at a country store. They got some food and drink, and once the owners of the store got talking to the spandex kids and figured out what they were doing, they were so thrilled to hear about our journey. So thrilled, that they gave the riders their purchases for free. And then the owners went a step further and offered the group a full CAKE to take with them. With no where to carry the cake, the riders had to sadly reject them. Fast forward a couple hours, when we arrived at the church that was hosting us for the night. The owners went out of their way to find the place we were staying, contact the pastor, and deliver the cake to us. The cake didn't last long (before we devoured it), but the good will did.

Early on in the trip, our trailer began to take shape as well. It was an emblem of our journey, a distinct sign that we were around - Bike & Build CUS was in town. And it was parked in campgrounds, church parking lots, high school parking lots, college parking lots, and even a sorority house parking lot. The trailer carried 31 people's stuff, food, and bike supplies. It literally got us across the country. And because it was so important, we tried to get as many people and hosts to sign the opposite side of our trailer along the way.

And then onto Cawker City, KS - we had a chance to something you'd probably only ever see in Kansas: The World's Largest Ball of Twine

(And I made some great wardrobe choices that day)

We slept in close quarters in every place we went, and our homes often looked like this - somewhat of a Bin Explosion

We also met a generous photographer in Denver, CO. We were staying at a church that shared community space, and a local photographer had a studio on the top floor. He was so impressed by what we were doing that he offered to take professional photos of our group for free. Little did he know that he would be seeing the most extreme tan lines in the west.

The trip to "Bike & Build" wouldn't be complete without building, and we had plenty of build time in several states. The list of things we did ran the gamut. It ranged from installing roof trusses and framing walls to painting and refurbishing older homes. Here are some build day pictures from St Louis, MO, Cincinnati, OH, Kansas City, MO, Boulder, CO, and Portland, OR.

St Louis

Portland

Cincinnati

Boulder

Kansas City

And a summer of biking across the country wouldn't be complete without a little bike advocacy and community building. Here we are in Oregon, after doing a bike clinic with some of the children in the community. We hung out with them and taught them some of the basics of biking and safety (always wear a helmet!)

Our days of biking an average of 70-80 miles would have been difficult if we never started the day right. Waking up every day as early as 5AM and then doing 20 seconds of silent 80's dancing (without music) was a ritual that got us going everyday.

And it led to great things, like...

The fountains of Bloomington, IN

The dinosaurs of Utah

The rustic bridges of Missouri along Rt 66

The epic and majestic views of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains

To the top of the highest continuous paved highway in the US - Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park

A bike tour of Portland, OR from a fellow Bike & Build Alumni

To some pleasant some surprises along the way

And to the top of Teton Pass in Wyoming - one of our steepest climbs.

(Luckily everyone had this to greet them at the top)

And as we approached our last state sign in OR, there was certainly a sense of astonishment at our achievement. That we had gotten this far, on our BIKES.

But we had formed many great memories along the way and solidified a team of inspired young adults that, united in our cause and together in our journey, got each other across the country:

Arriving in Cannon Beach was thrilling, exciting, shocking, and completely unbelievable. We rode in all together, dismounted our bikes, walked down to the beach, and then made a full sprint toward the ocean like maniacs.

Emotions were high and celebration was all around. Two and a half months of teamwork had culminated to this. We hugged, huddled, held our hands together to do a cheer for Paige (another Bike & Builder who passed away in a tragic accident this summer), and then did our version of the Haka to celebrate our ending.

We proudly held our hands and heads up high in front of Haystack Rock - our final destination.

And then, to signify the end of the trip and mark a true cross country cycling trip, we dipped our front wheels in the Pacific Ocean. Coast to coast. By bicycle.

Pictures give you an idea of how exciting this was, and a video gives you an even better look at how crazy things were. It's hard to hear and decipher a lot in this video - but you can probably gather how excited everyone was from it. Check it out here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/JCarboni05/CUS2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCNS1_K2A1ZSW8AE#5501607560454708850

A truly amazing summer and a huge accomplishment for me, my leaders, and my team. I am still processing the summer and think about it all the time. Being a leader taught me more about myself, provided me with intense personal growth, and gave me tons of perspective on my life. And I know everyone else on my trip can attest to the same feelings. It has ended - I am no longer biking across the country and living out of a tiny bin - but this has only led to new beginnings. And to hear and see the things that everyone else on this trip will go on to do - after being inspired and experiencing something like this - keeps me going and makes me remember to make everyday worth it, everyday memorable, and, in the words of the playwright Tennessee Williams, to "Make Voyages! Attempt Them! There's nothing else!"

A final huzzah with bikes lifted above our head, of me and my co-leaders in front of Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.

This is Bike & Build Central US 2010. A summer long gone, but that I will always carry around with me. Thank you to all my supporters before, after, and during the trip! You have made something amazing possible.

And here is another video to get a glimpse into my world this summer. Bike & Build Central US 2010. Enjoy

MO

2010-06-13T22:02:00.002-07:00

IL

2010-06-13T22:02:00.001-07:00

Bloomington, IN

2010-06-13T22:01:00.001-07:00

OH

2010-06-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

WV

2010-06-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

In the news

2010-06-01T18:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.wsaz.com/charleston/headlines/95291494.html

Trailer

2010-05-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

Luke, our main man, one of 12 kids in the house next to our host in
Dilwyn, VA. He and some of his 11 other siblings signed our newly
minted trailer

"Everyone who got where he is has had to begin where he was."

2010-05-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

Quote c/o the esteemed Mr. Dennis Kelly.

Today was the first riding day into Suffolk and everything went great. Some heavily trafficked roads, but nothing a field of strawberries can't fix. We stopped at a field of strawberries and picked some to eat. And so it starts..
A great bunch, a big range of ages, the group is forming and its gonna be a gooood summer. Looking forward to Charlottesville and Colorado. I'll try and update this blog as often as possible, but as a leader there's a lot to be done. The trip journal on the Bike & Build website might be a more reliable source for day-to-day happenings (We're the Central US route).

Here are some quotes from the church marquee's I saw today:

"This sign is outside because Jesus is inside"

"God loves you, and he approved this message"

Not sure how I feel about this one, but it was startling nonetheless:

"Focus on the finish line, not on the journey"

I'll have to disagree on that one - this is definitely about the journey. And it has begun.

Before

2010-05-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Tommorow we ride

2010-05-20T19:23:00.001-07:00

Shakedown

2010-05-20T14:57:00.001-07:00

Shakin down on the shakedown ride... The real riding starts tommorow.

2010-05-20T05:26:00.001-07:00

The bikes are here...

2010-05-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Mail Drop

2010-05-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hello... we start soon. Keep posted with my blog and the journal posted on the B&B website as well. If you want to send me mail/love/food/moral support, here's how.

Bike & Build groups will receive mail approximately once a week while on the road, and welcome letters and packages from friends, family, and supporters. Mail will be delivered through USPS General Delivery. Please be sure to send mail in ample time to arrive prior to the pick-up date and only through the United States Postal Service (The Post Office will not accept mail from any other carrier). Address mail to:

Bike & Build
Attn: Sharif Morad
General Delivery
STREET ADDRESS (if noted)
CITY, ST ZIP

Please mark the envelope or package with "Please hold for pick-up on DATE."
Late mail will be forwarded to the mail drop two weeks ahead. Late mail from the last two mail drops will be returned to sender.

Central U.S.
May 27 Charlottesville, VA 22906-9998
June 03 Georgetown, OH 45121
June 10 Greenville, IL 62246
June 17 Kansas City, MO 64108
June 24 Phillipsburg, KS 67661
June 28 Denver, CO 80202
July 08 Vernal, UT 84078
July 15 Idaho Falls, ID 83402
July 22 Ontario, OR‎ 97914
July 29 Gresham, OR 97030

VA Beach

2010-05-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Everyone who graduated is at Myrtle Beach for beach week now, but I have skirted off to VA Beach to start getting riding for Bike & Build Central US. Let the prepping begin...

Pepsi Commercial on MTV/VH1/Comedy Central/Spike TV

2010-05-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

Commercial

2010-04-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

Check it out, Bike & Build on a Pepsi Refresh Commercial

Bike & Build: A treatise

2010-04-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

This summer, I decided to make a 2nd cross country cycling trip and address affordable housing with the non-profit Bike & Build.

Why would I do this again? Why would any sane person want to do this the first time? (Okay, I probably can't answer that question, but I can tell you why I think Bike & Build is one of the most powerful experiences on this planet).

Think of things that make you happy in your life - probably some of your fondest memories are shared with others. The ones you love, the ones you depend on , the ones that enrich your life. Does it make you happy when other people help you? Do you believe in karma? How does it feel when someone gives you a gift? How about when you give them one? How about both those feelings? How about all these feelings?

We move too quickly in America - anyone can agree with me on this. This is why we have slow food movements, and also why we have fast food restaurants. Unfortunately, in moving too fast and too quickly, life tends to pass us by, instead of us passing through life. But have you ever taken a moment to "live"? Maybe going across the country slowly on a BICYCLE will make you take a second... maybe being forced to live communally with 30 people for 2 months give you a little perspective - that you and your head do not exist in a bubble... and maybe dedicating yourself to something bigger than yourself, and giving the most personal gift of all - a home - can really transform and inspire you to listen to your inner voice, and evaluate for yourself what is really important in life.

The people - the presence of others, the relationships you build, the people you meet - that's the only thing we have in this world that matters. Have you noticed how much stuff we buy to make ourselves happy? A person is free and always has something new to offer.

The biking - it's beautiful to see this country. We often forget what a privilege we have to live in such a diverse land and feel the need to vacation to far away places to find something exciting - look in your backyard.

The service - it is truly a gift and a privilege to be able to serve others. Why? If you're asking this question, then I encourage you to try it out for yourself and discover the answer. To quote Emerson, "To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

Thank you to everyone who helped me win the Pepsi Refresh Project Grant. I won 5K from Pepsi for Bike & Build -
http://www.refresheverything.com/blog/2010/04/05/grantee-story-biking-building-across-america/

And here is a video clip from the Charlottesville local news, when Pepsi/MTV came to Charlottesville to do some filming about my Bike & Build trip.

http://www.newsplex.com/video?clipID=4684739&autoStart=true&contentID=90136342

As the days count down, I and the other 3 leaders are calling places to stay along the way, organizing our build days, finding food donations, making cue sheets (directions), fundraising, biking, building, and feeling uncontrollable enthusiasm for the road ahead. Canon Beach, here we come...

Help Raise Money for Affordable Housing!

2010-01-14T14:02:00.000-08:00

Dear Generous Internet Traveler,

Happy New Year! As you may or may not know, this summer I'm participating in another cross country cycling trip with Bike & Build - and this time as a leader.

Last summer, Bike & Build was one of the most purposeful and meaningful summers I had, and it was made possible thru all the generous donors who helped in alleviating the affordable housing crisis in America.

Bike & Build was an inspiring experience to me and all of the people we touched along our trip. The challenge of each ride combined with the community building my group contributed made waking up every morning just as exciting as the first, and each day richer than the last. Serving others was a privilege and a gift, and I saw firsthand what a group of dedicated and spirited young adults can do. My group fundraised a little over $139,000 last year for affordable housing and built houses all across America (see the attached pictures!).

As a graduating electrical engineering senior of the University of Virginia in just five short months, I have one last free summer before heading off to my first job at Accenture in the fall. I want to use this time to inspire another group of young adults to feel as passionately as I do about making a difference.

I will be leading a cross-country cycling trip with Bike & Build on May 19th for two months, from Virginia Beach, VA to Canon Beach, OR. During the trip, we stop an average of once a week and dedicate a full day to helping a local housing project. With thirty riders on the Central US route alone, plus the other seven routes that Bike & Build runs across the country, there will be nearly 250 volunteers hammering nails, painting walls, and pedaling for the cause this summer.

As I mentioned, each trip has around thirty 18-25 year old young adults, including 4 leaders. I am part of that leadership team, helping plan where we stay, which housing projects to work on, planning meals and the daily rides, as well as keeping the group on track with pre-trip fundraising and training.

In order to participate, I need to raise $4000, but my goal for this trip is to raise $5000 because I know firsthand that the effects this organization has on the communities we pass through is profound.A portion of this money will fund the trip, but Bike & Build (a nonprofit organization) allocates a majority of the money to affordable housing organizations. In my case, part of the money will benefit the Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity. The remainder will be pooled by Bike & Build to make contributions to the affordable housing groups in the communities that we stop in, and for a competitive grant program.

You money will benefit affordable housing in America. Affordable housing is not just an issue, it is a national crisis, and my summer allowed me to see how it spreads to all parts of America and does not disappear.

With your help I can reach and a possibly surpass my goal. You can learn more information from the website www.bikeandbuild.org or feel truly free to ask me. If you can help (between now and April), I hope you will.

Tax deductible donations are accepted:

online (preferred and easiest), by visiting the Bike & Build website (www.bikeandbuild.org/donate) and by choosing my name (Sharif Morad) from the drop down menu.

Brendan & Kristian’s Bike & Build Gear Guide “We work here and we’ve done it too.”

by mailing a check with my name on it to Bike and Build at

Bike & Build, Inc

6109 Ridge Ave Bldg 2

Philadelphia PA 19128

If you work for a company that has a matching gifts program, Bike and Build is eligible.

In the meantime, as part of my commitment to Bike & Build, I’ll be working this spring preparing for the trip, learning about affordable housing, training, and of course- helping to build homes. Many thanks for your support, and don’t forget to tell anyone else who you think might want to donate too!
Sincerely yours,

Sharif

Photo’s From This Past Summer (North Carolina to San Diego 2009)

My trip framing and raising a wall with Habitat for Humanity in Chapel Hill, NC

A group of us built this ramp in one day to make the home wheelchair accessible in Ashville, NC

Laying the foundation for a house in Colorado Springs, CO. The house was completed a week later by another Bike & Build trip that came through and did a week long blitz build.

Round 2? Round 2

2009-08-19T01:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so not actually good-bye. I don't know who I'm trying to kid, but I keep coming back and checking my OWN blog - weeks after this trip ended - expecting something new to be here. This trip is over, though. It was cathartic, life changing, eye opening - whatever you want to call it; experiences like this are nearly too difficult to put to words if you haven't had the experience yourself. Verbalizing it almost cheapens the emotion.

Taking risks, finding the adventure, and living with a greater purpose, however, are things I'm not ready to be over with and I am going to apply to lead a trip next summer. This organization is fantastic and there is no a single reason not to be involved with B&B. Okay maybe there are a couple: the real world, and a job, and money, and all that "grown-up" stuff. And that's important, but that isn't where I've settled in my chapter of life yet. This is the real deal people, I'm obsessed.

Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else.

The end of our adventure

2009-07-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

I am sitting on Mission Beach in San Diego. Catching some rays of sun
that aren't too hot at all because I've been used to 100+ degree
weather for the past week. I'm drying because I swam out in the ocean
with some friends. First it was freezing and then we were floating
around the waves laughing and trying to find the best wave to bodysurf
on. It got exhausting after 20 minutes, and that's okay because I have
a lot of time left here - We got here pretty early because we all
automatically woke up early, despite the fact that we went to sleep at
3AM. It wasn't a far bike ride and the breeze made the journey
perfect. Oh yeah, and yesterday I reached the Pacific Ocean after 2
months of biking across America from the east coast.

I love the beach lifestyle and mentality here. People are here
enjoying the ocean and weather. Slowing down to take a moment and
enjoy some simple luxurious things like sand. I could live here.

We stopped half a mile before reaching the beach yesterday on our
bikes. We all regrouped and waited for the 30 of us to be in the same
spot. We hugged, we sang, we took pictures and then we bravely got on
our bikes to acknowledge the ending. Meaning, we were hooting,
screaming and Timur was blowing a whistle all the way to the boardwalk
behind the sand. La Jolla beach was packed, mostly with people that
didn't know we were coming, as well a friends, family, and relatives.
People turned heads, were surprised, and Amanda fell for the first
time (twice) about 300 yards from the final destination we've been
biking to for the past 65 days. She was okay, and didn't really feel
anything because adreneline and endorphins were at very high levels.
Hopped off our bikes, alligned them on the boardwalk, then stripped
off any nonwater friendly items and bolted for the ocean. I have never
celebrated anything in my life for as long as I did with our group in
the ocean yesterday. "Shock" works, but it wouldn't quite describe how
I felt. It was almost an emotion I was confused on how to deal with
(more so now), but I was definetly elated. There was hugging,
screaming, a dance called the Cupid Shuffle, some improptu kareoke of
songs we listened to a lot this summer, lots of clapping, and
surprisingly no one crying. But maybe I just didn't see anyone because
I was blinded by all the people surrounding us in the sun, watching us
and smiling - maybe out of wonder or maybe out of respect. It was good
to scream.

Now most people are here for the next two days, but my friends have
started to peel off slowly now (after the party we had at an alumni's
house last night). Thank you, Todd. A few have flown off, some are
with family and some are with significant others they haven't seen for
days - still in San Diego. I accept that people need to go, but it's
weird and sad that these people who haved formed my experiences for
the past two months are leaving. I know I'll see some of these people
again, but the GROUP is ending and that's what is hard to say good-bye
to. Ode to the group...

We are strong, we are tenacious, and most of all we rock. My memories
are contained in the heads of all 31 of these people. That's because
their memories are mine.

I liked this summer. If you couldn't tell, I got a lot out of helping
people and biking across the country. These people I rode, napped,
ate, sweat, cried, laughed, danced, drank, hung out, waitied in line
for the bathroom, unpacked the trailer, made dinner, and snored with
were an important part of the equation. All good things must come to
an end.

I have inspired myself and hopefully others as well. There is a faith
in my peers - more than capable of being leaders and with an infinite
capacity to do great things.

Here is a great quote from Richard Bach in Illusions: Adventure of a
Reluctant Messiah -

"Argue for your own limitations, and sure enough, they're yours"

I always knew we'd get here, but now I know my limits can be streched.
What an awesome summer. Thank you for following, if you did. I hope I
did a good job and that you liked the pictures. Not sure what comes
next, but I almost guarantee you it will cower in the shadow of this
summer May 17th - July 18th 2009. Goodbye.

We made it

2009-07-18T19:54:00.001-07:00

Photo proof.. Thoughts to follow

Less than 12 miles to the beach

2009-07-18T13:02:00.001-07:00

Slowest 24 mile bike ride ever.

One more thing

2009-07-18T08:29:00.001-07:00

This day really brings new meaning to the word bittersweet

Morning Tess

2009-07-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Front

2009-07-18T07:54:00.002-07:00

Other side

2009-07-18T07:54:00.001-07:00

Back

2009-07-18T07:53:00.001-07:00

Trailer

2009-07-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

The final painting of the trailer, now with everyone's nicknames
painted on it. Probably will not make much sense to you.

Dios Mio!!!!

2009-07-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

Our 3 lost leaders and Jackie came back last night. I never realized
how different our group was until they left and then came back. It
really threw things outta balance, but now everything is restored to
it's natural order. They all give off a certain energy that really
feeds into our group and makes it the way it is. It was really great
to see and "remember" their personalties once they arrived and
everyone crowded around them. I think its hard to explain, easy to
comprehend.

This picture is what I see now. Wake up is 8AM today, but everyone
woke up automatically at around 630AM because we're all so used to
getting up early. No one really knows what to do, so we're watching
Anchorman on the projector because we didn't finish it last night. Im
excited to ride to the beach and complete this journey, but I don't
want to start this day because that means it will end. Everyone is
yelling at each other jokingly to stop getting ready. Kristian from
the Bike and Build office flew here and will drive the van today (with
Tess) with us so we can all bike into the beach. This will probably be
the slowest morning of all trip (besides the day after prom....)

We will ride 30 miles into the legendary beaches of San Diego and then
celebrate like we just biked cross country because WE DID. All bets
are off...doubters stop doubting...naysayers withhold your tongues: I
biked across the country this summer; what did YOU do?

Confirmed Ocean

2009-07-17T18:11:00.001-07:00

No matter how many times you tell me we are in California, it never
gets old. You might think that it would be boring to think about, but
I really do enjoy thinking about how we biked here.

We were biking up more mountains today (what a surprise), and we saw
what we thought was the Pacific Ocean in the distance. We weren't
sure, but then some locals walking by told us it was. The chalk in
this picture confirms that that is the ocean in the background. All
our excitment was soon followed by some dancing and hanging out for
about an hour.

It was a nice climb/descent into El Cajon today. It really feels like
we are in Cali. I was biking today to 7-11 today after the ride to get
a Slurpee and it was hot and we passed people speaking Spanish (and
English) and saw some skater kids and saw palm trees and saw signs for
California. And now we're in El Cajon High School, in their gym, and
it's the last day of summer school. Maybe it's just me, but I think I
like it here

Amy Saunders

2009-07-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

1 day

2009-07-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

This is Amy Saunders (and Greg). She is one of our beloved leaders and
we adore her. Even more so, though, because lately she has been the
only leader of 4 with us for the past two days. She drives the van,
makes our cue sheets, takes us to the doctor, drives to laundry, and
leads us to San Diego till the return of the other 3 leaders.

As you may have heard, we unfortunetly had an accident with 2 of our
leaders and a rider yesterday. They are all okay now and recovering,
but they had to be in the hospital for a bit and Gabe, the other
noninjured leader, went to the hospital to join them and make sure
they are okay. Long and short of it, bikes are beat up, people are
recovering, and some will hopefully come back soon to meet with us
into San Diego. Let me just say, for those parents reading about this
and just heard it - don't freak out and DON'T call the bike and build
office they already have enough on their hands. We are all okay and
being safe. The best thing you can do is continue sharing the
excitment we have in reaching San Diego.

All this meant though was that Amy had a lot of responsibilities for
the past 3 days and she has been and trooper and is doing a good job.
Props to her. And props to this group that has held strong, despite
all the obstacles and setbacks. We're freaking awesome. Everyone has
really banded together and given themselves up to the group in the
past couple of days. Maybe it's because of this accident, maybe it's
the trip ending, but whatever it is everyone has let the little things
go and let the weight of this summer sink in. It is awesome.

Yesterday was really hard. It was 106 degrees and we biked in that for
60 miles (a desert with nothing) and then CLIMBED 4000 feet over 15 or
so miles. Man it was difficult. Running out of water in the middle if
nowhere can be really frightening. I feel so hardcore. But we made it
to Julian and now it's (mostly) downhill from here.

One day till San Diego. Unreal. I think we get real showers tonite too
and not hose showers. Woooooooo!!!!!

How I felt today

2009-07-15T20:03:00.001-07:00

Brawley

2009-07-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Boy today was a tough day. We biked 88 miles from Blythe and there was
literally nothing in between. This is a picture of the SAND DUNES we
biked through in the heat and wind. It was a very difficult day and
almost everyone was getting dizzy from dehydration by the end. I drank
at least 8 liters of water. Thank goodness we had some church members
from our host come out and help us along the way with water and
finding us a store to buy cold drinks in. We even stopped at a cotton
gin to get some water.

The dunes were pretty neat though. This was real desert...

Our host in Brawley, First Presbyterian, has been awesome. This is the
first time Bike and Build has stayed here and we really appreciate it.
Dinner rocked!

Tommorow we do a 4000 foot climb into Julian tommorow. Hot day... Here
we come San Diego.

Cali

2009-07-14T20:47:00.001-07:00

Somehow we've managed to bike to California. Blythe, CA. BOOM!!!

We had an exciting ride on the interstate today and beat the heat.

I don't have much to say, but I am very happy to be here. San Diego is
4 days away.

For those about to rock..We salute you

Going to California

2009-07-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

Todays wake up - 4:00AM. Currently it is 4:58AM in Wendon, AZ and we
are eating breakfast.

Yesterday was hot as usual - and it involved us getting to our host by
8:20AM. Yeah. That's early. Our requirement is usually that we be in
at oue host by 4PM. Had another breakfast at the diner when we got in.
So if you can imagine - woke up at 4AM in Wickenburg, ate breakfast,
biked 35 miles, ate lunch, biked 25 more, then ate another breakfast.
And then had this awesome water fight in the town with a population of
500. Then basically had an entire day to hang out, watch a movie, nap,
write postcards, do laundry, and make burrito dinners.

But NOW. TODAY. TODAY and NOW we will enter California. We're going to
CALI BABY!!!!! Here we come.

Wickenburg, AZ

2009-07-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

Amy is really red is this picture. That is because today it was 110
degrees. That's not a typo.

We had a beauiful ride today from Prescott, AZ to Wickenburg. Lots of
hilly mountain stuff and climbing. Which of course means there is
descending and I love that part. Everytime I go down a hill, I am so
satisfied with biking and everything is alright. You could see the
town we were biking into from the top of our descent. Completely
surrounded by desert...and cactuses (cacti?)

We came down a hill, losing 4000 feet overall and I experienced
something I've never felt before. Usually when you're speeding down a
hill you get a cool breeze in your face. But not here. I had hot air
blowing in my face and biking the last 10 miles today literally felt
like the feeling you get when you first open an oven. Except that the
feeling didn't last for 5 seconds. It lasted all day. It's SO HOT
HERE. Not humid, just a dry heat. Can't even feel yourself sweating.

But we got into a pool for free today and had fun with that. I've
never been so happy to be in a pool in my life.

My chore group gave a presentation to the church today. The best part
is sharing all our stories from the summer. It's nice to "remember"
with the group.

We started going over grant applications today. I feel like I have so
much power. We get to allocate a lot of money. Tough decisions will be
made.

Prescott, AZ

2009-07-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

Pronounced Pres-cuit (rhymes with biscuit). We are staying in a middle school gym. Its very hot. Some chose to sleep in the courtyard last night. It was nice.

Right now we are driving back from a build site in Prescott, AZ. These past two days have been different because we had two build days back to back. We did painting and landscaping and got a lot done. Another group of us went to a separate build site and did drywall. It was way hot yesterday and we were admittedly sluggish (not to mention the fact that we had a night of hardcore karokee in downtown Prescott the day before), but today was a lot smoother. Accomplished a lot, hung out with the owner, she made us lunch.

Admire the different shades of color in this picture. It's the result of two months of biking and building in the sun. I guess my tan is more pronounced than Ginger's, though. Tan lines are fun. It's my badge of courage.

Anyway, I had a moment of clarity the other day (a rare occurrence, I know). It's been repeatedly beaten in my head that we're doing something good and helping people - by churches, reporters, adults, everyone - but it had never really sunk in until yesterday. We're raising money and awareness for affordable houses and building houses, sure, but that always just seemed to me like something "good" to do. Not that big of a deal and I've done Habitat building in the past.

But our Habitat contacts in Prescott showed us a short video yesterday and I really think it hit everyone like a ton of bricks. Its never too late to be or do whatever you want; to live a life you are proud of. You just need the courage to start all over again. But you may need a means - And thats what all 31 of us have done this summer. We are enablers. All the stories I've heard from the people that apply for these affordable housing homes lead me to the same conclusion. Single parents, struggling families - whatever it is, these people went through a rough patch in their life and now they want to take hold of their lives. To live responsibly and strive for a better life with their OWN home.

But getting your own home isn't easy and you probably can't do it by yourself. That's where Habitat comes into play and thats where our raising money and labor helps. I realize I have helped make a small contribution to a significant change in someone's life. It feels pretty good.

The family we just helped paint a house and landscape for was living in a single room. A mom, dad, and two children in one room. ONE room. And pretty soon next month they will finally have their own home and the mom will only have to drive 10 minutes to work. The children will finally have a playground in the backyard that was donated. Does this make sense? This story isn't uncommon because I've heard it many times during this trip.

"Your life is defined by its opportunities, even the ones you miss."

I'm glad I didn't miss this summer.

In any case, soon we are going over our grant money. Each one of us gets to donate $500 to whatever affordable housing place we want (Habitat chapters, smaller organizations, etc) and our group is also deciding on where to allocate, I think, around $30,000. I may be butchering these numbers, and I will correct them later if I am, but I think thats about right. Like I said, its cool that we are using this money we raised to DIRECTLY impact affordable housing organizations. What a trip.

Heavy stuff... lets get more lighthearted.
Prescott is a cool college town, a nice downtown area and has a row of bars called "Whiskey Row." We had our 2nd build day today and that ended at 1 (its too hot after that), and the rest of the day for whatever. Things like going to the local bike shop and getting some Thai food are in order. And nap time. Don't EVER forget nap time.

This is from the last church we stayed in. Whenever we are able to find instruments or a PA system, everyone always seems to take advantage of it and make as much noise as possible. This night was no exception. If you think music emanates from this picture, you are wrong. It sounds more like 3 people chanting, a drummer, and Alex on the hippie bongos. Good fun...

The middle school we are staying out. Sweet mural, right?

A picture of the ride into Prescuit... a lot descending a bunch of rocks.

Another photo, posed, located on the left of the previous photo.

Doing some "painting" on the house we were working on today. Don't worry we didn't leave the house like that.

And finally, a picture from karaoke night. This was during "I Believe I Can Fly." If you look closely, you'll notice that Anna, is in fact, flying.

That was a fun night.

And happy birthday Ben (yesterday)! And Gabe (today)! They probably won't see this, but I know their parents will.

Finally, shout out to Jackie. We all love and miss you and will see you in San Diego. Unfortunately, Jackie had to leave us with short notice, but with Bike and Build its always good-bye and never farewell. See you soon.

San Diego - T-minus 1 week... oh god..

2009-07-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

In Williams, AZ

2009-07-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

Today I passed a sign on the road that had an arrow pointing to Los Angeles. That was a completely surreal moment. We're not going there, but this is the closest I've ever been to LA in my life and I got here via bike. Seeing this sign gave me a real thrill. I can't wait till San Diego.

Since I last blogged we've been to Tuba City, camped in the Grand Canyon (this picture), and we biked out of the Grand Canyon to arrive in Williams, AZ today. The riding between these cities has been pretty desolate and a lot of desert. We're literally in the middle of nowhere sometimes. But we still manage to have some interesting things happen. Here are some of the happenings:

Dog

The vote was unanimous - 31 people voted and we had 36 "yes"s (hmmm...?) to keep the dog. Beth is the caretaker of the dog and she will keep it once the trip ends. Her name is Tess, named after part of a town where we found her. She is very quiet, calm, and a good dog. We like having this dog. Our own personal mascot.

Pinata

Beth received a pinata as part of her birthday gift about a week ago, and we finally got around to whacking it open. Here, Ben holds it above our trailer as Beth whacks it in Kayenta. Immediately followed by a game of whiffle ball.

Bubble Gum Off

Somehow, an intense competition between Amanda and Gabe came about involving a bunch of Double Bubble BubbleGum. We had a bunch of candy lying around - I don't remember how we got it. I think it was left over from prom - and they started stuffing the gum in their mouth's in Tuba City. I think Gabe ended up winning, only because the gum ran out, but they both had at least 20 pieces of bubble gum in there mouth by the end. Look at the intense concentration (Gabe is in red, Amanda has a hand over her mouth). It was intense. And well documented... there will be a video floating around in YouTube land someday

Grand Canyon BABY!

There wasn't much in Tuba City, except some restaurants (which we somehow got food donations from - Nhan and Drew were able to get free food for McDonalds, Taco Bell, and some other places by giving them the Bike and Build spiel - awesome) and friendly locals. We had an unexpectedly long day going from Tuba City to the Grand Canyon - it was 80 miles, but a lot of climbing and A LOT of intense wind. I think it took close to 10 hours for us to get in to our camp site at the Grand Canyon, but man, once we got there it was surreal. I have never been to the Canyon before and if you haven't - pictures don't even begin to do it justice. It is ENORMOUS. And it looks like your looking at a painting. Definitely a highlight. We camped out and ate hobo dinners (chopped up veggies and meats, throw it in aluminum foil, and stick it in the fire. Like a hobo, no?). Anyway, the Grand Canyon is awesome and I can't believe I biked to it (I keep saying this over and over again because the fact that I have biked this far is a constant recurring thought).

A (blurry) picture of our campground area

Williams, AZ

Today we didn't have too bad of a ride, it was only 60 or so miles, but quite windy. I have come to enjoy rolling hills though (or as cyclists call it (or maybe its just Bike and Builders), "rollers"). Sad to leave the Grand Canyon, but thrilled to see the biggest tourist thing you could imagine - Bedrock City. We're talking Fred Flintstone. Came across Bedrock City coming down 64 out of the Canyon about 30 miles out and decided to stop at Fred's Diner. It had 5 cent coffee! It was good. And we got a picture with Fred

Tomorrow we bike to Prescott. And then we will have 2 build days there. It should be good. Here are some more pictures from the Rockies:

Big Sharif

Beef Jerky eating Sharif

Fwd: [Nc2sd09] Durango CO - Newspaper article on you guys

2009-07-06T17:47:00.001-07:00

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Kristian Sekse" <kristian.sekse@bikeandbuild.org>
Date: July 6, 2009 9:59:35 AM MDT
To: <nc2sd09@bikeandbuild.org>
Subject: [Nc2sd09] Durango CO - Newspaper article on you guys

Hey everyone,

The pastor from the church you stayed at in Durango, CO called the office and wanted to let you know about the FRONT PAGE article in the Durango Herald. He was really excited about it, I'm just trying to pass along the enthusiasm.

http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/Features/Columnists/John_Peel/2009/07/06/If_you_build_it_they_will_come_on_bikes/

See you guys next week!

- Kristian

Kristian Sekse

Program Director

Bike & Build, Inc.

6109 Ridge Ave, Building #2

Philadelphia, PA 19128
(267) 331-8488 (office)

(661) 752-9806 (fax)

www.bikeandbuild.org

_______________________________________________
Nc2sd09 mailing list
Nc2sd09@lists.bikeandbuild.org
http://lists.bikeandbuild.org/listinfo.cgi/nc2sd09-bikeandbuild.org

Kayenta

2009-07-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

Prom was great. This is a picture of our setup. Note the bicycle
barrier. Very classy.

Biked to Kayenta today. It was about 50 miles on the same road. Scary
shoulders, drivers in Arizona do not like bikers...However, Beth and
Neel saved a dog from dehydration along the way and now it's hanging
out with us. Will it stay? Only time will tell, but I do like Tess.

Not much out here, but a point of contention seems to be about what
time it actually is. No one seems to really know. In Arizona, in some
parts (Navajo places) they don't observe daylight savings time, but in
some places they do and it's all very confusing to me. Hmm... Not that
time matters very much to me any more, but it is all quite confusing.

Dry heat, one road, fast drivers, desert...

Welcome to Arizona

Grand Canyon is soon

Teec Nos Pos

2009-07-04T21:16:00.001-07:00

Picture of the day: The Four Corners in Colorado/Arizona/Utah/New
Mexico. We passed thru this landmark on the way to Teec Nos Pos today
- now in Arizona!! Staying at a high school literally in the middle if
nowhere. This high school and hospital are literally the only thing
around us within 60 miles either direction.

Which means our thrift store prom is going to be very exciting
tonight. We all paid tribute to America today by wearing USA tattoos
on our bike ride and listening to "freedom" music, but our prom will
ultimately cap off our short 60 mile day.

We all have been preparing for this event for some time now. Everyone
has accrued the perfect outfit from thrift stores across the nation
and now is the night to display our best dressed Bike and Builders.
And how fitting it is that our prom will take place in a high school
gym. We've got the jams, we've got the clothes, and now we bring the
party.

Tonight is gonna be awesome. Happy fourth of July everyone.

More biking up the mountains

2009-07-04T16:36:00.001-07:00

Pictures of the road and things along the way up and thru the mountains

Riding to Ouray

2009-07-04T16:17:00.001-07:00

All pics are on the beautiful mountain town of Ouray on our 100 mile day.

The last photo is a picture of the town from above as we left Ouray on the 12 mile climb up the mountain

More Colorado

2009-07-04T12:44:00.001-07:00

Pictures riding thru the Rocky Mountain Area

Also riders reaching the top of a climb and Gabe, the van driver for the day, running up with them and puming then up with AMERICA

Road chalk

2009-07-04T11:49:00.001-07:00

Up a mountain

Durango

2009-07-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

First of all, today was a maildrop and it was glorious. Since it seems
that this blog is my link of communication to the outside world (and a
lot of people read it!), I want to thank mom and dad for all the
stuff. It rocks. Then I want to thank Ms Kim Thompson AGAIN for the
second batch of brownies they are phonomenal. I love it and the fact
that you sent more. And then I also want to thank the Wetzig family
for following my blog closely and sending me some much needed energy
gels. I love strawberry. Seriously, all you blog readers thank you I
was pretty happy today. If you keep sending me stuff, I'll keep
blogging... Heh heh heh

Anyway, just had a burger and hot dog dinner at First Presbyterian
Church in Durango, CO. Nice. And before that we had our family meeting
(talk about the week, highs and lows, announcements). Before that we
had our building day and then yesterday we rode 80 miles into Durango
and before that 100 miles into Ouray. It was some BEAUTIFUL and
breathtaking rides. Colorado wins for most scenic place in the US.

Family meeting:
We have these almost every week, but I thought todays was real good.
Not for any particular reason, but just because everyone is so
comfortable around each other now and gets very well along. We goof
off so much. Everything has fallen into place quite nicely and a lot
everyones "Low" was the fact that this journey is over soon. Rebecca
said it best - I've never laughed as hard as I have on Bike and Build.

Similiarly related, we went over our budget from this trip after about
7 weeks. Believe or not, for 31 people we've traveled this far and
spent only $113 per PERSON for everything. I'm talking lunch,
breakfast, dinner, laundry, gas etc. That's amazing. And it would not
have been possible without all the donations of food and dinners
provided to us by churches, armories, and various restauraunts. Man...
113$ is a tiny number think about that for a second.

I've been told repeatedly that the older generation looks at the
younger generation as being a lost cause - maybe thats why so many
older adults so warmly receive us. We're doing something. It feels
good. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love it when
strangers stop us and ask what organization we're with and where we
are going. The reactions we get always make me so happy. We got a 40$
and 100$ donation on the road in the last 2 ride days.

Ride to Ouray:
100 mile ride into this mountain town that was sweet. I'll post
pictures of it. Hot Springs Pool to play in. Awesome shops. Tummy
tacos. Good views

Ride to Durango:
Left the church and immediately started a 12 mile climb up a mountain.
Woah. Nice view, but also terrifying because there was no guard rails.
Got to the top, did some celebrating....Descended the climb... Then
did another 7 mile climb, then took this picture at the top, descended
and THEN did another 3 mile climb. 3 mountains in one day... Awesome.
We are so extreme.

And right now a Bike and Build alum (rode one year, led another) has
stopped by and brought us ice cream. She happens to live in Durango
and decided to stop by. She's chatting with us and we're swapping
stories about Bike and Build. Do I even need to explain any more how
sweet Bike and Build is? !!!!

PS

2009-06-29T20:48:00.001-07:00

Send me an email at sharifmorad@gmail.com if you want to see something
here, or you approve, or you just read my blog. I'm curious

More Colorado

2009-06-29T18:35:00.001-07:00

1. Look at that view!!!!

2, 3, 4. Holding rocks up and more red rocks at the Garden of the Gods

More Colorado

2009-06-29T18:27:00.001-07:00

1. View from the summitt yesterday

2. Entering the Garden of the Gods

3. Posing in part of the Garden

4. View of the top of Monarch Summitt before the major descent

5. Amy taking it all in

Colorado Photos

2009-06-29T18:07:00.001-07:00

1. Summit we reached today. Highest elevation we will reach all trip. I sent a lucky few a postcard from here. It was a 22 mile climb

2. Summit we reached yesterday

3. View from the top of the mountain (Monarch)

4. Road between the Rocky Mountains

5. Views of the Rockies from the towns we passed through along 24

Beauty is real

2009-06-29T17:57:00.001-07:00

Dear Colorado,

You rock. I love you. You are so beautiful and I want to ride through
the Rocky Mountain region forever. Your terrain is ultimate.

Highlights of the past two days (100 and 80 miles for Buena Vista and
Gunnison)

-Reaching two high peaks and gaining a lot of elevation. We're talking
high thousands here and moving at a pace of approx. 5 MPH

-Getting to the top of Monarch Crest today with an elevation of 11,312
feet.

-Following said summiting with a group Cupid Shuffle Dance

-The descents of the past two days down the mountains. Flying through
8 miles of terrain in less than 10 minutes maxing out at 45
MPH...yeeehaaaw

-Riding through the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs (pictures
above)

-Meeting at least 4 other transcontinental riding groups or persons
along route 24. We met people riding from Blacksburg, VA to Portland
and a group going from Canada to Mexico along the Divide.

The pictures!!!

Fotos

2009-06-27T12:27:00.001-07:00

1.the (shy) Alex Riemondy and my sweat stained jersey on a road over a lake.

2. Me laughing about someone or something or biking or whatever

3. Beautiful sunrise view over the Arkansas River on our ride over the Big Dam Bridge.

4, 5. A game of Mini Tank (get on all fours and plow into each other till you fall) funny

Fotos

2009-06-27T11:50:00.001-07:00

1. One of MANY group hugs

2, 3. Double piggy back on Stephen after a build day in Little Rock. Admirable.

4. A typical lunch stop mid ride. I think that day Chick Fil-A donated food to us

Some oldies but goodies

2009-06-27T11:41:00.001-07:00

DAY OFF

2009-06-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

Look, we found Wendy!

Snapping a little back to civilization, Stephen, Amy, and I are at a
Starbucks in Colorado Springs. Say what you want, think what you may -
we're taking it easy with some coffee and internets. Steve man is
doing job applications, Saunders is cue sheeting, I'm blogging, and we
all have too many inside jokes to keep us laughing and everyone around
us wondering. This is our last day off of the trip. It gives me peace
of mind and a refreshed feeling to have a day of nothing. Time you
enjoy wasting is not time wasted.

Today comes after our build day with pikes peak habitat. It was a
beautiful area with mountains all around - so fresh and vibrant. And
it wasn't blistering hot like all the southern build sites! We laid
foundation down and a week from now SC2SC is gonna come and build for
a week and COMPLETE the house. That's right. Bike and Build is
building an entire house. We work together as a whole organization
it's neat. I am bike and build. At first I felt like I was signing up
for a trip, kind of like doing a camp adventure - where I was an
observer being led along for the experience. But I realize now that
that notion was all wrong and that I'm doing my own leading, creating
my own journey, and giving up myself for something bigger and greater
than me. I represent bike and build and it's very cool to be a part
of something like that. When someone in a gas station comes up to me
and asks why all these funny looking cyclists are coming in, I get to
give them the spiel and represent us. It's not just me on this trip, I
and everyone else MAKE the trip. Its different to me, especially since
I've always delegated myself as a floater and individual; I have found
comfort in this group and find my experiences to be really great and
completly worthwhile. All I'm trying to say is that this is awesome...
I need a thesaurus because I'm starting to overuse that word.

Other people are taking the day in full speed and with the spirit of
Colorado. More than half our group woke up at 5:30AM (not me! :) ) to
go skydiving, white water rafting, and rock climbing. These people are
crazy. We spend the past month BIKING across America and then on our
day off they want to do more physical activity. I'll be happy today to
get new bartape from a bike shop.

My bike is getting the makeover it deserves. I get such a fuzzy
feeling everytime I tune, clean, and take care of my bike. How nerdy.
But take care of your bike and it will take care of you across the
country...
New brake pads, tires, chain etc etc thanks to the maildrop we just
got (thanks mom and dad) and THANK YOU Ms Thompson for the brownies.
Loved that you sent something.

Last night was fun too...went out to some Mexican joint and took it
over in our typical swarm fashion. Margarita madness. Completly loud
and obnoxious - we clear an area pretty quick. But I think other
people look at us and can tell how much, yes I'll use the word, love
is floating around and see that our ruckus comes from a place of good
heart. If that makes any sense at all to anyone but me. Anyway it was
really fun and it didn't even need to be said, but weight of our
progress and accomplishment really rides on the shoulders of everyone.
It's something to felt instead of said.

I'll try and follow this post with some fun pictures and memories
since I have time. Next four days of riding are intense climb days and
will be tough but hey, I've already biked halfway across the country.
What's next?

For Freedom!!

2009-06-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did the most physically exerting thing I've ever done. By
the time I got to the host location, I was too exhausted to blog or
really do anything. Two things were on my mind - eat and sleep. And I
did that. But yesterday was also the most awesome day: I biked 127
MILES from Rocky Ford to Colorado Springs. Sure there were about 25
flats between everyone (i had a nail and a staple) and that was
frustrating, but lets just take a second to consider this
accomplishment. Started biking at 5:30AM and arrived at 5:00PM. Tons
of rolling hills and valleys and the Rockies and pikes peak in the
distance. Total elevation gain 1800 feet and now we're at an elevation
of of 6000 feet. Woaaaahh

It was hard, it was tough, but we've all been mentally preparing for
this for the past month. This was the longest ride of the trip and
man, I've never had so much inspiration in my life. We all went to
sleep early and woke up early to get our stuff together and get way
pumped. We had a couple motivational speeches from our group, lots of
fierce facepaint, and some jams. But folks, we really got amped up
when Gabe painted half his face blue, lined us up along the sidewalk
with our bikes, and rode out in front of us screaming like a mad man
and gettin us reved up a la Braveheart. He gave the whole William
Wallace speech adapted to biking and it was fierce. I'm sure someone
got it on video. It was really hilarious. A sign of a good leader? I
think so.

Anyway awesome day yesterday. We're inspiring I'm inspired. I feel
accomplished and it was intense. Now I'm on the way to our build site
today and we're laying foundation down.
Day Off Tommorow WoOOOHOOO!!!

Mountain Standard Time

2009-06-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Let's see... I'm pretty tired right now because we just had a 100 mile day. And it was hot, hot, hot. But boy do I have some fun things for you readers.

Right now I'm in a church in Lamar, CO. We crossed into Mountain Standard Time. Woah. We've had a long past couple days of riding with no breaks, but man, we are STRONG! It was 98 miles on one road. Everyone's killing the road, booking it to the west coast. I think today some of the riders were pacelining at 30MPH on the way to the first lunch stop (40 miles). Maybe an exageration, but actually not, I think its true. We are killing it. We ate lunch in a graveyard today. Concidence? I think not.

Tomorrow is a "break" day (80 miles, hardly) and then after that we bike 124 miles to Colorado Springs baby. And then a build day and a rest day. The central US route will be in Denver and MAYBE we will get to meet them. I think a Bike and Build mixer is in store. How cool would that be? I'd be really curious to see how other groups on this trip are and share all the crazy stories we have and our experiences. This is such a unique trip... an experience... a memory to last forever. Damn its cool. Never in my short span of life have I ever spent everyday doing something and constantly thinking about how shocking, amazing, and awesome it is. Everyday is like the the drive to the first day of college, or the day before summer starts, or even the day before I came on this trip and meet these people. Ya dig? I am constantly reinvigorated.

Last time I blogged was the morning of the day we had a scavenger hunt. It was an easier day (60 miles, haha), so there was a list compiled of things to do. It was a looooong day because we took a bunch of detours. My group was outside for about 5 hours and only went about 15 miles. The reason was that one of our scavenger hunt items was to milk a cow. Not so easy, as you can imagine. After visiting several farms, we were directed to a dairy farm. We found it, but it was on a gravel road that took about 10 miles to get there. Tough riding, but totally worth it. It was just about the most ridiculous thing I've done so far while riding. Thousands of cows - the smelliest place you can imagine - all riding the carousel of milking and waiting for a chain to hit their heads so they get off the carousel. Ben was the brave one and decided to milk a cow (only after being really afraid of getting kicked in the face by the cow).

He also took a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u41FT_kHbN0

And here we are being given a tour of dairy farm, by the lovely 11 days due Daisy. Like I said, ridiculous.

All together, all our different groups were able to do things such as solicit kisses from strangers, get handcuffed (that was me), make trades with locals, go on a date with a grandmother, find a bullwhip, and carry part of a kids playhouse 6 miles on our bike (go Ginger go).

Two good videos.. these are keepers:

When we were at the University of Ozarks, (we stayed in a dorm), we were interviewed and taped. They got us after we did a century and even got some footage of us jumping in the fountain we weren't suppposed to (lifes too short, right?). They did a short video of us. Its cool and I say a little something in it as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF7RncJetfU

Also notable, and HILARIOUS. When we were biking to Little Rock, AR (back in the day).. several of us had a strange encounter with a man on the road who drove up beside us and started filming us while talking to us. He sounded very southern and was asking a lot of questions and we had no idea what to think. Upon further inspection, we noticed a baby deer nibbling on his ear in his lap. what? Exactly. He turned out to be really cool and offered accomodations to us next year. Flathead2020, this goes out to you. Here is the video of us and his deer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Z_0GqW2f4

Bullet update

2009-06-22T03:26:00.000-07:00

A quick recap of the past two days in a concise manner:

-biked 90 miles to a new state, Kansas. It was a very rainy day, but
quite fast and everyone flew on our way to Coldwater, KS (population -
dwindling)

-we camped out by a lake in Coldwater. Tents were first annihilated by
a storm but then it got much better. This picture is from everyone
hanging out by our tents, chilling and watching the sunset. Some went
canoeing, others jumped in the lake, and we had smores that night. It
was all topped off by some star gazing. Andy was able to turn off the
only lamppost by us, so we were in total darkness watching the stars
and some heat lightning. It was surreal.

-woke up pretty late after camping and made our way to Dodge City (we
got the heck into dodge instead of out of it). 85 miler - it was
pretty hot and I ate at a diner in the middle of nowhere after 10
miles. i was nearly falling asleep on my bike after that. Oops. But
made it here, no problem.

-another happy fathers day shout out to all the fathers.

-additional shout out to Kim Thompson, who I'm told is an avid reader
of blogs and a fan of mine. Nice

-also a happy birthday to Amanda on this trip who now currently has a
bike wrapped in toilet paper an streamers all over her bike as well as
a princess crown attached to it. So much love..

OnWards we go... And today we have a scavenger hunt organized by greg
and Gabe for our bike ride. Sweeet

Death on 8 legs

2009-06-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Oh and here's and tarantula we saw on the road a couple days ago.
Probably a sign of the strange terrain and animals to come

Mr. Phillips, Toby, Me

2009-06-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

There you have it.

A little wisdom - like he told me - we're all put in certain places
and times for a purpose. We just have to open our eyes and see the
oppurtunity. Fortunetly I was in the right place and time for my bike
to compleltely malfunction.

b&B...

A different way there

2009-06-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

Right now it's my chore group's turn to do laundry. So Amanda, Dylan,
and I are at some very sketchy laundrymat in Cherokee, OK. There is no
one here and not even employees here watching the place. The bathroom
is locked. A few machines dont work. Theres an old Dr. Pepper machine
next to me and also one of the washing machines is violently shaking
around as its rinsing. We need to do everyones laundry so it takes
awhile, but it gives us time to chill and hang out. And do things like
update my blog. As you can see, we carried in 31 cyclists dirty
clothes in two tarps (one dryer ok clothes and another for non dryer
(like our jerseys))

Anyway today was very different day. But, as it were, it turned out
very well for me. We had a 70 mile strech on one road today and the
headwinds were KILLER. I mean this was probably one of the hardest
riding days because the wind would literally throw you off your bike.
If you had no hands on the handlebars, you would get blown of the
road. It was harder than climbing a mountain. In any case, hard day.

But then came a wonderful man by the name of Butch Phillips. This is
our story.

Butch's son is a rider on the Central US route this year. Mr. Phillips
plans on driving his VW bus to Canon Beach on the west coast meet his
son when he gets there. But until then, he found out that our trip was
coming near his town, so he decided to stop by our lunch stop and
bring us ice cream and cold drinks. He found us himself and did such a
great thing for strangers, and then he went a step further.

I was biking after our first lunch, at 32 miles and it was so
difficult to pedal because of the wind. I pushed too hard on the pedal
and then poof, my chain broke and my back derailed flew off (see? I
have calves of steel). Unfortunetly this meant my riding for the day
was over so I had to call the van to pick me up. A bummer, sure, but
it was a crappy day for riding anyway..

The real issue was finding a bike shop in the middle of nowhere (where
we are) that carried a specific part for my bike and was able to fix
it. Long story short, mr. Phillips found out for us that a bike shop
with the right stuff was 70 miles the other direction about an hour
and a half away. Amy, the van driver for the day, could have driven me
there but it would have really messed up the day for our whole group.
So Mr Phillips said he would drive me. This man, this gracious man and
wonderful human being, and his dog Toby, had lunch with me, got me a
tshirt from Eskimo Joes, and helped me deal with the repair funds. He
then drove me to Cherokee, about 140 miles away now, and brought me
back with the rest of the group. I had an awesome day and learned a
lot about him.

I can not thank him enough and that is why this post is dedicate to
Butch Phillips.

I may have arrived at our host in a different fashion, but hanging out
with the car dealer/part time sheriff/and storm spotter (all Mr
Phillips) made it a fantastic day.

You might not hear the same thing from everyone else though heh...
They're pretty grumpy with cycling because it was such a tough day and
we have 90 miles of the same tommorow. Life works in strange ways

This church is prayer conditioned

2009-06-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

Just another great quote from one of the church marquees along our
ride today. I'm also partial to "Caution: exposure to the Son will
prevent burning." That one made me laugh for a long time on my bike
today. The signs get more and more clever.

I'm in Ponca City, OK now.

This picture is of Bennet and the sky this morning after our 4:30 AM
wakeup. It was really beautiful and a nice way to start the roughly 90
mile day. It was a pretty ride with some quiet backroads and quaint
scenery. I saw some dogs in the same pen as some goats at one point.
Even though it was 96 degrees and there were 20-30 MPH winds it was
still okay. Because you know what? There are only good days and great
days.. I have yet to have a bad one. Honestly. This day was a great
day because we took a detour and went to a water park about 10 miles
from our host. We overtook "Fun N Sun" waterpark and got a bunch of
confused looks from all the 10 year olds there. Imagine a bunch of
young adults all wearing cycling shorts spandex having the time of
their lives in a kid dominated waterpark. That was us and THAT was a
lot of fun.

Today begins our 8 day strech of riding. It will be tough and it all
builds up to Colorado Springs where we have our longest ride day of
124 miles. I'm pretty used to my bike now though (it's about time,
right?). Like I said before, cycling 70 or 80 miles is no longer a big
deal for me and I really enjoy it. I've found my groove, as have most
of the other people on this trip. I understand now why everyone who
does this trip rants and raves about how great it is.

It took a couple of weeks to work the kinks out - getting used to each
other 24/7, forming a group cohesivness, moving past the soreness,
being tired all the time, the early wakeups, the constant movement,
the bike problems etc etc and so on and so forth. But now I have come
to embrace all these things and they are just a matter of fact. I'm
used to this lifestyle and I really like it. It's sounds strange to
say after a month, but I finally feel like I'm doing the bike and
build thing. I feel part of this group, an odd team, something bigger
than me and I go to sleep every night knowing that this experience
will and IS transforming every one of us. This is it. Call me an
idealist, but I will scoff because I get the feeling that the 30 other
people with me realize this also. And that just makes the experience
so much better, don't you think? We're all here to do some good, make
a small difference, and have a GREAT time. San Diego here we come. 1
month to go...

PS I did a shout out to the moms, and here is my early fathers day
shout out to the dads. I know you're out there following as well and
supporting all of us. Keep on keeping on and being proud. It means a
lot.

Summertime and the login's easy

2009-06-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Bartlesville, OK. This picture is from the presentation
we just gave about bike and build to the church that is hosting us. We
try and give these presentations whenever we can so people get a
better idea about what we're doing. We give some stats, explain a day
in the life, and show a sweet bike and build promo video (which you
can find on the website) that I never grow tired if watching. Today
our presentation group (these 5 - we rotate every week) even showed
off some of their tan lines...

Our rest day was today and we explored downtown and some of us went to
go see the movie Up. It was a Fantastic movie and I highly recommend
it. Stranger even, is doing "normal" people things like seeing a movie
after being on this trip so long. It was nice though. Our hosts at the
First Church of Christ have been awesome to us and provided buses to
the places we went today. This is good news, I tell you, because the
heat and humidity is killer. Who thought the Midwest would be so hot?

Had this trip started? To echo Dylan's sentiment in his journal entry
- absolutely. We're half way there and the bonds, inside jokes, and
comfort grow stronger each and every day. Of course it gets hotter
(we're wakin up at 430am tommorow to avoid the heat!) and the rides
longer (124 mile day in Colorado Springs), but it's all just part I
the experience - we're in it together.

I forgot to mention the ride into this town - that was yesterday, but
we left much later than we usually do in the morning because of some
serious storms. Once we got rolling, though, we were flying with tons
if tailwind. At one point I was coasting at 20MPH. It was awesome. Got
here fast, although it was nearly 100 degrees in the later part of the
ride.

Last night we took over the bowling alley (and bar...) and had some
cosmic esqe bowling followed by some impromtu dance partying. Hilarity
ensued. Fun was had by all. Maybe even some pictures later.
Interesting to note, however, is how when we have a day off the next
day, everyone still falls asleep by 1130 and wakes up the next day at
9am (considered "sleeping in" by our standards...)

And the adventure continues!

state signs and in three states at once

2009-06-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

You have received new photos from Sharif Morad.

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I just ate at a Chinese Buffet in Oklahoma

2009-06-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

Today was an "easy" day... we rode 73 miles from Arkansas, hit the state line of Missouri, and then came through to Grove, Oklahoma - where I am now. 3 States in one day, not bad, huh? I'll post pictures of the signs later tonight. There were a lot of Walmart trucks on along the way.

Riding gets easier every day and its nice to have these days of riding where the mileage goes down everyday. First we had 102 miles, then 85 miles, today 73 miles, and I think tomorrow is something in the 60's. Wow that's crazy. I remember training and thinking a 20 mile ride was long.

A couple of things, dear readers, that you may be interested in.

If you go here - http://bikeandbuild.org/rider/route.php?route=NC2SD&year=2009 - you can see where we are in the US, and in addition, you can find links to other rider's blogs, read the 'official' journal of what we do everyday, and view some photos that have been uploaded. I think its really neat to look at that map - we are nearly HALF WAY through the US. I have literally traveled from host to host on a bicycle - no car ride or walking or anything. Just good ol' biking. It's amazing what we're capable of.

I mentioned it in an earlier post, but here are some links to some videos Ben posted - they're pretty cool. It's one thing to read about what we're doing, but when you actually see a video of us on our bikes - where we are for about 5-6 hours a day - its pretty neat. Its us in our element.

Watching Timur descend down the mountain from atop the mountain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFomf5V53_8

Just another day on our bicycles (we don't normally ride with this many people together, so maybe its a little misleading, but it happens sometimes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsKcHfUOs_o

List of 10 Reasons to do Bike and Build:

10. The massive amounts of food you eat because you burn 2000+ calories a day

9. The constant high of endorphins everyone is on because you're biking so much

8. The places you sleep; so far - an armory, camping out in front of a church, and in various churches (there's a tae kwon do class going on in the room below me right now). What an adventure

7. Peanut Butter Jelly Time. All the time.

6. The views you see and the speed you feel (or don't feel because its windy) on a bike. Ernest Hemingway:
"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle."

5. The 5AM wake ups. Maybe not so much a good reason, but it leads to basically being done with your responsibilities for the day by 2.

4. All the armadillo's you see. Unfortunately, they've all been dead. I have yet to see a live armadillo and have seen about 20 dead ones.

3. It happens everday we arrive at a new host - Duffel bag diarrhea:

2. POOL PARTIES!

1. *Drum roll please*
The people. The other 30 people with me and the all the generous, curious, and doubtful people we've met along the way.

(And views like this):

A perfect day

2009-06-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

If you've ever wondered how to have a perfect day, here's how (the
picture is of riders about to descend on mountain after 1200 foot
climb):

-Wake up at 5AM in Clarksville, AR and eat a breakfast of biscuits,
eggs, hashbrowns, and bagels.

-Bike 83 miles to Fayettville thru rain, climbing the Ozark Mountains
and facing several hills.

-Reach host at 2, take a shower, find local burrito place - The Flying
Burrito -eat too much and come back to host for...

-3'oclock nap time or whatever you want to do

-Wake up at 6 and eat big meal provided by host

-Vegetate/read/blog/watch a movie/clean your bike/hang out

-Back to sleep...repeat again in the morning

Eat. Sleep. Bike. And Build.

Can I kick it? Yes I can

2009-06-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to sleep in Little Rock AR, knowing I'd have bike a
century today. I was sort of dreading it because the past two rides
had been difficult. I woke up this morning feeling the same way, but
as soon as we were on the road it was AWESOME.

I'm in Clarksville, AR now and our 102 mile ride was so exhilirating.
We've all gotten so much stronger and today was a testament to that.
It was a beautiful ride and just great. I know this is a blog for the
written word, but unfortunetly I can't find the words to describe the
feelings and emotions of everyone now. Let's just say everyone jumped
in the fountain at the campus were staying at once we arrived.

Everyday of bike and build that we ride is like this. We all wake up
groggy and move around in chaos trying to clean and get ready.
Sometimes it's even pretty easy to feel unmotivated when you have to
bike at least 70 miles after waking up at 5AM. Once we're on the road,
maybe we get lost, miss a turn, someone doesn't chalk a turn on the
poad, it's really hot, it's really hilly, you get a flat, etc etc (you
get the idea, BUT once we reach the host all that fizzles away and you
really get that "it was worth it" feeling. Everyday is a new challenge
and accomplisment on this trip.

I had one of those moments on my bike today where I wasn't really
thinking about what I was doing. Kind of like when you drive your car
from one familiar place to another. You're looking ahead, but might as
well be concentrating on the windshield instead if what's actually in
front of you. You're operating on autopilot. I know, sounds like I'm
on my way to getting into an accident. But what I mean is that I was
just cycling and forgetting that we've already gone more than 1/3 the
way across AMERICA on a BIKE. Looking at a map and seeing where we are
baffles me everytime. When I realized this remembered the journey and
the progress we've made, I snapped back to reality and couldn't help
but smile.

Welcome to Arkansas

2009-06-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Once again we've crossed another stateline - now I'm in flat and very
windy Arkansas. We had to cross this bridge in the picture to get into
Arkansas from Memphis, TN. To give you an idea of the flatness of AR,
today our ride to Little Rock included 58 miles of one flat road with
strong headwind and yesterday's ride to Brinkley had 62 miles of the
same conditions. Both rides were 85 miles total and pretty
unexpectedly difficult, mostly because if the wind. Today's ride was
great though - we got on a sweet bike path thru a golf course and
alongside a river. And then we crossed a bridge named the Big Dam
Bridge (not kidding).

I've had trouble making posts/I've been really exhausted lately, but
I'll try and recount what has happened.

We weren't in TN too long, but for 7 straight days we had riding with
no off days or build days until we reached Memphis. It was pretty
intense, but there was definetly a sense of accomplisment and a great
wave if relief when we made it to Germantown (near Memphis) and were
greeted by yet another pool party by Anna's relatives. It was great
and the food stupendous. We had a day off and got free tickets to a
minor league game in Memphis and explored the downtown area. Lots of
live music on Beale street. I think some people checked out Graceland
as well. Not me though, I chose biking to a movie over Graceland and
it was awesome.

I wish I could remember more about what transpired before Memphis, but
to be honest I can't remember what we did or where we were. I only
know today is Thursday just because we had a mail drop pickup today
(which, by the way, if you're reading this, I love energy gel, shot
blocks, assorted gifts, surprises, and love letters. Info for how to
send mail is on the bike and build website [2009 maildrops, NC2SD
route]). We're only in towns for a day or two and moving about so I
never really know what day of the week it is or what the date is.
Mostly because it doesn't matter...we're traveling nomads. My only
responsibilities are to bike and build, literally. And do some chores.
Thinking back to earlier host sites back at the beginning of the trip
is really difficult and seems SO long ago. A lot has happened and
everything that has is a big mismatch of events in my head. I guess
that's what biking to San Diego 65 days will do to you.

Also,

Dear dedicated mothers of NC2SD riders,
I am well aware that I have a captive audience amongst most, if not
all, the moms of this trip. And I love that. Big shout out to my mom
and all the moms who keep supporting everyone on this trip with
cookies/letters/love etc. The same goes for all the fathers, siblings
and friends. It really means a lot when we have a mail pickup and
people get awesome packages. It's almost like the fire of enthusiasm
on this trip is reignited everytime we get mail because we see how
excited the "outside world" is for us. I mean it, it really keeps
everyone going.

Anyway, moms, I also know I have competiton with Nhans blog. But, put
simply, I'm better and you should keep reading my blog. And send me
things to show your support...or read both and only send me things ;)
I love to eat and enjoy comments on my blog. But really thanks for
reading -everytime someone on this trip gets off the phone with their
parents and tells me their mom follows me it keeps me going AND makes
me want to update my blog more.

GO BIKE AND BUILD WOOHOO!!!

Dauss mountain at the top, feeling sexy at mile 60, more mountains in the sun

2009-06-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

You have received new photos from Sharif Morad.

-- Email sent with the "Multi-Photo Email" iPhone application --

Caves, underwater lake, armory sunrise, waterfall detour, trailer paint

2009-06-09T10:19:00.001-07:00

You have received new photos from Sharif Morad.

-- Email sent with the "Multi-Photo Email" iPhone application --

More mountains, building in maryville, armory in dunlap, descent to underwater lakes

2009-06-09T10:08:00.001-07:00

Also... Check bennetts blog for some cool videos

Asheville, mountains, assorted fun

2009-06-09T09:54:00.001-07:00

You have received new photos from Sharif Morad.

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Also

2009-06-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Also thanks to Diane who hosted me, Dylan, Stephen, and Greg in her
beautiful home in Monteagle. It was great!!

Really tired

2009-06-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Stopped at the jack daniels distillery today and took a tour. It was
on our way to Pulaski, TN. The town the distillery is in is a dry
town. Long ago Jack (in the picture) kicked his safe in a fit of
frustration, and as a result, contracted gang green and died. Ouch.

Right now I'm in a dorm about to doze off because I am completely
exhausted after a 90 mile ride of rolling hills AND a pool party at
the mayor of Pulaski's house (!) people are so nice to us wherever we
go and I love it, but as Stephen and I were discussing we're pretty
much focused on one thing when we get to our hosts - water and food.

For all those reading this, I am so happy and gracious for you hosting
all of us and hope you don't take it personally when we walk in like
crazy people, proceed to stake out around all the food, fail at
smalltalk, eat all the food, and then fall into a comatose state. You
think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Its hard to be on point after 8 hours
of cycling but regardless, I will make every effort to know all the
people I meet along the way. Anyway THANK YOU!!

I have to fall asleep now - 5am wakeup for another 90 mile day... Here
we come California..

Fwd: Read my journal entry on the bike an build website

2009-06-04T16:19:00.001-07:00

Begin forwarded message:

From: Sharif Morad <sharifmorad@gmail.com>
Date: June 4, 2009 6:11:17 PM CDT
To: "sharifmorad.bikes@blogger.com" <sharifmorad.bikes@blogger.com>
Subject: Read my journal entry on the bike an build website

I wrote a journal entry about our day into Dayton on the trip journal- on the bike and build website. Read it and other entries there!

A major shout out goes to Hoyle and Janet, from one of our Habitat builds, who sent me a "cool downz" headband. It's awesome! I will be wearing it.

Here's a picture of our newly painted trailer. It looks really sweet now. Hats off to the painters and innovators.

By the way, please ignore any strange spam messages or weird sounding ads on my blog. Sometimes it happens... Outside of my control.

Today we climbed Dauss Mtn, which according to several in the Dayton Armory and most in TN is Really Hard. And it was. The first 2 miles was insanely steep. It was tough but everyday is. We made it.

More later, but I gotta stop pecking away at my phone and eat

Read my journal entry on the bike an build website

2009-06-04T16:11:00.001-07:00

I wrote a journal entry about our day into Dayton on the trip journal-
on the bike and build website. Read it and other entries there!

A major shout out goes to Hoyle and Janet, from one of our Habitat
builds, who sent me a "cool downz" headband. It's awesome! I will be
wearing it.

Here's a picture of our newly painted trailer. It looks really sweet
now. Hats off to the painters and innovators.

Tennassee

2009-06-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like I have somehow ended up in an armory in Sweetwater, TN. Right now we are in an army national guard armory. Not because anything is wrong, but just because this is the place past NC2SD trips have stayed. Interesting.. It really breaks the cycle of churches and camping.

Today we had a pleasant 40 mile ride from Maryville, TN to Sweetwater, TN - it was a LOT less hilly than the past several days of riding. We went up mountains in Ashville (the first major mountain climb), then up TWO mountains on the way to Gatlinburg, TN to cross the state line of NC and TN. Those 2 mountains really were tough and probably one of the hardest rides of the summer, but it was such an awesome feeling to get to the second peak. Tons of wild emotion from everyone.

But let's backtrack:

In Ashville, our 31 person group split up into 3 groups for our build day. My group went to build with a local affordable housing chapter that worked with residents in Ashville. We helped build a ramp for a trailer home, all in one day. We did it completely from nothing to a ramp in one day. I have some pictures I'll post of the completed project, but it was quite an accomplishment for roughly 10 people. From nothing to something, BAM! Makes me feel like I'm making a difference or something or whatever this summer...

From Ashville it was the crazy 2 mountain 90 mile day. (A day that will live in infamy). I probably picked a bad day to eat Bojangles, but I made it and it was awesome. AWESOME. Going up a 9% grade mountain at about 5-6MPH for roughly 9 miles and then finally making it to the top makes you feel like you are literally and figuratively, in a manner of speaking, totally freaking awesome.

After eating like Barbarians in Gatlinburg at roughly 5PM (The time people started arriving at our host site in Gatlinburg. Remember, we left at about 8AM in the morning), we all decidedly passed out in our camping tents, on the lawn of a church in Gatlinburg. I can tell you that everyone slept like babies that night.

After waking up in Gatlinburg (which, by the way, was a surprisingly touristy town. Who would have thought a population of about ~5000 would have a downtown area that looks like part of Busch Gardens), we made our way to Maryville. It had some cool descents as we zooped along the river down a mountain hill.

In Maryville, we also did another build day. It was a really impressive day. (Photos from that later also). We put in floors for a house that didn't have much in it and was just getting started. It went from no floors, to FLOORS! It was also really hot... I think I drank about 6 bottles of water and ate 3 popsicles. No joke people, Bike and Build - hardcore. And who said this was a vacation..? pssh...

We left Maryville, after getting some great eats at TomatoHead, and having a nice paid dinner from Habitat at Audreys (I think that was the name). I ate aaaa loooot of bread, salad, chili, and mashed potatoes. Oh and dessert. Man I love to eat. And I love it even more when I know I'm bking 3500 miles this summer.

And now I'm in this armory. We just went to see an underwater cave lake at this placed called "The Lost Sea Adventure!" (exclamation point not actually there; added for emphasis). It was neat. We experienced total natural darkness when the tour guide turned off the lights in one part of the cave. I'm pretty sure it was just about the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced.

:)

Now we're making burritos for dinner tonight. I've been with these people 24/7 for a little over 2 weeks now - weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeirrrrdd....But cool.

Oh and pictures I stole from other people's blogs:

Our group after doing some rehibilitation dry wall in Ashville with a local Davidson organization called Hammers. And of course, I'm not looking

And some work on the inside of the house we were doing

In Ashville, this is the area we started working on with the ramp:

And this is us lined up on the finished product, roughly 8 hours later.

Nice.

An image from our build day in Maryville (doing flooring). And what a surprise, I'm not looking.

Here's a VIDEO OF IT TOO!! OMGOMGOMG!!! Props to Bennett...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z6uDj78wB4

Now, my current location. This is Sharif, over and out:

Pics from charlotte to forest city to ashville

2009-05-31T18:11:00.001-07:00

Tree roadblock detour leaving charlotte

Bike metal man

Some pretty views on the first tough climb of the trip to ashville

I'm in maryville,TN right now and I will blog hopefully soon about our past couple mountain days. It was intense! And beautiful. We climbed up the smokey mountains to cross into TN and I've never felt so accomplished. going down a mountain at 42 mph was like being on my own personal rollercoaster. It was so exhilirating

Two mountains... One goal..TN

2009-05-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

Today was an even greater feat... 90 mile ride up two mountains. A 8
mile climb up the second mountain... Too extreme. The smokey
mountains? Yeah... Been there done that BAM!

I'll make a longer post once I find a computer...

Ride to Ashville

2009-05-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

The greatest day ever. A day up a mountain with a long climb.
Beautiful views. I am satisfied.

Stopping

2009-05-26T17:05:00.001-07:00

Stopping can be one of the most dangerous things a cyclist does. It is probably one if the easiest ways to get into an accident if you don't know what you're doing. You need to yell "stopping" or stick a five fingered hand behind you so people around you know your intentions. And usually, somebody will always make the mistake of not downshifting when they start pedaling again (which slows you down even more and makes you more vulnerable).

I've had these experiences, along with everyone else on the trip. Yet, stopping on this trip has been one of the most pleasant decisions I've made. We're moving so fast everyday from road to road, town to town and it's good to slow down. Take some time to "realize" and "appreciate."

For example, on our way from Chapel Hill to Winston-Salem, Timur and I stopped to save another turtle in the middle of the road from certain death. Our official committee for roadkill is up to a count of about 120, so I wasn't about to let this guy become another number:

He was hiding in his shell, too scared to move

In his new safe location...

And then in Chapel Hill we stopped and took a seat in the planetarium to witness some stars and this giant machine... quite a marvel, but also an easy way to fall asleep if you've been building a house all day.

Upon arrival to a church in Winston-Salem, a game of knockout was considered necessary in the church gym. Sometimes you just gotta stop cycling and pick up a basketball. Even after cycling a hilly 90 miles and getting lost...

And then sometime you'll be biking and see some goats and freak out because... THEY'RE GOATS!!

Our stop in Charlotte, NC led us to Zach's house - a former Bike and Build alumni from NC2SD 2007 (the first time the route happened). He was a true pioneer and quite enthusiastic about our trip. But please, if you will, imagine 31 people packed into a tiny North Carolina home. Sometimes we just needed to stop and realize how insane that was... and then after that - PARTY! Well, not really, but at least take load off after a long travel from Winston-Salem to Charlotte.

Even when we did some remodeling with the Davidson College organization "Hammers," we needed a break to play some monkey in the middle.

And then another POOL PARTY!!!

So maybe you can tell by this post that all my time is not just spent biking and building. There's a lot of time to do an assortment of things (if you can stay awake after 5+ hours of cycling). But back to my rambling; Mornings are chaotic - we all wake up at 5AM and scrabble to clean up everything from the night before and get all our gear together. We need to eat breakfast, fill the lunch coolers with peanut butter and other foodstuffs, make the gatorade, get our cue sheets (for the route), write a thank you card, make sure everyone's bike works, make sure we haven't lost anything and then BIKE. And then biking usually takes 5-7 hours. We typically get a little lost, eat lunch somewhere along the way, and then once we arrive at our host location we need to scramble and get our shower stuff together so we can get shuttled to the local YMCA (or wherever we get a chance to shower). Then, if we're lucky, get a nice dinner from the host and then do about a gajillion other things. Maybe an exaggeration, but as you can see, we're always moving about and its pretty chaotic.

It's easy to get flustered and lost in the motion of things (especially since what I described above is a pretty typical day). But I think the most important moments of this summer are when we stop doing all those things and just take some time to get to know each other. Just hanging out. Stopping and realizing what we're doing. Sitting on the curb waiting for the van after a shower, talking about fine cheese. Everyone is slowly revealing their personalities and falling into their comfort zones. Any initial impressions have mostly been completely wiped from my brain and its interesting how different you can come to view a person after knowing them for a week.

This is the most rambled post I've made, so now I'm going to STOP. And Neel wants to use the computer..

Sunny Sunny Days

2009-05-23T13:35:00.001-07:00

This is the third day we've been in Chapel Hill, staying at the Chapel of the Cross Church. Today was our day off and boy is it good. Tommorow we got a 90 miler to Winston-Salem with a lot of hills. Time to work on that climbing technique...

We spent yesterday building with Habitat for Humanity around Chapel Hill and we made some awesome progress (pictures shown below). Even in the face of rather unsultry temperatures, we accomplished a lot and it was even more satisfying because we got to meet the homeowner. And is it turns out, our route (NC2SD) donates a major chunk of our fundraised money to Habitat for Humanity in this area (Orange County, NC). I'm not sure of the exact amount, but I know we helped fund a significant amount of the house we were building and made it possible. Pretty cool stuff.

Something that takes some getting used to is all the food that people throw at us. Since we're all living on very limited individual and Bike and Build funds, we usually scavenge any leftover food everytime we eat at a church/a build site. Right now, we have a cooler packed with tons of yougart, soda, apples, bananas, peanut butter, icecream and pita bread. And the church we're staying at always makes too much food for breakfast/dinner, so we literally have an entire fridge of meatloaf, bagels, cream cheese, fried chicken, hummus, and about 50 other things for us. I'm sure we'll end up taking most, if not all, of this stuff with us when we hit the road again tommorow.

Here's a photo from that century (100 mile ride) we did to Wake Forest the other day. As you can see, we all take ourselves very seriously on this trip:

This was the stop at about mile 65 on our accidental century to Wake Forest. We all commiserated together, and ate a lot of snacks. It was one of those unplanned things (my favorite) that just worked out really well.

After taking a beautiful ride from Wake Forest to Chapel Hill (passing thru Duke University), we were greeted by Alf at the Chapel Hill church.

Chilling with some kids at the bike clinic, and teaching them their bike ABC's (air, brakes, cables). I think some of them even enjoyed riding their bikes more than I did because there were a couple of speed demons who loved to dash around. It was fun:

The day of building - we came to a house that basically didn't have much except a foundation, and added A LOT of framing and walls.

Matt working hard:

My shadow (saw a lot of that yesterday - it was hot!)

The epic moment right before putting up the first wall of the house. It was quite a sight to see.

All this framing was done in one day. I personally thought building was harder than cycling, but it was still really good work we got to do.

Some designs on the walls of East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill:

I've never been here before, but it is, as a friend of mine would say, a pretty crunchy place. It reminds me a lot of Charlottesville in many ways. It also has really nice people at the Ben and Jerry's. I lost my wallet there and then I got a call from them the next day telling me they had it. WORD! I'm real glad I found that. Losing stuff has become pretty a common theme with everyone on this trip so far and its ONLY been a week. I'll be lucky to arrive in San Diego with a pair of socks and my bike in one piece at this point ;)

And finally, the POOL PARTY from today's day off. Sarah lives in Chapel Hill, so her parents invited us all over to their house to hang out, eat and swim. It was a great way to take a load off.

A short photo story:

Oh yeah.

The great thing about this organization is that Bike and Build sort of functions as an extended family. Along this trip so far, we've met probably at least 5 different alumni who have come to just hang out with us or help us in some way, or just come and yabber about how much they love Bike and Build. It's a totally chill thing and these people come out to US because they feel so passionately about Bike and Build. Their enthuasism is contagious. It makes me think long and hard about the overall experience I'm going to have this summer (overwhelmy positive, it appears).

I'm writing this, only a week into this 9 week trip, and can hardly imagine the next couple weeks which involve biking up a MOUNTAIN and thru the desert. Time to go take a nap... yes...

UNC

2009-05-22T05:03:00.000-07:00

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Sharif Morad <sharifmorad@gmail.com>
Date: May 21, 2009 5:57:03 PM EDT
To: "sharifmorad.bikes@blogger.com" <sharifmorad.bikes@blogger.com>
Subject: UNC

Today we biked from Wake Forest to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and now we're all in a church watching Cash Cab:

It wasn't a bad ride, and we passed thru Duke along the way. Very scenic and a lot of downhills (always good).

Yesterday, when we biked to Wake Forest, we got a little lost and most of us ended up doing our first century (100 miles). It was EXTREME and took from 8am to 6pm - yes that is 10 hours of cycling. I don't think anyone ever thought they could bike that much, but we all did it and basically crashed after showering and eating.

We are in Chapel Hill for 3 days - tommorow we will build with Habitat for Humanity and Saturday is a FREE day!!! Sarah has offered her house for a pool party because she lives around here and I'm so stoked. So stoked. I get excited just thinking about it as I peck away on my IPhone.

We also did our first bike clinic today. Basically we arrange for kids in the area to come hang out with their bikes and we teach them about basic bike maintence and saftey. It's a way to how back to the community that is nice enough to host us.

Ah a maildrop just came in. I need to go check and see if any if you love me enough...

UNC

2009-05-21T14:57:00.001-07:00

Today we biked from Wake Forest to the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill and now we're all in a church watching Cash Cab:

Las fotos

2009-05-19T20:58:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you have a birthday on Bike and Build. Especially when your name is Ginger and you fail to mention to everyone that it is your birthday. "You can ride, but you can't hide"

These are some photos from Nags Head beach on our first day riding, wheel dipping ceremony.

Hanging out and itching to go

This ones for you, Mom and Dad:

I told Ginger and Andy to look majestic and this is their interpretation...

A nice photo of two out of four of our fearless leaders. Playing in the sand...

LEADERS:

Gabe - (foreground) Reliable, Loud, Enthusiastic, Killer Stache

Anna - (in the sand) Similar, less loud (no stache)

Amy - (no photo) Camera shy...just kidding

Steve - (laughing in next photo) infectious laugh, embodies all traits above as well

They guide us, prepare us, and somehow manage to get us all to take care of one another. We are lost (literally), without them.

Steve and Gabe:

View from on top of the "Welcome to Nags Head" sign:

Hitting the road on our first day (66 miles). We were in this road for about 60 miles ... an endless stretch of swamp and road

Think of me riding my bike and trying to take a photo in front of me. Now, appreciate the detail. Read this again. Marvel at my feat:

The road didn't actually look like this, but I'd like to think that it did

From my ride today doing sweep

Keeping friends company while changing a flat. TEAMWORK!!

Some of the healthy food I ate at Cubies (local burger joint) after our 54 mile ride. Did I mention that eating takes on a whole new meaning after cycling? I'm pretty sure my calorie intake per day has at least doubled. This phonomena, I like it.

And finally, the design on our trailer from last years trip. We just whitewashed the trailer and now it is being repainted with fresh ideas. Whdat will they be?? Stay tuned. Comment if you are reading this; I know a lot of unfamiliar people are - SHOW yourselves! Are you not entertained!?

You have received new photos from Sharif Morad.

-- Email sent with the "Multi-Photo Email" iPhone application --

Lighthouse

2009-05-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

Snatched this picture off of Nhan's blog...from our first shakedown ride

Saving The World One Turtle At a Time

2009-05-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this from a church in Greensville, NC. I'm on a computer in a really large room that is probably used for church rave parties. Things like "WALK" and "HONOR" are written on the wall.

Today I was a sweep rider, for 54 miles, with Timur. Sweep means that we are the last people in the line of bikers (out of the 31 people riding). We make sure no one gets lost, left behind, or has bike troubles. Whenever our group rides our bikes, it's very unsafe to ride in all together in a line, so everyone usually breaks off into groups of 4-6 people, usually staggering several minutes apart. Timur and I left our host location a half hour after everyone else left, and then alternated between super-high-speed biking, and relaxed easy going biking. Our day of sweep involved:

-Providing Greg moral support as he dealt with his two flat tires
-Saving a turtle on the other side of the road from getting run over
-Averting disaster on the other side of the road by readjusting the position of a trashcan.
-Speaking with an old lady who thought we were lost and and then gave us the funniest look when we told her we were going to California. We gave her the whole Bike and Build spiel, and as a result, she gave me a dollar.

It was a nice day - windy at first, but then the weather warmed up nicely. We're right next to East Carolina University campus, so its a nice college town. Had (multiple) burgers at a local burger joint. There's nothing quite like local food with a good reputation.

It's only day 5, and I feel as if it has been at least a week with these new people. This kooky and abnormal lifestyle is becoming normal and I like that. Other than waking up at 6AM each morning, its pretty good. My curiousity alone makes me want to continue - what happens when 31 strangers spend 9 weeks together 24/7? Find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real... Bike and Build...

Things I need to buy:
-EAR PLUGS!!
-Energy gel
-TIME. (for more sleep)

Pictures coming soon...

First Two Rides

2009-05-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

At a library, and my time is limited. I will post some photos later, but some bullet points.

-Eating a lot and very well at churches
-Faced a lot of rain, wind, and cold today. Luckily, it was only 34 miles. Pretty suboptimal cycling conditions, though.
-Feels like its been longer than 4 days.
-You can read journal entries from EACH day of the trip here:

http://bikeandbuild.org/rider/route.php?route=NC2SD&year=2009

and click the pencil

-Time to eat...

2009-05-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

This trip is awesome.

1 more thing

2009-05-16T20:24:00.001-07:00

I almost forgot the most important part of our day: the food. Our gracious hosts provided us with a potluck dinner FEAST and I ate too fast and too much. But when you're in the presence of such compassion and goodness, you can't help but have an appetite.

We dip our back wheels in the ocean tommorow to signify the start of the trip - a 66 mile ride and that much closer to San Diego. Oy oy...big dinners, good people, cycling stories, and the unknown - I could get used to this.

Shakedown

2009-05-16T19:15:00.001-07:00

Had a short first ride today with some eccentric older male cyclists who have helped organize and support NC2SD in the past. They gave us tips like stay clean and avoid bears...The ride was to get everyone comfortable on our bikes and make sure we're all down with signals and communication. Phrases like "car back!" and "gravel!" will become reaaaal familiar.

It rained, it poured, but it was a great 20 miles. We ended up at this old landmark halfway - Bodie Lighthouse. A man who took part in the painting of the lighthouse back in the day for $3.00/day (by hand) spoke to us. Everything was beautiful.

Some serious bikeage and some of us in front of the nags head sign.

After that we had some time to dry off, clean up, and do some dunes. Pretty serious hills. Man I love this lifestyle.

First shakedown ride

I like beach churches

2009-05-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

You can't really tell from this photo, but the church where we're
staying for the next two days is really huge and has surfboards hung
along the balcony when you walk in, in addition to a couple flat
screen TVs. They must broadcast the game before the service...

I have been oriented, but more importantly I've finally met the people I'm going to be spending the next 9 weeks with. They all have their stories and are at different points in their life, but now we're all here together about to embark on either the biggest mistake or adventure of our lives. Summer never sounded so promising.

All my efforts prior to this trip - fundraising, training, building and getting distracted from school work have worked up an image in my head of what this is going to be like. There's expectation and excitment surrounding any major event in life, but now that I'm here there is a certain level of realness to it. I'm actually going to bike to San Diego and it's absolutely insane, but I've never been so game in my life. First testride tommrow...here we go...

Orientation

2009-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

Time to Pack...

2009-05-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

Orientation is tomorrow and I'm packing lightly because I'm living out of a duffel bag for 9 weeks. The hardest part is trying to figure out what 2 T-shirts I want to pack and wear all summer.

I have 6 things to say...

1. Thank you to all the donors/family/friends/teachers and everyone else who has supported me. I literally would not be able to go on this trip without your help.

2. If you want to send me mail - wait, no... WHEN you send me mail, you can figure out how to send it to different drop points on my trip via this link

http://www.bikeandbuild.org/cms/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,347/

3. You can see where I am on the trip by clicking the "Click to Track Me" link on the right sidebar. That link will let you see what build days, rest days, mail drops are on my route and where my trip is in America. You also have the opportunity to stare a snazzy picture of my face.

Alternatively, if any of you have mobile phones with GPS or the 'Loopt' application on it, you can add me as a friend and follow me in real time to see where I am at any given time. Isn't technology cool? Rhetorical question - yes.

5. If you want a postcard, let me know along with your address. I keep repeating this because several people requested one, but never gave me their address and I don't remember everyone who has asked me for one in the past 5 months.

6. This is on the Bike and Build website, but here is the breakdown of the trip:

Week:
Date	City - State	Mi.

05/15	Nags Head - NC	0
05/16	Nags Head - NC	0
05/17	Swanquarter - NC	66
05/18	Belhaven - NC	34
05/19	Greenville - NC	58
05/20	Wake Forest - NC	79
05/21	Chapel Hill - NC	39

05/22	BUILD DAY	0
05/23	DAY OFF	0
05/24	Winston-Salem - NC	89
05/25	Charlotte - NC	68
05/26	BUILD DAY	0
05/27	Forest City - NC	57
05/28	Asheville - NC	79

05/29	BUILD DAY	0
05/30	Gatlinburg - TN	82
05/31	Maryville - TN	45
06/1	BUILD DAY	0
06/2	Sweetwater - TN	39
06/3	Dunlap - TN	79
06/4	Monteagle - TN	44

06/5	Pulaski - TN	85
06/6	Adamsville - TN	85
06/7	Bolivar - TN	38
06/8	Memphis - TN	56
06/9	DAY OFF	0
06/10	Brinkley - AR	91
06/11	Little Rock - AR	68

06/12	BUILD DAY	0
06/13	Clarksville - AR	101
06/14	Fayetteville - AR	89
06/15	Grove - OK	77
06/16	Bartlesville - OK	68
06/17	DAY OFF	0
06/18	Ponca City - OK	71

06/19	Cherokee - OK	80
06/20	Coldwater - KS	89
06/21	Dodge City - KS	67
06/22	Garden City - KS	53
06/23	Lamar - CO	102
06/24	Rocky Ford - CO	75
06/25	Colorado Springs - CO	124

06/26	BUILD DAY	0
06/27	DAY OFF	0
06/28	Buena Vista - CO	102
06/29	Gunnison - CO	85
06/30	Ouray - CO	101
07/1	Durango - CO	70
07/2	BUILD DAY	0

07/3	Cortez - CO	45
07/4	Teec Nos Pos - AZ	65
07/5	Kayenta - AZ	58
07/6	Tuba City - AZ	75
07/7	Desert View - AZ	78
07/8	Williams - AZ	81
07/9	Prescott - AZ	70

07/10	BUILD DAY	0
07/11	BUILD DAY	0
07/12	Wickenburg - AZ	58
07/13	Wenden - AZ	48
07/14	Blythe - CA	65
07/15	Brawley - CA	88
07/16	Julian - CA	68

07/17	El Cajon - CA	48
07/18	San Diego - CA	31

Total Mileage: 3513
**Subject to change

(7.) Woah...

Postcards From America

2009-05-10T13:08:00.001-07:00

Did a pretty long bike ride yesterday (for me) now that I have time... 65 miler and pain never felt so good. It's funny how our bodies work - the first couple of miles are pretty mundane and almost worrisome, but then you get in the zone. All your body wants to do is get that cycling burn on and consume every kind of energy bar around. On a 4 hour ride, I ate 3 trail mix bars, 1 snickers bar, drank 1L of water, and a bottle of Gatorade. I am a CYCLING MACHINE!! I was pretty tired by the end though...

Somehow I managed to coincidentally ride my bike in an area and day where the Tour de Cure (a race to race money for diabetes research) in Maryland was happening, so I saw hundreds of other cyclists... all biking the OPPOSITE direction that I was going me. It must have looked like I was far ahead of them in the race because I was going back around on their loop. They all looked at me really funny when I was biking past them. As if this kid who was nearly half their age was whooping all them. It was awesome. I feel empowered. Only because I know most of those cyclists could sneeze and smoke me in a bike race.

The real point of this post was to say that
1) I leave in less than 6 days for Nags Head for orientation
2) If you want a postcard from the road, please comment with your address. I promise I will send you one. But I can't send it unless I have an address!

Sharif