Pictures from the ride!

Mountain view

Same place just no Spencer.

The lake in the allegheny national forest.

Our favorite sign in the world because it always means there will be a
fun descent.

Picture from one of the bike paths we rode on. Justine snuck into the
picture.

Sam treating the Ohio sign like it's some sort of stripper pole...

Sent from my iPhoneMyself, chris (far left), and the anthonies (on each side of me)
standing at our first summit sign in the rain. We have a knack for
getting lost when I ride with this group.
"Its not that we're lost, we're just going in the wrong direction."
-Anthony Derrick

Update from Akron, Ohio!

We jumped 40 feet from that small tree above the structure on the right.

Another story of note: when riding through wysox, PA we had to ride
next to a bunch of big trucks that were going to and from natural gas
sites. Well, by the time I got to wellsboro and our next host site I
had managed to collect a lot of dirt in my daily sunscreen glaze. I
looked like a gorilla and it took a 15 minute shower of constant
scrubing to get the grit off. Picture is gross..
..
..

So there are a bunch of other things happening but it's impossible to
include them all so here are some pictures and yall can call me or
just use your imagination.

A typical applachian climb. The hill was moderately steep and it
starts at the white houses to the right in this picture (they look
like tiny dots). The next picture gives you a view from the same spot.

Next update: pictures from parts of the ride.

Sent from my iPhoneOk so this update business is frustrating because I can't send big
files with pictures with an edge network. I have to wait for wifi to
make it worth my time.

So Binghamton, NY was awesome. We had our day off there and I went to
Ithaca, NY with the Cornell kids. I thought the trip would involve a
boring college tour but instead we got picnic food then went to the
gorges to cliff diving. Here is a picture of the gorge and the cliffs.

Images from Kent to Roscoe, NY

Hudson river

Hudson

Mountain view on the way to Roscoe!

Sent from my iPhoneKent, CT

Pictures from the ride!

Between Promfret, CT and Binghamton, NY we rode initially through the "rolling" hills of Connecticut and then into the Appalachian Mountains. Specifically, on the 19th we rode 70 miles through the Catskill Mountains. It was almost unbearable. I was so dehydrated by the end of the ride, that when we got to the host site all I wanted to do was pass out. Our first climb that day was at mile 20 and we ascended over 1000+ feet. We took pictures and enjoyed the day after the descent, but things became exceedingly difficult with another 1000+ foot climb after lunch. The remainder of that day was accompanied by a constant up hill. After everyone arrived at the host site, our route leaders looked up the rides' topography and we had climbed over 3400 feet for the day. We were all exhausted, but we still had another 80 mile day ahead of us.

This is beginning to sound monotonous so I'm going to break it up with pictures.

The images above this post are from Kent, CT at our host site, the Hudson River, and points of interest along the way.

June 15th

First day of riding. I was assigned to ride sweep with our route leader Paige. Essentially, sweep is made up of two riders who have to stay in the back of the pack to ensure that no one gets left behind. The first day was rather frustrating because we had to stop so much at all the stop lights in Providence. We did have a nice picture opportunity at the Connecticut state capital. Which I have attached to this post.

Long Awaited Update

Ok so let me first apologize for not updating very often. Things are very busy here on the road and today is the first day that I have gotten to sit down and actually write something of substance.

First some updates, a BIG thank you to all the donors who supported me for this ride because I raised the most on my trip with $6770!!! Also, I raised the third most out of the 255 participants in the Bike and Build program (gimme that bronze medal)!

So far this experience has been incredible and I will do my best to add pictures along the way, but I seem to have misplaced the cable for my camera so iPhone pics will have to do for now.

Orientation

Hey yall,

So orientation officially ended yesterday and today we had our first build day. Orientation was filled with plenty of ice breakers and bike safety briefings. Today we had a build day and we painted the entire interior of two families' duplex. Pretty good progress in my humble opinion. Pictures of the build day should be posted on the bike and build p2s info page on the Bike and Build website fairly soon.

Follow through Google Maps

Hey everyone,

If yall are interested in following my trip via Google Maps, then you can use this feature on Bike and Build's website.

http://www.bikeandbuild.org/rider/route.php?route=P2S&year=2010

-Spencer

Memorial Day Weekend

Last Friday I went on my longest training ride so far! I rode around Cape Ann, then proceeded up toward Ipswich and Crane's Beach before returning to Manchester. The majority of the ride was very enjoyable up until the end when my ass started screaming at me to get off the seat and my legs began to lose some gas. And while I'm complaining, can someone please drive one of those pesticide trucks up near Crane's Beach?? Honestly, mosquitoes have no respect for bikers whatsoever. It's a miracle I haven't contracted West Nile yet. However, with this said the weather was beautiful and I really shouldn't be complaining at all. The picture above is from Gloucester where they line the ocean with American flags in preparation for the weekend. I love to see patriotism while I ride!

My bike computer needs a better name than "Bike Computer" so we're going to do a little 80's through back and call it "KITT". Please tell me we have some Knight Rider fans out there.

Total Distance: 51.62 miles
Total Time: 3h:18m:13s
Average Speed: 15.62mph
Max Speed: 33.50mph