Bike & Build: Adventures of Angela

A Summer to Remember

2010-08-16T19:38:00.034-05:00

After arriving to Dulles Airport via JetBlue's red-eye flight, I realized that I was home. It is the strangest feeling to know that I will finally be physically located in one place for more than 1 week (11 months to be exact- living at home with the parents while doing AmeriCorps). The sense of sadness is quite overwhelming- all attributed to leaving my Bike & Build family. I even foolishly made a convincing effort in my head not to cry but that failed miserably. Who was I kidding... tears come complimentary to B&B goodbyes. We spent the last 11 weeks together, through all the highs and lows of the trip: We are bonded as SC2SC10! This summer was truly an unforgettable one: one filled with lifelong memories and one that brought a group of 32 people together for 1 sweet journey.

A little background/update about Suz (my knee, yes I named her): about half way through the trip (July 2) I had an accident while descending in San Isabel National Forest on our 116 mile day. I had to be Medevac to a hospital in Pueblo, CO and underwent surgery on my knee. I fortunately didn't break anything but I did however tear some of the muscle and tendons in my left knee, thus I was in brace-bound the rest of the trip- well sort of... (oh and yes, can't forget the bag showering- I rocked the MC Hammer/genie pants on Miss. Suz- quite uncomfortable at times but thanks to everyone's great duct taping skills, she stayed dry). I have regained errr probably 60-70% of my range of motion so PT is in the near future.

I also want to thank all the parents who wrote and called with concern. It meant a lot to have your support. And a special thanks to the Barry family for renting a kiddy cart for me to ride in with the group (pulled by the awesome Sebass). Lastly, I couldn't of finished the trip without the group's support. Thanks for waiting around for this slow-poke, giving up the first row's middle seat, taping me for showers, helping me through everything, and making this summer the best one I have ever had.

I thought sleeping in a bed again would be the best thing about returning home, but I was proven quite wrong. The first night, I shocked myself and chose to sleep in my sleeping bag on my thermarest. And last night, I slept in my bed and rolled around for hours. Not sure when my body will take a liking to sleeping in a bed again. There are so many things I miss about the summer- from the morning hissing of thermarests to the snores of 31 people passed out at 10 pm and sometimes earlier to the lunch stops (I don't know how to eat lunch anymore- not without 30 people passing by while I snack!!)

Cheers to this summer! All of us made it to the Pacific in 4,300 miles (got to include the times we got lost or re-routed, a slight adjustment to our original 4084 mi), one way or another!

Lunch stop (nom, nom time)

ready set ride!

hungry riders

goofing around on the road

A little building action in Tupelo, MS

Breakfast at a boathouse (OKC)

Rockies = breathtaking views

working hard at our last build site (chico, CA)

a colorful group in Twin Lakes, CO

California!

cart ride to the pacific

SANTA CRUZ, CA!

We started off a group of 32 strangers, as:

Passionate Preston, Running Ryan, TV-star Travis, Leaping Lizzy,

Navigating Natalie, Zesty Zac, Meandering Michael, Sickly Scott,
Broken Brad, Live-Strong Lance, Boat-driving Brian,
Absolutely Angela, Voluptuous Varun, Break-dancing B$,
Prestigious Paul, Trekking Tyler, Sizzled Sarah,
Nuun-loving Nichole, Just Jess, Dodging David,
Eating Eugene, Kindergarten Karen, Milking Megan,
Kleptomaniac Katie, Knowledgeable Kelsey,
Karate Kim, Crushing Craig, Jumping Jillian, Koi-like Katie,
Motivational Melissa, Kinky Kern, and Sneaky Sebastian.

But above you see one of the many B&B families Bike & Build has built.

a steep climb and long descent

2010-07-01T19:37:00.001-05:00

walsenburg, co- the ride in was beautiful two lakes with water so, so clear (and on a side note i practiced my picture-taking abilities by keeping the camera in my back pocket...captured some real nice landscape pics today)

today's climb was a real test: the climbing made me asthmatic and there were many points where i thought my lungs were going to give out...but they didn't. after climbing roughly up to 9,400+ ft we began a long descent in cold, sleet-like conditions- apparently sarah and i did not get lucky in the weather department because we were the only ones we had the storm the whole way down (we both survived and finished our 1st mountain pass, hoorah!) we then had a lovely cloud hover its way into town with us so more rain for us

tommorrow will be our longest day yet 116 miles ready go...

a great few days

2010-06-30T12:57:00.003-05:00

in the past few days we entered new mexico and then colorado!!! the rides have been consistently long and the booty has wanted a rest rest... and today in trinidad the rest has finally come (ahh relaxation and time away from the saddle)

the ride into des moines, nm was awesome - filled with great conversations and slow-paced easy riding (if you were wondering at one point katie k, varun, craig and i were riding a nice 9 mph pace) the scenery was absolutely breathe taking, right out of a windows screensaver. 9 miles out our little group decided to hike up this mountain- we hopped some barbed wire and proceeded in some climbing (a nice change from the biking i suppose- got to use some other muscles) but the view uptop o man gorgeous. later riders (jess, zac, paul, brian, and lance) behind us found our bikes and joined us watching a 120 carted train pass by from the giant hill.

we quickly found out how small des moines is... a town of 150 people. there weren't many options in the restaurant department so i stopped at the only restaurant in town (2 miles out) to get a delicious chicken wrap and homemade cinnamon roll (yum with dave, kern, and michael) ps. great substitue for dinner

the next day to trinidad started off with a 16 mile detour to capulin volcano in clayton, nm. the crosswinds to the park were quite brutal and i quickly thought to myself.... i'm going to regret this but i ended up in this amazing canyon leading out of the park (def worth it)

last night was our trinidad de promenade (prom) and i ended up going with michael and seabass and the night was pretty epic

the day off in trinidad can be summed up with one word: restful. i'm pretty nervous about the 40 mile climb and descent tommorrow but i hope my booty is ready because it is going to be a long day (ready or not.... here we come walensburg)

2 days of bad then good

2010-06-27T15:29:00.001-05:00

the bad came yesterday... which consisted of a 6 mile gravel road. going downhill on gravel = not fun, quite scary mostly because at one point i almost slipped on the soft sand-gravel. shaking and vibrating arms down rocky "pavement" did not help the 94 mile day. b&b is all about trying new things and i definitely got a taste of gravel riding (don't think i will be jumping at that opportunity anytime soon) when sarah and i stopped in spearman, tx (yes!! 7th state) i got to the gas station (probably .5 mile) in a confused state in search of food and chocolate milk.... i ended up with a ice cream drumstick and snack mix (which sarah and i devoured while stretching) eveyone was pretty dehydrated today but hopefully we won't run into any more ride days with no towns or gas stations (that really impeded our water-obtaining abilities)

one the flip side today's 85 miles..... not bad ... texas redeemed itself (we had extreme heat, tough terrain and headwinds worse than OK) today... we got cloudy cover and nice tailwinds (yes it was a nice change) got to ride a nice group (paul,zac,dave,varun, sarah) it made the morning pass pretty fast (the way i like it)

so.... new mexico here we come tommorrow (o man, o man!!) the state will have about 24 hours to prove itself to me (please be kind) i'm tossed up about texas.... it had a its bad but then its good, i guess tommorrow's ride will be the tiebreaker

tailwinds to watonga

2010-06-24T22:24:00.004-05:00

today's ride was quick and easy 70 miles in watonga and what was wonderful was we were gifted with a lovely tailwind

today was mr. butch's last day with us... we all felt sad seeing the last spray painted $ stop... sadness

i finally adjusted my left cleat hoping for feeling in the left toes tommorrow

thank you OK tailwinds, it made today's ride glorious

another day in OK city

2010-06-23T21:51:00.004-05:00

today was our 2nd build day and it went pretty productively... we were little busy worker bees because we were able to help the OK habitat get e whole day ahead of their schedule (pat on the back everyone) our work ethic and progress continues to exceed my expectations each time we build (o teamwork...)

we were split up into small groups and we did some blue boarding, sodding, house wrapping, and painting. there are houses scheduled to be dedicated on friday so we put the last touches on those houses and boy everything started to come together

tonight i got an opportunity to go the OK city bombing memorial and i'm glad i was able drag my tired butt there. the memorial was absolutely beautiful and it was really cool hearing all about the time and planning that went into dedicating those we lost as well as the survivors

on another note, after 2 days of rest... i still have a numb tingling feeling in my left foot ...sigh i hope to fiddle with my cleats on of these days to get that squared away (i would love to have sensation in my foot later...??)

preparing for our windy OK ride tomorrow....see you in the AM hot OK sun

build day in OK city

2010-06-22T21:20:00.005-05:00

this morning started off wondefully... we had breakfast on a lake at thr OK boat club (as much as i appreciate day old or two or three bagels, fresh panera bagels were mmmm- and yes the most delicious orange with a side of eggs and bacon)

today was our 1st build day in OK city and we got to frame a house in the windy heat of OK. we completely framed the house with our 32 person bike and build army...pretty awesome seeing all the walls come one by one (pics coming soon) our build day was overall weatherwise wonderful (on bike wind = a nono; wind on a build day = relaxing) i think everyone enjoyed today's day off from the bike

the community we worked at hope crossing- a neighborhood of neatly bricked houses. the OK affillate is quite active building about 35-37 houses a year.

lunch was donated by chipotle i got pretty excited but soon realized after i inhaled by burrito.... i felt only dehydrated and slightly nausous...maybe i ate too fast?)

i'm excited for tommorrow's sodding and landscaping day 2 of building

OK winds

2010-06-21T16:22:00.002-05:00

yesterday was my first century- and i survived!! all 106 miles. it went pretty fast because we had 5 breaks (2 lunches and 3 breaks- courtesy of mr.b$'s dad)

pretty exciting entering our 5th state!

according to our resident OKian- OK is suppose to be flat and windy.... we got a real taste of the windy today but not so much the flat

we had crosswinds, headwinds, and every winds blowing everyone everywhere.... and it was pretty miserable (aka i blow horizontally across the road and almost got blown over...eek)

i'm exhausted but i just rode over 200+ in 2 days and we get 2 days in oklahoma city to build

into fort smilth ar...actually van buren

2010-06-19T17:49:00.004-05:00

yesterday b$'s dad came into town and he's been a lifesaver. he has been there for our mid breaks (before lunch and after) and it has made the rides so, so much easier.

today's 80 miler not too bad and it passed pretty quickly except for my little fall. i climbed this hill and the next thing i know slow-mo fall boom... at least it was on my bike's good side (non-derailer side this time). with a little bit of road rash i thought i had reached my injury quota for the day but nope...

i stopped with a group of 10 (kern, varun, craig, both katies, paul, dave, b$, and zac) at around mile 61 today and got a chance to enter into a paintball war for the first time. we worked a little donation magic and got a major discount... pretty sweet!! but back to the injuries... got hit in the hand and in the chest (the hand looks worst- a nice welt; my first one) i look better than some of the other soldiers of the paintball war.

dave and i post-paintball...

first official century tomorrow (106 miles) what, what!

tylenol will be a soothing for the ride... i hope.

a tour of little rock

2010-06-17T21:34:00.002-05:00

high:
~free admission at the president clinton musuem... fun fact: he started americorps and the place was surprisingly interesting (don't think i was ever a museum kid)

~i got something to do after bike & build!!! i will be living at home with the rents working for a montgomery county public school studycircles program (trying to close the achievement gap in schools) wooo! super excited!
~heifer international headquarters: a nonprofit org that provides livestock to thirdworld countries so the people can live sustainably (check it out- the org is amazing!!)

today the body, bert (my bike), and i had a great rest day off and ... it was glorious and much needed

low: simply the heat...can't change that (doing the breezy dance and hoping for a easy, coolish ride tommorrow)

more of arkansas tommorrow... itms been beautiful (i will try to put pics up when i can)

little rocks, ar

2010-06-16T16:50:00.001-05:00

today's ride into little rock from stuttgart went relatively well considering our long, long ride yesterday. it went by pretty fast and i rode alone for a good bit- it was very cathartic and relaxing riding alone

dave, preston, and i later stopped at a irish pub (with wood all imported from ireland!) and i got some delicious fish and chips...mmm just what i needed for lunch

yay for the day off tommorrow... i will use it well (we don't have another one until june 30th)

little rock....you will be run over by some bike and builders tommorrow

i survived an almost century

2010-06-15T21:53:00.003-05:00

today was a true test: 95 miles in 6 and a half hours (what, what we left at 6:30am and arrived at 2:45pm). it was a roller coaster of emotions and lots of highs and lows. there were times today i thought i would not make it (multiple times....) but i continue to amaze myself- my body is so much stronger than what i thought it could do

we got 2 lunches at 33 and 66 miles and we entered arkansas today!! our 5th state yayaya!

i rode with sarah today and it was a true test of my riding abilities... the headwinds were incredible and trying to paceline with the boys was nice but very difficult (lizzy, sarah, and i tried it yesterday and we were able to survive a 38 mile ride on one road pretty smoothly) being pulled is nice but pacelining when you are have delierous requires wayy too much concentration and focus all of which were very low at the end

highk our host arranged a pool swim right when we got to the site, exhaustion + pool in chamois = one happy cooled-down rider

low: o yeah sarah and i almost got run over twice today (first on the long bridge with no shoulder and no escort and then by a truck that didn't see us resting under the only tree for miles- and we were a good couple feet away from the road)

tommorrow we get to little rock and ahh yes we have a day off on thursday... so tired and sore but our host was kind enough to give us tickets to karate kid (cheesy i have to admit but funny... most of the time from what i can recall when i was awake)

cheers to the 53 miles and day off!

the mississippi heat

2010-06-13T21:15:00.002-05:00

our build day in tupelo was very successful- when we got there there was just a lot with some cement blocks (the longest build day i have been on but we accomplished a lot- i left at 6:15 pm) we got the floor completed and the place was ready for some walls by the time we were done

boy the build day was hot!! i think everyone can agree the mississippi heat is a tough one... we were all sweating (not the average sweating but dripping sweat by the cupfuls... our build day shirts quickly turned dark blue before lunch)

just when i thought i had sweated every ounce out... today we had our hottest ride yet. in the first 30 minutes beads of sweat had already formed on my arms and shortly my sunglasses broke so i went sunglass-less which was probably not good for the eye balls but quite refreshing

today's ride was prerty cool because we rode on natchez trace parkway (the same one as the one in nashville) i was 203 miles away from nashville

today was quite eventful... i got my first flat and thanks to zac and kern for being there to help me change those tough gatorskins (i went through 3 tubes... it turns out i had an actual hole/gash in the gatorskin itself...boo- thanks kern for that extra gatorskin, i owe you one)

i rode with lizzy the rest of the way after lunch and we felt every bit of the humidity.... it was miserable to say the least but high: an awesome ice cream, snow cone, shake stand YUM! we got some tasty icy treats 2 miles away from the church and boy was it worth it. i had some blue bell's pralines n' cream and southern blackberry cobbler ice cream mmmm thats what got me up the last big hill to our church

tommorrow ready for a 5:30 am wakeup call...woo anything to avoid the heat

tupelo, ms - where elvis was born

2010-06-11T18:22:00.002-05:00

today all 32 of us crossed our 4th state... mississippi! sarah and i got in very early at 1pm but it was also only 50 miles.

we started off the morning with a full decked out breakfast of biscuits with chocolate gravy (kind of chocolate syrup-like), bacon!, sausage, hash browns, and eggs. i even got to try syrup butter (more butter than syrup- by a lot) strangelt tasty but a little rich... mmmm southern food. i for sure had one to many biscuits.

the ride into tupelo was semi-miserable because every 6 feet there was a thump in the road and lots and lots of pot holes.. (jess got stuck in one today and had a fall and got 5 stiches) the rain probably didn't help

otherwise the rain felt pretty good, extremely refreshing until you stop riding and feel like you are wearing a wet sponge.

build day tommorrow, i hope we are more productive this time

a no biggie 80

2010-06-10T22:36:00.001-05:00

today's 80 miler was awesome and the booty even felt ok. the overcast was a nice change from the blazing sun but later the sun started to muggy up. we are in hamilton, alabama tonight and tommorrow miss-iss-ippi here we come!!!

highlight of today: riding with craigery and meeting a mr. patterson. he is the perfect example of the generousity strangers have for sweaty kids like us (craig, nichole, varun, and megan) he offered us drinks and invited us into his house. he left us with the sweetest quote: "be somebody, don't be a nobody" it is the people we meet on the road that make this trip that much more worthwhile

excited to repeat the sleep, eat, bike routine

a great typical day

2010-06-08T20:51:00.002-05:00

today's ride was surprisingly a great day considering today was our third long riding day

i got to ride with sarah and were the first ones to arrive to lunch because we left the unclaimed baggage store earlier than the group

today was a ride filled with corn, sprouts and more corn not much to see and a little hilly but no mountains

i ran out of water at mile 52 because i didn't refill my camelbak at lunch (poor choice) my mouth went dry and it was a good 3 miles before we found a gas station

lesson for the day: refill whenever you can or else you might end up in the middle of no where without water

tommorrow is build day 3 in decatur, alabama should be a good break for the body

a really tough bama day

2010-06-07T22:09:00.002-05:00

today triumphs the worst day catagory... i'm super pooped today

it was my turn to be sweep today with nichole and i was excited but not so ready for the 77 miles

the day started with a nice donation magic from wallyworld (walmart) score!!

then at mile 30 while climbing a hill nichole's derailer went haywire and flipped into her spoke (travis's expression was priceless when he saw nichole's bike...it was a sight to see... in a twisted mess)

so i ended up sweeping alone for about 9 miles (this includes the 1.6 mile climb... should i have opted for a van ride to lunch??)

after getting lunch kim was nice enough to be a honorary sweeper with me

high:
~finishing today's ride in one piece
~the sweet descents but one was especially scary....a u-turn switchback... no thanks; hit a max of 40 mph...sweet

low:
~crying multiple times today (didn't think i would do it so soon in the trip- no worries no one saw...i got the shades on)

~dogs....they are too curious...cyclist riding at 15 mph are not that interesting to chase (i'm warning all those crazy barking dogs out there - i will scream, kick, and squirt you!!! don't chase me please....

butt and muscles you have 10 hours to heal... wish me luck

a long journey to rome

2010-06-07T06:43:00.000-05:00

longest most draining 81 miles.... sweeping tomorrow and crossing 2nd state line in the am

hurting georgia

2010-06-05T19:20:00.005-05:00

today's 55 miles was the hardest ride day so far... reasons: 1) the heat was a-blazing from the start of our ride (started sweating right up the hill from our host church!) 2) the hills started hard and early.

lunch was especially satisfying because sarah and i were apparently not turtle-riding today (we booked it!) we caught up with the fastest cruising riders at lunch and were one of the first girls to arrive (pat on the back... and props to being baller riders today)

it all kind of went down hill after lunch because hills started to come hill after hill without much break. the combination of the winds, the heat, and the little momentum from hill to hill... my body was fading.

sarah and i stopped by a foodmart with karen- the birthday girl for some delicious, cold ice cream for a breather (with only 13 miles left i thought i could get to the boys and girls club in a jiffy but instead i needed to stop quite a few times for some breathers) today was definitely tough on the knees (what started off as a great morning for the knee...turned into painful climbs for the knee)

tomorrow is suppose to bring steeper hills and a 1 mile climb (so excited...... i hope i get through in one piece...ekk)

tonight's delicious dinner of spaghetti, pulled pork sandwiches, chips & salsa, and pork and beans will hopefully give me the protein and energy for some quality 6 mph climbing

high: managed to escape getting heat rash in what i thought was the hottest day so far

low: the hurting georgia hills- these quads and calves will be enormous if this climbing continues

cheers to tomorrow's further climbing!

since i'm on an actual computer- pictures in review

gorgeous bridge from charleston, sc:

the roof we reshingled on our 1st build day:

rainy day lunch break:

athens, ga + build day

2010-06-04T20:15:00.004-05:00

today was our 2nd build day and we got to work with the athens habitat for humanity affiliate doing some pretty stress-relieving demolition work. they gave us freedom to do anything and everything to gut the drywalls and ceilings (as you can see below in the video) together all 32 of us were able to complete 2 days worth of work!!

check out the awesome video varun made of some pretty sick hammer throwing: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAcl__2RCxQ)

amazed by how generous our hosts are, they are the best!!

ready to ride some more tomorrow.... further into GA

check out pictures at our sc2sc picasa account: http://picasaweb.google.com/sc2sc10 since i don't always have computer access

athens, ga

2010-06-03T19:38:00.001-05:00

we crossed our 1st state line yesterday... 12 more to go! it's amazing we were able to accomplish this in a mere 6 days- most importantly everyone made it in one piece

we arrived in athens,ga pretty early today around 2 because it was only a 46 mile day but boy was it hilly (but manageable though) the combination of the heat and hills made they day seem much longer and i was surprised i was more tired than i thought i would be

"keeping it wheel" (insert pic from a buggy at the side of the road-cellphone won't let me upload pics)

thanks for reading....build day tommorrow!!

day off

2010-06-01T20:27:00.000-05:00

today was a nice rest day in greenville and had a day to explore downtown

did more walking than i intended to but hopefully the knee will fare well tommorrow... we visited the hincapie factory and mr. bill west (a member of both the b&b board and hincapie board) bought the group dinner at barleys

ready to cross our first state line tommorrow! georgia here we come!!

wipe out

2010-05-31T22:53:00.001-05:00

today was my first official ride in the rain and it was quite the interesting one

lesson 1: stopping at a wendys to grab lunch before a big storm makes riding in the rain so much more enjoyable (kelsey and i had a wendys lunch date and enjoyed some delicious fries, frosties, and nuggets...mmmm)

lesson 2: when riding in the rain water flies everywhere; up, down, and sideways from both the sky and tires = limited visibility (kelsey and i were able to navigate our way through the worst parts of the storm quite well)

lesson 3: ride railroad tracks perpendicular! today's wipe out count was 4+ and i saw 3 of them. pretty sure i was the first one down (i'm such a trendsetter) i messed up my handlebars a bit and got a little busted up on my right side but all is well (so are the other riders)

tommorrow is our day off in greenville and i'm looking forward to sleeping in and letting the body take a break

thamks for reading!

day 3 and 4

2010-05-30T16:00:00.001-05:00

47 and 50 mi respectively were the mileages for day 3 (to sumter) and 4 (to newberry) and ... my body feels surprisingly ok except for my knee, travis helped me adjust my cleat so hopefully it will heal in a few days

highs:
~donation magic (= stopping anywhere we can get food donations for the group); kesley, sarah, and i got lots of peaches and corn even our very own martha stewart salad basket from a kind ms. missy at a roadside market and today melissa and i got some boiled peanuts for everyone- its amazing how generous people are after you give them a b&b spiel in a sweaty jersey and chamois (then again its probably because they care about the affordable housing crisis)
~amazing vegan potluck provided by a b&b alum... sigh... if only i could cook like that

low:
~my left knee aching (no worries its getting adequate rest)

having a blast! (let's see how i feel after tomorrow's 70 miler)

20 miles more

2010-05-28T17:36:00.000-05:00

day 2 of riding: high- the reality of bike & build sunk in; lows- being chased by 2 dogs while biking as fast as i could, going 20 more miles than originally planned (87 miles instead of 66), fresh and raw butt sores

don't let the lows fool you because i'm having a blast!!!

ready set... to charleston i go

2010-05-22T21:23:00.001-05:00

in 2 bags: duffel and camelbak- are 3 months worth of clothes and supplies ready for bike & build!!! so excited to meet everyone and ready to kick start this summer off!

southward i go with Mom and Dad early in the morning!

More thanks to Hoan My-Do Luu, Kelly Adams, and Henry Tembo for their donations.

bike tour #1

2010-04-17T16:09:00.007-05:00

53 miles later- I finished my first bike tour with hundreds of other bikers from across the region.

Many thanks to: Wein Jiang and the Jiang family for helping me break the $3,000 mark. Additional thanks go out to Thierry Granier, Steph Baeza, Bertram Nagarajah, Ramesh Rangachar, and Martha Dale. Everyone's support means so much to me. Thank you!

1st ride

2010-03-05T14:27:00.007-06:00

Nothing better than sunny, 51 degree weather in Nashville- just took my bike out for its first spin. A little shaky but I believe in these upcoming weeks, we will become one.

I want to give thanks to more supporters of my journey (79 days until the trip starts!): the Kung family (Dar-Ning, Li-Min, Albert), Allen Tsaur, Alfred Robichaud, Greg Marlow, Tola Pokrywka, Kelly Shih, Courtney Wright, and Megan O'Brien.

Past 2000

2010-02-06T14:40:00.002-06:00

Big thanks to Mom and Dad for helping me past the $2000 mark!

Last Semester

2010-01-14T16:02:00.010-06:00

Spring 2010 = classes, training, and work

More thanks to: Dennis Jungman, Wu-Lang & Jen-Wen Lee, Uncle Robert Chen, Anita Chen, Nancy Shaw, Lynn Zhu, Meeifang Wu & Chungte Teng, Kurt Shepherd, Professor Tung, Eugene Collier, Joy Isom, and Allen Lee.

The Defy 2 Bike

2010-01-06T20:40:00.009-06:00

Hooray! I have officially fundraised at least $1000 (in spite of some doubts, I have indeed)!! Which means... my friend above will soon be broken in by both training at school in Nashville and the terrain from Charleston, SC to Santa Cruz, CA. I'm thrilled to get the real training started!

I want to thank the following people for helping me break the $1000 barrier: Steve & Catherine Lainhart, Dr. Chang, and Councilmember Mark Pierzchala.

To a Spectacular 2010

2009-12-28T13:54:00.011-06:00

Cheers to a new year! 2-0-1-0 brings me that much closer to my B&B adventure! I'm excited and ready for what this new year has in store!

And more special shoutouts to: Dr. Cooper, Kurt Denny, Mike Allen, Amber Chen, and Marinea White.

Tis' the Season to Give

2009-12-22T20:34:00.010-06:00

After eagerly awaiting responses from my fundraising letters, I got some donations (must be the jolly holiday fairies)!! I finally figured out the HTML language to my handy fundraiser thermometer and I have thus raised $485! I'm extremely thankful to all those who have helped me in my cause. I cannot complete this summer challenge without everyone's support and generosity.

A Special Thanks to: Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos, Councilmember Piotr Gajewski, Chris McCarthy, Matt Hawkins, Tina Shen, Lily Chen, Laura Oh, Aman Sheel, and Jae Kwak.

Happy Holidays!! (If the holiday fairies do appear, feel free to help: http://bikeandbuild.org/rider/3921. Anything donation will be much appreciated.

Welcome!

2009-11-28T09:32:00.016-06:00

Hi! Welcome to my blog friends and family!

First official blog, woohoo! Little warning before you get too excited, I am a) not a blogger enthusiast, b) technologically challenged, and c) not the most entertaining. But this is where I will track my Bike & Bike journey, from training to the ride itself. I'm so excited and expect lots of pictures that will allow you to peak into the window of my summer adventure.

Bike and Build 2010! So a little introduction to what I'm about to do next summer: I'm going to ride from Charleston, SC to Santa Cruz, CA (yes, all 4,104 miles, not alone in case you are wondering) shortly after walking across the stage and accepting my hard-earned Vanderbilt diploma. Bike & Build raises money for and awareness of affordable housing efforts through cross country cycling trips.

But before I begin my trip, I must raise at least $4,000 (hint: please help if you can). I mailed out my first wave of fundraising letters (fingers-crossed) and hopefully I will get a good first response.

Ready or not, here I come!