Before I started this trip, I was a little afraid that riding almost every single day would become mind-numbingly boring. You may be wondering what exactly we do to keep the monotony from making us lose our minds. But, truthfully, there is rarely a moment on Bike and Build when I wish I was doing something differently. And most of those moments occurred in Oklahoma/Texas. Yes, we bike almost every day but it is never monotonous. I thank God for every minute I am out on the road, working on a house, or just laying on gym floors with my Bike and Build family. This is life now, at least for the next few weeks. Every moment is precious and an adventure. I speak for almost every person on our route when I say that we could be satisfied doing this for a very long time. It is a blessing to be able to explore every beautiful part of this country on a bike and to meet so many gracious and wonderful people.
That being said, after five straight days on the bike, we are starting to get pretty sore. We still haven't reached the hump of our 13 day stretch so every mile can seem like it's uphill. Not to mention, everyone's butt is starting to feel kind of "spicy." In SC2SC language, the word "spicy" has many meanings depending on the context. Most commonly, "spicy" is used to describe highly concentrated Gatorade or a particularly sore butt. By day 13, we will all have bad cases of "spicy butt."
We had a few passes to climb over today. To entertain ourselves and distract each other from our aching bodies, Amanda and I traded similes to describe our pains:
"My legs feel like pretzel sticks."
"My chamois feel like sandpaper."
"My camelback feels like a fat baby."
"My saddle feels like a cement block."
"My quads feel like balloons about to pop."
And so on... Like I said, Bike and Build is never monotonous. We are entertained by everything.
Today's lunch was touched by the gods. We had big sandwich buns and fancy lunch meat! There was even cheese!! I had the most delicious roast beef sandwich that has ever graced my taste buds. I washed it down with some trail mix and orange Gatorade. Manna from heaven! The rest of lunch we spent making Bike and Build commercials thanking Bike and Build for all the quirky qualities we have picked up over the course of the summer. Here are a few examples:
"I used to think dirty nails were disgusting. Now, I never use hand sanitizer! Thanks,
Bike and Build!"
"I once thought moldy water bottles were nasty. Now, I think it tastes pretty good! Thanks, Bike and Build!"
"I used to enjoy a nice summer breeze. Now, I think it's the breath of Satan! Thanks, Bike and Build!"
We were in stitches all afternoon as we continued to come up with sayings after we got back on our bikes to finish up the 57 mile day. We also made up songs, substituting bike-related lyrics into well-known pop songs:
"If you want to climb with me, there's some things you gotta know. I like my cadence fast and my pace down low!"
(To Bass Down Low by Dev)
Before we knew it, we were at the host site. We didn't have dinner provided tonight so it was "DM or die." After some awesome hot showers, we walked into town to see if we could DM some dinner. We managed to come up with 7 free extra large pizzas and some Mexican food. Yay, there's no going hungry tonight! During the walk back to the host, we came upon an ice cream truck and freaked out a little bit and bought ice cream. The ice cream man is so elusive that there's no passing up ice cream when you find him!
Tonight, we got to see a free movie thanks to a kind city commissioner that we made friends with. We saw Despicable Me 2 and we all thought it was hilarious. We laughed at almost every scene, sometimes at each other because we were all laughing so hard. Austin was even wiping tears out of his eyes at some points. It was even funnier because the movie had words in it that we use on a daily basis as part of inside jokes on our trip such as "jyes," "Lance," and "croinky." It was a great way to end the evening.
Now everyone is getting tucked into their thermarests as they chat together quietly. We get to sleep in until 7 tomorrow so we are pretty psyched! I love Bike and Build!
Sounds like a great time. Butt sores and all!! xxooo mom
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