OHIO & KENTUCKY!!!!!

Hey Everyone!!! Right now I am in Louisville, KY in the middle of MY FIRST DAY OFF!!!!! It was nice to actually sleep in for a while. I did wake up at 8:30 and couldn't fall back to sleep but it was still 2 hours more sleep than I usually get. We went through Ohio a few days ago and it was amazing. I got a new seat for my bike and it made a world of difference on the hills. We had some amazing churches host us. So far we have not had to have a day of cooking. Every town has been so giving and supportive for the cause.

We had a build day in Portsmouth, OH where we took started with a cinder-block foundation and finished with all of the floor joists in place. This included filling in dirt around the inner part of the foundation. The site supervisor said that we helped complete three weeks of work in one day.

Kentucky has been AMAZING!!!! We rode 96 miles into Paris and found no Eiffel tower. We did find a Wal-Mart SUPERCENTER!!!! Sean and I rode to the Wal-Mart and did some laps in the parking lot to get to 100 miles for the day. I was able to get a new camera and no longer have to mooch off other peoples pictures. The coolest features of the camera is 1) it's waterproof and 2) IT'S GREEN!!! My mom liked that feature a lot when I told her. The next day we rode 87 miles to Louisville where today we have our first day off. I think I will walk around town for a while today but I mostly think I am just going to stay at our host.

Talk to you all later.
~Ryan

The Hills in the East

So far we have not seen a day of flat land. It's been a great challenge of strength and spirit.

We were in Pennselvania for 4 days. We didn't have any build days here but we still had a great time riding. We have had a few long day in the 80+ miles. It's not so bad but we did have a little trouble on one of the rides. We traveled about 59 miles out of a 70 mile day and his a huge hill with a steep grade. It wasn't an expected hill and everyone had a hard time getting up the hill. We have also been dealing with a couple days of rain. What is nice about this area is that it is usually warm when riding in the rain. I kinda find it fun. Oh... and we also got to go to Hershey, PA!!! That was a lot of fun. We got to go into Chocolate World and see the "Sectet Process" of how the chocolate is made. It was fun. I was tempted to buy the 10 pound block of chocolate but I knew I wouldn't be able to fit it onto my bag. The overall note on Pennsylvania is great. There was never a dull site, great cloud formations and it also gave us our first wheat fields.

We then crossed over into Maryland. This was a very sad day. My poor Camera died. I have been able to take some pics. I did buy a cheep camera for now but I will be looking at Wal-Mart or Best Buy to get a better one. So I am missing a few highlights. Maryland came with more great trees, better roads, and a build day!!! We worked in Cumberland with a local church. There isn't a Habitat Chapter in Cumberland yet but we met a lady that just submitted the paperwork to become an official Habitat Chapter. One group went and built a set of stairs on the back porch of a homeless shelter. These stairs helped them lower their insurance costs because it gave an exit at the back of the building. My group got to hang sheetrock in a unit for low income living quarters. Not as fun.... I got fiberglass all over me. I did get to have a little fun with my video camera thou. I hope I make a good video with my goofy footage.

We then went into West Virginia. By far the most beautiful state we have been in but also the most hilly state we have been in. We did take a lot of country roads which got us lost a lot. But the views have been spectacular!!! I did snap a few pics on my phone. Not as good or easy to do while riding. Some came out nicely. I also got to ride on US-50 for a while today in WV. We also had a thunderstorm, by the way. Most of us got to hang out in the garage of a fire department. Kinda cold but really fun. You'll see the pics. I definitely would not mind coming back to the WV but not on my bike. It would take forever to get somewhere.

I just want to thank everyone that have been sending me text messages while I have been on the road. It is very hard to get back to you while riding. I will try my best to do so but no guarantees. Also thanks for the comments on the blog. Steve, surprisingly I haven't gotten any flat tires yet. And Leslie, trust me when I say it's a lot harder than most of our rides. Debbie, thanks for all the encouragement. I will be getting more pics on when I get a good camera. Maybe I should get one that can get a little wet every once in a while. hehe....

Thanks again for all your prayers and support. Until next time....
~Ryan

Connecticut, New York, New Jersey

Sorry it's been so long sense my last post. Internet has been so scarce around here. I actually "hacked" a router to get the internet working. It was kinda fun. So here is the latest update.

It’s been a great few days for riding. We spent 4 days in Connecticut riding and building. I will admit that I have no desire to visit Connecticut any time soon; especially on a bicycle. The hills in Connecticut are long and steep. We had amazing hosts that housed us along the way. We stayed in Plainfield, where the church hosted a huge community picnic for us. Tons of people were there and a few of us hosted a bike clinic for the local kids. Also, my chore group this week is the “Dinner/Presentation Crew” where we either make dinner when it is not provided, or present “who we are” when dinner is provided. Its kind of fun, my group is known as “Smuggle”… and yes we have a “cheer”

We then cycled over to Middlefield, CT. This was also a very hilly day. In Middlefield we were able to stay in a beautiful church hidden within a little forest. Members of the church took us to their houses for showers and then had another community dinner at the church. The church’s youth group was the main force in helping us out. They were a lot of fun to hang out with during dinner. The next morning, however, they had to go to school. They don’t start their summer break until the middle of June. LAME!

On the 8^th we went to Danbury, CT. Again, the hills were killer. Steep and long hills for all 52 miles. We did get a little lost because our directions were wrong but we finally figured it out with good old technology. This was a fun ride when it came to the down hills. We had one that lasted 3 miles on a road known as “Punkup Rd.” The group I was with did punk up that hill the entire ride thou. We also got to stop by a lake and take a mid trip swim. A very refreshing thing to do but also very wet for the rest of the ride to the next host location. The hosts themselves were very excited for our arrival. They have been anticipating our arrival for months. And when we finally arrived, we were greeted with the entire youth group in the church’s driveway cheering and greeting us in. They also had all of our pictures from the bike and build website on the walls with our bios. Later I learned that the church had a fundraiser so that they could buy all of the food we ate.

We had a build day in Danbury. The group was split up. I was in the group that was able to renovate a house that will be used as a transition house for veterans. He first sanded floorboards inside because it was raining. After lunch it was still raining but the site supervisor didn’t care and had us pull a wall of weeds outside. It was actually a lot of fun. The group I was with had a lot of fun and got the job done fast. We were then able to learn more about how the city is working with homeless shelters to help get people into homes.

From there we went to New York. THIS DAY WAS NOT FUN!!!! We had a lot of uphills with only 3 good downhills. But there was an awesome creamery on the top of our last hill. I got some of the most amazing ice cream there. It was chocolate ice cream, with chocolate syrup, with chocolate fudge, and chocolate brownies all mixed in. AMAZING!!! And totally worth all the hills… Kinda. We stayed at one of the leaders aunts house. They also cooked an amazing meal for us. We also had a lot of family members visit for the people from the east coast. It was a great night of meeting some great people.

The next day we rode through New Jersey into Pennsylvania. Seeing that we were going through NJ was a nice surprise. Now I can say I went through 18 states instead of 17. This day I was on sweep with Doug. This is where we are designated as the last people to make sure no one is left behind. It also rained the entire day. This wasn’t too bad. When the wind kicked in, it did get a wee bit uncomfortable. My bike computer broke this day. I’ll get a new one at the next bike shop I find.

We are now in Pennsylvania and I will be telling you more about that on a latter blog. Sorry it has taken so long to post this but Internet is so scarce out here. Love and happiness to everyone.

~Ryan

Rhode Island

Mom, Dad and I made it to Rhode Island on Tuesday night and I started orientation on Wednesday. Mom and Dad went to look at lighthouses in Rhode Island while I was at orientation. We didn’t have any internet at the church we stayed at and sadly I wasn’t able to upload any information.

We had 2 days of orientation were I got to meet the group I am with, learn more about the terrain of the route we are riding, and work on a local build site with Habitat of Humanity in Providence. At the build site we were able to lay most of the floor joists and secure them to the foundation. We did get rained out a little early. The site supervisor didn’t think that rain and power tools would mix too well. Everyone on the team is amazing. We are all excited about what we are doing and are glad for all the support we are getting.

Today was our first ride day. We went from Providence, RI to Plainfield, CT. It was about a 39 mile ride. On the route we passed a great looking reservoir that the road went right through. We were able to stop on it for a while and take a break on it. The view was amazing. There were also a couple great downhills which helped set my top speed for the trip at 43.8 MPH. I also met a local in the town of Plainfield, who was also riding his bike. We learned how he rode throughout Europe. Steven and I encouraged him to sign up for Bike & Build when he graduates from High School. We got to the church and finished painting the trailer. We put our feet all over it. I will post pics of it soon. My camera batteries died ad I need to buy some. Below is a slideshow of some pics that I was able to take while my camera still worked.

Thanks again for all of your support. I know this experience would not be possible without everyone’s encouragement and support. Here is a slideshow with some lighthouses that I saw with my parents before orientation, Orientation itself, some riding, some building, and of course some fun pics of lunch.