Late Night of Day 13 in Asheville, NC

So I've been pretty slack when it comes to updating my blog, so let's see what I can fill ya'll in on... Oh, by the way, it's been absolutely AMAZING.....

Day 4, Greenville to Wake Forest, NC
This was the day from HELL as far as expectations go. We assumed we'd have some hills sooner or later, and this day was the first of them. According to the site, we were supposed to ride 79 miles. Well, due to some mishaps (no fingers pointed..), we officially/unofficially did our first century ride of the trip. Yes. Day 4. Over 100 miles. We won't go into details, but let's just say it was a LONG day. Thankfully it didn't rain on this one particular day, which for some reason is a rarity on our trip so far. It was long and exhausting, but it was a lot of fun, and the church in Wake Forest was very accommodating to us being off-schedule.

Oh, and I'm gonna start a new segment to my blog, to keep everyone (including myself), up-to-date on statistics. So.. here it goes. And... notice the discrepancies, it's already getting ridiculous.
Mileage to date...
According to website: 237 According to cue sheets: 237 Actual: 259
Days w/ Rain: 2

Day 5, Wake Forest to Chapel Hill, NC
This was a GREAT day. Steve, (one of our leaders, and a Duke alum), wrote the cue sheet for this ride. He sent us thru downtown Durham and Duke's campus on our way to that dreaded town called Chapel Hill. It was a fun ride, pretty hilly, but definitely cool. We biked around 40 miles total, including exploring Duke's campus, etc. It was pretty strange to be gone for so long so far on the road, and to eventually end up back in my hometown. But it was really exciting to show everyone a piece of my life like that (especially Cameron Indoor, haha). Chapel of the Cross was excited to have us, and provided an awesome dinner upon arrival. They also got tons of fruit (the pears were amazing) for us, etc. This was also the day of our first bike clinic with the kids in Carrboro. It went well for the group as a whole, but I wasn't really feeling it that day. That night, Dylan, Dennis, Nhan, Danielle, myself and others went to Ham's on Franklin st. for some brews and to watch the Canes game (depressing loss). It was nice having a 1am curfew for a change.
Mileage to date...
According to website: 276 According to cue sheets: 274 Actual: 289
Days w/ Rain: 2

Day 6, BUILD DAY in Chapel Hill (Hillsborough), NC
This was our first build day! It was a gorgeous day, and we got a ton accomplished. We got up early to drive to Hillsborough, and were literally less than 10 minutes from my house. Talk about a strange feeling..... I wanted to see my dogs! And my sister! But. Didn't get to. We framed a house, literally every wall of it. Orange County Habitat definitely knows what they're doing, and we proved ourselves as builders immediately. Later that night, the church hosted a pot-luck dinner where family and friends were invited to come join. Since we live so close, Sean and my momma came to join us at dinner. My mom brought meatballs (huge hit), and they socialized with me and my 30 new best friends (everyone LOVES my mom...). To cap off an incredible day, about 20 of us, including B&B alum Brendan, Collin, Cory, Megan, and others, went to PTs bar and grille to hang out. It was definitely a night to remember.

Day 7, DAY OFF!! in Chapel Hill
Our first day off was a lazy one. I personally slept til 11:30. A lot of people went shopping, to the bike shop, or other things. Around 1pm, a lot of us vanned to Sarah's parents' house for a pool party. Great weather, great company, GREAT brisket, and just a fun, lazy day. My parents and Rachel came to town later that night to take me out to dinner and see me one last time for 2 months. Peppers Pizza on Franklin st. That's all I have to say, it was amazing. Then I said my goodbyes, and headed to Four Corners with a huge crowd of B&B folk. A lot of fun, but yet another depressing loss for my Canes.

Day 8, Chapel Hill to Winston-Salem, NC
Early to rise, 5am. Pretty smooth ride, actually really gorgeous (I need to learn to take more pics...). We definitely hit some hills this day, especially once we got into Winston. Oh, and did I mention we got lost... 3 times? In Winston?? Yeah. Not fun. But only an extra 7 miles or so, not too bad. The church in Winston was HUGE, and the people were awesome. Oh, and of course it rained again on this ride. We hit the hay pretty early, long day ahead of us, and we were pretty beat.
Mileage to date...
According to website: 365 According to cue sheets: 360 Actual: 382
Days w/ Rain: 3

Day 9, Winston-Salem to Charlotte, NC
Another early morning, and guess what! STILL raining. Not an exciting thing to wake up to, especially when we know we have to ride about 91 miles. On this day, my knee was hurting, as it has been, and still does. My back was killing me from something that popped while playing knock out in the gym. And... still got a head cold. I really didn't want to ride, but I toughed it out. It was worth it I guess, it turned out to be a pretty fun, not too difficult ride. The rain was kind of on and off, and we even resorted to taking shelter with about 10 miles left due to thunderstorms. And... we got lost. Within BLOCKS of Zach's house. For some reason there are about 8 different roads in Charlotte named Park Rd.... took us a while to find the right one. In the end we rode about 96 miles, just shy of our 2nd century day of the trip. Zach and his mom treated us like royalty, with BBQ, slaw, etc. Everyone had a real chill night hanging out, although most went to bed early because of the long day. Oh, and I got to talk to my Aunt Carol on the phone. I was hoping to see them while I was in town, but I guess they didn't live as close to where we were as I thought. It was refreshing to hear that they've been following my weak (until now), blog, and I love knowing I have the support of my family.
Mileage to date...
According to website: 433 According to cue sheets: 451 Actual: 478
Days w/ Rain: 4

Day 10, BUILD DAY in Charlotte (Davidson), NC
YEAH! Build day #2. We drove a ways to Davidson, where we worked with Hammers!, a non-profit group who fix houses in the Davidson area. We worked with 2 Davidson college grads, George and Zach, and worked to remove a tiled ceiling in 2 bedrooms, and replace it with drywall. It was a lot of fun, and refreshing to see the almost-finished result. That night we went to Zach's (our host/NC2SD alum) uncle's house for a cookout and pool party. This was a GREAT night, with tasty burgers, pasta, vegetables, and some sort of puddin/parfait creation. We also got to play in the pool, basketball, watch the Canes depress us again, etc. Great night to cap off another GREAT day on Bike and Build. By the way... can ya tell I love it yet??

Day 11, Charlotte to Forest City, NC
Probably the hardest day until yesterday. We rode about 87 miles (80 according to the cue sheet), due to EVERYONE having to take a bunch of detours as we were leaving Charlotte. There was a road closed due to a fallen tree (some SWEET pics to come..), a crazy dog that Andy had to chase away from the group (oh Zeus...), etc. And of course. RAIN. And our first taste of the mountains. But. Although I make it sound miserable, it was my favorite ride to date. AND the first day that my knee wasn't killing me afterwards (which didn't last). I guess these strenuous days are starting to whip me into shape. Or at least I thought, until yesterday.... We went to bed early to prepare our bodies for the first climbs into the Apps. We definitely needed it........
Mileage to date...
According to website: 490 According to cue sheets: 532 Actual: 565
Days w/ Rain: 5

Day 12, Forest City to Asheville, NC
Day of gorgeousness. And hell. Amy (one of our leaders), likes to lie to us. She said it was going to be about 90 miles into her hometown of A-ville. Thankfully it was only 66. But. more than half of it was climbing thru the mountains. UGH. I took some pics, including the 1hr+ lunch break we took in Chimney Rock, NC. But, still to come. The climbs were, how should I say this.... Hard? There isn't a word to properly describe it. But peeing on the Eastern Continental Divide was fun. So was the 2 mile descent down the other side, where we hit speeds around 40mph. But it was a HARD day, and supposedly... tomorrow is WORSE. Speaking of, I need to go to bed. Wake up is in 4 hours. I'll hopefully fill ya'll in on today, etc VERY soon. Until next time, thank you SO MUCH for all the support. Wish us luck tomorrow, moving on into TENNESSEE!!! and, pics to come, be patient. Goodnight.
Mileage to date...
According to website: 569 According to cue sheets: 598 Actual: 631
Days w/ Rain: 6