First post

I've been meaning to make a blog for awhile to use this summer on my trip but school/finals and everything just got in the way. Also, I didn't that much to say about my progress until recently. In the past two days however, I've combined both biking and habitat to get a taste of what my summer is going to be like.

I recently relearned how to ride a bike. I haven't ridden one since middle school and it took some serious goading from my friends to finally start riding one again. While I've been taking 2-3 cycling classes a week since the fall, I hadn't been able to really get out and ride it until yesterday.

Yesterday I went to Richmond (from charlottesville) to meet up with my friend Emily who is doing the Bike and Build trip from NC. We were going to attempt to do a 40 mile bike ride but because of time constraints we only got to do 26 miles. Considering how little I've ridden, 26 miles was pretty awesome. It was gorgeous, out in the country with little traffic. The excursion was especially nice because Emily and I got to talk about our fears/concerns/questions about the trip and it was nice to know I'm not the only one freaking out. We also talked about our friend Graham who did it last year and has been doing a lot to calm our fears about how unprepared we feel. According to Emily, he hadn't even taken his bike out of the box a week before the trip and he more than survived so I feel a lot better.

Oh, and I used clipless pedals for the first time as well. I had a lot of trouble installing them (so much so I had to go to a bike shop for help) so there was no way I could not use them. They weren't as difficult as I was expecting but I'll admit to falling once. In a parking lot. While just standing there. With a woman driving by giving me a look. But at least I unclipped when I fell!

Then today, a leader on the Central US trip, Gabe, organized a build day at the Charlottesville Habitat. Six of us went from the area, none of whom I had met before or even knew they were doing the trip. We spent the full day working and it felt great. I've worked with the affiliate before and I enjoy working with the Americorps leaders. I climbed the scaffolding pretty high which a couple months ago would have scared me too much.

Lately I've been trying to overcome my fears though and bike and build is really encouraging me to do so. I have missed out on too many things because of fear. I figure once you do have biked across the country you will be able to try/do anything.

Basically, I'm really excited about this trip and how much it's going to push me to become a much stronger person. I'm also scared out of my mind because I feel so unprepared although I'm not as much as I think.