Runtastic Road Bike PRO

Well, my toes are frozen and my lips are as dry and cracked as a desert, but I have officially completed my first ride since being accepted to Bike & Build! While on said ride, I tested out an app called Runtastic Road Bike PRO. It's pretty nifty because at the end of the ride it gives a list of stats that sum up the ride. See!:

I plan on using it to track the tour this summer since I could upload a summary picture each day. The only potential problem is that it eats up a lot of battery life so my phone might not stay charged when I'm biking 6-8 hours a day. If you know of any ways to circumvent this issue, let me know!

Pimp My Blog

I just spent hours on Blogger's website tinkering with my blog's overall design, perfecting aspects of layout and flow. My ultimate goal in doing so was to make this blog more FUNctional for my audience (That's you!) and for myself as well.

One major change that I would like to point out is the addition of a sidebar. (Look...over there! ------>)

Let me break it down for you.

Now, you can easily link out to other websites and do things like:
1. Learn more about Bike & Build and its purpose.
2. Contribute to my rider account.
3. View the route that I will be biking this summer.

Or you can view other pages I created that display:
1. A list of those who have contributed financially.
2. A log of training miles I have biked.
Keep checking those pages as I will update them frequently from now until the start of the tour.

I sincerely hope you will benefit from these additions. Enjoy your time here!

Initial Donations

THANK YOU to EVERYONE who has shown me support in beginning this adventure, whether through "likes", comments, posts/reposts, texts, phone calls, spreading the word, congratulations, words of encouragement, thoughts, prayers...I could go on. I genuinely appreciate ALL that you have done!

I would like to give a special thanks to those who have donated financially. In just 4 days since announcing the news, $405 has been donated to my Bike & Build account! Thank you for helping me reach my goal of $4,500:
Martha Hewett

Jeremy Mullins

Elizabeth Webb

Lori Greenway

Deborah Barker

Elizabeth Hidlay

As I just mentioned (ever so nonchalantly), I need to raise a total of $4,500 in order to participate in the tour. If you donate, what will your money be used for, you might ask? Some of the money will go toward gear, food, and lodging as I make the 3-ish month journey across the country. But the majority of the money I raise will be donated to affordable housing organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, that we will partner with by building houses along the way.

If you have the means and would like to contribute financially simply visit the --> Bike and Build Donation Page <-- and make sure to select my name from the drop down menu, like so:

Again, thank you for your continued support.

For you, baby brother...

Yesterday, I found out that I was chosen to participate in a Bike & Build ride this coming summer, specifically from South Carolina (my home state) to Santa Cruz, CA (where I lived for two summers with CRU). I was at work when I got the acceptance email, but that didn't stop me from giggling and celebrating and, yes, crying tears of joy. 

This opportunity means so much to me: 1. I will be accomplishing my personal goal of riding my bike ACROSS THE COUNTRY! (To make matters more excellent, I get to start in my favorite place in the world and finish in my #2 favorite place!)2. This organization will allow me to help other people as I do so. (It's not just my dream that will come true!) 3. I know, in the depths of my heart, that I will be taking steps to move forward in life and, prayerfully, find some amount of healing regarding the death of my brother, for HE WILL BE my inspiration.

Let me take a moment to explain why I so closely associate my brother with cycling. Admittedly, I never even owned a bike before he died. Perhaps, that's actually one of the biggest reasons I own one now. I bought my bike approximately one month after the motorcycle accident that took his life. (I mean, let's be real, what girl wouldn't resort to some sort of retail therapy at a time like that. And when I go, I go big.) I was only riding for about a month when my brother's would-be 21st passed. On his birthday weekend, my family and all of his friends gathered in downtown Greenville to eat dinner and release lanterns in his honor. His friends and riding buddies presented my Mom with a gift that night, something called a motorcycle guardian bell (this one in particular, engraved "Harry G"). My Mom didn't know what to do with the bell so she gave it to me and I decided to put it on my road bike. Sure, a road bike isn't a motorcycle but I'm hoping they'll make an exception, whoever they are.

An aside: There is a superstitious legend about gremlins causing motorcycle wrecks and protection found by simply possessing a small bell from a true friend that has become a very popular and meaningful tradition in the motorcycling world. (PLEASE: STOP AND GO HERE -Motorcycle Guardian Bell Legend- to find the full legend AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE.

To pull out one specific point about motorcycle guardian bells before I move on: "Whenever you see a biker with a bell, you'll know that he has been blessed with the most important thing in life -- friendship from a fellow biker. If you buy your own bell, the magic will still work but if you receive one as a gift from a friend or a loved one the magic is doubled because out there somewhere you have a friend looking out for you."

Whenever I ride now, I think about my brother. Granted, there's a lot of time to think so it would probably come naturally. I am reminded though because of the constant metal "tink...tink-tink" of his bell against my bike.

Yesterday, I found out that I was chosen to participate in a Bike & Build ride this coming summer and I cried tears of joy. But I also cried tears of sorrow because there's one very important person who won't be a part of my journey anymore, at least in the physical sense. 

I dedicate this blog and my ride this summer to him.

This is for you, baby brother.