Holy Crap...

Well team, it's been a few days. The internet connections in small town North Carolina are hit or miss; as such, we'll continue our promise to post as soon as possible.

Here's the skinny--since our first day (a 65 mile ride), we've gone 32, 58, 80, and 40 miles. So, if you check our route tracker at www.bikeandbuild.org, you'll see that we've actually gotten somewhere! Now, Molly and I, along with our friends Andy and Yvonne, are in a comtempo coffee shop/bar called Jack Sprats, and we're drinking. I have a Guinness, Molly has her wine, and life is good. We'll be here in Chapel Hill for three days--tomorrow, we start building--part of the reason and purpose of this trip.

It's been very humbling to ride with this crew so far--we've got a lot of talented atheletes, hard workers, and motivated souls on this trip--it's definately an environment of passion, drive, and will-power. There are wonderful people with us--we're busy making friends, getting comfortable, and building our team up to continue our success.

It's tough to know what to write at this point--I think we've both had our struggles--I'm having a hard time with getting up at 6 and moving immediately. In two hours, we need to have our bags packed, bike gear on and ready, teeth brushed and face washed, thermarest rolled and packed, sunscreen and chamois cream in place, tires pumped, chores done, and breakfast eaten. Whew. On top of that, our bodies are struggling--lower backs and achilles strains, knee and (OH!) crotch soreness, tired, dehydrated, and generally tuckered out. We eat like crap--pizza all over the place, fried food, bagels and cream cheese, cookies...all satisfying, but not helping either of us loose that weight we planned on losing. The founding of the push up/sit up club helps, but after a long ride, it's tough to hammer the sets out--part of me thinks that 45 push ups after an 80 mile bike ride is a little much! The point of all this--there are hardships, but we're fighting through.

At the end of the day, It's not hard to remember why we're doing this--a great physical challenge, a good cause, and a wonderful community of people to engage. I'll say it again--life is good. And, as the miles tick away, and we get more and more into this trip, it'll only get better.

Hope that made sense! Take good care, and we'll be in touch! Feel free to call and write anytime, as well.

Cheers,
Eric