O HI O

What has rounded edges and is hi in the middle? Ohio! I know this won't be shocking to most of you but I learned today that Ohio is in no way even remotely flat. I thought we'd have nice gently rolling hills the entire way moving toward pancake flat. We had nice gently rolling hills for the first half of the day and then we got hills reminicent of the four other states we've been through so far. Yesterday was really nice and had the gently rolling hills I expected. I road sweep with Sarah yesterday which means that we road at the back to make sure everyone made it. Then when we got to Tallmadge we went to the Firehouse Grille for lunch and almost all of us had burgers. We got free cookies at Linda's Kitchen which were really good. Then we had a relaxing afternoon and ate dinner at our host site the First Church of God in Tallmadge. After dinner we had a party for one of our riders, Anthony L., who missed his graduation yesterday. We got him a robe and set up chairs and had a few people conduct the ceremony and then we had cake and went bowling. I bowled an ok game after a rocky start and had 3 strikes in 2 games.

Today we had a long 85 mile ride so we got up at 5:00 and set off by about 7:30. We had an excellet breakfast at which I ate a bagel with cream cheese, eggs, a bowl of oatmeal, and two donuts. This is a perfect example of how much we have to eat in order to take in enough calories. Our ride this morning was alright. There was some truck traffic and almost no shoulder so my riding partner for the day, Chris, and I had a close call with a semi that did not leave enough room when it passed. We are both perfectly fine so no worries. We ate lunch at a firehouse today and the firemen were very nice and let us use their bathrooms and gave us ice for our camelbaks. They even pulled a truck out so we could take a picture with it. After lunch the roads we were on were much lower traffic which was really nice, but they were really hilly. Tonight we're staying at Kenyon College which I knew was in the Midwest, but did not know was in Ohio until today. We are staying in a dorm building so was all have our own beds to sleep in tonight complete with sheets. I'm very excited about getting to sleep in a real bed since I don't really remember what that is like anymore other than to remember that it is wonderful. Tomorrow we're headed for Columbus.

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Location:Ward St,Gambier,United States

Second build day

Today we had our second build day. We hadn't been to a build site since Providence so it was nice to get to one and remember why we're doing all this. The house we worked on today is nearing completion so we were doing things like touch up painting, caulking, installing trim, etc. I spent the day caulking which was fine because I had spent one of my sweat equity days at a build site caulking so I was comfortable with it. After our getting back from our build site we showered at the local YMCA and then relaxed. We had a nice dinner at the church we're staying at which was chicken and rice which was a nice change from all the pasta we've been having. After dinner my chore group headed to the laundromat to do all the laundry, which is where I am now. It's incredible how much laundry we produce and how strangley people look at you when you show up with hundreds of pounds of laundry wrapped in tarps. We are quite a spectacle.


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Location:Youngstown, OH

So we found the Pennsylvania hills again

Today we had a relatively short 50 mile ride that made up for it's shortness in distance with hills. We started out the day with a somewhat extended climb out of Franklin, PA. After our initial climb we had a few more including a few rather steep ones although probably none quite as steep as yesterdays but close. It was a very hilly day until we crossed the border. After that it was relatively flat although at that point the temperature was quickly approaching 90, so we still weren't moving very fast. Now we're all in Youngstown, OH and settled in and looking forward to dinner tonight and our build day Tomorrow.

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Location:Youngstown, OH

We seem to have found the least hilly part of Pennsylvania

Today we road from Warren to Franklin. It was a pretty good ride with not too many hills other than the one really steep one that I tweeted about. There were some very nicely paved roads even more exciting not one but two bike paths. Not having to deal with cars for part of the day was fantastic. We were able to ride two across and talk comfortably. After getting in we went to a bar to watch the world cup game. We got to talk to the owner (I think that's who she was) and we got free T-shirts so now I have four shirts to alternate. The place as called Celtic Cafe and they did have a Celtics theme going on which I found to be a little weird since we are no where near Boston. Yesterday we also had a pretty good ride that wasn't too hilly. Both days were just south of 70 miles. Yesterday we had a particularly beautiful ride after lunch in Allegheny National Forest. We road down to a reservoir. We also liketo play games while we ride and I had a fantastic game of categories with two other riders Sarah and Chris. Categories is a game where you pick a category like bands or animals and you go through the alphabet trying to come up with a band whose name starts with each letter of the alphabet for example. In our game we tried to come up with as many different names as we could for each letter to make the game last longer. We also went off on lots of funny tangents including Sarah singing a song about rocks that she wrote for a school project in middle school. It was quite good. Tomorrow we're crossing into Ohio. I'm excited to get to see another state and looking forward to the flats although I'm sure I'll change my tune before long.


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We found the Pennsylvania hills

So I'd heard all about how awful Pennsylvania hills are supposed to be from multiple sources and after yesterdays absolutely beautiful and relatively flat ride I was skeptical about whether they really existed, but today's ride convinced me they are really there. We spent the entire day on US6 which was awful. There is a tremendous amount of truck traffic on that road because of all the newly found natural gas in the area. We were constantly beig passed way too closely by dump trucks and semis and that coupled with the hills made for a very unpleasant ride. Tomorrow we head back out on the same road for another day although it will be shorter (only 45 miles instead of 60 today). We had some tough hills today including one that was at least 1.5 miles into lunch. We did get to go swimming when we got in though which was very refreshing. The only bad part was the very cold shower I had to take afterwards.

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Location:Wellsboro, PA

Hello Pennsylvania

Today we had a 60 mile ride to Wysox, PA. It was mostly flat so we flew and got in just before 1. It was a good day for confidence building although tomorrow seems like we'll have a tough day with lots of those typical Pennsylvania hills. Yesterday we had a day off which was really nice and we got to relax and we went to see Toy Story 3 which was actually really good and had plenty of humor for the grownups. Today we also had our fifth birthday on the trip, our trip leader Brian turned 24. He and another trip leader, Gabe, had a little run in with a black bear on the route, but didn't have a direct confrontation so both lived to tell the tale. I'd also like to let everyone know that I've completely recovered from my dehydration issues I had on my birthday and feel great. Hope everyone is well and I'll try to keepthe updates coming.

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Location:Wysox, PA

New York has mountains

Today we very quickly we crossed the border and entered New York greeted by nothing more than a change in pavement and no sign. We continued on and took a very unfortunate wrong turn that brought us in a circle and added 12 miles to our day. After our long detour we finally got headed on the right path we very quickly found ourselves going uphill. It wasn't until after the second switchback that I realized it was a mountain. After very slowly making my way up the mountain I zipped down the other side although not as fast as I might have since it was very twisty. There was a second smaller climb and then mostly down hill after that but what we all thought would be a really easy 30 mile day was not at all. Tomorrow we go to Roscoe with a long 75 mile ride. On a side note last night one of the contributers to our dinner was Shaun Donovan the secretary of HUD.


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Connecticut has hills

Yesterday we had a 60 mile long day with a lot of hills before lunch and then not too many after. For dinner we had some really good food provided by the church we stayed at and then a yoga instructor came and we ha a yoga lesson which was perfect. Today we had a shorter 50 mile day. There were some very large hills before lunch some of which were quite steep. The first hill we hit that was not very long but very steep I made the mistake of stopping on it and I couldn't get started again and I kept falling over every time I tried. I managed to scrape up my right leg even more on every side but I was okay just a little bloody. I kept riding and made a stop with the van to get cleaned up. Coming down a hill a little later I lost my cue sheat and shortly later accidently reset my odometer so I had no idea where I was or where to go. I managed to make it to lunch which was at the enterance to some paths into the woods. We had lots of left overs from last night so we got a break from the usual pb&j. After lunch we immediately got to go down this giant hill where some people topped 40mph. The rest of the trip into Kent was mostly downhill which made up for the morning being so hilly. We stopped at this house with these sculptures in the shape of animals like elephants and giraffes and took some pictures. We're staying at the Kent school. So far these showers have the best water pressure. Today is also laundry day which is good because we were collectively as a group starting to smell. Tomorrow we cross onto New York and only have a 30 mile day.


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Location:Kent, CT

And it starts

I arrived yesterday in providence thanks to a ride from my friend Rachel and my friend Emma was kind enough to acompany us and keep Rachel company on the return trip. Yesterday was mostly introductions and name games. I'm still working on the names but I've got at least half down. Today we woke up early and did some bike safety (on the way to which i fell and scraped my leg (i'm fine)) in the morning and then went on a short ride this afternoon to make sure everything is working properly. Tomorrow we have our first build day before we start riding west on Tuesday.


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Location:Providence, RI

Testing my new blogging app

In an attempt to keep you all informed I will do my best to blog from the road. This will probably mean having to use my phone so I bought an app today that will hopefully make it easy. The only real downside is that my updates will probably be full of spelling mistakes. I leave Saturday so I'm busy running last minute errands and packing. I had my last or second to last trainning ride today and I'm feeling comfortable on my bike. I bought a new saddle last week and it is amazing I hardly think about my butt now aside to think about how I'm not thinking about it.


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