Dear Travel log,
What. A. Day. On this day we biked from Napolean, ND to Bismarck, ND (roughly a 73 mile route). The morning started like none other. Not only did I wake up a half hour late, but I immediately locked myself out of the room I was sleeping in and panicked that I had lost access to all of my valuables inside. After a mad rush to get my things together, I was finally able to check in with my chore group and able to contribute to the usual morning routine. I also was fortunate to be able to get back into my sleeping area due to the help of our trip leaders with keys (our leaders are amazing!). 

The plan for the ride was to get an early start and focus on getting in as many early miles as possible due to fears of high winds picking up in the afternoon. My ride group of five quickly organized into a single pace line, with the front rider rotating out of breaking the wind every five minutes. This way the pace could stay high while each rider conserved their energy throughout the ride. To our surprise, all of the conditions of the road were in our favor. 

Empty & smooth roads – check. Slightly overcast/cool weather – check. Over 20 miles of tailwinds with net elevation loss – check. Beautiful sweeping views of the countryside that extended for miles and miles – check. Amazing people that I get to bike across the country with – check.

Every moment was a moment to savor, and before we knew it we arrived at our host in Bismarck, a local YMCA facility that we had full access to during and after hours. The hardest decision we had to make after arriving at the host was whether we should eventually play basketball, hide and go seek, go swimming, have a pizza eating competition or all of the above. Also news of nearby water parks made ripples throughout the group. The order of events was never officially decided on, but we will be spending two nights here, so hopefully we will have time to do all activities.

Until next time, 
Nick M

Though I have yet to see the popular Cohn Brothers film that strongly influences Fargo, ND reputation in my East Coast home (New Jersey), I was particularly excited to bike into the Moorhead-Fargo area because I knew so little about the cities, beyond the town facts I looked up before the trip. I had a feeling that they would be something entirely different from the cities I’ve visited because they are the hub of a region of the U.S. entirely new to me. 

As seems to often be the case entering cities, our ride began in a thoroughly rural spot, Mahnomen. Thus, we were guaranteed a range of human landscapes as farms transitioned to high rises. However, most of the ride was farm country – corn, beets, soybeans, and the occasional livestock – divided by long, straight roads with infrequent but fast cars and big trucks. 

Speaking of livestock – not long after departure, the team had a special encounter with a loose horse roaming farms outside Mahnomen. The friendly creature joined different ride groups for nearly a mile, somehow knowing to make the same turns as our cue. The event caused a bit of a delay as we stood aside to let police figure out the situation, but was also an opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime photo: 

As my first ride back from a shoulder injury that sidelined me for two days, today was my first experience of flat and windy western Minnesota. Those factors made this feel like a whole new cycling experience. We started the day cruising strong, but by midday were slowed drastically as the fierce winds picked up. Fortunately, my ride buddies for the day – Curb and Adam – were undeterred and lead our crew safely into Moorhead and our host site, Our Saviors Lutheran Church.

After debriefing with my ride group, setting up my sleeping spot, and washing lunch dishes, I set out again to get a lay of the land. While exploring the two cities, I stopped at some of the sites I read about online – the Fargodome, the Fargo Air Museum, and the viking ship museum – to get the tourist experience. I also found some sunscreen (knowing I’ll go through a lot in the coming weeks) and a new pair of running shorts from the thrift shop! Road construction was everywhere (one local told me “There are two seasons in Fargo, winter and construction), but I was pleased to discover a few bike lanes to get around. 

I made it back in time for a last-minute shower at Concordia College before the first of many delicious meals cooked by our amazing Moorhead hosts. Grateful to have another comfortable room to spend the night in a foreign place, I looked forward to getting to know the cities in a different light with our Build Day the following day.

~ Hogan

Our ride from Madison, WI to Soldiers Grove, WI was our second century as a team! We rode 109 miles, according to my bike computer. This century was epic. We rode from the fun and quirky city of Madison to the flourishing forests of the driftless region of western Wisconsin. Steadily we rolled past more corn and soybean fields into the rolling hills of this unique geologic region which, due to some basaltic highlands and Michigan Lake basin lowlands, was missed entirely by the glaciers of the last ice age. 

In other words, after second lunch we got trees and hills and gurgling trout streams and man was it gorgeous. Slowly, forests of oaks and maples and white pines sprung up atop steep limestone and sandstone formations, demonstrating the detailed landscape that can be sculpted by rivers. 

My group spotted a bald eagle around halfway through, soaring gracefully above us like a good omen, telling us we’d all finish the ride. 

My group stopped for a swim with just 10-15 miles to go, where a cool, clear, trout stream crossed beneath the road. We were hot and sweaty and just about melting in the afternoon heat, our legs sore. The icy water brought us all back, giving us more energy than a shot of espresso. 

Good thing too, because in the last 10 miles the hills rose higher. We climbed up for what seemed like forever, pushing on and on and on towards the host in the small Soldiers Grove, WI, population 550. Was the host at the top of this never-ending hill? Was it in the middle of this dense forest? Where are we going? I asked myself over and over. At our last queue, it all proved to be worth it — the downhill began! And at the bottom was the large brown high school that we would call home for the night – North Crawford School. Our team had chalked a beautiful welcome, of all our names in the pavement and encouraging words. 

Much of the team arrived together just after us, collecting in celebration as they all rolled in at once, happy to be done with the hills and the hundred plus miles. 

The next morning we awoke to ride on, two sandhill cranes greeting us in the parking lot, crying out their eerie dawn calls to the humid day ahead.

~Jessie

Greetings from the Capitol of Wisconsin! Today we biked roughly 45 miles from Janesville, WI through rolling countryside filled with endless cornfields…by far the most corn I have seen before in my life. Above the horizon we found blue skies and thine strands of white clouds. As the landscape flattens out and routes become straight county roads, riders have found the fastest ways to get from point A to point B by riding closely behind one another; in the form of a paceline. 

Tomorrow we head to various build projects around Madison, partnering with Habitat for Humanity for the day. There’s rumor of live music at the capitol building downtown tonight, just a few miles from our host where we’re staying. I believe a cold beverage and sunset over Lake Mendota are a fine reward for a hot day out on the road. Onward north through the land of cheese!

~ Caleb

Today’s 61 mile ride took us into Michigan City, our one night in The Crossroads of America: Indiana! Michigan City is found along the coast of Lake Michigan as part of an area known as “Michiana” by the border of both states. One of our riders calls Indiana home while another (our birthday girl for the day!) had spent her college years in Indiana, so we were all excited to help them return to a place they know and love. Our ride led us along the lake for some gorgeous beachside views and our sweep riders stopped to spend some extra time in the sand along the way. Our host that evening was the First Presbyterian Church who cooked us a delicious pasta dinner with homemade meat sauce. Michigan City is also home to the newly dubbed Indiana Dunes National State Park which has 15 miles of beaches and Mt. Baldy, a large wandering dune that our riders made sure to visit before we left Indiana for good the following morning to head to the Windy City, Chi-Town!

~ Julia

The ride into South Haven was only 40 miles, but it was eventful. Most of the ride was on a very scenic bike trail that was shady most of the way. Some of the roads at the end of the route were flooded, so we had to route around the worst of the water and then bike through water up to our ankles. Luckily, at the end of the day we could splash through them and not worry about being wet for the rest of the ride (some of us went back through a few just for fun). 

In the evening, we had the opportunity to go swimming on the beach. It was crowded, but the water was warm. Other people also played spike ball on the beach or went for a run at sunset. 

~ Jake

Grand Rapids Blog 

Ride day #17 started out like any other, with a chorus of chirping cellphone alarms and the soft whooshing sound of 26 Therm-a-rest camping mattresses deflating at once. 

This morning, we woke up in the gym of the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Home for Children in Eaton Rapids, MI, having slept well after taking full advantage of their basketball courts the night before. As we went about packing our bags and bins, we were gifted with a special treat: chore group rotation! My group of 5 was officially done with dinner crew (after grilling burgers and dogs for 26 people the night before despite none of us knowing how to use a grill) and was moving on to everyone’s favorite, TRAILER CREW! This dazzling game of real-life Tetris involves stacking overstuffed bags and heavier-than-they-look bins into our beloved trailer. We attended to this activity of organized chaos and sauntered on to breakfast and our route meeting for today’s ride debriefing. Luckily, last year’s team had left us some great notes about our ride: according to them, the terrain “should be good! :)” Not too long into our 84 mile ride, we quickly realized that “should be good :)” meant nothing other than hills! (Love ya, NUS 2018). We were on the lookout for some possible lightning during the first half of our ride and watched what almost appeared to be a purple funnel cloud form in the distance. Luckily, we were only rained on for an hour and afterwards it still topped over 80 degrees! It was a humid, sweaty treat. One ride group was particularly savvy enough to politely ask a house they passed by if they could use their hose – special thank you to everyone out there willing to help some sweaty color-coordinated cyclists cool off!

Our whole team finished the ride and made it to our destination at the First United Methodists Church in Grand Rapids, MI. It was an exciting homecoming for one of our riders who calls the city home. Having worked with Well House, a local nonprofit that provides safe, affordable housing to those experiencing homelessness, he coordinated a private event for our team that night to meet and connect with the Well House community, which included none other than Bike & Build’s Board of Directors chair Danny McGee! It was invigorating to have so many people passionate about affordable housing in one room, all of them from different walks of life.  

We were fortunate to be able to spend an extra night in Grand Rapids to work with another local affordable housing organization called the Dwelling Place. They manage over 1,000 units and keep them affordable to help their residents maintain housing stability and revitalize the surrounding neighborhoods. We spent the day helping them clean out the remaining furniture in an apartment complex they’re planning on renovating this summer. It was a unique experience since we got to see the units first-hand and even meet some of the residents and assist them with relocating their items. They told us what we got done in one day would have taken their maintenance staff weeks to accomplish so we were glad we got to provide 26 extra pairs of hands, even if for only a day. All of the staff we met are fantastic people and it was easy to tell that they’re passionate about helping restore West Michigan communities and keep them affordable to everyone. 

Overall, Grand Rapids treated us well: two engaging interactions with awesome affordable housing organizations, amazing ice cream (Love’s was a favorite), and great bike shops. A special shout out to Freewheeler Bike Shop for helping three of our riders with fixing their bikes and grabbing new gear. We’ve still got another 3,000 miles to go and their support to help us keep our bikes in tip top shape is greatly appreciated. Next stop: Kalamazoo!

~ Julia

We rode 65 miles to Eaton Rapids.  We spent most of the first half of the ride on an empty bike path, so I occupied my time by learning to ride my bike without handlebars.  After lunch, we got back on the roads with some rolling hills and saw a lot of hay.  Upon arrival at the host, people occupied their time with basketball and setting up an obstacle course.
~ Lorelei

We woke up in the morning spread out in pairs in community members houses in Avon Lake. Church members had generously offered to let us stay the night in their homes, so we woke up refreshed after the first night in a long time we had slept in real beds.

Our 83 mile route to Elmore had many bike paths that allowed us to get off the roads and enjoy the ride away from traffic. While the morning started out cool it got much warmer in the afternoon, prompting many of us to take shelter in an air-conditioned gas station. We also had to cross a flooded road in the afternoon that cooled us down for a little while.

We had a short evening with much of the group going to bed soon after dinner. We all knew that we had our first century ride coming up the next day with a 4:00am wake up time and wanted to get as much sleep as possible.

-Alyssa

Today we woke up in Ticonderoga, NY and left for a sixty three mile ride to Long Lake, NY. Our ride took us on some beautiful roads up some fairly large hills, including a mountain pass to get into the Adirondack mountains. The sun was shining on us most of the day as we passed many lakes and a lot of other non-Bike & Build riders as well. We noticed many cyclists going the opposite way and were able to talk to one woman from that group, who told us a bit about their trip. The women in their group were mid 50s-60s and use this trip as a little reunion. Hopefully we will still be out there crushing miles and enjoying the sights of this country when we are older as well!

Our lunch spot was very rewarding, as it was at the top of a very long hill climb. We created some masterpieces today at lunch, mac and cheese with veggies, cheese balls, peanut butter & jelly, and beans all mixed together! We hit some more hills post lunch and rolled into Long Lake, which is the smallest town we’ve been to yet with a population of 711. We quickly set up shop at The Wesleyan Church right in town and made our way to the town beach. The beach had a really awesome dock with ropes to swing from, a trampoline, and slide that we took full advantage of. More and more this trip has been bringing the kid out in all of us. Our hosts provided a build-your-own-taco dinner at the church followed by a delicious Texas sheet cake. After dinner a few of us went to find the grocery store to replenish our supplies, but as you may guess, in a town of seven hundred and eleven people, the one grocery store was closed after 8pm. We didn’t find groceries, but we did find an absolutely beautiful sunset over Long Lake. These small moments have proved to be one of the largest and most enjoyable parts of this trip so far. Tomorrow we are headed to Boonville, NY for a 73 mile day. Cheers to another day of safe riding and enjoying the little moments together. 

-Megan H.