As we sit outside singing and playing guitar, watching the sunset on the Adirondacks, we reflect on a glorious day. We ate hills for breakfast. Well, one giant hill for breakfast. The climb took us about an hour of constant uphill, impressively steep at parts. But soon we got to the top of the Vermont forest-covered hill and the fun part started — downhill! 4 miles flew by in only a few minutes. Some of us hit 50mph! The wind blew off the sweat from our hard work going up the hill, and the adrenaline kicked in to rid us of our morning sluggishness. The hills rolled on throughout the day, through more forest and historic towns, past epic farmland vistas and curious cows. I was greatly appreciative of my ride group today — they pushed me harder than I have on the trip, only because of their generous enthusiasm and encouragement, and of course the hoots and hollers on the downhill. And the best part — we gained another state!

From Vermont to New York in just one day. 

To cross the line we took a ferry across Lake Champlain,

escaping the huge trucks hauling dairy

A coffee stop in historic Middlebury

Helped us climb rolling hills with fury.

Ticonderoga united Methodist church were staying

Who welcomed us, fed us, gave us space to keep playing. A visit to lake George

Awoke us from our naps

The mosquitos at night lead to us all giving slaps. 

Also here is Lake Champlain, with the oldest fossil coral reef

From a 500 million year old tropical sea. And I can’t forget the Star Trek set

A nerdy museum for fans to inspect

Another day, another 42 miles,

And somehow we all make it out with smiles. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jessica

Ride day number four for the Northern US Bike & Build 2019 team! As the token Vermont member of our group, I am pleased to have prepared the town facts for our one night in my home state. We left Concord, NH around 7:30AM and made our way to a small summer camp outside of Rochester, VT. Although I was one of the drivers for our group support van, I made sure to take in the sights along the narrow winding roads, and keep an eye out for turtle crossings. We stopped in a small town named South Royalton, VT to explore the local thrift store/cafe and the gazebo in the town park across the street. A group of elderly women who ran the thrift store insisted that we take whatever we wanted from the store for free, which is very little when you’re riding a bicycle cross country.

After collecting a handful of rogue riders who got lost back in New Hampshire, the group stopped for lunch beside the White River. Most riders made sure to stop by one of the many ice cream stands along the 50 mile route to try their first maple creeme and to get a break from the sunshine.

In the afternoon, riders arrived at our host sight, Killooleet Summer Camp, swam in the pond nearby and took some time to relax after a long, hot ride. It’s amazing how much energy people can rally for a game of spikeball after biking for seven hours. 

Thank you to our generous host, including the camp director and her staff, who were in the process of preparing for campers to arrive the following week. The dinner, space, and kindness offered to our Bike & Build group was greatly generous and beautiful way to begin our time in the green Mountain state.

-Caleb G.

First build in Dover NH; mostly paint and tree brush clean up, but it was a solid day. I’ve been trained on driving the van, which will be an interesting way to catch a break about once a week.

~Adam

First off, we want to thank First Baptist Church of New London, New Hampshire for being some top shelf hosts! They not only let us sleep in their magnificent church, but they showed us how time is measured. They have an open faced clock that captures the imagination of the time keepers before us. The church also fed us like kings and queens. We had all the options: vegan/vegetarian/vegetabletarian/and carnivorous. We are truly grateful to be so well taken care of. 

This next paragraph is mostly about the thoughts I’ve had since Bike & Build started earlier this week. Bike & Build is about being honest with yourself. For example, if you don’t want others to touch your bike, then voice that. In return, we will respect that. Our truth is our core value. I asked two other Bike & Builders to help me write this B L O G, and they both firmly and openly said “no”. I fakkin love that. Why would we want help from someone who doesn’t want to help us? It’s more than okay to say no, and we should not feel ashamed of voicing how we feel. We are living a dream, and it’s Bike & Build. Young adults biking across the country, meeting new people, eating all the food we can get, and working with affordable housing programs. We are putting ourselves into the unknown, while finding our way through a life where the only person we have to go to sleep with at night is ourselves (next to 25 other stinky butts). So, be honest, be open, be vulnerable, and enjoy it while we have it!

– NUS 2019

– Alec

It’s been a whirlwind, these few days, as we’ve all met each other, gone through an extensive orientation, and rode over 100 miles. I think many of us weren’t sure what to expect leading up to this trip. We had already put in a lot of work for sure – we’d had affordable housing discussions, rode 500 training miles, volunteered 15 hours, not to mention raised over $5000! But now that we are here, we understand a bit more what it means to be a part of this epic adventure.

Bike and build is a bike ride across the country for affordable housing, to empower young adults for a life of community service. But our bike and build, NUS 2019’s Bike & Build, is so much more! It is 25 new friendships that will last a lifetime. It’s a trip to bump us all into the present moment, to acknowledge as Robert Pirsig (author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycles) put so perfectly – “Cars are t.v. On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”

It’s a reminder to always be charitable, to be thankful in new and innovative ways, to practice empathy. To be a part of a team – like a well-oiled bike chain, each link helping us move forward together. And most importantly, to be silly, to laugh, to spew nonsense!

So how does all that manifest? Well it started with a very successful build day with the Dover, NH habitat for humanity. Doug Gregory, the site manager, welcomed us warmly and put us to work. We painted the interior of the house, cleared brush for landscaping projects, and even hauled huge logs of wood out of the way. The sun showed up for that day despite the rain the day before. Doug sent us off with touching words and well-wishes, complimenting us on how seamlessly we work together as a team. Considering it was only our 3rd day together ever, that is pretty cool.

Then, we had our first big ride day. This was no easy start. We awoke at the crack of dawn – 5:30 – to pack the trailer with all of our things, and sat down to a beautiful breakfast that our host, the Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Portsmouth,NH, made for us. Our ride began with us dipping our wheels in the Atlantic Ocean, a symbolic gesture to send us en route towards the Pacific. Pastor Tim sent us off with a blessing of the bikes; and man did we need it.

The rain began at our wheel dip and didn’t let up all day. We biked 60 miles to Concord, NH, over gnarly hills, cold winds, and beautiful forests. It was a challenge to say the least, but we all arrived safely at the warm, first Congregational Church in Concord with Pastor Amelia. I’m proud of how we handled the hills, the rain, the extra long ride after 3 days of orientation presentations. We applied all we learned about safety on the road, and about each other as riders.

As we roll forward, our trip will fall into its own rhythm, filled with giggles and rhymes and swimming holes, waterfalls and jamming on our group instruments, building houses and meeting community members of the towns we visit, and, of course, ice cream.

To close, I’d like to end with a little limerick:

Orientation started off fine,

With bonding games in the afternoon sunshine.

The next few days we were bombarded with info

About a day in the life and safety must-knows

Together we’re eager and goofy and loud and with each new discussion there are questions abound.

Our convo on affordable housing lasted a long time

Making it clear why we’re all here on this ride.

Already we helped build with habitat in Dover

Clearing branches, painting, and rolling logs over.

We practiced safety with the shakedown ride,

Keeping the cue sheets and our teammates in mind

And we biked for what seemed like forever and a day

In a constant, cold, windy (and windy) rain.

From spike ball to slacklines to bracelet making and more,

We’ve somehow found free time between the rides, builds and the chores.

We pushed up hills

We thanked our hosts

We’ve all got the will

To make this trip the most

Fun summer everrrrrr!

–NUS ‘19
– Jessie

Thanks for joining us! This is the home of this year’s Bike & Build’s Northern United States route – NUS 2019 for short.

Each day we will ask a team member to write a brief summary and reflection of the day. Hopefully this will be a collection of what we have done and why it mattered, shareable and memorable.

While this will ideally be a daily blog, due to our hectic schedule and sometimes remote location, please forgive us if this is a few days behind.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton