Westfeild, NY -Ashtabula, OH

Today we left NY! We took some pictures leaving when we left.  We met some pirates of Lake Erie they let us investigate the ship.  Somewhere along the way Kevin got a flat.  We had internet access for a little while at the McDonalds across from the church.  Ronald is really creepy.

Niagra falls-Westfield

87miles and still able to stand, I'd call today a good day.   I was a sweep today with Dae which means that we were the last people to leave and the last people to get to the church for the night so that we can make sure that we all make it to our destination in one piece.  It was a beautiful day to be a sweep.  We left at 9 am and rode at a slow pace to lunch where we ate Subway and then met with some riders with popped tires who we rode with for the rest of the day. We stopped at Frank Lloyd Wrights estate which was pretty neat to see.  At about mile 65 we stopped at Christopher's fathers friends house on Lake Erie and drank lemonade and dipped our feet in the water it was wonderful.

Lockport - Niagra Falls

Happy 4th of JULY!!!  We had the shortest day that we will ever have on this trip...only 20 miles, and then we had the rest of the day to explore the falls.  We went to dinner at the church we were staying at and then back to Niagra to see the fireworks.  What didn't occur to us was that the fireworks were put on by the Canadian casinos and our Independence Day wasn't their Independence Day.  The fireworks were the 8 minutes long and the same that the regularly do on Friday nights.  They were still nice though and now I've seen the great falls that everyone talks about. wicked sweet!

Rochester - Lockporrt

Today it was POURING rain!  We had a 65 mile day and thankfully during our lunch break a wonderful person we met along the way let us into her house (on the sun porch) gave us towels to dry off a bit and we all watched the Price it Right until the rain cleared up after lunch and we made it to Lockport which was an actual city...where we did laundry again and now smell very clean.  Unfortunately I didn't take ANY pictures because of the rain but if you look at your shower head while it is running at full force you can see what our day looked like.

Palermo-Rochester, NY (July 1)

Pictures will come eventually..buut RIT won't let me plug in my photos to their computer...whatever. 

Lets play a game...pick which item doesn't belong. Pace line, Double Pace Line, Pit bulls, Bicycles.

I hope that we can all pick out the correct answer.  Dan took some really funny pictures which I will post later.  8 of us are riding nicely in a double pace line (wicked cool, right?) we transition to a single file line and Dan takes out his camera to take a photo of the group. Then a pitbull comes running out of the bushes as he clicks the camera, Sean in the back of the line is suddenly in the front and the group breaks up. Dan who was in no danger rides up next to me cracking up because of the pictures and what just happened because we were (who were in the front) were in no danger.  As he is laughing Jessie yells "big.....Dog!" and another pitbull heads directly for Dans bike.  We all took off as quickly as we could, which make the 90 mile day go by a lot faster... 

Boonville-Palermo where am I???

Another day of biking, today was much shorter..coming in at 65 miles...but the last 5 were a doozy. I was riding with Craig, Quang, and Lindsay. Craig and I pulled ahead during the last 5 and saw a billboard for 'Quick Lique' an slushie place which clearly said 2 miles ahead.  After 2 miles we got to the United Methodist Church where some of our group had already arrived and we were staying for the night.. "Where is the Quick Lique?!!?!!" Craig said peeling into the parking lot on the bicycle and making the entire group crack up for his enthusiasm for slushies.  We recruited another member to our Lique group and eventually found it, much further away than 2 miles. 

When we got back to the church a great majority of the people were back and very asleep all over the place. 

you may shimmy but do you Chamois?

So chores this week for my group are loading the trailer in the morning and doing laundry. Laundry = bad smells.   The laundry rundown for Bike and Build is as follows.  2 large tarps get put on the floor, one for regular clothes and one for bike clothes.  Then laundry crew Michelle, Sharon, Craig, Ian and I roll up the tarps like a nasty clothing burrito and stuff it into the van to drive to the laundry mat.  Next we put everything in the washers.  Picture a minimum of 60 diiiiirty chamois (bike shorts that you don't wear undies under and then wear all day with some form of shammy cream on it to prevent saddle sores) that we have to touch and load into the washers.  It is soooo gross!  Once laundry is done we make a clean laundry burrito and then put it back on the floor and everyone piles into the room to dig through the matching clothing to find their own.  I'm glad chores rotate every week...

By now we are in boonville, NY which is tiny...we rode 80 miles today to get here and the church prepared a nice dinner.  We all cleaned our bikes which were gross after all the rain...and then it started raining again, sooo....

Say NO to camping in Downpours.

Cruising directly to town Kristen, Kathy and I only faced 8 miles of torrential downpour..thus far it has rained everyday except one that we biked. But we were greeted by Katrinas family when we got there! In the morning the sun was shining so we took a long time sitting at lunch and enjoying the view of the bridge and river...sadly the weather changed quickly but that was even more unfortunate for some more than others.  When we left Sliver Bay in the morning Zack got 1 flat tire...after lunch another...in the rain another..and another and then one more..which brought his flat tire count for the day up to 5..in the rain.  He knew how to change tires to begin with and is now highly proficient in doing so.  (in case you are wondering why so many..its because the tires are the original tires that came with the bike) He now has new tires and they haven't been flat yet..knock on wood. 

Rochester, VT- Silver Bay, NY

Some things don't occur to you until you are on the road...for instance, Rochester is in a valley and how do you get out of valleys? OH!  You climb..and climb and climb... Eventually the climb out of the valley was over and the road toward NY was AMAZING!  We all got to 37.9 miles and then waited for the entire group to catch up so that we could take the ferry as a group into New York.  Woot! we are officially out of New England. We were told that we were staying at a YMCA and had heard through the grapevines that we might even have beds, but we never expected that when we arrived we would be given not only beds, but access to the entire YMCA.  And this YMCA was wonderful! It resembled more of a resort or a summer vacation destination rather than a regular YMCA.  Although we were already tired we all took advantage of the tennis, kayaking, swimming, shuffleboard, sailing, archery and stuff like that.  And of course the free bagel policy...aka when bagels are free, eat them..and save some for later.

have you ever seen Bethel Mountain?

And in late breaking news...is me.  My picture was in the Valley News Today (June 26).  Since I haven't posted any photos of me on here...you can find it there and perhaps when I have access to a scanner can add it.  

Today we rode our bikes from Lebanon, NH to Rochester, VT which was about 50 miles...and up Bethel Mountain.  Which is steep and loooong (and when I say steep, I mean steep).  I challenged myself to ride up the entire 6 miles of it without stopping or getting off my bike and succeeded.  Yay! 

Sadly it was pouring almost the entire trip except for when we were in Queeche (where I took the pictures) which prevented us from flying down the other side of the mountain too fast because it would've been to slippery (but still managed 51mph) 

Lebanon Build day- Part 2

Today was our last day in NH! The rain stayed away and we all worked really hard to finish up all the projects that we were expected to do.  Half of the group worked on roofing in Norwich and the rest finished putting insulation on the Lebanon house.   

Later that night we all went back to the church, had an amazing dinner and then cleaned up our mess (I'll leave you to imagine the impact and smell of 30 riders) and then all worked on our bicycles together to prepare for the long ride the next day.

Dartmouth Sponsored Habitat Home (Day 6)

Today we split up out group of 30 and 12 of us went to the Dartmouth sponsored Habitat build site.  It was a really good idea to break up the group so that we all had something to do during the day.  Some of us were in charge of painting tar onto the foundation while some smacked metal hook things off the foundation.  I was involved in smacking the metal hooks which took most of the morning.

Eventually once all the metal hooks that could be smacked, were smacked I moved on to cutting pieces of styrofoam insulation with Dan, Jessie, and Sharon.  This was probably a one person job, but since there were enough of us we all pitched in and finished the days work by the time lunch was over.  It was hard work..

New London to Lebanon

Yay NH! Its pretty funny that we spend the longest amount of time in NH because it is one of the smallest states we go through.  But I just arrived in Lebanon today, we rode here through pouring rain which was incentive to ride faster.  We all covered a lot of ground in a little bit of time, we will be in Leb for the next couple days because there is a Habitat For Humanity build site that we will be going to.  I think this is very cool!

Concord to New London

This is the NH statehouse and some of us riders in our awesome jerseys, we look so good! Concord is really a pretty happening place, later that night there was a concert on the green and one entire street was shut down for a cultural awareness fair which was a lot of fun to walk around.

Somewhere along the way (around the 20th mile) during lunch break Christopher lured a butterfly to him by singing beautiful melodies...for a very long time. (and there was defiantly no jelly on his nose..)

The Tire Dip

The first bicycle ride from Portsmouth to Concord felt like a really long one...probably because it was.   We woke up at 5:30am today to get out on our bikes and head to the ocean to dip our tires.  The weather was really nice for a first ride and the day went really smoothly.  

The First Build Day

Today we went to our first Habitat For Humanity build site in NH. 

We were in charge of a lot of landscaping (spreading huge piles of dirt) and building a shed.

Although we didn't finish the shed in the one day that we were there we did make quite a dent in the project.  

We got to meet the families who live in a couple of the habitat houses in the area which was really great, they were very nice.   Habitat in this area only works on Saturdays when the local contractor can donate his time.  I learned that it takes about 1 year to build a habitat house in this area for that reason.

Our FIRST ride together as a group.

Thanks again to all my sponsors and donors, you guys are amazing and Bike and Build is such an amazing cause and this summer is going to be soooo amazing.

I'll start with yesterday.  Thank you Michelle Erhard for driving me to Portsmouth, NH.  We are staying at Holy Trinity church in Newington.  The church is awesome and fed us pizza and BBQ (22 pizza's actually! Which is almost 1 pizza

 per rider.  I think that is a little much...so we've been eating the leftovers since then.  

A lot of the riders are Dartmouth students and many New England locals, I think its a pretty great group.  Chucky-Cheese's is right next door to the church and they donated tokens to our group so that we could go play some games.  

This morning... we woke up at 7:30am (this is a day where we got to sleep in, holy moly...looks like I'll be a morning person by the end of the trip)  

We were taught basic bike maintenance and then we went for a 10 mile practice ride around the mall as a giant group of 30.  I think we were a little intimidating for traffic.  This is the only time that we will be riding as such a large group.  But we looked really snazzy all riding as a mass in the same jerseys. 

Later that day we went over some safety and rules.  Then we started to paint our trailer in our own special way for the trip.  It hasn't been finished, but I think it will be cool!  For dinner we went to another church that cooked us spaghetti and then we talked to a lady who works for Habitat around this area and will be assisting us at out first build site tomorrow.  She seems really nice and I am excited to work tomorrow.  

My first 'recent' tip over.

Finally the spider bite blister thing on the arch of my foot has gone away enough so I can wear shoes again...Yay!  Its really quite humid out, so obviously the correct choice is to go for a bike ride. We rode from Claremont to Newport, then back home through Unity which makes a 28 mile loop.  Its a really nice ride, but there is a lot of road construction and many, many, many up hills!   The reward however is a long downhill.  

The other day while I was at some consignment shop in Newport I found a 2003 Prouty Jersey that I am pretty excited about.  My Dad thinks its kind of lying to wear it but I think its pretty, plus I wouldn't have been very old in 2003 so there isn't a chance I would've ridden in it.  I decided to sport the jersey today.  It didn't give me any superpowers like speed or agility (like my spider bite did, clearly now I'm like spiderwoman) .  I know that I didn't gain agility because I tipped over while I was standing with my bike under me. 

The cool part of that is...

The cuts on my leg which are borderline really bada** if you ask me.

The lonely tandem bicycle.

So yesterday I found a tandem bicycle looking very lonely in a free pile on the side of the road.  I decided to bring it home to meet my family.  As I was sneaking the rusty but wonderful find into the garage, my father came out "what is that?!"   clearly it was a fixer-upper but would be wonderful if it worked. My mom came to check it out and offered to plant flowers all over it and use it as a decoration in the garden. 

.........THE NEXT DAY..... I get home and my dad comes cruising up the driveway "I pumped up the tires!" I knew he would love a fixer-upper! Everyone got a turn on it, riding back and forth to the farmers market, and gaining a lot of good laughs.  Needless to say I think that it is now a new member of the family.

$4,000 and Riding Baby!

Thank you so much to all of my sponsors!
Green Mountain College- Make-A-Difference thank you for all your help with school and with this trip! People like everyone in this group are very special and should be really proud of all the good they do!

Mr. Christie- Thanks for letting me do some work with you and your building guys!oh yeah...I'm good at making particularly stupid faces...eep!Benjamin Mansfield-Thanks so much!

Evelyn Cummings/Dean Hill Pet Center- Thank you for your donation and giving me a place to work when I am home!
Paul Pappas- Thank you for your donation!
Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue Maki- Thank you for your donation and it was great seeing you up at the farm, I hope you have a good summer congrats on being grandparents!
The Aldrich Family- Thank you for letting me borrow your trainer to have at school and for your donation!
Theresa Kline- Thank you so much for your donation!
Jason Webber- Thanks so much, My dad said I may ride through your home town? If you're a cyclist you should catch up with us and take a ride!
Desilets Contracting- Thanks you for your help!
Tina and Bob Webb- Thank you for your donation it was really nice of you guys!
Grammy and Papa- Thanks for your donation and for checking up on my blog and all the rider status' I'll keep them more updated throug the summer I promise!
Keith Druhl- Thank you so much for your donation! Hopefully I'll make something to share with CCTV when I get back!
Gail and George Warmke- Thanks for your donation, It was really nice to see you the other weekend! I loved laughing with you guys and thinking about false teeth sewn to the front of prom dresses!

Today I mailed some donations that will put me at my goal of $4,000 AMAZING!!! Its hard to believe that in 8 days I'll be in Portsmouth for training and then hitting the road in 10 days, WOWZA!

Thank you all!!

"Learn to ride a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." -Mark Twain

So I called Zanes in CT and soon the bicycle will be on my porch. Kim Starr was really helpful with getting me all the Info that I needed, Thanks. www.ezanes.com She even equipped us with a how to attach the pedals and handle bars manual, with live action movies! Score! ha ha ha.

I have new shoes for my bike, they will be fun to play with, Here is a joke to explain:

Q. Do you know what is the hardest part of learning to ride a bike?

A. The pavement.


I would also like to thank the Oberkotter Family Foundation for the scholarship for my books next year. You guys are doing me a huge favor, Thank you SOooooooo much!! I appreciate it very very very much!

Bike and thanks

This is the baby i'm crossing the country with..mmhmm. Thanks to Aunt Germaine and Brian Morron for your donation. Thank you to the Lemieux family for your donation, It was nice seeing you guys the other night! Thanks for Claremont Cycle Depot for sizing me up...

Hey Cool Thanks Patrick!

By Patrick O'Grady News Editor Swinging a hammer and pedaling a bike may not seem to have much in common but for Laura Maki of Claremont they are the perfect combination. Maki, 19, a sophomore at Green Mountain College, is planning on hammering and pedaling her way across the United States this summer with the organization Bike and Build. “It combines my passions,” said Maki, home recently on her winter break. While at Stevens High School, Maki said she was enrolled in the building trades program at the Sugar River Technical Center and for years has enjoyed bicycling. But it wasn't until a friend told her about Bike and Build that she saw an opportunity to do both things she loved, while helping others. The 4,000 miles bicycle trip from Portsmouth, N.H., to Vancouver, British Columbia, includes regular stops at affordable housing projects. “We have 10 sites so far, the first one is in Lebanon, N.H.,” Maki said. “We'll be helping Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, basically any affordable housing project.” To be part of the project that departs Portsmouth on June 18, Maki is busy trying to raise $4,000, a dollar a mile, for the van-supported ride. The money will go toward the housing projects. To that end, Maki has set up a blog on www.bikeandbuild.org. Under rider blogs, Maki’s name appears on the Northern U.S. route. The trip will take the group of about 20 riders across New Hampshire and Vermont and into New York State.The cyclists will dip below the Great Lakes region through Ohio and once past the southern edge of Lake Michigan, head north through Illinois and Wisconsin before turning west through Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The expected arrival date in Vancouver is Aug. 24. “Our shortest day is 20 miles and the longest is 140,” Maki said. “We will be staying in churches, YMCAs, places like that. I’m really excited about getting started.” Maki is also hoping for an early spring to begin riding more miles in preparation. “Riding indoors is getting boring,” she said. Having been on work crews with the Student Conservation Association, Maki said she is aware of the physical demands of the trip but is confident her training and experience will help her complete the journey. Maki has raised about $1,000 so far. Anyone interested in making a donation can do so by going online at BikeandBuild and clicking on Maki’s blog or through the mail with checks made out to BikeandBuild and sent to Maki at 5 Hartford St., Claremont, N.H. 03743.

Why thank you.

Thank you Janet and Ken Coulombe you guys are great! Thank you to Don and Wendy Woodman, it was nice seeing you at dinner!
I'm nearing on $2,000, almost halfway there. 89 (I think?) more days before I leave, woot. Thanks

Marro's is a great place

Thank you Marro Home Center for your donation to Bike and Build. You guys are great, thanks for your note Patty.

I am now at $1605! Thank you About $2400 to go. Thanks all

Thank you guys.

I would like to thank Patrick O'Grady for talking to me and printing an article about my trip in the Eagle Times, you are great!

Thank you to Marcy and Paul Obymako, Uncle Brad Schnyer and Aunt Kathy Schnyer, Chuck and Sue Ober, Don Taylor and Joan Coleman. You guys are making a huge difference in my summer and in the lives of the people I will be meeting along the way.

Thanks so much!

Thanks you!

The first thing that I want to do is to thank my Grammy and Papa (Doug and Joanne Schnyer) for thier donation to my trip! Thank You so much!

The next wicked exciting thing is that I just got an e-mail about ordering my bike, woot! The next step that I will have to take is to go get sized up for it at Claremont Cycle Depot and then order it and perhaps go pick it up at Zanes in the lovely state of CT.

yay!

I love my sponsors

Sorry,

 I went back to school and then I couldn't access my blog but now I have a computer.  Thank you to my most recent sponsors, Roy Funeral Home (Mr. Roy Thank you!) , The Gassett Family thank you guys soo  much you are awesome!  Thanks to Margie and Larry Thibodeau (I hope you are enjoying the warm GA weather, I'm really getting antsy for some warmth here).  Thank you Betty Woodman and Stringer Funeral Home (Mr. stringer Thanks!)  And My Mom thank you!

To this day I am at $950 woot!  $3050 more to go!!

thank you guys...you all rock my socks.

donations?

So yes...It has been a month since I have written, but my excuse will be that I haven't had access to a computer.

The Spring semester has just started here at GMC and I am looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to this bike and build trip, but I am really really nervous, because raising $4,000 seems a little crazy, but I'll have to keep faith. I'll get there.

Also If you are ever in Rutland, Vermont I reccomend checking out the pyramid center they have this really cool Himilayan Salt Cave that is a very peaceful place to visit and relax in. (its by appointment only, sooo look them up online, its worth it.)

Training

First and foremost, Thank you to Mary Jane Eastman and Michael Ankuda! Thank You Marion Schettino for your donation to my trip!

At home in Claremont we have the stationary bike, located in my fathers office. I've been taking frequent rides through feilds of system analysis graphs and the valleys of understading controls and integration posters...sadly I still don't understand, perhaps the rest of the vacation on the stationary bike will help me understand. Somehow though, I think not.