August 1st:
First day of August! Where has the time gone?? I was upset that I was assigned to be in the van on the day that Bike & Build designated as a “chalk in support” day for Patrick and Bridget. The idea was that riders would chalk messages on the road, sidewalk, or greenway for these riders and for the ME2SB15 team. The B&B community showed an incredible amount of support with these chalked messages, and it made me even more proud to be part of such an awesome group of young adults.
I dedicated my day to Patrick and Bridget during the dedication circle that morning, and I definitely broke down during it. Many of my teammates also chose to dedicate their rides to them, some even dedicating to me as well because they knew how hard I was taking the news. I have an incredibly supportive 4K team!
Kyle was my van day buddy, which made this duty much more fun.
The first thing Kyle and I did was go to the coffee shop – DUH! The team would be on one road for about 30 miles, so there were no turns to chalk until after the first water stop. We spent some time talking to Pacific Crest Trail hikers, who were in Packwood for a few days. The Pacific Crest Trail is one that spans from Canada down through Washington, Oregon, and California and into Mexico. It’s a trail that takes several months to complete. It takes a very outdoorsy, dedicated, and mentally strong individual to complete a journey like this, and I admire those who decide to take on this challenge. Just to give you an idea of where it goes…
Many of the people who hike the PCT start off alone, as these three guys did, but often find others along the trail to hike and camp with along the way. It was great hearing some of their stories and sharing some of our own with them. One of them said he had plans to move to Asheville, NC afterward, and I told him I could have guessed that, as Asheville is a haven for the outdoorsy, environmentally conscious, hippy, liberal, and adventurous.
At the first water stop, we took a photo of everyone in a line with Patrick and Bridget written on our calves. I stood in the middle representing Bike & Build with my hazard triangle on my Camelbak. For those of you who are unfamiliar, B&B requires all riders to have a Camelbak (which contains a water bladder that holds 100 fl. oz. of water) as well as a reflective safety triangle, both of which are always with me when I ride. In a way, the safety triangle on a Camelbak is a sign of a Bike & Builder.
The rest of the ride day was pretty average. We chalked the route for the team, as is the responsibility of the water van, and we unloaded everything once we got to the host in Centralia. It had been discovered earlier in the day that Seattle was only a little over an hour away from Centralia. Since we have a little bit of unspoken competition with Team Seattle, probably stemming from the fact that we’ve seen them four different times throughout this journey, we thought it would be hilarious to go and take a photo in front of the iconic Space Needle as a way of saying “beat ya here!!” So we did. We filled up the vans and spent only a little over an hour in this huge city.
Baltimore to Portland with 4K for Cancer 