Two Nights in Bismarck

We spent two nights in Bismarck, ND. We were staying at the YMCA, which presented some challenges and some additional benefits. The challenge was that the area where we are allowed to sleep was the day care space. The day care opened at 7:30 in the  morning and didn’t close until 7 pm. This meant that we had to pack up the trailer an additional time in morning to get all of our stuff out of their way.

The biggest advantage of staying there was that we had access to their facilities for the entire duration of the stay. One night, we got to play basketball and volleyball as late as we wanted to stay up. The next day, various people went swimming, lifted weights, and (our personal favorite) played racquetball.

The build day was a little different than most build days. We couldn't find an affordable housing organization that had the capacity to partner with 26 people, so instead we had a day to learn more about affordable housing in Bismarck. We attended a meeting with the Bismarck Supportive Housing Coalition, which brings together various nonprofit and government housing organizations. Unfortunately, the group was most excited about hearing about our trip, and less interested in telling us about what they do. We found out that they value being in a less populous state, since it makes collaboration easier. On the other hand, the oil boom in the western half of the state drove up home prices across the state. The group said that they have only been getting widespread publicity and support recently, when the last homeless shelter in the city closed. Luckily, they quickly got the shelter back open in time for winter this year, and have plans to expand and open another shelter soon.

A Day in the Life of Sweep

Each ride day, two riders are assigned as the designated last group to arrive at the host. Throughout the day, they tail the other ride groups, carrying a small med kit with them to assist riders with small cuts or scrapes. This pair of riders is called the “sweep team” or “sweep”, as their main job is to make sure no groups get left behind by “sweeping up” any lost riders.

Being part of the sweep team can make for a long day, as you wake up early with everyone else, but are last to leave the host in the morning, and last to arrive at the host at the end of the day. On especially windy or sunny days, this also means you’re likely to be riding in the harsher afternoon heat and wind gusts, while other groups may be able to finish before mid-afternoon. In order to make being part of sweep more fun, there are certain perks. Sweep riders are first through the dinner line at the end of the day, and while riding, other riders stop to “chalk” messages to sweep team, usually along the lines of “We love you sweep!” or fun little messages specific to the riders.

The sweep team also makes some of their own fun by creating “Sweep Challenges” or “Sweepstakes”. At the morning route meeting where we come together as a group to prepare for the ride, the sweep team announces their sweep challenge for the day. The most common challenges are photo challenges where the sweep team asks riders to “come up with a creative visual interpretation of upside down” or “channel your inner water” or “find a good way to take a picture of how windy it is”. Sometimes there are lip sync battles or movie scene re-enactments submitted as videos. Other times, the challenge is to write a good poem, or just enjoy the ride.

Sometimes people leave artistic drawings for sweep. In this case, Cookie Monster.

In case sweep missed Tait on their ride, he left a self portrait.

Channel your inner upside-down.

Or is it right side up?

 

Capture the wind in a picture.

The "act like water" challenge at the Mississippi River Headwaters.

Rebuilding Together

Today we had a build with an organization called Rebuilding Together. Rebuilding Together works on projects to repair and maintain existing homes for low income families.

There were several different tasks at the worksite. The main job involved tearing wooden siding off a house so that it can be replaced with vinyl siding. The siding was rotting in some places and clearly needed to be replaced. It took a large chuck of the group all day to make it all the way around the house and shed removing the siding.

The supervisor was very excited to have us there helping because she was having contractors put on the new siding and the work we did reduced demolition costs significantly. She said that this would allow the organization or complete multiple other builds on other houses because they had the money to hire additional contractors.

Another part of the group worked on landscaping outside affordable apartments. They moved rocks out of the yard, laid down felt paper, and then replaced the rocks on top. The job wasn’t one where you could see an immediate impacts but was very helpful for the organization to get done.

Goodbye Mississippi!

We first encountered the Mississippi River on the way to La Crosse, WI. We followed its course for about a week, slowly watching it shrink as we biked North. A few days ago as we biked into Mahnomen, MN, it was time to say goodbye.

At its widest point, the Mississippi is more than 11 miles wide. At its source it is less than 30 feet across. We were lucky enough to see the river dozens of times as our route crossed back and forth over it. On our last day before leaving the river we visited the headwaters, some people even stuck their heads in.

90 Miles of Hay!

Today we rode from Duluth, MN to Grand Rapids, MN. Early in the morning, we crossed an impressively long bridge over Lake Superior (our 4th Great Lake!). We had crossed the bridge on our last ride day to get to the church where we stayed, and were excited to see the views again on our way out of town.

After crossing the bridge, we scaled the bluffs. Though it was challenging, there were good views of the lake at the top, and it was very satisfying to watch our progress. Later in the day, we came across a hay field. As per Bike & Build tradition, we seized the opportunity for some photos:

Finally, we crossed the Mississippi River once again.

Random Pictures!

Mountains?

We had our second century ride from Madison, WI to Soldiers Grove, WI. The ride was extremely beautiful, and the roads were very good. The county roads in Wisconsin are particularly well labeled, which makes it easy to relax. On other days we have to pay a lot more attention to the cue sheet and to finding unlabeled roads. When we started in the morning, we labeled our legs with mileages 0-100. Throughout the day we crossed them out every ten miles on our way to 100 miles.

We got an early start, and the morning was cool. We also knew that the host we would be staying at wouldn’t have much going on, so we could ride past 4 if we needed to. The first 80 miles were very flat, and the surrounding areas were beautiful. We were able to hold a very fast pace, and my group averaged about 15 miles an hour for the first 80 miles. My group stopped to swim as the day got hotter, and we knew we were still making good time. One member of my group was also amazed by all the cows we were seeing. He insisted that we stop for 45 minutes by one farm while he tried to convince the cows to come closer.

Unfortunately, the ride got harder in the last stretch. There were some really big hills we had to climb,  and our assumption that we had plenty of time turned out to be premature. We could all tell that we had gotten stronger since we had climbed the last mountains, but it was still a struggle at the end of a very long day. It was especially challenging since the ride turned out to be 110 miles, not just 100. 

The last mile of the ride was amazing though, there was a very long steep downhill that seemed to go on forever. 

The end of the ride ended on a high with a long descent into a valley where the host was waiting. There were groups waiting to cheer on everyone as they finished. At the end of the day we had ridden 110 miles at an average speed of 14 miles per hour. Including stops the ride took over 11 hours, and we had a top speed of over 40 miles per hour.. In addition, it was the ride with the second most elevation change all trip (over 4,000 feet). 

Centuries

Our longest riding days are century days. These are days when we ride more than 100 miles in a single day. We have had one so far going from Elmore, OH to Ann Arbor, MI.  On these mornings we get up really early (4:00). And try to get on the road at the same time as the sun comes up. We also often have two lunches, separated by 30-40 miles, to give us breaks and more food to get us all the way.

On our first century, all of the groups were very clumped together. Lots of the groups were trying to ride the same pace, and when one group stopped it would be passed by all of the others. It was good to see other groups and get encouragement but it could also be stressful to be passed by groups behind you.

The first century was a great ride where everyone pulled together as a team to finish and was one of the first rides that every rider finished the entire ride. Our second century is coming up tomorrow from Madison, WI to Soldiers Grove, WI. We are all excited and hope that we will do as well as a team as we did on the first century.

Progress Update

We have been flying across the country and will be entering Indiana tomorrow! We have had lots of days in a row now with 80 and 90 mile rides. We also had our first ride over 100 miles as we biked into Ann Arbor, MI. It was a long, hard day (with two lunch stops), but everyone in the group was able to finish our century together.

We've been really busy with the long days, so we're behind on some of the most interesting ride updates. Here are a few of our favorite pictures:

Buffalo, NY:

Cleveland, OH:

Grand Rapids, MI:

South Haven, MI:

Dwelling Place

Yesterday, we had a build day working with Dwelling Place in Grand Rapids, MI. Dwelling Place is an affordable housing organization which provides safe and decent housing to lower income members of the community by renting out apartments at no more than 30% of their tennants' income. Our task was to completely clear out six floors of an apartment building scheduled for rennovation. In contrast to the single family homes on our other builds, Dwelling Place manages a building with 126 apartments.

We were all working on different tasks. Dale worked in the basement clearing out stacks of old furniture and setting aside select items to be repurposed. Alyssa shuttled furniture from the landings on each floor to the lobby on the first floor. Jake then moved the furniture to the dumpster outside.

Throughout the day, we had conversations with several people who wished we could save some of the furniture from the dumpster. We all agreed that some of it had to go, but other items seemed like they could still be used. On the other hand, it was much cheaper for Dwelling Place to clear the building all at once than to spend additional time and money sorting out the nicer items.

We also spoke with some of the tennants. Many had already temporarily moved out, or were leaving that day. Some seemed upset that they had to leave, and frustrated with the inconvenience of the work we were doing. We could understand part of their frustration because, while some rooms had mold and pest infestations, other rooms were kept very clean.

In the end, we were fairly productive in our clearing out. We were greatly slowed down by tennants needing to use the elevators. Because they were old, the elevators were very slow, and forcibly shut after 30 seconds of having the doors open, regardless of whether or not you were in its path. The dumpsters also filled up very quickly, and there was a slow down waiting for a third dumpster to arrive. By the end of the day, we had completely cleared all six floors and most of the basement.

Food and Housing

A group of 26 people riding their bikes across the country needs a lot of food and a lot of places to spend the night. After each ride day we end up at a new host for the night. These hosts are often churches that are generous enough to let us use their building for the night. We almost always sleep on the floor with sleeping mats and sleeping bags. Our leaders spent huge amounts of time before the trip finding and coordinating with these hosts so that we have reliable places to sleep every night. In places where no churches can accommodate we try to find other options. About a week ago we spent the night in the theater of a summer camp that had not yet started for the summer. Later in the summer we will be camping when we stay in National Parks. Similarly we do our best to find places to shower when we get into town. Often a YMCA or a local high school or college rec center is able to open up their shower to us. When these locations are unavailable we get our our swimsuits and take hose showers in the parking lot of our host for the night.

A very generous congregation a few days ago gave us our first opportunity in a long time to sleep in real beds. 13 families from the congregation agreed to let 2 riders each come and sleep in their homes for the night. It was a great opportunity for us to spend an evening with a community member and get to know them as well as have a warm shower and bed for the night.

Our hosts are often generous enough to provide us with dinner each night and sometimes breakfast in the morning. We then try to take any leftovers with us in our coolers and eat them for lunches over the next few days. When hosts don’t provide meals we call local restaurants and grocery stores and try to get donations. We try to get as much food donated as possible so that more of the money we have already raised can go to grants for affordable housing organizations. If we can’t get food donated we buy food for ourselves, usually lots of fruit and peanut butter.