After the last two days of orientation we are all exhausted but excited for our first day working on a Habitat for Humanity Build tomorrow and our first real riding day on Thursday.
Today we worked a lot on bike safety as a group and worked on getting comfortable riding together in many different environments. In the morning we worked on some drills on our bikes in the pouring rain, learning how to work as a team to change lanes, keep and eye out behind us, and navigate through obstacles on a high traffic road. The weather was much nicer in the afternoon and we were able to put these drills into practice on a shakedown ride in Portsmouth. During this 15 mile ride we rode in small groups, each with a trip leader, and had to work with our groups to ride safely across town and practice the skills we had learned in the morning. The leaders had lots of good feedback for what to do to make ourselves safer, especially in high traffic areas where many of us were less comfortable.
The shakedown ride was also our first experience using cue sheets. These sheets will help us navigate all summer by providing directions for each day to get us from host to host. Reading the cue sheet was a challenge while also riding down the road and and worrying about many other things, but we all managed to make the route today without getting too lost. We even all made it around the construction zone that showed up halfway through the route.
Dale
