Day 2: Virginia Beach, Virginia: "Angels Follow You"

You wanna talk about eventful? let's talk about the last day and a half.

I arrived at orientation yesterday around 2 in the afternoon, at MANSE House, which is the retreat house affiliated with the First Presbyterian Church of Virginia Beach. Day one was a LOT of ice-breaking, which is great for me because I thrive in socially awkward environments. Whatever bone people have in their spines that makes them hesitate from opening up to people, I threw that out a long time ago. Honestly, I don't think there's any time for it on something like this. These other bikers have amazing stories. Example: One of my trip leaders? He broke. His. Pelvis. halfway through his first Bike & Build trip. But did he let that little snag slow him down? No sir. Defying all medical advice and physical reality, Derrick finished his trip on a broken. Pelvis.

Did I mention that he broke his pelvis? Can I stress enough how crucial a working pelvis is for the kind of thing we do?

Anyways, I kind of anticipated to be a fish out of water. I was expecting to be in a large group of Semi-Pro Cylcers, the type of people who can change a tire blind-folded and take their biking very seriously. Honestly, though, I see now that a person like that ultimately isn't cut out for this trip. It requires an inhuman amount of flexibility and the complete abandonment of things like social bubbles and competitive natures.

My team is awesome. They're funny, engaged, and generous people, and collectively we are at this stage an unstoppable force of excitement and energy. A dude named Jesse served in Americorps for a year. One girl moved out to LA and has been working for record companies. We have perhaps Texas' only hippie. We have one girl who decided the only adjective that could best describe her was "Raztastic"

I could go on for a while about these folks.

So yeah, ice-breaking was a breeze. Following that there were a few policy clinics, a very inspiring presentation given by some Bike & Build alumni, and then sleep. So much sleep. Glorious sleep.

This morning we woke to a modest breakfast, took a clinic on how to change a flat (sorely needed info for yours truly) and then a clinic on bike safety. Lunch was enormous. One of the alums moms baked RICE KRISPIE TREATS FOR 30+ COLLEGE STUDENTS.

Anyways after that we did our "shakedown ride", i.e. our first actual ride together. Very casual, very easy, just ten miles along the super-flat streets of Virginia Beach. There was an awesome park we biked through, and it was filled with the scent of warm pine, one of my very favorite smells because it reminds me so much of Summer, freedom, adventure, and other buzzwords.

Following the ride we gave a bike clinic to the kids at first Pres. Yours truly led a rousing game of "red light green light". Following that was an enormous dinner hosted by the church, complete with spaghetti, and for dessert red velvet cake (?) and mini-eclairs (?!)

I've noticed I'm writing a lot about food. But maybe that's good. I'm gonna need a mean amount of fuel to actually make it to Oregon. And also I just like bragging about food.

Anyways the folks at First Pres were very gracious. I performed magic tricks for a 3-year-old daughter of one of the board members, and we told them, with heart in throats, about our planned adventure and how excited we were. The title for tonight's blog comes from one of the many annoted maps they hung up on the walls to celebrate our journey. It just hit me in a good place, the thought that as we travel there are hundreds, potentially thousands of people, that care for us, support us, and pray for us.

Anyways following dinner we've begun the work of repainting the team trailer with our logo, info, and the like to show off to the rest of the Road. It's gonna be beautiful. Y'all should come find us when we roll through/near your town just to admire or handywork.

Aaaaaaaaaand that leads us to this exact moment. It's warm. It's dark. It's filled with the sounds of waves, jet planes, and merry young adults on the edge of a great adventure. Tomorrow we start our ride at 8 in the morning. We're going 60 miles. At this time I'm not nearly as afraid of that as I probably should be.

Anyways this is long enough. If you got this far good for you. Internet will be spotty once we finally hit the Road, but I'll update ASAP.