New Blog

Hello friends and faithful blog followers! I just wanted to give you a heads up that I have created a new blog for my trip this summer.

I would absolutely love it if you would follow along with that one too! Hopefully between my camera, my iphone, and my ipad I will actually be able to post more pictures this time around!

My new blog can be found at www.xtinag.com. Book mark it people!

Peace. Love. Bikes.

One Year Later... Well one year and 5 days!

I am going to be honest I cant believe that it has been and entire year since I embarked on my trip. Where has this year gone!?

I still think about my trip and the great people that I met every single day. I can honestly say that going on that trip was the most amazing decision I have ever made in my life. Not one regret.

I had good days and bad days. But the funny thing is every time I think about my experience I only think about the good times and laugh about the bad times.

My life lately has been filled with nothing but work. I currently have been going for 1 month straight without a day off. Hence the late post! (It's actually 370 days since we pedaled off!) But my vacation is right around the corner!!!!

I am going to share and email with you all that I sent out to my fellow riders on our 1-year anniversary a few days ago.

Last weekend I was away in Baltimore coaching for work and missing B2SB09. But then the best 2 things ever happened that reminded me of everyone.

I am sitting on the bus from the airport and the kids all decide they want to sing along to some music. They all start singing Build Me Up Buttercup. For those of you who don’t know this was the song we sang when we made it to the ocean. So it holds a special place in my heart.

I had 60 kids belting it out at the top of their lungs and couldn't stop smiling. I had a flash back to those last few miles we all rode together, right up to the beach where all of our families were waiting.

That right there just made my day. But then it got better!

We get to the hotel and I am stressing a little trying to get all of the kids into their rooms. I get into the elevator to go up and check on a few kids. The elevator door closes and there is a picture on the inside of it. It is the blue whale!!!! That was the icing on the cake!!! I started laughing to myself and everyone on the elevator looked at me a little funny.

The blue whale is a roadside attraction along rt 66 in Oklahoma. It sits randomly on the side of the road. This large structure is so out of place that it just makes you laugh. One of those things that you will never forget. And myself along with the 31 other riders had the pleasure of experiencing it last summer.

It's funny how life gives you little reminders when you least expect it that just brighten your day.

B2SB09, I miss you all! And hopefully I will be back for round 2 next summer!!!!

Thanks again to everyone who supported me last summer on my trek. I couldn’t have done it without you all!

Santa Paula to Santa Barbara 42 miles

WE MADE IT!!!!!

65 days, 4000 miles, 14 states.

Coast to Coast

Best summer of my life.

Santa Clarita to Santa Paula 35 miles

Slept in until 7! This morning was so muh fun getting ready. We were all dancing around and taking our time getting ready.

It was super smoggy and cold this morning as we were riding. The wind also picked up about 5 miles in. But since it was only a 35 mile day it wasn't too bad. The mountains were so pretty to ride through. We passed through orange, avacado, lemon, and apple orchards they smelled awesome!

We stopped at a fruit stand and the lady gave us oranges and strawberries to try. They were picked fresh this morning... So good!

A couple miles later we hit a sign that said Santa Barbara 53 miles!!!! Got into town and Alex's mom took us out to a great lunch at a local BBQ place.

We are staying at a church and went to the parishoners houses to shower. I went to one of their ranches. They had kiwi, grape fruit, and peach trees along with this really cool swing they let us use.

Came back and saw mom and joe. Had a great dinner now off to the bar for the leader roast and the boys creepy mustache shaving party.

Palmdale to Santa Clarita 36 miles

Short short ride today. Still woke up at 6 though for some reason. The first 10 miles were all uphill. But from then on out it was all downhill. We have finally gotten to the lush green part of California.

We went through this little town during the downhill that was really cute. While we were riding though we kept going through these really weird pockets of cold air.

Got into town and it was only 9:30. We all really wanted In N Out so we stopped at one along the way. But it didn't open until 10:30 so we waited around outside playing cards until it opened.

After our early lunch we headed to the host. Changed really quick and went to the water park for the day. It was so much fun, and nice to see water... A little change from the desert. They had these crazy water slides that were basically a straight drop down. Long story short, I have never had such a bad wedgie in my life. After that we just floated around the lazy river for a while.

Got back to the host, had dinner, decided where we are officially donating our money. Now a little poker game.

Build Day Palmdale

Last build day today, I cant believe it! Got to sleep in until 7:30 which was probably the highlight of the day. We headed over to the build site around 9 and they had tons of work for everyone to do.

We split up into a bunch of different groups. Some people did landscaping, others worked on a driveway, and I helped strip a roof. It was hot up there all day. We were up there with shovels and scrapers taking off all of the old roof. When they redid the roof the last time they didn’t do a very good job. Because, they put the new tiles right over the old ones instead of stripping it to the bare wood.

We got about half of the roof done and then had lunch. Came back and worked for about an hour until an ice cream truck drove by. In which case we were all forced to take a quick snack break. Got back after that and finished the rest of the house. After we left a couple of us went to the pool, while everyone else went back to the host.

Had dinner and then an affordable housing meeting to discuss where we are going to donate all of the money that we raised. Home stretch, only 30 miles tomorrow!

Victorville to Palmdale 53 miles

The end of the death march through the desert! We made it through Arizona and into California and now we have a build day.

Today was such a fun ride. We got to sleep in this morning. The first 10 or so miles were up hill, but then it was down hill from there. There was and awesome downhill to lunch that I just coasted into. We had lunch at 9 am like usual, which was pretty funny. The ride was really pretty along side the mountains. But the whole time I kept hoping that we didn’t have to turn left into the mountains.

Once we got into town we were hungry again. To my great surprise we saw and In N Out! I was so pumped it since has been over a year since I have had a double double animal style. If you have never indulged in a little In N Out you are really missing out!

We are staying at a vocational school for youth who dropped out of high school. The program is really cool. It started 4 years ago, with 7 students in the back of a church. Now they have over 100 students and just moved into a larger facility.

After we got in we went to the pool to swim for a little and then shower. Came back, had dinner, and then went to a local brewery.