Day One

Day 1 - June 3rd

First day of orientation today. typical awkward conversation for first two hours(which is always wonderful) but group is already bonding. Its really hard to comprehend what kind of awesomeness lies ahead of us. It's really surreal. One of the major things Im pumped about is to let you all know whats going on here on the road. Honestly, even if you'd rather not go on a bike treadmill for 70 miles a day as a show of solidarity I am so excited that you're reading this. Also, I can't even begin to explain how unbelievably grateful I am to all the donors who have made this possible for me.

Basically, for me Bike and Build represents a larger, more recent life objective of mine of pushing myself for more. Whether it be more physical accomplishment, open-mindedness, food, whatever. The ongoing goal is to stretch my comfort zone and see what happens. Fittingly, i spontaneously decided to eat an entire apple today, core and all. It was just fine and I don't think I'll ever go back to throwing out the core. Thank you to my FOP training trip leader Charlie Ryland for planting the seed in my mind last year. Sorry for that pun.

I've never kept a journal and in the line of pushing myself I would like this journey to be my first adventure into this field. Thus my goal is to journal each and every day of this trip. I definitely believe in living the moment and not thinking too hard about it, but want to use this as a way to help me fully process all of the cool things I'll be experiencing and as a means of deeper self reflection.

I'll focus on short and sweet posts laying out some highlights and interesting thoughts of each day. They'll be written daily but may be delayed in posting due to spotty internet coverage. I hope you enjoy them and can take away some interesting ideas of your own. Cool, off to my cozy church basement floor!