Senior Struggles

I honestly could not think of a title for this post which, funny enough, completely describes how I’ve been this past week. What I’ve lacked in schoolwork productivity, I have made up for in mastering the art of procrastination. For those of you who don’t know already, I’ll be graduating college in just 15 days after spending the best 4 years of my life at the University of Delaware. Now, I’m not the type of person to get nostalgia pre-graduation or become immediately upset at the thought of leaving, but I have to admit this past week has taken its toll. Why do I tell you this, you ask? Because I have completely slacked on everything Bike and Build for about 7 days while I attend reunions of all kinds with friends from my freshman year, along with spending time with my recently graduated friends at alumni weekend. I cannot believe some of the amazing people I have not only met these past 4 years, but also how close I’ve gotten with them. That being said, my mind is back on track and I am ready to GO on the last month (+/- a few days) before Bike and Build.

What’s that you say? …only a month before I leave for Maine to begin the Summer of my life?! If this sounds way soon for you, I’m right with you..and I still have a LOT to do. After surprising myself (and others?) by surpassing my April goals, I admit I have not been as diligent about harassing anyone and everyone I know about donating. Some may thank me for  not posting facebook updates every 5 minutes, while others may miss the live stream into my life they’ve received the past month. Either way, I am trying to find the perfect balance between reminding and being just plain annoying…but expect to hear from me soon! Despite my lack of social media rampages these past 11 days of May, a few more of my near and dear friends have joined my ever growing list of supporters. Thank you to Darwin, Zulu, Brendan, Bruce, and Bueller all  for your donations, you’ve all helped put me SO close to my final goal. Also thank you to Nick who was about as OCD as me at my $4,191 total for donating $9 to put me at an even $4,200 . This whole fundraising thing has been quite a journey. I remember being SUPER ambitious when I was first accepted to B&B, thinking “$4,500? piece of CAKE”. Then, about 2 months later, realizing that WOW…that’s a LOT of money, how am I EVER going to reach my goal? I’ve had my ups and downs and doubts about getting there, but now that I’m only $300 away…I’m SURE that I’ll make it.

One downfall of focusing on the end of my senior year has been a complete lack of training. Our group is doing a competition to see who can ride the most miles in the month of May.  When we found out about this, I told Nick that while I might not be able to win (some people have already done a few hundred…), that my goal was to ride at least a little bit every day. I should have posted it on here to keep myself more accountable, but I did not, and the result has been a week and a half of ZERO riding. No big deal, right? I mean, I’m well on my way to completing my 500 miles before the trip and I have TONS of time. No. it is a big deal, and I’ll tell you why. Not riding for almost 2 weeks makes your first ride very, VERY hard. Or maybe its just the ride I chose to go on. Yesterday Nick and I met up with our friend Soma (another biochemistry major), and he showed us one of his favorite rides around the area. The route took us out by Elkton Rd. and into rural Maryland. The roads were much less crowded, people were respectful of us riding, and the terrain was great for training. All that aside, the ride totally kicked my butt. We ended up doing just under 33 miles, averaging a total speed of 11 mph. Total speed. For all you bike enthusiasts, this may seem like nothing…but its WAY faster than I usually go. Of course, my total speeds are usually lowered due to frequent stops and breaks, but that did not happen yesterday. Although I barely kept up with them, or if we’re being honest I didnt keep up at all, It was a good eye opener to the different kinds of riding I could do this Summer. I think I’ll start factoring speed and time into my rides from now on, so I’m better prepared next time. All complaining aside, I really did have a good time. It was fun to hang out with Soma and great to experience a new route and a new style of riding.

This weekend I’ll be meeting up with Alyssa and Kelly again, only this time in Philly, for a looooooong ride. Every Bike and Builder must complete at least a 65+ mile ride before the trip, and we’re hoping to get ours done this weekend. Kelly has a cue sheet for an 80 mile ride, which is exciting and nerve racking all at the same time. I’m looking forward to the challenge, and SO excited to hang out with these girls again. Alyssa says she’s inviting the Philly Bike and Build list serv, so if you get the email (and read my blog?) come ride with us!

more updates, and MUCH more progress coming soon

Cheers,

Anna

$4,000!!

This weekend was an overall good and busy time. Friday and Saturday Nick and I put in our first 7 hours of sweat equity working with Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County. If you want to learn more about their cause, just click the link and read up! Friday afternoon we met up with the coordinator of the event and a few volunteers to build working platforms for the 100+ volunteers coming on Saturday. I found out that I am not that skilled in carpentry, and working with a drill is more difficult than it looks. Saturday morning we joined tons of people from Grace Church in Wilmington to build frames for a Habitat home in their parking lot. It was really cool to see SO many people coming out to support a great cause. Every group worked to build several frames ranging from wall frames to closets to windows. Luckily we traded in the drills for hammers and I was a little more successful using those. The group as a whole built something like over 80 frames for various habitat houses. The members of the church we worked with were so incredibly nice, and it was awesome to meet and get to chat with some new people. I’m looking for some pictures that were taken during the build day, and when I find them I’ll post them here.

 

Yesterday marked the end of April (and my birthday), and I was pleasantly surprised to see a few more people had donated. Their donations helped me surpass the $4,000 mark as well as meet my April goal! This was incredible, especially since my weekly goals were pretty hefty. So thank you to everyone who has donated so far, with your support I am a mere $445 away from my TOTAL goal of $4,500.

 

This is all becoming so real, its unbelievable. I’m starting to buy some of my final equipment, and really putting more time into training. I still have a ways to go with the training part, since i have yet to complete my 65+ mile ride or hit 5o0 miles. Luckily school is almost finished, at which time I will have NOTHING to do but ride my bike and lay out in the sun . I’m always happy to hear from people who are interested in my trip. So if you have any questions, comments, suggestions about training…literally ANYTHING, please dont hesitate to comment or contact me.

 

Cheers,

Anna

 

Whirlwind Weekend

I know I normally open up with wonderful tales of training and adventures, but I’d like to start by saying THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to my efforts so far. This week I met yet another fundraising goal, thanks to the generous support of friends and family. (A special thanks to my donors this week: Aunt Mary, Mr. & Mrs. McCaffery, and Natalie & Frank Roccio). I cannot believe it is almost the end of April, or that I’m only $190 away from my April fundraising goal! Please help me out by telling your friends about the cause, liking my status, sharing my blog, anything else you can do. I really am so grateful for the support everyone has been giving me.

This weekend was my most productive training weekend, and it was SO much fun. here’s the recap, pictures and all!

Thursday: Nick and I got ourselves hooked up with some new bike gear, thanks to the guys at Performance Bike and Wooden Wheels in Newark. One of Nick’s new toys was his bike shoes and pedals, so we took a quick ride into White Clay Creek to try them out. A quick 10.6 miles was awesome, and the weather was great. Nick got the hang of his pedals pretty quick and decided that he was “never going to fall. ever”.

Friday: After classes, Nick and I drove out to Lancaster, PA to ride a route we found on the internet called the “covered bridges tour”. We wanted to do a ride out of newark, and thought the farm roads would be a good place to train since they wouldnt be as busy. The beginning of the ride was interesting, since we didnt anticipate the sketchiness of the city of Lancaster. Once we rode out of the city and into the farms, it was beautiful. The terrain was a pretty good mix of flats, climbs, and descents which was great for training. We tried out our skills at following googlemaps, and found it was a little more difficult than anticipated. We definitely got lost a few times, and made a few wrong turns…but it ended up ok and we didnt get TOO off-track. Also, Nick experienced his first fall as a result of clipless pedals which, lets be real, was bound to happen eventually. Unfortunately we only saw one covered bridge, unlike the ten or so we expected…but I was so excited when all the little amish children waved at me! It was actually pretty awesome how nice everyone we passed by was. All the cars were respectful of cyclists, people out in their yards waved, and we even saw a few more groups out riding in the nice weather. About 10 miles from the end of our ride, we spotted a little BBQ truck on the side of the road and stopped to get some food. They were about to close but served us anyways, and I swear they put every ounce of meat they had left on our two sandwiches. Needless to say…it was awesome. We’re not sure about the total mileage, but figured we’d just say we did “over 30″ which is probably a little bit of an underestimate. Oh well, its the longest ride I’ve done so far which is a good start to the rest of my training

Saturday: Waking up early Saturday morning I headed out to the Jersey shore to meet up with Alyssa and Kelly, two other bike and builders on my route this summer. I know Alyssa from when we were both on the rugby team at UD, but it was awesome to meet and ride with both her and Kelly. We took our bikes out to the shore and rode into Island Beach State Park. The road was pretty much an 8 mile straight shot that ended at a beach. The road was great because it wasnt very crowded so we could actually talk to each other. What wasnt great was the 300 mph winds hitting us head on. Ok, so they werent that strong, but they definitely slowed us down a bit. After going to/from the beach, we rode around the town and even saw the Jersey Shore house! Not too too exciting, but pretty cool nonetheless. After riding we got slices of pizza about the size of my face, ice cream, and then headed back into town to hit up a local bike shop. Alyssa had previously gotten to know the owner/employees of Brielle Cyclery, and we spent about an hour and a half in there talking to them. To say the owner Kathy and her employees are awesome would be the understatement of the century…they are AMAZING. In addition to incredible service, their shop is seriously the most beautiful bike shop I’ve ever been in..They helped get Kelly set up with some shoes/pedals, and Kathy even fit me and Kelly to our bikes. THEN she had her mechanics take a look to make sure everything was running great (Newton was in DESPERATE need of a checkup). We stocked up on some nutrition goodies, maintenance stuff, and Chamois Butt’r (which I havent tried ever..and I’m kind of nervous haha).  I say this honestly..if you are ever within a 1hour proximity to this store, you should go and check it out.

All in all, I rode about 70 miles this weekend. Nothing close to what I’ll need to do this Summer, but its definitely a start. Check out the pictures I got this weekend, and again..keep helping me spread the word! I am only $190 from this week’s goal, and incredibly only $690 from reaching my TOTAL fundraising goal. Please take the time to check out the other sections of this site, especially to learn about the cause I’ll be helping this summer, and if you are able please help me by making a donation.

 

 

Cheers,

Anna

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Rainy Days

Ok so I broke new ground this weekend by forcing myself to go on a training ride in the rain. I was working during the day both Saturday and Sunday so I forced myself awake at a shocking 6am on Sunday morning to go for a ride. I was unpleasantly greeted by an uncomfortable cold rain…but decided to head out anyways. Originally I had planned to ride North until I saw a horse and buggy, which is inevitable the closer you get to Lancaster (I know from all my driving experience here). I quickly realized that not only is that pretty far away and I was kind of on a time crunch, but riding that far alone is REALLY lonely! So I settled for crossing two state borders (MD and PA) and turning around to head home. It was great to know that my rain jacket is in fact waterproof, which is more than I can say for my bike shorts. I’m pretty sure I could wring a pint of water out of them when I was done… Not comfortable, to say the least. This quick 16-miler brought my total training miles to 100, which is good…but only 1/5 of what I need to do before the trip. I’m hoping to start putting some more frequent miles in, now that I’m (almost) completely healed. AND planning to head up to some magical place called New Jersey this weekend to do some sweat equity with Sprout and maybe get a longer ride in. I seriously just think I need company…I drive myself CRAZY riding by myself.

I got to see my first state sign!!

On a fundraising note, I am only $1,000 away from my FINAL amount!! This means that not only have I met my personal goal for this week, but I am only $90 away from this week’s mark. Thank you to all of my recent donors! I honestly get a huge boost of confidence whenever I’m stressing about something and see that someone else has given me a donation. Please remember that no donation is too small… Even the smallest amounts help me get one step closer to $4500, and I’d love to have you join my efforts. Thank you Thank you…and please keep helping me to spread the word!

 

62 dayssss!!!

Anna

Easter and $3,000

So we’re a week and a half into April and I’ve hit some pretty incredible fundraising marks. Thanks to the generous donations of many friends/family, I am happy to report that I successfully reached my first week’s goal of $2850. Now, halfway through the second week I have hit $3,000!!! This is awesome because it means that I am 2/3 of the way to my final fundraising goal of $4,500. In order to finish my fundraising, I still need to meet the remainder of my April goals. I am $200 shy of my goal for this week, so please consider helping me out. Honestly, even $1 donations help me on my way…those little things really add up and all donations mean SO much to me….so keep up the support!

Nick and I have been hard at work on our team effort fundraising. On Easter Sunday we camped out on Main St. and spread the word about Bike and Build, handed out cookies, and accepted generous donations. This was an interesting experience, and very different from our previous Tuesday afternoon endeavor. When we were outside of Happy Harry’s last Tuesday, there was much more traffic on the street, helping us to accumulate a little over $90 ($40 in coins alone!!). On Easter there were far less people, but many more took the time to stop and talk to us about what we were doing. This was awesome because it gave us a chance to tell them about this cause, and raise awareness for Affordable Housing efforts like our own. The generosity of strangers never ceases to amaze me, and we accepted several $2, $5, and even $10 donations from those passing by. The picture below shows our set up, and even hides the fact that the wind was BRUTAL, blowing all of our signs around.

Our Easter Sunday fundraising setup on Main st. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

My training is coming along, a little slowly after my knee injury…but coming along nonetheless. This weekend I was at home and decided to venture out to The Plains via Waterfall Rd. It was a BEAUTIFUL ride, even with the huge hills I had to bike over.  Hills, no..who am i kidding…its a mountain. I always tell people I live close to a mountain, and say it like its no big deal. No…its a big deal. After reaching the Plains my ride got a bit interesting when I accidentally ended up on a MUCH busier road than I had intended, and booked it to the nearest side street that I could get closer to home. Luckily, I had the sense to borrow my mom’s iphone for this ride (After ending up in the ghetto of Louisville last week….I was not taking any chances). I actually decided that I’m prioritizing having a smartphone with me this summer, because it was so awesome. For those of you who dont know, I have a dinosaur phone…which can barely call/text, let alone navigate. Anyways, after sprinting to get off the main rd, I found safe haven and called my mom to come pick me up. All in all it was an eventful 25 mile ride, and although I was aiming for over 30…it’s still a good start. I even got to try out some early birthday presents!!! I have definitely become a slave to Pearl Izumi…their shorts are seriously the most comfortable thing I’ve ever ridden in.

Hopefully this week brings some warmer weather so I can get out and ride some more. Look out for Nick and I around the Newark area and stop to say hi if you see us!!

Cheers,

Anna

April FUNdraising

I’ve been among several other members of the 2012 bike and build group that have, in recent weeks, totally FREAKED OUT over the amount of fundraising we still have to do. I’ve been fortunate enough to have some amazing supporters get me this far, and I’m proud to say that I currently reside at the $2630 mark. This is awesome for many reasons; its a LOT of money for affordable housing, I’ve reached all of my mandatory fundraising deadlines (next one — $4500 at the start of the trip!), and I’ve utilized some pretty creative ways to raise a buck or two. While this is a great accomplishment, I still have $1870 to go. I’ve decided to really challenge myself, as well as my friends in family this next month to get up to……. wait for it…… $4,000 by my birthday!

I promise, this is no April Fool’s joke. In fact, I resent the fact that my favorite month of the year has a day dedicated to deceiving people right at the beginning. Especially since the best day ever is right at the end! Ok not really, but April is my birthday month, so I’ve decided to turn the tables a little bit and put the FUN in fundraising during the next thirty days.

Below you will see a beautifully crafted April calendar, with miscellaneous phrases on each date. Here’s the deal — There is an incentive each day of the month, that you will receive from me if the donation requirements for the date are met. I know you all are probably chomping at the bit right now to figure out just how to win one of these awesome things… so I’ll go ahead and explain what each incentive means.

Easter Surprise Bag ($10 minimum): To start off this month, anyone who makes a MINIMUM donation of $10 will receive in the mail a little Easter treat

Postcard Days: Any date that is marked by the color purple, and labeled “postcard” with a location afterwards means that any person making ANY donation (no minimum!) will have a personalized post card mailed to you when I reach the state indicated this summer. This is an AWESOME way to become part of my journey, as well as get a great, one-of-a-kind memory from my summer

Wager Wednesday ($20 minimum): This is where things start to get fun. Every Wednesday of the month, you will have the opportunity to “bet” me something for a minimum donation of $20. This can be anything you want, a challenge, a game of wits, anything that can be easily (and realistically) completed by the end of the month. The way this works is that you will go ahead and make your donation (minimum of $20….but if you’re wagering something really hard, you should bet more money), and then let me know the stakes. If I complete the challenge successfully, well thank you for the donation. If I cannot complete the challenge, I will match your donation with my personal funds (up to $100… I’m still a struggling college kid)

Souvenir Saturday ($20 minimum): Any Saturday donations as a part of this monthly challenge that exceed $20 will receive a personal souvenir from along my journey. This could be a key chain from Missouri, or a coffee cup from Colorado, either way I will put some thought into a nice souvenir that you would enjoy. This is a great way to get a keepsake from my summer, so that every time you use that coffee cup you remember how YOU helped in the fight for affordable housing

Double Dare Monday ($30 minimum, >$100*): This is how much I care about affordable housing, for any Monday donation over $50, I will accept any dare that comes my way. I will complete any dare that comes my way (within reason…of course). The way this incentive works is you let me know what you would like to dare me to do. After We’ve decided that 1. you’re not trying to kill me, and 2. when/where I will do this, you can make your donation. Once the donation is made, I will follow through. The only way for me to get out of doing your dare, would be to exceed your donation from my personal account. As mentioned above, I am in college, and thus do not have sufficient funds to be turning down many dares. *Any donation exceeding $100 on double dare Monday, and I wont turn down the dare. Oh.. as per my mother, Nothing illegal, and nothing that will cause bodily harm (happy mom?…haha)

Yummy Baked Goods ($25 minimum): I promise I’m an excellent baker, and for just $25 you’ll have the proof mailed to your front door. Larger donations will receive more time intensive goods. Anything over $50, I’ll take your requests. Anything over $100, I’ll make a delicious recipe from pinterest which, as anyone who tried my St. Patty’s Day cupcakes can attest, is well worth your donation

I will attempt to reach a new level of fundraising every Sunday. In addition to these incentives, I will also continue to sell bondi bands, as well as set up a trainer outside various supermarkets/stores with Nick whenever possible. Together I think I can hit $4,000 by my birthday. In addition to donations, you can help me spread the word about my April efforts by liking this calendar image on my facebook or sharing the link to this blog with any and all of your friends. This month is a great reminder that there are positive outcomes for even the smallest donations. Just like you may have the opportunity to receive a gift in return for a $10 donation, that money becomes part of giving the gift of an affordable home to those in need. PLEASE help me this month as I continue to raise money for Bike and Build. I’ll be sure to keep you guys updated on any weird and wacky things I’m forced to do. My first goal is to get up to $2850 by next Sunday so please — DONATE NOW!!!

Slackin’

Ok I admit, I’ve been totally slacking on updating this blog, but I promise that it is for good reason. I finally received good news this past monday about a knee injury I sustained playing rugby two weekends ago. After 2 weeks of rebelling against immobility, and especially the wildly oversized knee immobilizer I was given, I can finally walk again. I was worried about how this injury would affect Bike and Build, completely dropped the fundraising ball, and was unable to train… hence the lack of updates for you eager readers  (aka my mom and dad…my #1 fans …)

After considering the possibilities of injury, and practically giving myself an aneurysm trying to diagnose myself with microscopic MRI images, I found out that I only have little tears on the outside of my knee and nothing wrong with my  major ligaments (THANK GOD!!). The bad news is that this injury means no rugby, or contact, or anything running related for about 6 weeks. Which is fine for now, considering I still cant walk very well. The good news is the recommended rehab for this particular injury: BIKING!!!! Hopefully I’ll be able to hop back in the saddle soon and start ticking away at the rest of my 500 miles

So how to counteract my fundraising slump??? I’ve been SUPER successful in selling the bondi bands I ordered, thanks to the fact that club sports at UD are pretty intent on looking as awesome as possible. I’ve still got a ton left though, so if you know anyone who suffers from “hair in your eyes” syndrome while working out…tell them to hit me up. In addition, me and Nick have decided to start doing more fundraisers together, and are looking into the possibility of setting up a trainer outside grocery stores, bike shops, etc. in the area. Minor problem with this plan: we dont have a trainer. I’ve been looking at craigslist, but if anyone knows someone trying to sell a used one, please let us know.

 

I promise not to neglect this site from here on out.

Good day

Anna 

Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras everyone! So me and a friend were reminiscing about how this time last year we were busy planning the rugby team’s trip to the Mardi Gras tournament (that neither of us even went to…) and decided that we’re thrilled not to have that amount of work on our shoulders right now.

Just a quick update from last time, not too much has changed in a week. This Sunday I took a long ride with a Freshman on the rugby team, Guppy. She had just purchased a sweeeet hybrid bike and wanted to take it out. So of course, I said I was up to join. Good news was that the weather was MUCH nicer than last time (bring on Spring!!), bad news was we had a bit of “trial-and-error” to figure out the route we wanted to take.

We started out checking out the Newark Reservoir, which Guppy had never been to. Its seriously the best kept secret in Newark. A beautiful reservoir way up on a hill with a paved path around it. I’ve run there a bunch, but it was still awesome to check it out from a bike. The picture below is a great one I found of the reservoir

After the reservoir, we trekked up the hilly roads Nick and I discovered last week in search for the road that would connect Paper Mill and New London. After going too far north, hitting a dead end road, and almost getting stuck on an off-road trail, we FINALLY found the road we were looking for. The road across was narrow and steep…it was actually a super challenging climb that seemed like it would never end. Luckily when we hit New London just north of campus, it was smooth sailing all the way home. We decided that we seriously earned a treat, and hit up UD Creamery before calling it a day. All in all it was a great ride, even if it did completely wipe me out.

Fundraising update: I reached $2,500!!! This is exciting because it means I’ve only got $2,000 more to go before I reach my goal. Thank you so much to Mrs. Tippel and Family (I’m sorry, I’m always going to call you Mrs. Tippel haha) as well as my cousins Jeff and Lynn and Family for your wonderful donations. Please keep helping me to spread the word. Every donation, big or small, puts me a little bit closer to my goal. Whether you can donate $5 or $500, you’re helping me to make a difference in people’s lives and I really appreciate it.

Mardi Gras WOOO!

Anna

‘Splorin

These past few weeks has been incredibly eventful. After enjoying every ounce of my last winter session ever, I finally had to get back into school mode and start my last semester at UD . As a replacement for my usual grind of credits upon credits of classes/labs/workshops/etc., I’m currently taking 3 real classes and 2 gym classes. Laugh all you want, but after 2 weeks of this schedule, including the rugby season starting, I’m BEAT. I figure that eventually I’ll need to be able to function while physically exhausted so I might as well start now.

Nick and Shadowfax

In other Bike and Build related news, Nick got his bike!! For those of you who don’t know, I somehow convinced my friend Nick to take on this crazy challenge with me this summer. Its nice to have someone local to work with when it comes to fundraising and training, so I’m excited that I have a buddy. This past Sunday we got together to put together his bike, a Defy3. Nick decided to name his bike Shadowfax, after Gandalf’s horse? I’m not a Lord of the Rings fan, but I’ll take his word for it that the name suits. Anyways, after putting everything together, we decided to go for a ride. I had been itching to explore some of the Newark area but was a little nervous to do it alone. So, ignoring the 30 degree weather, and the fact that the sun was about to go down, we headed up New London to explore the White Clay area.

The first thing we noticed was the wind. Being 30 degrees is one thing, but add a strong wind, and we’re talking some seriously frigid weather. We kept going along the slightly busy New London road until finally reaching the entrance to White Clay Creek. After feeling like we had been pedaling uphill since we left Nick’s house, we were pleasantly surprised when the back roads were both empty and downhill. We both agreed that it was incredible to see such a beautiful area so close to where we live that we’d never seen before. After navigating the back roads, we finally came back to familiar ground and decided we wanted to keep going. The only other “bike-friendly” road we were sure of was Paper Mill, so we headed out there and were greeted by hills. Seriously, I used to say Delaware is the flattest state of all time. While this is probably still true, we managed to find the only hills in a 25 mile radius. We did a freezing ride out a few miles and back to Nick’s house, barely leaving enough time for me to make it to work on time. Total mileage: 15 miles, although I swear with the wind and cold it felt like at least 50. Needless to say, this was the first of what needs to become many training rides if I have any hope of keeping up with the group this summer (Nick totally kicked my butt on the hills — a good mile ahead of me the whole time)

A fundraising update: HALFWAY!! Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Stokes and Michelle and Stu for your wonderful donations. Reaching the halfway point is an awesome feeling, but also a huge eye opener. I’m starting to think of a few more creative fundraising ideas, because I already know this second half is going to be a LOT harder to come up with. I’m working on contacting some local media, hopefully to get the word out for the trip. Also, I found a great fundraising opportunity to sell “sweat-wicking” and design headbands. They’re supposedly really great to run/bike/exercise in, and they look pretty cool. If you’re interested in these at all, take a look and shoot me an email about which one’s you’d like and I’ll make it happen. I’m selling them at the retail price of $8, or 2 for $15 (bondibands).

Cheers,

Anna

Delaware Daze

I realized the other day that I have been completely neglecting this blog, which means forgetting to thank many of my new donors. I wish I could say that this lack of blogging drive was due to some overly-busy lifestyle I have been living, but unfortunately, it’s the opposite. Since returning to Delaware and getting my bike I have been making a serious effort to rest up for this upcoming semester. Which is just a really fancy way of saying I’ve been sitting around my house reading, crocheting, and watching movies.

I was lucky enough to take a 3 day hiatus from my hectic (not really) life in Delaware to spend some time at home before this last semester starts. On Monday I took what was supposed to be “not that bad” of a training ride with my dad, but turned into a pretty vicious route. Taking a break from my road bike, I hopped on my mom’s hybrid so that we could take the road less traveled and head out onto some gravel haymarket roads. What we did not anticipate was the wind, and after 21 miles I thought my legs were about to fall off. Congratulations Dad, you’re in better shape than your 21-year old daughter. At the very least this was an eye opener for the kind of preparations I need to begin for this summer, because I am SO far from being able to ride >50 miles.

In other news, I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of my new donors for the contributions they have made. Since reaching my first goal of $1,000 and receiving my bike, I have accumulated an additional $855, bringing me to almost $2,000 and JUST shy of the halfway mark. First I would like to thank my brother Joey for his donation made a few nights ago. Being less than a year out of college and finding a way to contribute really meant a lot to me. Its that kind of love/support from my family members that makes this crazy trip seem a little more do-able. Other recent donations came from the Guyan family, my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Chuck, the Kohler family, Uncle Butch and Rachel, Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary Louise, the Audette family, the Nix family, the Young family, and last but certainly not least — Clam. Thank you all so much, I cannot even express how grateful I am that you have gotten me to this point. I’ll be doing my best to keep you all updated on how the fundraising/training/etc. goes!

Cheers,

Anna