Sunny and 72

5 days til Christmas and its still 72 degrees outside. My little sister is Germany right now, so I'm sure she'll have a white Christmas. Me? I'm not counting on it.

I took my last two tests before Christmas break this morning. I've still got class tomorrow, and then I'll head home for a couple of weeks.

After class was over I went out for an 18 mile ride. I took a pretty hilly route, but it was nice. I'll take my bike home with me, and if the weather stays like this I may get a lot of riding in.

I clicked on the Bike & Build website this afternoon, and my picture popped up in the Rider Spotlight. I thought that was pretty cool.

The warm weather went away, and with the cold came rain. Its been pretty dreary around here the last few days. I think that made Ranger happy though. Now he gets to stay inside more.

I ran the last few days, but have been pretty busy with school stuff for the most part. School is no fun. We're two weeks into a new quarter and I'm already looking forward to the break. I took my hardest test yesterday. I've got 3 more next week, then its Christmas break.

We're going to see "I Am Legend" tonight at midnight. I'm pretty excited about that.

Hopeully I'll be able to bundle up a little and ride on Saturday morning.

-Eric

I got my bike for the first time in a few weeks today. It was warm but humid, so Joseph, Seth, Casey, and I decided to ride. We left Ruston and headed north towards Downsville at a pretty quick pace. We took it a little slower on the way back, but still made pretty good time. All in all we went about 25 miles. I felt pretty good considering I haven't been on the bike in a while.

When we got done, Joseph set me up on his virtual trainer and had me ride part of a climb in the Alps at a 12% grade. I better do some major climbing work before this summer.

Hopefully we'll keep getting these warm days so I can keep riding.

-Eric

the beginning

A few weeks ago I decided to do something crazy. While online I found an organization called Bike & Build. The goal of this group is to raise awareness for affordable housing while riding a bike from the east coast to the west coast. I was sold.

This summer (2008) I will be riding with Bike & Build from Providence, RI to Seattle, WA. We will leave Providence on June 4th and reach Seattle Aug. 11th. Along the way we'll take days off to work with organizations like Habitat for Humanity actually doing construction on houses. The money we raise before we leave and on our trip will be given to organizations we work with along the way and to housing groups that apply through a grant program.

I hope to use this blog to keep everybody updated on my progress and then once I'm on the road this summer. Check back frequently to see what I'm up to.

-Eric
http://www.ericbikesamerica.com/