Halfway

Day 6 of building in Colorado Springs is complete, and the Blitz Build is now over. We nailed in the frame of the roof. There was a home blessing hosted by members of the community, the church, and the Pikes Peak Habitat chapter. On a shallow level, I feel like I spent the past week hammering, climbing scaffolding, and carrying heavy things around the build site. The reality is that these little actions have added up to building a decent and affordable home for the most grateful family of six I've ever met. Scott, the father, enthusiastically thanked each rider every time he saw us during the day. "Thank you for decking my house!" "Thank you for insulating my house!" At dinner tonight, the team gave a spontaneous presentation to members of the community. After the presentation Scott exclaimed, "You guys just keep on giving!"

At the build site, there's this plastic four foot tall Santa figure. I think it's a holiday lawn decoration, but the construction guys hang him up and call him Safety Santa. So the team was split in half for the week, as some people worked on the house, and some people worked on the garage that was a separate structure. A simple game of Capture the Flag emerged, as the garage crew would sneak over to the house and bring Safety Santa over to the garage, and vice versa. It kept the work environment playful. However, Marcus and I formed a third party, and stole Safety Santa from both the house and garage crews. While everyone was at lunch, we stuffed Safety Santa into the crawl space. The next day, I found Safety Santa in the minivan of one of the construction workers. I ran with this surprisingly heavy hunk of plastic and locked him into the Bike and Build van. The day ended without anyone finding Safety Santa, so Marcus and I won the game.

The Blitz Build marks the approximate halfway point of this trip, in both days and mileage. After a week without biking, tomorrow we hit the road for about 80 miles. We've been showering at a gym/spa place that has spoiled us. We've had free access to hair conditioner, moisturizer, hair dryers, and mouthwash - things I've been living fine without. Oh, and there were saunas, steam rooms, and several indoor water slides that I took full advantage of. The trip leaders have been saying since the beginning of the trip that as we move west, there are fewer showers, fewer provided dinners, and more intense terrain and dogs. Colorado Springs may be the end of living the luxurious life.

In about three weeks, the 28 of us are putting together our own prom. Preparations have begun. The theme is the color white. A rule is that all of our outfits must come from stores along our rides - we can't have them mailed to us, brought along from the beginning of the trip, and we must carry them in our CamelBaks for the rest of the ride. Dates were arranged by the guys drawing names of girls out of a hat. The completely unnecessary but extremely fun part? Every guy has to creatively propose to their date. One arranged a scavenger hunt, another had some adorable children ask for him, one placed Skittles to say "Emma, prom?" A memorable proposal happened today, as a guy stood on top of the scaffolding at the build site and began to sing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, as though he was on the Titanic. Everyone was watching as he changed the lyric "Once more, you open the door" to "Cindy will you go to prom with me?" Though all of the girls will obviously say yes, the proposals are getting pretty elaborate. I have not yet been proposed to!