The BFG.

I named my bike just the other day. It's the BFG. Remember the Roald Dahl book? The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)? My bike is a beautiful bright orange, and it was made by the Giant Corporation, so I find it appropriate, and the name makes me reminisce a little and smile. It also stands for the title of this blog (Biking For Good)... The BFG? Yes...sweet, I like it!

I'm not going to lie. The first 100 or so miles on my new bike were pretty miserable. The whole clip-in pedal thing was a huge nuisance, a slight incline felt like I was pedaling Everest, I was scared to ride with traffic so all my rides were in state parks, and I bent my tire valve because I didn't even know how to pump up my tires.

But let me tellllllllll you what! I feel like a PRO-fesh-on-al now! ... ok... maybe not. But, I only fell with my feet stuck to the pedals ONCE this week (wahoo!), I finally have figured out that pedaling Everest requires more than one gear and plopping my bum on the seat, I sport a blinky red light to ward off all scary traffic, and I have effectively pumped up my tires about 10 times now! SUCCESS!

My friend Jesse (from AmeriCorps) officially started his Bike & Build route (Southern US) about 2 weeks ago...and I'm living my next 2 weeks through him... soaking up every picture he posts, and every comment he makes... this experience is going to be a BLAST! The anticipation (and antsy-ness) is growing!

My goal is to post my experiences on this blog site... I know there will be many times/days when I won't have internet access - but I hope to update as much as possible.

Thank you everyone for all your support for Bike & Build and my ride across the U.S.A.!