After a productive build day yesterday, the biking crew left Kinston, N.C. Perry Fun Farm between 6:30 and 7 am. The breakfast crew made french toast for breakfast and we all felt refreshed and energized. We were very resourceful and made the french toast out of the leftover hamburger and hot dog buns!

Tom led the initial bike segment and we rode as a group until the first rest stop. Tom is a great leader and set the pace around 16 mph. It is fun to ride as a group because everyone chats, encourages each other, and comments about the interesting scenery. After a quick rest stop, a couple others and I scooted off to find a bathroom in the next town.

Surprisingly, we met up with the rest of the group after getting back on the rode. During this segment, Alyssa and I chased the lead group. We alternated being in the front and kept the pace between 18-21mph. During the next 10 miles we had a couple of experiences with dogs, which always gets the blood pumping.

After the second rest stop, most of the girls in the group rode with Tom and we sang songs! We sang country songs, Disney songs, oldies, camp songs, church songs and even made up songs. The miles seemed to fly by as we sang, laughed and made memories.

By Martha Joslyn
2012 Bicycle Adventurer

It’s always curious to me how my plans never match up with what actually happens. This week was no exception.

The FCBA’s East Coast ride brought them threw my neck of the woods, near the Northern Neck of Virginia. Originally I had made plans to just stop in and have dinner with the crew and then meet back up with them in a month and bike down the West Coast. But as fate would have it, my job situation could change in the next month, making the West Coast ride not as plausible as I would have hoped.

Another factor I had not planned for was how addicting FCBA is and after only 10 minutes of socializing with the group, it’s almost impossible to willingly pull yourself away from their world.

And so, without even sleeping on it, I packed a bag, greased my bike and joined on the southerly adventure.

Virginia is my stomping grounds and so it wasn’t until we started today’s journey that I really felt that since of awe and excitement of the “road trip.”
 

Today’s journey took us 87 miles from Aoshokie, N.C. to Kinston, N.C. Now that I’ve been cycling a couple of days with the group, the extensive exertion of pedaling finally caught up with my body. Both my butt and knees were screaming in agony as I cranked out the first 25 miles, and I momentarily questioned why I was working my body so hard.