We are two goobers that decided to get on our bicycle and ride coast to coast across America this summer. How about you shift into second gear this morning and Ask Us Anything!

As someone from Virginia beach, did you do this simply to get away from Virginia beach?

(Connor) haha, we actually had a fun time there. It was our orientation. We only stayed on the beach for a few minutes though. I remember it being pretty nice, aside from the military jets flying overhead every few minutes!

THAT WAS THE SOUND OF FREEDOM

"OK, welcome to bike and build, we are here to, oh wait, hold on..." FREEDOM

Did you guys ride with someone named Reuben Cheng?

Nope

He must've been in another group because he literally just biked coast to coast for affordable housing or something... Well props to you guys... Congrats on making it

Thanks!

If I wanted to take such a journey, what should I do to prepare, what would I need to take, and where do you recommend I go?

(Athena) If? Sounds like you totally want to do it! Preparation: I was surprised by how little preparation it took to actually be ready for this sort of a trip. It’s not usually a situation of “can or can’t” but “will or won’t.” We had to ride 500 miles beforehand as training to get accustomed to the bicycle/riding. What to bring: lots o’ stuff! If you plan on camping I would suggest ultralight equipment esp if you plan on using panniers. Bring clif bars! You can never have enough clif bars in your jersey. Otherwise, I’ve heard success stories of people staying with random strangers. 1/5 will let you camp on the lawn or even let you in their home if you tell them what you’re doing. Get a camelback or other hydration system. 100oz should do the trick! Where?: The route we took was awesome! I would recommend going West to East if you are looking for an easier time since we had to endure headwinds pretty much the whole way. When you are in the west however, be mindful of the heat and lack of water sources. Include (which should be easy) Appalachia, the plains, and the rockies whatever you do! For someone who isn’t quite confident to do it themselves or as a self-supported cyclist I would suggest Bike & Build to you. I would do it again s-s but it was nice to have a van + 32 friends the first time

Did I see you guys riding west on Hwy 24 this summer through Colorado? (Specifically, just west of Woodland Park, around Wilkerson Pass and the big bowl shaped valley after it?)

(Connor) I don't think our route went through there. However there are 8 Bike & Build routes every summer, so it could have been another one. We went from Akron to Denver

Where was the most boring stretch of road?

(Athena) There was a day in Wyoming where we rode from Rock Springs to Pinedale for a total of 101 miles. That part of Wyoming is some of the windiest land I've seen and it was incredibly boring. "Ain't nothin but heat and sagebrush!" The only thing that kept me going was music playing out of my phone...

It's funny that the first time I've seen Pinedale and that area referenced on Reddit is about the wind and nothingness. My family from there always said you should carry rocks in your pockets so you don't blow away.

However, around that stretch I've seen wild horses, more antelope than I could count, moose, a bald eagle diving for trout, and tons of beautiful mountain views. Shame that you guys got a few of the 360 days of wind out of the year!

(Connor) haha, you're telling me. I saw a horse or two that day, nothing too crazy, but someone in the group did see a bald eagle! Pinedale itself was pretty cool. They have an awesome aquatic center!

Just be glad you didn't go through certain parts of Texas. Places like Odessa and Lubbock are miserably got, flat, and windy

(Connor) Actually, my friend who talked me into the trip went through Texas on her route

How did she like it? I've lived here for about 21 years, and it's definitely warm... I did the Hotter 'n Hell Hundred 3 times though!

(Connor) She called texas hell to bike through I believe

(Connor) Agreed. Riding 100 miles to Pinedale Wyoming. Heavy headwinds, a giant desert with nothing to see. Wind makes everything worse. We could not even talk to each other. Just hours and hours of hell, looking out into nothingness. When I got there I had a shower and burger, and was happy.

You only took three rest days over the entire trip? Whoa.

Did anyone have any physical problems from all the riding, or did your bodies get accustomed pretty quickly?

(Athena) The worst physical struggle of riding so many miles was the pain on the rear. A lot of the team was consumed by saddle sores for numerous reasons like poor fit of shorts, bad bike fit, or not applying ahem butt'r before riding. Some people experienced knee pain from all of the climbing.

I personally got a bike on craigslist for $280 before the trip which was not meant to climb such steep mountains as we saw on the Blue Ridge Parkway so I was peddal mashing quite a bit.

Why?

(Athena) All of the riders had different motives in joining the program (Bike & Build). I always wanted to do this trip and when I found out about B&B I signed up right away since we would also have a cause. The affordable housing crisis in the US is a big problem so we worked with Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together in addition to some smaller organizations to help out along the way. Some people did Bike & Build mainly for this aspect. It became more important to me as we traveled.

One of my best friends attempted to ride his bike from Provide, RI to Houston, TX. He made it to Indiana before he had an accident after a dog chased him. He ended up breaking both of his arms in the scuffle.

My question is, did you encounter a rabid dog or some sort of situation that had you panic? What would you have done in that situation if you did not?

(Connor) I'm really sorry to hear about that. We try our best to be safe, but sometimes accidents happen. Fortunately our group did not suffer too many injuries. As for dogs...they could be a bit of a handful. Our rule was, if you see a dog, PEDAL! If they can't get you, you are safe. If they are close, we would usually use our water bottles to shoo them away, which usually worked. Worst case scenario (which I never had to resort to fortunately) would be to kick them away. One of my best memories of the trip was when two big dogs got on the road in front of us. It was the middle of farm country. We all stopped about 100 yards away. We formed ranks, unholstered our water bottles, and charged, yelling and screaming. The dogs scattered and we achieved victory. huzzah.

Very interesting AMA, thanks for doing this. My question is, what is the best place you went?

(Athena) For me one of the best places we went was simply Colorado. Every day in CO was unique and awesome from the high plains to the Rocky Mtns to the start of the American West. Our first camping day was also in Maybell, CO - a town with a population of 72 on the Western side. This was also our last night in Colorado so we had to consider how the laws change going into Utah ;)

Oh yes, must've been very fun in the mountains with a bike!

(Connor) The downhills are killer

(Connor) So many great ones, but personally I loved Flaming Gorge, Utah the most. Here is a Panorama from my upcoming album of it at sunset

http://i.imgur.com/w0sONwg.jpg

Nice panorama mate.

(Connor) Thanks! I'm trying to upload my whole album, I took at least one a day

For a second there I thought I read your name as Conan O'Brian. Anyways...What would you say is the hardest thing into setting this trip up was? (Or maybe it was the trip itself?)

(Connor) No worries, happens to a lot of people. I usually joke and say he's my third cousin. The hardest thing setting up the trip was fundraising the money. We have to raise 4,500$. So I had to send out a billion emails to just about everyone I know. As for the trip itself, it was probably the first week. A lot of us were not as in shape as we would like to be, and going over the Appalachian mountains really killed us.

(Athena) At first I got a lot of support from my friends and family which helped a lot. But raising the money outside of them was a new experience for me - I went door to door canvassing which was great because I got to meet new people and spread awareness about affordable housing at the same time :)

What were you riding? I would love to do a cross country trip some day but am worried I would have to spend a fortune on a good bike and gear.

(Connor) Fear not, if you did Bike and Build you don't have to buy a bike. If you fundraise all your money, they give you a bike and you get to keep it after the trip! Bike and Build Partners with Giant, and the guys get Defys and the girls get Avails. Of course, you can be a hipster and bring your own bike that you got on craigslist like Athena did. As for gear cost, you have to front that part, but I fundraised part of my money to go to that, which really saved me in the end.

My bike: http://www.giant-bicycles.com/_generated/_generated_in/bikes/models/images/2000/2014/Defy_3_triple.jpg

Did you have days jobs that you left behind? I've always wanted to do something like this but really worried about the practicality of not working for a month (especially since I'm self employed)

(Connor) Some of us are in school, some just graduated, and a few either took time off work or just quit all together. Several of my friends are still in the west just exploring, and don't have a plan at the moment. I would advice you go for it, but only you know what works best for you!

Does is ever get uncomfortable sitting on a bike for long periods of time?

(Connor) HAHA YES!!!! There were times when I had to ride miles at a time standing up because it hurt so much. We used a lot of chamois butter!

What was one of the most surprising interactions you had on your trip that you can share with us?

(Athena) This was early on in the trip in Charleston: we were staying at a church downtown that hosted "mana meal" which was a local soup kitchen. We got to sit down to breakfast with the people they serviced. I was talking to this one guy who had been stabbed on the streets, had kids he couldn't see anymore, and also loved music. These were all topics of conversation over the course of the meal. I realized that everyone is equal on the most human level. We had so much in common yet our lives took us in different directions not by choice but by circumstance..

Here is a sample of his music! https://soundcloud.com/darrell-h-simms/stand-by-me-the-hillbilly

Did you ever feel like you couldn't keep going, and how did you make it so you kept on?

(Athena) There were definitely times that I considered quitting for the day but never the entire trip. I never got to that point but there were times my knees and butt hurt so bad!!! My fellow riders kept me going and sometimes music

(Connor) only once. on a 70 mile ride into Charleston my right knee gave out on me. Whenever I put weight on it I felt like a dozen needles getting jammed in there. I thought "well, this is it, I'm getting in the van" but for some reason I just kept going, even though I was going pretty much on just my left leg. One of my fellow riders suggested the van, and in my pig headedness I told her the only way I was getting in the van was if I was bleeding to death. My fellow riders really were a great motivational support, and their company really helped me out. I managed to make it lunch, down some ibuprofen, and than continued and somehow made it to the host site for the night. I'm proud to say that I made it every fucking inch across the country, and never got in the van once.

Who was the most interesting person you guys met, and what was their story?

(Athena) As you may or may not know, the Katy Trail is a bike/walking route that crosses the state of Missouri with St. Louis on the East end. As we left St. Louis to get to the trail, we came upon a Lake where we decided to hang out and paddleboard etc. On the trail by the lake we saw a man on roller blades with poles to propel himself attached to his wrists. He was a large black fellow with a jolly disposition singing loudly some familiar 80s tunes. Eventually the intriguing roller blade bearer made his rounds and stopped to talk with us. As it turns out – he once took a trip with his friends from Dublin to Osaka with $10k between them and planned to send his daughter to Japan within the month. Connor and the man began speaking Japanese.. Eventually we bade our farewells and were left with an optimistic outlook about the future of humanity.

I used to live in St. Charles right by the Katy Trail. Really fun trail and it reaches so far. Rough on bikes, though, according to my dad. Something about how dusty and everything it is.

(Connor) COOL! We loved it at first because it was the first real none car road we were on. It had shade, very little wind, flat, and we could spend the days talking to each other. The main problems were that it was gravel, and had tons of dust. First day we didn't mind it at all. Third day it was getting old real fast!

How many flats? Mechanicals?

What were your rides (bicycles)?

Any saddle sores?

What kind of physical changes did you notice?

What was your mileage and average speed like per day?

Thanks for doing this!

(Connor) Me? I was unlucky, I think I had the most, probably around 26-30. Some had none though. My advice is to get amazing tires early, you save money.

Boys were given Giant Defy. Girls were given Giant Avails.

I had no mechanical breakdowns, but some people had derailers break, pedals fall off, and spocks break. Could be pretty hard.

Physical changes? Well I got in really really good shape, and I grew my beard and mustache out (most of the guys did, varying results) also lost 12 pounds.

milage: 70 (but it could go as low as 28 or as high as 105)

Thanks!

what do you mean "shift into second gear and ask us anything"?

(Connor) I mean: get on your bike, clip in, do a half mile sprint, fall in with our paceline, draft off us as we get ready for an epic downhill, and ask us anything :)

Where did you sleep and eat? How much gear did you travel with?

(Connor) We mostly slept at churches along the way. They would usually be nice enough to also feed us dinner, though occasionally we had to cook or try to get dinner donated to us by local restaurants. Occasionally we would stay at schools or community centers, and every once and a while we camped. We had a van and trailer that followed us that carried our supplies and our bags (each person got to take a 20 gallon bin or bag). While riding we would usually carry two water bottles, a small saddle bag with a multitool and tire levers and other small tools, a small pump, a camelback that carried at least 2 liters of water, and in that some spare tubes, some snacks, maybe a knife, phone cash and ID, and a raincoat.

My brother was on a bike a build trip, too! Did you meet a group that started in North Carolina and ended in San Diego? Maybe your trips crossed paths at some point in time.

(Athena) That's awesome! We did not cross paths with them but we did get to meet up with SC2SC in Utah!

(Connor) Oh wow! Sorry, we didn't meet up with that group

What percentage of donations is disbursed to real affordable housing projects/recipients? How much of the donation is spent on 'overhead'?

(Athena) By "Overhead" you are probably referring to administrative costs? Only 3% goes to employees of B&B of which I believe there are 2 or 3. 45% goes into the cause and the rest is the cost of transporting us across the US. Most of the cost is for the van and trailer which make the journey safer for all. Each rider can send $500 to an AH org of their choice, each host can designate $100, and then the rest is used in our competitive grant process.

I looked at the annual report for 2013 and it looked like about 1/3 of the income went out as grants.

That may be correct but there are donations not included in the grant program mentioned above

(Connor) From what I recall, roughly 45% of the money is given to affordable housing. That money is distributed in three main ways: 1: we as a team go through reviewing a competitive grant process in which we agree what organization will be given grants. 2:One of our routes does something called a blitz build, where they stay in one place for a week and build and house from the ground up. 3: every place we stay at, we give the host 100 dollars to donate to an AH organization of their choice. I think another 45% roughly (I do not represent Bike & Build by the way) goes towards ordering our bikes, renting the van and trailer, paying for gas and food, and insurance, along with a few other costs. The remaining 10%ish goes to office management and payroll. That's the donations I raised anyway. Feel free to double check Bike&Build.org

Tell me about... Ohio. (?)

(Athena) SO - why does everyone in Ohio have a vicious dog! Lol - I was actually super impressed with Southern Ohio. I loved Cincinnati too. We stayed in Kentucky a few nights while we were on the border. All in all great time in OH

Athena, is Connor a cool guy?

(Athena) Cool as it gets http://imgur.com/uvGvUnh

How many flat tyres did you get?

(Connor) me? Like 30. I have the worst luck

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(Connor) Nope. Just really really really good friends. However, several couples formed on the trip

nope

How many miles did you average a day?

(Athena) 70 but some days were as low as 28 and as high as 105

What were your eating habits like during the trip?

I had some friends do something similar from Vancouver to Mexico and by the end of the trip they were downing half gallons of ice cream just to take in enough calories. They were basically down to 8% body fat by the end of the trip.

(Connor) Our eating habits were basically:

NOM NOM NOM lookmorefood!!! NOM NOM NOM. Pretty much every chance to eat would be a feast. We had a good deal of pasta, lots of peanut butter, and bowls of cereal all the time. We were pretty good about covering all bases though. We had several vegetarians and those with peanut allergies on the trip, and they all were well fed. We did down a great deal of ice cream too (nothing like half gallons though). Because we burned it all, we could pretty much eat whatever we wanted. I lost 12 pounds on the trip!

(Athena) well put! I tried to stay as vegetarian as possible but sometimes I had to eat meat

You have to fundraise $4,500 to be eligible for the trip? That seems like a lot, I went cross country on a very frugal budget. I suppose I wasn't supplying money to build affordable houses though.

Did you find riding with that many people to be enjoyable? The company must have been nice but having to pace match with the slowest person...

(Athena) Since we had a support vehicle, a lot of the funding went toward that but over 45% went back into the cause. At the end we all sat down and decided where a lot of the money would go in a competitive grant process. So theoretically we only put $2475 toward getting there. We tried to stick to riding groups of 2-6 people so if you wanted you could sprint or just cruise along. Believe it or not, I rode with Connor most days ;P I happen to be a faster cyclist and he is --- well, he got faster! Maybe he will elaborate on some of the bets we made? Anywho - back to the question is that I really found that I enjoyed group riding

(Connor) I was the slowest rider in the group for most of the trip. Than on the second to last day, I made a bet that if I got to the host site (where we slept at night) before 1PM (70 mile day) I would get a steak. I sprinted over a mountain, across gravel, and through some strong headwinds, and I made it there in the nick of time and NOMed on some awesome steak

How many injures were there along the way?

(Connor) Never kept count, but not that many. At worst someone would spend a half week in the van. We were very lucky!

Can bicycling damage prostates?

I biked 4000 miles this summer and mine feels proper, but I'm a cyclist, not a doctor.

Were you harassed along the way, anyone say or shout things at you?

(Athena) Yes definitely - there are roads in the country that don't accomodate motorists and cyclists together and people get angry. WV was easily the worst state for this

(Connor) yea, in WV someone even threw garbage at us.

Did you two take this trip as a couple or just as friends? Did it strain or strengthen you're relationship/friendship? Also are y'all from the Virgina Beach area or did you have to grab a bus/train/plane to start the journey? How'd yup get home afterwards?

(Athena) we went into this as 33 strangers. Connor and I actually refer to each other as little brother and little sister respectively since we became really good friends. In a trip like this youre with each other 24/7 for 2.5 months so people fight and some people aggitate others but for the most part I feel pretty darn close to my teammates for only knowing them for 75 days.

(Athena) also - my mom drove me to the beach from nj and we picked up another rider at the airport before arriving. Lots of bikers are still on the west coast even though we finished on the 8th. I flew back on the 11th so I had more time in portlandia

(Connor) Actually, I went in alone. A good friend of mine recommended it, and I wanted to do it with a buddy, but he was busy. Everyone on the trip I met there. Athena and I rode together pretty frequently though, as we became good friends. It really strengthened our friendship a lot. It has gotten to the point where I call her my little sister.

Some of us flew, some drove, some took their rich uncle's airship (sigh, if only...)

As for getting home, most flew, though there are a few that are still out west having fun. In the past, some have even biked back! Most of us live on the east coast.

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(Connor) I moslty liked the large group. Personally I think 20-25 would be more practical, but I still I had a great time with the group. To clarify to some, we only all rode together once, at the very end. Usually you would be in a group of 2-6, and it was fun to get to know each other and make friends. We even had a few relationships pop out of our trip. I don't think the company lessened the experience. Sure, it was not ideal, there were one or two people in the group I did not care for, and I do value my alone time, but by and large, the group as a whole was very supportive and helped me out more times than I can remember. If I didn't have them there to lean on, it would have been a far more grueling experience.

My friend actually rode across Canada this summmer, From Vancouver to Halifax, and he met up with a surprising amount of other people doing long treks on their bikes as well. Did you guys run into, and join up with anyone else along your journey?

(Connor) Yup! Apart from seeing plenty of people going long distance the other direction, including Race Across America (those guys are literally insane). We also met up with several times with two groups from 4K for Cancer, an organization similar to ours.

Is this available to anyone or just US citizens? It sounds like the sort of thing I would love to do in a few years time when I take my gap year!

(Connor) As far as I know, it's open to everyone! I met a German guy doing Bike and Build

Thanks for the reply, what was the age range of people taking part? I know you can only do it up to about 25-26?

(Connor) yea, 18 is the start, and 25 is the cutoff. Most people were around 21-22.

(Connor) but we also had a decent number of under 21 people and a few 24-25 people.

If you were to do another big ride, where would you like to go and would you use the same bike or a better one?

(Connor) Hmmmm, I would like to either bike from Lisbon to Stockholm (going through finland) or maybe across Japan. I like Europe and Japan. I would probably keep the same bike but get a better saddle. I love my bike, her name is Triela.

(Athena)I was thinking of doing another transam ride in the future but for the next 2 years I think I'll be finishing up school and working a new job. South America seems interesting or maybe Anchorage to Cape Horn??? I would probably get a new bike since mine came to me with dents and a poor climbing cassette

Don't forget to bring a towel?

(Connor) I did. Could not fit it in my pack. For a month I drip dried. It sucked. I went to a YMCA once and asked to borrow a towel. Janitor handed me one and told me to keep it. Made packing in the morning hell, but I love that towel so much!

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(Connor) Noice, what did you do this summer? I don't think this is going to make that huge a difference on my life. I feel very accomplished though, had one of the best times of my life, and made life long friends. However, many other people experience the trip differently, and certainly have felt their lives change forever from it. We have had a couple in the past meet on the trip, get married, and have a child!

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(Connor) Cool, books are the best! I worked in landscaping, and I always tried to make the most of it through audiobooks! Glad to hear you had a good summer. Sorry about the beard.

(Athena) I personally feel a lot more confident that I can do anything I set my mind on. The country/continent is a lot smaller than I thought too and being exposed to so many different cultures and environments within the US made me think about how great it is to live here.

Are you goofy goobers?

(Connor) We have our moments.

(Athena) 24/7 moments

Lol, it was just a spongebob reference, man. But thanks for the reply ; )

(Athena) lol you're welcome

Worst smell so far?

(Connor) Burnt rubber. Hate Hate Hate it. Roadkill is a close second

(Athena) I would have to say the worst smell was in Kansas when we were riding past some of the large-scale farms. Also beef trucks were fairly rancid. Note that I did not mention the other riders' scents because I think I got used to them but I'm sure we smelt pretty bad too

But are you a goofy goober?

http://imgur.com/VNUCKkJ

What was the average speed? And who slacked off more?

(Connor) I have no idea, probably 13-14. but it really depended on the day and the wind. I slacked off more, Athena is a tank. She would fly up mountains, than come back down just to try and get a smile out of me. MULTIPLE TIMES IN ONE DAY! She is the best riding partner ever

my friend and i were considering the same thing through japan. has this trip had any profound impact on the way you view things now?

(Connor) yeah, it really irked me the wrong way seeing pretty bad poverty in the US and the huge general amount of apathy towards it. I'm going to try to volunteer a lot more to try and help people, both in the AH world and other types of organizations.

(Connor) Also, がんばて！My Japanese has gone to shit this summer. Think it's a great idea, and you should totally do it. I often daydreamed of doing the exact same thing this summer. 日本語がはなせますか。

Are you going or have you been through Montana?

(Connor) We actually finished the trip last week, and no, sorry, we did not go through Montana

How far into the trip do you expect to be killed by a drunk driver?

(Connor) We actually already finished the trip, and drunk drivers were never a huge risk to us because we only rode during the daytime, so there were far less of them around. Still, safety was our priority the whole time.

Good to hear. I've read so many stories about people getting killed trying to do what you did. Congrats on completing it!

Thanks!

Would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses, or 1 horse sized duck?

(Athena) Definitely your mom's chest hair

(Athena) but if you're getting philo w/ this, I'll definitely take the 100 mini horses.

(Connor) Duck sized horses. I would use hit and run tactics on my bicycle.

(Athena) duck sized horses - aren't those pretty much dogs? sort of?