It’s just a break – Cambridge, WI – 0/~2000

I have put this post off for far too long and need to provide an update for the last few weeks.

The day out of Madison, I made it about 45 miles before my knees gave out the first time.  I spent the rest of that long, hilly day in the van.  About every 2 days for a week after that, I would ride about 40 miles before my knees would give out again.  The fourth time this happened was our ride into Devils Lake, North Dakota.  I had been feeling amazing that morning and was sure I would finish our longest ride yet.  By mile 20, the pain was unbearable.  I knew I had to see a doctor, so I made the push to Aurora Urgent Care in South Grand Forks, North Dakota and was told I had tendonitis and would need to spend a minimum of a week in the van.

I behaved well, followed the doctors orders, and rested up – but the pain got worse.  By the fourth or fifth day of the week, I realized that it wasn’t going to get any better.  I had to make a very, very difficult decision.  I would, in fact, rather climb Bethel Mountain 8 more times in a row than have to face a decision like this one again.  I had to choose between staying with my teammates but riding in the van every day or going home and resting up.  I did not sign up for Bike and Build with the intention of sitting in the van.  I signed up to bike across the country and build some houses.  Since I was unable to accomplish the former, I decided I would take… a short break.

My teammates were amazing throughout the entire thing.  I felt (and still feel, honestly) horrible about going home.  It was the last thing I wanted to do, and it definitely validated that many times the right decision is not the easiest or most fun.  My teammates supported me the whole way, and were just so incredibly amazing.  Special shoutouts to Cydney and Rachel H. for your words of encouragement and support and to Will, Angel, and Kelsey for your delicious snacks.  Thanks to you I never even had to visit the dining car.  All 29 of my teammates came to the Wolf Point train station to see me off.  I got hugs and applause and tons of encouragement, and it was something of a “high” for me, seeing how close we’ve all gotten.  Finally, at about 5:30 on Wednesday afternoon, the doors to the 28 Empire Builder closed on 20-odd amazing people waving me off home.  Leaving was probably one of the toughest things I’ve ever done.

Thursday I arrived in Columbus, Wisconsin.  Thursday is also the day that we hold our “family meetings”, where we discuss highs, lows, and issues for the team that week.  I had the privilege of telecommuting to our family meeting and listened as people passed the phone around and shared their highs and lows with me as well as the rest of the group.  I can’t express how touching the whole thing was.

Today, Friday, I went to the doctor.  My doctor gave me the somewhat bittersweet news that while too much activity would not be good for my knees, too little is also not a good thing, which is probably why it got worse.  It turns out that sitting in the van doing nothing was probably not the best thing for me and may have caused the problem to escalate.  However, she also said that biking 70 miles a day was probably not a realistic aspiration in the immediate future… maybe 10 miles a day.  Maybe.  I didn’t sign up to bike 10 miles a day, and so, ultimately, I think that the decision to go home was indeed the right one, if not the easiest or choicest.

But the title of this post is “It’s just a break.”  I WILL bike from Madison, WI to Vancouver, BC one day.  Whether it will be this year or next year or after I graduate is the question… but I made a commitment to my donors and my teammates to bicycle 4000 miles for affordable housing, and I will make it happen… so this is truly just a break.  I am not quitting.