7/31/09
I feel as though it's going to be hard to do justice to the past few days with what I'm going to write. As you may or may not be aware of, our route reached Cannon Beach Oregon on July 29th. It's pretty crazy to think about how it's all over, I have officially been debriefed and honorably discharged of my duties as a leader of this group, I'm a free agent again! When Tony first got back from his tour of Bike and Build in 2008, the first thing I asked him when he came back was what he would give it on a scale from 0 to 100. He gave it a 97, meaning it got an A+ for a summer, after my own journey I have decided to give it a 98, a slightly higher grade. It was not perfect of course, but it was pretty righteous.

The last 15 minutes of biking we're fantastic. On our last day, we were going from Vernonia to Cannon Beach. I commented during route meeting in somewhat of a motivational moment that Cannon Beach was no longer our overall goal, it was our very destination today, it felt amazing to look at the cue sheet and the signs during the day and see it on there. But it was a beautiful ride through the much more beautiful half of Oregon, huge trees with moss and ferns, it felt as though we were in a jungle and it was very scenic. But on our last day, we were going to meet up just a mile or two out of town so we could all ride in to town together. I was sweep with Barb which means we were the last two to get in. This was ideal because I had an exhibition planned for right when I pulled in. I thought it would be more dramatic for me to pull in with everyone watching and waiting on me and Barb. So I pull in and I see all my family including Lynn, Bruce and the cousin Ben who were in the area visiting colleges as well as my parents, Kevin and Ashley, the latter two flew in while my parents have spent the past month driving west. It was perfect, I had talked to my dad several weeks before and had asked him to secure a mobile power unit, a pair of buzzer and a pair of sharp scissors and to make sure he had those ready to go for when I pulled in at the pre-beach meeting point. I pull in and immediately hop off of my bike and confirm that everything is ready to go and then I stand and address the audience, Bike and Builders and parents alike. I say, “It's the end of the trip and I'm feeling kind of crazy... I'm feeling like I'm going to do something crazy...” it was at this point Barb was supposed to say something along the lines of, “Did you hear that, he said he's going to do something crazy!” and she was supposed to start the chant that goes something like “DO SOMETHING CRAZY! DO SOMETHING CRAZY!” but at this moment Barbara was running around hugging everyone in sight not noting the commotion I had made. You wouldn't think it but because I had lot my accomplice in this shenanigan I was about to pull, I was like confused as to what to do there. So I was like, “...can you guys help me out?” and I started the cheer myself. Long story short, I cut my hair. Completely. The best part was the look, I had told nobody the entire trip about my plans except the leaders (just because I can't keep a secret to myself) and so when I was talking about doing something crazy and I was putting my pony tail up on the top of my head, I heard just a refrain of Oh nos. But when I felt the hair being cut by Ashley, the reaction was priceless. One great one in particular was Julie just saying “Oh my god what is happening!?” My dad took some video and threw it up on youtube so feel free to check it out. Either way, if you read my blog you get the inside scoop because nobody from home really knows yet so good sleuthing :)