Colorado Springs, finally!

Hello friends and family (and Romans and Countrymen too)! I'm so very sorry for the gross delay--would you believe we don't have handy access to internet in Colorado Springs? Our church doesn't have wifi, and the closest library is a bit of a trek, especially after a day of building. But enough excuses--we built the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We finished yesterday, actually, so today is a bonus day off (whee!).

Building the house was an incredible experience. I used five different power tools and still have all my fingers and learned that nothing makes me feel sexier than wearing a tie-dye tshirt and safety glasses and using a power saw to cut out a window. Arriving on the first day to a slab of cement and leaving yesterday with a house (the outside of it anyway) was just plain awesome. I will post pictures someday. Really. It's kind of interesting to me that despite all the technology at our disposal these days, building a house still comes down to nailing some wood. There's something great about that though--I mean, how many millions of hammers have swung in the name of shelter in human history?

I'm liking building more and more, I think because I'm getting more confident at it. I'm starting to think that I'll do more work with Habitat for Humanity in the future. It bugs me that they are a Christian organization (they give every family a Bible upon move in) but other than that they really are a great idea realized. I certainly think they won't solve the affordable housing crisis on their own, but they are definitely making a huge impact. We got to meet several Habitat homeowners throughout our stay here, and they were all very grateful for our work. After all, one of the main reasons Habitat can sell houses for far less than market price is because the labor is free. On our first day of the blitz build, one of the supervisors said "I'm looking at about $100,000 worth of labor right now." That's a pretty big chunk off the price of a house!! I'm especially interested in volunteering internationally next time--I'm considering even organizing a Bike and Build reunion....

Most of our time has been spent building, obviously, but we did have one official day off here. So what did I do? Hike Pike's Peak, of course! The 26 mile round-trip hike took me to 14,100 feet, and damn if it wasn't one of the harder things I've ever done. Fourteen of us did it, with eight making it to the summit. We hit the trail around 6:15 am, which we were told by locals was really the latest we could start if we hoped to do the whole hike.

I've learned on this trip that bicycling rarely satisfies my need for nature. I used to lump a multitude of activities in the "outdoors" category and assume they satisfied the same things, but I've discovered this is not the case. I love bicycling, but the nature of it requires that one stays at least in relatively civilized areas (unless you want to do serious off-road mountain bicycling). It's fantastic to see different towns and be outside, but it's not the same as being in the woods with nothing around. That's what I was hoping to do with the hike, and that was certainly what I got!

At the very beginning we were all in one big crowd, but that didn't last long. For awhile I tried to keep up with the first group, but it became clear early on that there was no way I'd be able to sustain that kind of a pace for 6 hours. But I was already well ahead of the second group, so I ended up doing the vast majority of the ascent by myself. I really enjoyed it. I saw a few other people on the trail (including a surprising number of those nonsensical masochists known as "trail runners") but for the most part was in complete solitude. There is an amazing camp half way up (Barr Camp) that I think just might be the most pleasant place on Earth. There is a little cabin where the caretakers live, and I asked the woman running it if she had the best job on the planet. She laughed and said she did, but that it was a lot of work--they get 28,000 visitors every year! The camp also has campsites with lean-tos, a pretty brook (with adjacent swinging bench--guess where I ate my lunch??), picnic tables, and tent camp sites. It was a gorgeous morning (around 9 when I was there) and I kind of regretted not bringing a book. If I ever come back to Colorado Springs, I'll definitely plan on hiking to the camp with lunch and a book, staying a few hours, and hiking back down.

But for this trip, the summit was beckoning. After a bagel and a few minutes on the swinging bench, it was up and at 'em again for me. Another three miles later I reached the timber line. Above the trees was quintessential alpine meadow, complete with three marmot sightings. There were lots of large boulders lying around just begging to be scrambled upon, but again, I didn't really have the time. By this point I was really feeling the altitude, and was going pretty darn slow. I also lost the trail (with a gravel-like ground it's hard to tell what is trail and what isn't) and ended up going straight up the mountain for quite awhile. I started to wonder whether I could make it to the summit, but I was running low on water. I knew I could fill up at the summit, whereas if I turned around I would have to go all the way back down without any. It was a good motivator!

The trail got more and more brutal, with the first patch of snow appearing a little less than two miles from the summit. The trail basically turned to rocks, complete with water running down them so you were basically walking up a stream. By this point I had found the trail, and other hikers (no Bike and Builders though). Everyone was moving slower, so the groups got closer together than they were down in the trees. It was nice to be around humanity again, especially since I wasn't entirely confident I wasn't going to collapse at any moment.

It took me literally an hour to go the last mile. Yes, that does mean I was going officially 1 mph. Kind of sad, but the altitude was really getting me, and the trail involved lots of big steps over rocks that were more like climbing than walking. I had a pretty bad headache by this time, and I couldn't believe how hard my heart was pounding considering how slow I was going. I felt like I couldn't go more than 10 or 12 steps without pausing for a moment to catch my breath! The views were stunning though, and by this point I was bound and determined to reach that summit.

And I did it!! I was practically delirious I was so exhausted, but I did it. You can actually drive to the top of Pike's Peak (there's a gift shop and restaurant) so there were actually a lot of people there. Normally this would turn me off, but I was starving and very much looking forward to eating something and using a real restroom and filling up my water. And who should I see getting ready to head back down as I arrived--7 Bike and Builders, of course! I must have looked a fright, because they were all looking at me as though I might keel over in front of them. They had all come up as a group though, so they were impressed that I had done the whole thing alone. I didn't want to hold them up, but I definitely needed to sit for a moment or two, so they all headed down except Bryant, who waited for me.

We didn't tarry long, because of course now we had to go alll the way back down. We got hit by a smattering of hail at the summit, and a little rain later on, but other than that the weather was great all the way up and down. About 2 miles into the descent though I started feeling really nauseated, and it didn't let up for the rest of hike. I felt really bad for Bryant, because he was nice enough to wait for me, and now I was going so slow because I felt like I was going to throw up at any second. At Barr Camp we met up with some others though, including some that had turned around before the summit, and I stuck with them to let Bryant go ahead. Everyone was hurting pretty bad for the last miles; my nausea let up a little bit as we got down, but not enough to really eat anything.

We made it though (at 8 pm--14 hours after we started!) and I was so excited, though too exhausted to show it. We went to dinner, but I was still feeling sick, so I just had a Sprite. In fact, I didn't have anything to eat for the rest of the day because by the time we got back to the church around 9:30 all I wanted to do was sleep. I slept like a rock though, and was feeling surprisingly perky at the build day the next day. I was really sore though, and was walking like a 90 year old for three days, much to the amusement of others. I also was ravenous all day the next day, not surprising since I hadn't eaten anything since noon on the hike and had burned probably 2,000 calories. I just could not get enough food in my body that day! I'd eat normal sized meals but be starving 45 minutes later. It was bizarre. The hike was Monday, and now I'm finally back to normal in terms of appetite and the ability to walk!

The ability to bike however, remains to be seen. We'll find out tomorrow! We're doing a 70 miler tomorrow, which should reacquaint us all with our two-wheeled friends. On Monday we climb Independence Pass (one of Lance Armstrong's training rides), and on Wednesday we have a day off in Aspen, where I'll get to see Stephanie, one of my IU besties. All these days off are spoiling us rotten! I think after Aspen we don't have another one until Boise, so we're enjoying them while we can.

The Western half of this trip (because yes, in terms of mileage and riding days we're only half way there) seems to be pretty remote, with more camping days than the first half, so I might not be able to update as much. But I will post when I can! Thanks for keeping up with me, and I'm sure I'll have more adventures to fill you in on soon!