Shakedown Ride + RITA'S!!!!

5/19/22

SECOND DAY!!!!

6:00 am wakeup call && time to get on our bikes! But first - a quick flat/safety check.

All of our riders have completed at least 500 miles of training rides. Of these miles, each rider completed at least one ride in the rain, one ride with a group, and one ride over 65 miles. Even with all this time on the road though, we still want to make sure riders are comfortable cycling with each other and following the specific safety rules set by Bike & Build. There are also a lot of technical issues that can come up on the road when biking ~4,000 miles across the country. Today is dedicated to covering bike mechanics 101 and riding together for the first time!!

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After a quick overview from Devon and a couple of our riders that have worked as bike mechanics, we split into groups to refresh our memories on how to change a flat should we get one on the road. Once all the bikes were "fixed" and reassembled, we headed out for our FIRST ROUTE MEETING! Our shakedown ride would take us approximately 20 miles around Jacksonville & Jacksonville Beach. We covered almost every terrain - from a stop-every-block residential road, a large shouldered busy highway, and bike lane city roads.

Of course along the way we stopped to smell the roses...

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...or at least to eat the RITA'S!!

During our shakedown ride, we made a quick pitstop at Rita's - to have some Italian Ice or as some call it Water Ice. While there we met Jack, the owner of Rita's Italian Ice on 3rd St (pictured above alongside Dheeraj, Jessie, Caroline, and Emma).

Curious about all the cyclists in matching kits, Jack came out and talked with us about Bike & Build and the cause we are pedaling for. He gifted us a small Rita plushie which we will cherish and bring with us across the country. We have decided that Rita will accompany us from the Atlantic to the Pacific with a different rider each day! We have named her "Random Acts Rita" for the kindness we received from Jack. Every morning at our route meeting Rita will be awarded to a team member that showed a random act of kindness for that day.

Rita's (the restaurant) is a must-have on the East Coast. My favorite of their Italian ice is their Gelati - it's Italian ice with custard on top & (spoiler alert) it has custard on the bottom too! Their custard is unlike any ice cream I've ever had. It is richer and thicker and somehow fits very well with the citrus/fruit flavors of the Italian ice.

We ended the night with showers at the local YMCA and a delicious dinner provided by St. Paul's Daughter's of the King ministry group. So. Much. Food. It feels like we will never be hungry again, but we know better. Tomorrow we start our first build day.

Emma