A very OK birthday

23: a prime number, an age of growing maturities, a number of newly found wisdom, an time in life for exquisite calf muscles.


Yesterday was my 23 birthday, and a genuine Bike & Build day. Oh, and not to mention—it was Christmas in July! The morning started off with an on- site shower (something that is cherished more than any non-Bike & Builder will ever imagine). After a solid fifteen minutes of moderate water pressure, I joined my chore team and began to clean up the Southern Hills Baptist Church in Tulsa, OK. After the trailer was packed and the host cleaned, we sat down for a special Christmas in July breakfast of homemade pancakes—courtesy of the Habitat of Greater Tulsa’s building director. Although I wasn’t able to eat the gluten-full pancakes, we were provided with two boxes of scrumptious gluten free donuts! Yum! Once breakfast was finished I promptly presented my birthday challenge to the group: eat 23 scoops of ice cream within the next 23 hours. If only I knew how desolate central Oklahoma was… My final scoop count was 4. BOO. Yet... the man, the myth, the legend: Scott R. Middleton ate a whopping total of 23 scoops of vanilla ice cream all in my honor. To say I'm in love would be a horrifying understatement. It was by far the most wonderful gesture any prince charming has ever made for me on the anniversary of my birth. Thanks for putting me to shame, Scott. You're a doll.

I spent the 70 mile day riding with three stellar riders: Cathy, Nick A. and Anna. We made a pact to make as many ice cream stops and be open to as many adventures that crossed our path. By 10 am, I had successfully convinced both a McDonald’s and Sonic to donate us small sundaes. That left our ice cream count at a mere four. (Soft serve cups counted as two scoops.) After a heart wrenching failed attempt at a second McDonald’s to get our hands on some more ice cream—the ice cream machine was broken, we heard news that Santa had a special lunch surprise waiting for us around mile 38. And away we went.

Christmas lunch: Chipotle. Chipotle. Chipotle. With a side of church air conditioning.

As Anna and I ventured back outside into the blistering heat, we were greeted with word of a public pool less than a mile from our lunch stop. To say we were excited would be a pure understatement. At that moment, my birthday entourage grew from three to about ten. We packed leftover burritos into our camel backs and headed for the vast open water of the Bristow, OK Community Pool.

After a solid hour of cannon ball contests, water basketball and several unsuccessful underwater photo shoots, we sadly squeezed out our chamois and mounted our bicycles to finish our journey to Chandler, OK. The rest of the afternoon was absurdly hot and sadly windy. What else could we expect? After all, we are the crazy ones who signed up for a summer of riding into perpetual headwinds. But hey, it was my birthday! And I can guarantee I will never have a day so unique for as long as I live.

The crowd at the United Methodist Church of Chandler was incredibly welcoming as we arrived worn down from the 108 degree Fahrenheit ride. They greeted us with fresh peaches and plums, cold Gatorade, and overwhelming kindness. As were trying to figure out when the next ride to the showers would be, or if there was a hose to rinse off with, one of my new friends quietly told me of a secret shower that was inside the church. The shower was by far the best one of the summer. It was located in a BEAUTIFUL bathroom, with great lighting, and two sinks! The best part, though, had to be the shower head. When I tell you the pressure was perfect, I mean the pressure was perfect. In all my 23 years on Mother Earth I have never felt so refreshed by a man-made shower head before. Is it sad that this was the highlight of my day? I think not.

Post showering, the group frantically ran around trying to wrap our Secret Santa presents for one another. As it was Christmas in July, we had worked out a pretty awesome grab bag the week before where each rider chose a comrade to give a gift to. The only rule was that you were not allowed to spend any money on the gift. For a Bike & Builder, this was no problem. You would be amazed with what you can find on the side of the road in southern Missouri! Gifts were wrapped in many different ways, including my own find: a Christmas stocking found on the side of Route 66. After dinner, we joined together and exchanged our gifts which included things such as bracelets made from old tire tubes and bike chains, sweet new duds from Good Will, Chipotle gift cards, sunscreen, teddy bears, and most importantly- coupons for free massages! It was a jolly Christmas, and a great way to join together with my new family.

After a fantastic night’s sleep on a big, comfy leather couch, I rose ready to crush our 62 mile ride into Yukon, OK. Today’s ride was deemed a “blind date rando-ride.” This meant that our rider groups were chosen at random, and we restricted to two riders per group. Lucky gal that I am I was paired with the stud commonly known as Holland. We decided that today was a great day to ride hard, and we did just that. Arriving to lunch at around 8:45 we were wowed with KG’s lunch spot (rated a 10) at Pop’s- a Route 66 attraction that consisted of the most insane selection of soda pop I’ve ever seen. The group went a little bit crazy, purchasing roughly 80 different varieties of soda from all across the world. We spent an hour or so taste testing the odd flavors such as Chicken Wing, Maple Syrup and Spruce. Before our sugar comas set in, Holland and I hit the road. Working together through the bearable headwind, we arrived to our host at 12:00 on the dot. Oh, I forgot to mention—we are no longer running on East Coast time! About a week and a half ago we crossed time zones and are now one hour in the future. Such a neat feeling. As it was my first day yet to arrive first to the host, I won’t hesitate to say how proud I am of myself. I quickly parked my bike, guzzled down the delish chocolate milk that our awesome host had waiting for us, and tore open my package from Grandma. Of course, it was my famous Cohen’s Chocolate birthday cake! The best you’ll ever have. Gluten had never tasted so good. After devouring about half of the cake, I helped unpack the trailer, rounded up some of the troops and headed across the street to the pool that was very kindly offered to us by a family that belongs to the church we are staying at. The pool was incredibly refreshing, as were the outdoor couches that we vegged out on for quite some time. After we got back and showered, we were met by some awesome bike mechanics from Bike One in Oklahoma, City. The mechanics have been generous enough to donate their time and services and make sure that our wheels are ready to take us across the second half of the country. Thanks guys!

That brings me to now… As I sit here and think of more to write about, all I can think of is that the past five weeks have flown by. Before this summer began, I was told by many B&B alumni to cherish every last moment. I have no hesitation to say that I am doing just that. My birthday was the epitome of a true Bike & Build day filled with heat, headwinds, hills, friends, pools, ice cream, burritos and pure fun. The day leading up to it was filled with trimming and siding on a Habitat for Humanity build site. It was a day spent building along side of a future home owner, working with an organization that changes lives each day. As you can hopefully tell, each day is filled with new adventure. Rarely do I arrive to the host and feel energized, as I try to fill my rides with as many experiences and adventures as possible. Though I have not been blogging, I have been keeping a daily journal including the adventures and stories that have occurred. Whether it happens now, or after my great adventure ends, I will post some of my favorite memories of each state that we rode through. But from here on out, I will work hard to post more frequently. The shock of this trip being half way over is starting to set in, and I want to make sure that you can all experience it as much as possible! If you have an Instagram account start following me at: Sproutalicous. I have been trying to take at least one photo a day, and as I am not the best with technology I have found that this application makes it easiest for me to share my views as quick as possible.


Until next time, America.

Sweet dreams!

Alyssa M. Cohen, 23 year old cross country cycling extraordinaire.