Amarillo, Texas

The pure beauty of waking up at 5am was finally realized today by the group at large. With tires gliding across the smooth black asphalt slightly before the sun peaks over the horizon to kiss the sky is the only way to start a day. The only danger that presents itself in early morning zombie mode riding was peering over our shoulders to see the sunset in the east as we were riding west. The natural beauty of the long grass dancing in the wind is enhanced tenfold by the rays of sunshine that jut out of the clouds all day to offer extra illumination to the wonders of this strange land. Before the riding even happened, there was a feeling in the air that today would be a big Texan type of day.

Holy Cow was today a legitimate ride. Usually faces of disgust are sported by riders in the morning as a reaction to being awake at such a retched hour. However, this morning these faces were brought out on the first stretch of the ride as we all witnessed the sad state of over crowded Texas cattle ranching. We passed numerous clusters of wall to wall cows, forced to huddle together trapped behind fencing on a barren muddy platform of land.

This morning we had a double wide 7 person paceline, so 14 people total. We were a force to be reckoned with as we chugged up Rt. 152 in a tight pack. To delay the onset of boredom, we played guess the next car where the object is to guess the next vehicle to come up behind us. We got very specific with suggestions like red Ford F-150 crew cab with fog horns on the cab or white Chevy Silverado with camo trim. These guesses were never too far off because every vehicle that passed us was a pickup truck. Some people were throwing out crazy picks like Toyota Prius. They quickly learned the errors in their way by noticing Texans don’t buy mid range vehicles or sedans, and they only buy vehicles made in the US. The only acceptable guesses became Fords, Chevys, and the occasional Dodge.

The roads in Texas quickly became nothing more than connected lines of rumble strips. For at least 30 miles of our trip today, we were doing so much bouncing on our bike it felt like a 6 year old was punching us in the undercarriage non stop. If that wasn’t enough to break spirits, the wind definitely was. When Rogers and Hammerstein were doing their research for musical scores in Oklahoma they should have taken into account that in Texas, the wind goes sweeping down the plains 3 times faster. Gusts would hit us like a brick wall trying to halt our progress. Billboards even taunted us with messages such as, “Wheat grows, oil flows, and WIND BLOWS.” All you can do when something like that greets you after a nasty stretch of gale force winds, is just laugh, put your head down and keep cycling. Luckily we have a tough group who all graduated college with degrees in perseverance so we finished the day like champs.

Pulling into Amarillo was quite a shock from what I thought it would be. The city was very spread out and not densely populated like other cities we had visited. It is still the 15th largest city in Texas which means its one of the biggest in any other state. Amarillo is the only city in the US that both assembles and disassembles nuclear weapons and used to be known as the Yellow Star of Texas. For those of you who can’t figure out why that might be, you may want to consider brushing up on your Spanish. In fact, just come to Amarillo because as soon as we got here, not only did we see our first cactus, but Mexican restaurants, grocery stores, and all things written in Spanish surrounded us. We saw our first border patrol station which looked like a military base. Texas is like a whole new world to me. Everything is bigger here, especially my curiosity about the state.

Germain out.

It was a huge treat to sleep in until 7am. A completely advanced type of happiness was cast upon me as a direct result of getting two extra hours of sleep than normal. My ride to the build site was cramming into the back of a pickup for three remarkable miles. We sang, we cheered, we danced, and we had a strong breeze in our faces that wasn't making cycling difficult; a simple joy we most appreciated. Our habitat impact has been a lot of demo work which we continued today. Inside rooms were stripped of Sheetrock, flooring and cabinets. The exterior was stripped of siding while trying to keep insulation intact and fences were destroyed. It was messy and hot work, but not nearly as hot as St. Louis because the humidity has taken a vacation. The worst part about the build was not eating. Myself being the grade a sucker that I am, got talked into doing the 72 oz steak challenge at the world famous Big Texan in Amarillo. Myself and Ryan S. plotted and strategized all day long about how to attack the meal and what to do in preparation. I ate a bagel for breakfast, a piece of bread for lunch, a handful of tortilla chips for a snack, and five pieces of lettuce for dinner. This didn't come close to meeting my nutritional needs for the day since I was working hard in the heat. Unfortunately this wasn't a cycling day where I had worked up a huge appetite, but I needed to put myself into a caloric defecit so I could eat like a man. We were set to leave for the Big Texan at 8pm so I went on a three and half mile run around Amarillo at 715 to ramp up my body for the catastrophe about to be thrown it's way. Anyone who attempts the challenge gets a free limo ride to the restaurant, so two limos pulled up with longhorns on the hood to transport me to my doom in true Texas style. It took a shuttle of five limos to get the whole entourage there, but that just gave me time to combat my nerves, pee my pants a little bit, and explore the actual resort that this place was. The restaurant was just the beggining, but there was a strip of shops, slot machines, several different themed eating areas included an outdoor patio, fudge shop and gift shop. My attnetion was immediately drawn to the chocolate chip cookie dough fudge, but knowing I was about to get pregnant with a food baby, I resisted the temptation for sweets and kept my eyes on the prize. There were two guys trying the challenge and Ryan and I went to talk to them to gather intel. In not so many words, they told us we would have better luck jumping off a bridge than finishing the challenge. Maybe they were just intimidated that bikers in spandex and cowboy hats were going to outeat them. We gave the waitress our steak order 20 min in advance so it could get cooked before we started. We both chose medium to cut down on the number of times we would have to chew before we could swallow. In all the food network tv shows Ive seen, I've learned that jaw soreness is a common downfall in record breaking attempts. So with my last will and testament penned out in my pocket after having failed to find and on site cardiologist, I sang my last pump up songs and sat down for my last meal. If a 72oz steak wasn't bad enough, we also had to down a salad, dinner roll, baked potato and three fried shrimp. Since I'm allergic to shrimp, I was able to substitute an extra salad which looked like a physically greater volume of food. Since I travel everywhere with a family of 32 that are almost as wild and obnoxious as I am, we made our presence felt in the restaurant. In this disgusting gorging I took great pride to give it my all knowing that my friends, family, and even other bike and build routes across the US were watching. We started the challenge off with our new cheer which echoed off the walls with the shrill of 1000 decibels of adreneline. It was go time and i was ready to damage. My plan of attack was to take down the meat first. I cut it into sections so I could trick my mind into thinking I was almost done everytime I finished a section. I would only use BBQ sauce to dip the steak in after I got tired of the regular taste because I didn't want any extra calories. The roll and potato would come next because starches are dense and sit heavy in the stomach. The salad would be last because it was mostly iceberg lettuce which is like eating crunchy water. Being so lite, it should have been easy to add on at the end. Knowing it takes a little bit for the hormones and neurotransmitters in your stomach to register with your brain that you are full, I tried to sprint out hard with the steak eating. This worked pretty well since the steak was warm, delicious, an easy to swallow. It stopped being delicious after I ate two thirds of it and it started to feel like I was just licking a belt. All challenge long our group belted out cheers like R O W D I E, that's the way you spell rowdy, let's get rowdy, and my personal favorite, bike and binge. There were highschool football coach impressions screaming epic fourth quarte pump up speeches. Strangers from literally all over the world gathered round as bike and builders shouted encouragment in anyway they could think to disturb other diners. I had so much fun dancing and laughing and enjoying the all round awesome atmosphere. As the clock ticked down, I turned up my game and really started stuffing face fast. As a garbage can for vomitted was pushed close to me I shoved it away and made my last stand. When the final zero showed up, I still had half a baked potato and four oz. of steak left. I missed the challenge by so little, but still had the best time ever attempting it. In the valient effort, I experienced the single most epic hour in my life. Having immediate difficulties coping with the food I just ate that outweighed an infant, I tried to throw it up but was unsuccessful. I didn't feel bad or even overly full so I went and got some of that fudge I had been eyeing earlier. Boy was tha a good decision, that stuff was like a party in my mouth. People kept coming up to me congratulating me and asking details of the challenge and the bike trip. I had achieved small time celebrity status and had the opportunity to meet couples from France, Sweden, Australia, and England. My metabolism must be impecable from all the cycling and eating I've been doing because I didn't feel ill at all. End the night with a $72 tab for a failed hallenge that other people covered as part of a fee for the limo and entertainment, top that off with a free t shirt, mug, and return limo service to the host site, and there my friend do you have an allstar Texas evening. Only in the lonestar state. God bless Texas.

This morning started off wild. Wake up was to a country song named amarillo sky which was very appropriate. Michael George had written a moral boosting cheer that 6 of us learned to present at our route meeting and then teach the rest of the group while we ride. I was designated the introduction caller because I'm the loudest. Many of you from back home won't be surpirsed to hear that. Cue my mom telling that story of how she used to be able to hear me when I was down the street playing at the Kavanaughs because I am so loud. Anyway, the cheer goes a little something like this

(Brian) Whose on the road?
(Everyone) Rowdy's on the road
REPEAT
(Everyone) We rode from the B the O the S the TON suga
(Everyone) To the C the A the L the I suga.
(Everyone) Hold up, wait a minute, let us put some rowdy in it.
(Guys) We go to Cali, go go to Cali
REPEAT x 5
(Girls simultaneously) Gooooo....California
REPEAT x 2
(Everyone) Alright alright alright to Barbara, Santa Barbara
East coast west coast
Everyday we rule the streets
B2SB can't be beat!