Orientation...

Bike and Build has officially started. I rolled into Providence on my bike on Sunday morning after a quick 3 hour ride from Boston. I was a day early coming in, but everyone had already left Boston so it was pretty lonely to be there alone, especially with only one set of clothing as everything else had already been shipped home or sent to Providence with Rebecca. Day one was a lot of unloading of the trailer, organizing, washing dishes for 35, and hanging out with Eric Shields. Eric and I rode Monday morning down the bike path and had an interesting incident with a rabbit which decided to run straight into Eric's front wheel after narrowly missing mine. Fortunately Eric stayed calm and all parties came out more or less unharmed. Monday everyone else rolled in, more or less by 2:30. We then played a few ice breakers to get things started on the brown quad and meet our fellow riders. Monday was mostly uneventful with an afternoon full of rules and typical meeting and chit chat. Tuesday was packed full of bike safety in the morning and maintenance in the afternoon. We finally got in the 'shakedown' ride in the afternoon and beat the rain in, and managed to squeeze in showers before a great BBQ at a church member's home, followed by our first affordable housing curriculum meeting, which sparked some great discussion. This morning we built at a habitat site in East Providence, doing landscaping, and putting up two different fences. The group accomplished a lot. Its amazing what can be done when 30+ people work together. Finally this afternoon we brushed up on our emergency medicine, which I hope we wont have to use, and were turned loose for the first time since being here. Below are a few photos from orientation and our first day or riding. Tomorrow will be our first real ride, complete with a visit to the 'Atlantic' to dip our rear wheels. San Fran here we come!
Alex, Mary and Becca working on the fabulous trailer.
The flat changing clinic.


Drew and the crew on the shakedown ride.

Till next time....