What do University students typically do during the summer?
Most would say internships, jobs or travel.
The students who spent this summer in a program called Bike and Build, however, would give a far different answer.
Imagine climbing the Rocky, Sawtooth and Appalachian mountain ranges. Imagine biking 50 to 100 miles per day for nine weeks in anywhere from 40 to 106-degree weather -- and stopping every week to build a home for a family in need.
This is exactly what students from across the country got together to do this summer with the program Bike and Build. With three regional trips to choose from, a handful of University students chose the central region, while at least a few others chose other areas.
"Somebody told me about [the Bike and Build program], and I thought it was crazy," third-year Nursing student Laura Bishop said. "Instead of doing finals, I looked at the Web site and started doing research on affordable housing."
Like Bishop, another student found out about the program through word-of-mouth.
"I heard about it from a friend who had a friend that did it," third-year Nursing student Leah Welbourn said. "I got the application from the Web site, and then I raised $4,000 to fund the trip."
The $4,000 that Welbourn raised is required of all participants and goes toward funding the trip and affordable youth-based housing projects like Habitat for Humanity. According to the Bike and Build Web site, the program has "contributed $229,875 to housing groups to fund projects planned and executed by young adults."
Bike and Build participants started their trip May 21 in Virginia Beach and ended their trip July 24 in Oregon, averaging 75 miles of biking per day.
Working with Habitat for Humanity, the group built nine houses during their nine-week cross-country trip. On building days, participants did not bike. All of the houses they built were for low-income families.
"The coolest thing we did was build for a single mom who had escaped from Afghanistan," Welbourn said. "Her husband was killed by the Taliban. ... it was cool to be a part of something that big."
One of the most difficult things about the trip, according to participants, was getting acclimated to the intensity of the routine. Most participants were out of shape, and one had even quit smoking just a week before the trip began. The group biked 50 miles a day (the lowest number of miles all trip) the first week to get accustomed to the exertion and to get in-sync physically.
"I thought I would be in shape," said Welbourn, who runs daily. "But I would wake up in the middle of the night and my legs would be cramping."
Fortunately, there was one person in the group who had completed the journey before, which helped new participants with both the physical and mental challenges they faced.
"A returning Bike and Builder with knowledge of the mission really takes a lot off the others and settles nerves," fourth-year College student Kyle Hatten said.
Still, the intense physical aspect of the Build took its toll, and every rider had to cope with his or her own weaknesses while on the trip.
"It was so mental," Welbourn said. "I think the way I dealt with the trip was dealing with each day. ... I would be like, 'today, I'm biking 80 miles, I'm not going to think about the other 2,000. That was a life lesson, taking each day at a time, because if you look too far ahead, you'll get overwhelmed."
Although some students got through the difficult parts of the trip with self reflection, others said they leaned on others to get through the hard days.
"On the tough days, you had to have somebody with you to get through the struggle," Hatten said. "I would not be able to get through the eight-hour days by myself. You had to have a hill buddy to help you get through the eight- to ten-mile mountain passes."
As a whole, the group had rituals that they went through each day to keep each other psyched. These mini-rituals served to bring the team even closer and signaled the start of each day.
"When we were kind of down, we started each day with a hands-down pep talk for the days of 80 to 90 miles with three mountain passes," Hatten said.
Growing accustomed to the "Bike and Build lifestyle" was another challenge participants faced. At the 40-mile marker, the group stopped and ate lunch together for about half an hour.
"I've never eaten so much in my entire life," Hatten said.
The group usually ate a large breakfast, two lunches and a large dinner. A support van paced up and down the group of bikers with their suitcases, supplies, food, coolers and first aid materials.
Physical and mental exertion aside, students said Bike and Build was an incredible experience.
"I had never been west of Virginia, never realized how beautiful it was," Bishop said. "The people you met in the small towns, the Habitat for Humanity people and the people at the housing sites ... it's reassuring to know that there are so many amazing people out there."
The people are not the only thing that made the Bike and Build experience so terrific, students said. The setup of the trip also allowed for new experiences daily.
"The thing I liked the most about the trip was that every day was different," Welbourn said. "You didn't know what you would see, what you would do, who you would meet -- it was such an adventure!"
The adventure, however, had to come to an end. The bikers stopped for good in Cannon Beach, Oregon, about 80 miles west of Portland.
"It was so exciting," Welbourn said. "Biking on to the beach was like, 'Omigod, I don't have to bike tomorrow!' but it wasn't so much finishing the whole thing that was great, it was finishing the difficult days or the difficult things, like getting to the top of a mountain. ... Finishing the whole thing [though] was pretty surreal."
Although feelings of excitement abounded, students said the end was heart-wrenching.
"When we first got on to the beach, everyone was crying -- it was crazy to think you had made it," Bishop said. "Everyone was excited, but it was hard to realize that the next day you wouldn't be with all these people, not biking, and not building."
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