Team Photos (6/4)
Team Photos (6/5)
It was great to get to know the guys over the last few days in Seattle; it’s easy to tell already this is an awesome team.
On Sunday we had our skills assessment on the bikes where we see who’s actually put some time in on the bike by doing some drills: clipping in and out, pacelining, changing a tire, and the infamous grabbing a water bottle while passing by (guys fear this one for some reason but its not that hard). After that we headed to take our team pic at Kerry park, overlooking the city with the needle and Mt. Rainier in the background…sweet. After some more team meetings on safety and procedures we decided for our first friendship visit at Gas Works park, an old synthetic natural gas plant painted funny colors and converted into a park. I spent most of the visit chattin with Shawn, who dreams of being a rockstar, and Lisa, who seemed way more mature than her 11 years. After feasting on pizza we took a group pic and headed back to lodging.
Monday was pretty light; we had one last team meeting on policies before heading down to Pike’s Fish market for lunch sponsored by Chad Cockrell’s parents. We ate delicious Seattle cuisine at Ivar’s, a fish and chips place. Grant and I ventured to try out the “clam nectar:” warm clam juice that’s supposed to be an aphrodisiac. It was disgusting. The rest of the day was free time which I used to finish up my Music Appreciation course…finally! For dinner I grabbed some pretty good sushi from a place down the street.
Tuesday’s main activity was the practice ride, finally a chance to get back on the bike. A couple Alpha Delta (UW chapter) alums/Pi Alphas (brothers who have done a Push America event before) took us on a course around Mercer island, which was beautiful. The big joke of the day was Jay Holley who made it 1.1 miles before having bike troubles; “man this Journey of Hope thing is hard.” Haha. After the ride we had our team ritual, which is a time where we share our motivations and expectations of the trip, which only reinforced my impression that this is a rare group of great guys. Afterwards we shoved off for our carbo-loading kick-off dinner at Bucca di Beppo’s, an Italian place similar to That’s Amore. We gorged on pasta on salad with more Pi Alpha alums; I even got to meet Todd, who had organized the first Gear Up Florida trip in ’98. With stomachs full we headed to the hotel to get some much needed sleep…we’d heard way too many times that tomorrow’s ride is going to be a doozy…
On Sunday we had our skills assessment on the bikes where we see who’s actually put some time in on the bike by doing some drills: clipping in and out, pacelining, changing a tire, and the infamous grabbing a water bottle while passing by (guys fear this one for some reason but its not that hard). After that we headed to take our team pic at Kerry park, overlooking the city with the needle and Mt. Rainier in the background…sweet. After some more team meetings on safety and procedures we decided for our first friendship visit at Gas Works park, an old synthetic natural gas plant painted funny colors and converted into a park. I spent most of the visit chattin with Shawn, who dreams of being a rockstar, and Lisa, who seemed way more mature than her 11 years. After feasting on pizza we took a group pic and headed back to lodging.
Monday was pretty light; we had one last team meeting on policies before heading down to Pike’s Fish market for lunch sponsored by Chad Cockrell’s parents. We ate delicious Seattle cuisine at Ivar’s, a fish and chips place. Grant and I ventured to try out the “clam nectar:” warm clam juice that’s supposed to be an aphrodisiac. It was disgusting. The rest of the day was free time which I used to finish up my Music Appreciation course…finally! For dinner I grabbed some pretty good sushi from a place down the street.
Tuesday’s main activity was the practice ride, finally a chance to get back on the bike. A couple Alpha Delta (UW chapter) alums/Pi Alphas (brothers who have done a Push America event before) took us on a course around Mercer island, which was beautiful. The big joke of the day was Jay Holley who made it 1.1 miles before having bike troubles; “man this Journey of Hope thing is hard.” Haha. After the ride we had our team ritual, which is a time where we share our motivations and expectations of the trip, which only reinforced my impression that this is a rare group of great guys. Afterwards we shoved off for our carbo-loading kick-off dinner at Bucca di Beppo’s, an Italian place similar to That’s Amore. We gorged on pasta on salad with more Pi Alpha alums; I even got to meet Todd, who had organized the first Gear Up Florida trip in ’98. With stomachs full we headed to the hotel to get some much needed sleep…we’d heard way too many times that tomorrow’s ride is going to be a doozy…
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