Ashton Greer will leave Virginia Beach, Va., in early June and travel across the country. She will see the rugged Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains and flat expansive Heartland. She will stop in Denver and climb the Tall Trail Ridge Pass in the Rockies. Her trip will conclude 10 weeks later when she reaches the Pacific coast in Oregon.
Greer, a senior majoring in civil engineering, will not be taking this cross-country trip in a car, nor will she be flying from place to place. Instead, she will be biking the 3,794 miles from coast to coast.
“I had always talked about taking a cross-country road trip, but really this is going to be so much better,” Greer said. “I’ll really be able to see and experience the country in a way that you couldn’t in a car.”
The cycling trip is part of Bike & Build, a nonprofit organization that does cross-country fundraising cycling trips. All proceeds from the trips go to affordable housing organizations. Each participating cyclist will raise $4,500. Cyclists will also participate in building projects across the country with Habitat for Humanity.
Bike & Build has nine different routes whose starting points range from various locations all along the East Coast: North Carolina to San Diego, Southern U.S., South Carolina to Santa Cruz, Central U.S., Providence to San Francisco, Providence to Seattle, Northern U.S., Maine to Santa Barbara and the Coastal Drift.
Greer is not the only UA student who will ride this summer. Everett Secor, a senior majoring in English, will also be one of the 2014 Bike & Build cyclists.
Secor first heard about Bike & Build from his cousin in New York. Now the two of them will be participating in the Providence, R.I., to Seattle route.
“It sounded really cool and exciting,” Secor said. “I’m excited to be able to get involved in something that is really worth while, something that can make a difference.”
For both Secor and Greer, the April 27, 2011, Tuscaloosa tornado had an impact on how they viewed the issue of affordable housing.
“The tornado hit just a mile away from my apartment,” Greer said. “It seemed unfair at the time that I could go home to Tennessee and have electricity and running water while so many people had nothing.”
As a civil engineering student, Greer is interested in how affordable housing affects and compounds into other problems.
Secor volunteered at the VA hospital in Tuscaloosa after the tornado.
“I saw how a lot of individuals were not nearly as lucky as I was,” he said.
Secor also volunteers frequently with Outdoor Action through the Honors College and enjoys building projects.
One does not have to be an experienced cyclist to participate in Bike & Build. Neither Secor nor Greer have much road biking experience. Secor calls himself a “casual commuter,” but riding long miles is new to him. A lot of training will be required to prepare for the trip.
Though Secor and Greer will not be traveling the same route over the summer, they found each other through mutual friends and the Bike & Build website and are training together now.
Bike & Build gives its cyclists Giant road bikes after they reach the $1,000 fundraising mark. Since Greer and Secor have not received their bikes, they have been frequenting the UA Rec Center.
“We have been riding the stationary bikes together for hours at a time,” Greer said.
The average ride is 70 miles a day, Greer said. But some days will cover more than 100 miles. They will have several resting and building days as well, where they participate on building projects.
The cyclists will stay in churches or YMCAs that open their doors for them. Some nights they may camp, and Greer said Bike & Build alumni will open up their houses for participants to stay a night.
2012 University of Alabama graduate Margarett Frisby was a Bike & Build cyclist in the summer of 2013. Her route was North Carolina to San Diego. She said she had always dreamed about biking across the country after her fifth grade teacher told her a story about doing it. When she heard of Bike & Build, she said she could not pass up the opportunity. She said her favorite part of the trip was the entire state of Colorado.
“We spent two weeks there, and I felt it was really when we all somewhat broke down and really had to rely on each other to make it each day,” she said. “We were exhausted, had a lot of mountain days, and it was elevation we weren’t used to. It was beautiful scenery, and we all realized that this trip would change our lives and be a part of us forever.”
Frisby said the trip was a life changing experience for her despite the difficulties and challenges the trip poses.
“Those people and trip will always hold a huge place in my heart and I think [Colorado] is when I realized it,” she said. “We were doing something great. Changing lives, including our own. It takes a lot of perseverance and dedication, but it’s worth it. You create a bond with others who [have] done B&B and it’s something that can’t be explained. Plus, seeing the country on your bike is a million times better than a car or plane.”
For more information about Bike & Build, visit bikeandbuild.org. There are still available spots for the 2014 summer trips. To support a rider, visit the 2014 cyclists page.
