Six Penn State U. students opted out of a traditional summer of lounging around and instead spent their time bicycling up to 116 miles a day.

For them it was all in an effort to lend a hand in increasing affordable housing across the country.

The Bike and Build program is a national organization that combines sport and service.

Participants not only ride across the country, they stop at various places to help out at affordable housing project sites.

The trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, said Brian Nahas, one of four Penn State students on a route from South Carolina to Santa Cruz.

Dave McDonald, who biked from North Carolina to California in 70 days, said it was an “awesome” experience.

The bikers provided extra manpower to groups that were building houses, by doing odd jobs like framing, roofing, painting and landscaping, he said.

Though the students were on separate routes, they got the chance to collaborate on one specific project.

In Colorado Springs, Colo., McDonald helped lay the foundation for a house. One week later, the bikers on the California route came through and finished the project.

Nahas (senior-architectural engineering) said it was incredible to know they had all worked together to help someone out.

The best part about the experience was that it provided a chance to not only help out a great cause, but to also explore big cities and small towns across the country, he said. Other highlights included watching sunsets and sunrises.

Biker Lance Nissley said it was great to see the physical terrain of the country in a whole new way.

Nissley (senior-predmedicine) said he enjoyed talking to the people the team built houses for and seeing the impact they were having on those lives.

Bikers rode through deserts, redwood forests, the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains.

“It’s basically an adventure across the country with a purpose behind it,” Nahas said.

Other highlights of the trip included hiking six hours up Pike’s Peak — a 14,090 ft. mountain, Nahas said.

Spending up to six hours a day on a bicycle riding an average of 75 miles per day was the best way to spend a summer, McDonald (senior-aerospace engineering) said.

McDonald said he had been involved with affordable housing projects before and said though he had never been a serious road biker before, the challenge and adventure was too good to pass up.

“When I heard Bike and Build combined biking with service, I thought it would be an awesome experience — something I couldn’t miss,” he said.