Yellowstone!

June 24, 2011 – West Yellowstone, WY

Today was a very exciting day for the team.  We had a 90 mile ride to West Yellowstone, and since most of the team has never been to Yellowstone we were all ready to experience and see the beautiful scenery!  Our day started bright and early at 6AM with a Wes Crew Chief breakfast of half a bagel, half a banana, and a cup of cereal.  The weather for today’s ride was perfect and it stayed around 70 degrees the entire day.  About 26 miles into the rode we hit some sever traffic and unsafe roads.  So we stopped and waited for everyone could catch up together.  While waiting we were able to get some great pictures by the beautiful river that we have been riding alongside of all day!  The road we stopped at had a nickname of Dead Man’s Pass because of all the people that have been killed on that stretch of highway.  There were more crosses on the side of this road then we had team members.  And since safety is always our number one concern we thought it was best to rack all of our bikes and drive through the stretch of unsafe roads.  It is always better to be safe than sorry.  We drove 15 miles up the road to where we thought it was safe enough for us to continue riding our bikes to Yellowstone.  We were told about a bike trail that we could ride on for awhile, which we all gratefully road on since we all know how Montana drivers like to drive.  But sadly the bike trail lasted only 3 miles and we were again on the road with our favorite truck drivers.  The truck drivers that love to fly by us going 70 MPH, loudly honking their horn, and not moving over to give us more room.  Luckily we are all getting really comfortable with our bikes and are able to more comfortably handle these situations now.  But this is just one of the things you have to deal with when riding your bike across the country.  But each mile we rode towards West Yellowstone the beauty of Montana increased.  The mountains and raging streams created an awesome connection with Mother Nature.  There were even places where snow was still on the ground since it has been so cold lately!  At the gates of West Yellowstone we stopped to take pictures and to eat a tasty crew lunch.  After lunch the amazingly beautiful ride continued.  We stopped to take many pictures of the mountains, animals, and rivers so we could all this beautiful ride we are on that very few people in the world get to experience.  On top of the beautiful scenery today I hit 1,000^th mile that I have biked this summer!   This has been one of the best cycling days on the 2011 Journey of Hope.  A little later we arrived at our lodging at a local high school in West Yellowstone.  We all unpacked, showered, and got ready to go to an IMAX movie so we could see Yellowstone in high definition.  It was a great show and afterwards we treated ourselves to .50 soft served ice cream cones in the gift shop!   We where then treated to a sponsored meal at a restaurant called Gusher’s that Wes’s Granma and Grandpa paid for.  It was a great meal and a great day to spend in one of the nation’s greatest parks! 

Let the miles role on!

June 23, 2011 – Bozeman, MT

Another 5:30 AM wakeup call and this morning we were able to pack all of our stuff in the vans in 26 minutes so we don’t have to wake up early tomorrow!! This was very exciting for us due to the lack of sleep we have all been getting.  Today we had another beautiful 105 mile ride to Bozeman, MT.  The morning started off pretty chilly and with our 6^th mountain pass of the trip at mile 20!  But we breezed through it and by 10 we had biked 50 miles already.  It is amazing to see how all the cyclists have grown so strong and how we have all improved since day 2!  We had lunch at mile 70 and after that things got really tough for everyone.  We had a head wind that slowed us way down and killed all our momentum, the sun was shining bright and draining us of all our energy and dehydrating us, and there was hill after hill.  And when biking 100 miles even the tiniest hill seems like a mountain!  Little to say the last 25 miles were a very difficult.  Every hill we got to made you want to just quit and call it a day but again the teamwork and motivation from all our teammates brought us together and made us push each other!  Even though it was painful and at some points miserable we all made it and finished the 105 mile day!!  The last 10 miles were the hardest for me though due to my knee hurting and pain shooting through it every time I pedaled.  But because of my teammates I was able to push through it and finish the ride when I wanted to stop!  Hoping the pain doesn’t continue, but we will have to wait and see tomorrow how it feels!!  Day 1 of the tough stretch is down, 9 to go.  Tomorrow we have 90 miles into West Yellowstone!!

Just Dance!

Today we had a 6AM wakeup call and we did the usual packing and eating breakfast.  We rode to Butte, MT which was a 57 mile ride, we had the beautiful sunshine again for only the second time this trip!  Seven miles into the trip today we encountered another mountain pass but luckily this one was only 4 miles long.  It was our 5^th mountain pass for the summer.  When we got to the top of the Georgetown Lake Pass  we had this beautiful scenery surrounding us everywhere and an awesome waterfall going down the mountain.  So we all stopped and took pictures for a while and then we had a team circle up.  It was so Michael could pass out these little strings of rope that Fred and Wes cut up the night before.  We were supposed to take them and all put them around our wrist and wear them for the rest of the summer.  This was so every time we are having a rough day or a tough time on the bicycle and we look down and see it we will remember all the guys we are here with and how we would have gotten nowhere without the help of all of them.  It symbolizes that on this trip we are nothing if we don’t have each other.  It was really awesome way to really get us to feel the support of each other.  Then before we continued we got in a circle and did the Husker’s prayer, which we all said with tons of excitement and energy.  It was awesome.  Though the waterfall may have been the most spectacular feature of the ride, the rest of the day would still be filled with absolutely breathtaking sights. We continued to ride on the top of the pass for the next twenty miles. On the way to the descent, we passed to the left of the Georgetown Lake. I’ve truly never seen anything like it. The lake was on the top of the pass and was the foreground to the beautiful snow capped Rocky Mountains.  The surrounding mountains were perfectly reflected in the still water of the lake. The rest of our ride would consist of a gradual descend into Butte. As incredible as the ride was into Butte, it was not the highlight of today. We finished the ride by riding to the local YMCA in Butte where we would be staying for the night.  After unpacking the vans and eating lunch we had four hours of free time before we had to leave for our friendship visit!  This friendship visit was a little different than most, and I would say the most fun thus far.  When we got there this girl came up to us and hugged us all and told us how happy she was that we were there and how great we were for visiting.  I don’t know if you have ever had a complete stranger hug you and tell you how happy there are to see you but it was a pretty amazing feeling.  Then time after time we were thanked for coming because they had been waiting all week and getting excited for us to come.  Person after person told us how much we meant to them, and again it just felt awesome that we were making so many people’s days!!  The friendship visit consisted of a band coming and playing and us all dancing.  Even though we just biked 60 miles and we all were tired and exhausted we mustered up enough energy to put smiles on our face and we danced for 3 straight hours.  We had a blast even though our legs were killing us.  When it was time to go it was sad and hard to say goodbye to everyone knowing that we may never see them again.  Before leaving we took pictures together to end another great friendship visit.  Tomorrow starts the hardest 10 day stretch of the trip where we bike 825 miles in 8 biking days with only 2 days off!!  Today was a day that showed us what an impact we are truly making on these people’s lives.  I have never felt so much appreciation towards me and the feeling was indescribable.

First Day of Summer!!

Today was the first day of the Summer Season!!  We are very excited about the Summer Season because that means we will be seeing more of the sun!!  After a great day off in Missoula everyone was feeling well rested and ready to start the day!!  We had an 80 mile trip to Philipsburg, MT with the sun shining on our smiling faces!  The first 60 miles was full or green rolling hills, a river flowing right besides us, and mountain ranges all around us!!  The scenery has been and continues to be absolutely beautiful!  We had our normal lunch of two meat one cheese with 20 miles to go.  But that’s when the riding started to become way more difficult.  After lunch a 20 MPH headwind started blowing right into our face.  The ride became mentally tough with us pedaling as hard as we could while not getting very far.  But as we turned a corner in the road we saw this beautiful river running parallel with the road off into the distance into a mountain of incredible stature.  You could also see the city of Philipsburg off in the distance.  Instantly the team moral spike high with the incredible view and the ride seemed to get easier instantly.  When we rode into town we all couldn’t help but feel that we just entered into a town straight out of an old western movie.  Old shops lined up both sides of the street, with only some of the roads being paved, and friendly people were walking all around.  We were told while here we had to visit the world’s largest and greatest candy shop that was called the Sweet Palace!!  So we quickly unpacked the vans and walked towards the candy shop so we could ruin our appetite for dinner.  When we walked into the Sweet Palace it felt like we just walked into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.  Candy and chocolates covered the wall of both sides of the store!  They had 1,024 different types of candy from 26 different countries!!  We all looked like small kids running around trying to figure out what kind of candy we wanted.  I ended up buying a variety of both candy and chocolate.  It was all so amazing I almost bought extra to send home!  But after filling our stomachs with sweets we went to a sponsored dinner at the local Rotary Club.  The food consisted of baked beans, steak, and baby back ribs.  Both the food and the people that provided the food were amazing!  They all then invited us to the Summer Solstice Festival that they were having in town tonight!  So all of us went to it to talk to locals and try some samples of local food.  It was a lot of fun!!

Day off the bike doesn't mean free time!

Today was our second day off the bike and it was graciously accepted by all our cyclists.  These off days are crucial to letting our bodies recover from all the miles we bike everyday!  We got to sleep in until 7:30 and were treated to a sponsored breakfast at McDonalds.  After our delicious breakfast we headed back to lodging for some free time.  Most of us, like myself, used the free time for a post breakfast nap.  We like to take naps on our off days when we can since most days are very busy and tiring and allow for little time to rest.  After our glorious nap we headed to a Adventure Cycling for a sponsored meal on the grill!  Adventure Cycling is the not-for-profit organization that actually mapped out the Trans America route that we are currently on.  Push America modified it a little bit due to going to other cities along the way that have more availability for friendship visits, but the majority of the route is the same!  They have routes all across America and currently have 41,000 miles worth of routes mapped out all across America!  We took a tour of their building and then they treated us to burgers and hot dogs!  After we were done eating some of us headed to the bike shop for some bike maintenance.  I had to take my bike there so they could look at my brakes and adjust them so I could start using them again without getting flats!  While looking at my bike, the guy their also suggested that I got a new tire too along with new brake pads.  But I decided that since the dollar bill patch held up yesterday I would wait until I started getting flats and having problems with the tire!  After the bike shop we headed back to lodging and to ready for our sponsored dinner and friendship visit at the Missoula YMCA.  While there we were able to take part in a Core Exercise Class, where we did random core exercises.  Every time we did something we counted out loud and everyone would count loudly and with so much enthusiasm.  And before every challenging exercise the instructor would ask everyone why they were there and they would all respond very loudly with “To challenge ourselves!”  It was awesome to see all these people living with disabilities overcoming their already challenging life just to challenge themselves even more!  It’s very motivational to see people like that never letting life’s challenges get in the way of making themselves the best they can!!  After eating dinner with Special Olympic participants we headed back to lodging with the rest of the night off.  Some people relaxed for the next day’s ride.  But me and a group of people decided that we wanted to climb to the M.  The M is just a big concrete letter M that stand for Missoula on top of this mountain.  So we climbed up to the M and when we got there we decided that it wasn’t high enough and decided to try and climb to the very top even though it was getting dark.  After about an hour of climbing we finally made it to the top sweaty and exhausted, but it was well worth it.  We got to the top and just looked around in amazement looking at the Missoula from so high up!  As the sun set lower and lower the more amazing it looked.  We stayed up there for about an hour just absorbing the amazing scenery and enjoying another great moment of the Journey of Hope.  The Journey of Hope has so many eye opening and amazing experiences that come in many different forms it’s sometimes hard to appreciate and absorb all of them.  So we all decided to stand there in complete silence and amazement so we could all absorb, appreciate, and really think about why we were all here and to remember what an amazing thing we are doing.  As standing there in complete darkness and silence, with the city of Missoula in the background, I got this incredible chill that ran through my whole body just thinking about where we were at, why we were there, and what we were doing.  It was a time to take a step back from everything and really appreciate what we have experienced so far and what we have yet to experience.  It was another bone chilling moment of our amazing summer!  

Birthday Time!

Today was an exciting day for all of us because we had a short and easy ride and we got to sleep in until 7:15!!  We are all amazed that we now call that sleeping in but when 5 and 6 AM wakeup calls become part of your life a 7:15 wakeup feels amazing.  So we got up feeling refreshed and rested.  We packed up the vans, ate breakfast, and then started biking towards Missoula.  Since we had only 30 miles to ride today we all were taking it easy and just enjoying the ride and the scenery that Montana had to offer us.  After about only 2 and a half hours of riding we were already at Missoula.  We are staying at the Hellgate High School for the next two nights since we had a day off tomorrow.  Which, we are all looking very forward to so we can give our bodies a break from all the riding.  So we unpacked the vans and headed to Subway for a sponsored lunch.  After that we had a little free time, which some of us used to play basketball or just to relax.  We all then showered up and got ready for a dinner sponsored by a Pi Kapp from UC Berkley in California at The Shack Café.  We had spaghetti with meatballs and mushrooms, which is my favorite food so I thought it was absolutely amazing!!  We had the rest of the night to ourselves.  Some people went to the movies while others were able to enjoy a night out to celebrate Axel Holm’s Birthday!

Arlee, Montana!!

This morning we woke up at 5:30 and got ready for our 75 mile bike ride to Arlee, Montana!  When I got up I had to check on the front tire of my bike to make sure that it was still aired up since I got 5 flats yesterday!!  It was good but I noticed I had a whole in the side wall.  I asked Fred, our project manager, if he thought I needed to buy a new tire or if I could just keep riding on it!  It said even though he knows I don’t want to I probably should buy a new one to avoid any other problems later in the trip.  But I didn’t have a tire so I had to come up with a quick fix.  And that was to put a folded up dollar bill in my tire between the tub to cover up the hole.  I am told it is supposed to work and it is tougher then the tire itself but I have my doubts.  We will have to see how it holds up on the ride today.  When we got on our bikes to start our ride we were welcomed to a beautiful sunny morning sky.  The scenery of Montana was absolutely beautiful and we could see the sun shining off the peaks of the mountains that surrounded us!  We also had the pleasure of biking alongside of a river during our ride!  It has just been incredible the scenery we have been surrounded by and it is by far better than Indiana!!  Overall the ride was amazing and the crew and cyclist just kicked some butt today.  We were flying through the ride and everything was running smoothly.  I am just so impressed on how well we are all working together as a team in just two short weeks.  We beat the rack point and made the easy ride into Arlee at 12:30. Surprising the dollar bill patch worked and I got no flats during the ride!!  Lodging for the night is at Arlee High School which is located on an Indian Reservation!  For most of us it was our first time on a Reservation so we were excited!  But since we kicked butt on the bike today we had a few hours of free time before our sponsored dinner.  Some took naps, others cleaned bikes, and some, like myself played some basketball!  It’s amazing the energy we still have to play basketball after a 75 mile ride, but it just shows how good of shape we are all getting in!  We had a pizza sponsored dinner at 5 that was awesome!  Thanks again to all our great sponsors and supporters! This trip would not be possible without all of you!  After dinner we had a little surprise for two of the guys on the team!  It was Derrick Bassaoud’s birthday today and Axel Holm’s birthday tomorrow!  So we bought them a little cake and sang happy birthday to them!!  After that we had some more free time!  Some relaxed while others went out and explored the small town of Arlee.  I was one that went an explored.  When we did we found out that all they had was a high school, gas station, and a bar and grill in the town.  So we stopped by the bar and grill and played some pool until we went back to lodging for bed!!  Another great amazing day on the Journey of Hope!

Headed to Montana!!

Today our bike ride was from Kellogg, ID to Thompson Falls, MT, which was 72 miles.  Every morning we circle up and talk about the days events.  It’s when we find out how many miles we have for the day, when our rake point is, where our sponsored lunch and dinner is, and if we have any friendship visits or any other activities.  Also every day we do a disability of the day where someone researchers a disability and informs the group about it and we do a dedication for the day where we dedicate the ride for the day to someone that one of us knows.  Today we were able to dedicate the days ride to my Uncle Rich.  Like stated in previous blogs he had a stroke about two years ago and is now a person living with a disability.  So we said a little prayer for the day and us and Rich and his family and then we all keep him in our thoughts while we bike.  This makes us push ourselves knowing that there is someone out there that would love to take our place and that the tiredness or soreness we feel is not that big of a deal when looking at the whole picture.  It was really awesome that I was able to make the dedication today for him.  Today we not only entered into our 3^rd state which was Montana we also were able to switch from Pacific Time Zone to the Mountain Time Zone, which brought our time zone closer to the time zone back at home!  Other than that the ride consisted of two mountain pass climbs.  One pass was about 4 miles long and the other one was 6 miles long.  They were pretty tough but still nothing compared to the two mountain passes that we had to climb on day 2.  After getting up the first mountain pass we stopped and took a break at the top of it before descending down.  While up there we took pictures of the great viewpoint we had.  As we were descending down the hill we were going around this curve when this loud bang happened! It sounded like a gun shooting and it made us all jump.  It turned out to be my tire popping while I was going 25 MPH.  It was a little scary and I almost wrecked and was able to stop before falling.  I changed it just for it to pop again.  So we had to walk up to a van to get a new tube and the pump so I could change it again.  Then we started going down the hill and around the same corner where it popped the first time and it popped again!!  Trying not to get frustrated I just stopped and changed the tire for the third time! Then we got going again and made it about ¼ of a mile before it popped for the fourth time.  Not wanting to give up and rack my bike I searched over my bike looking for the problem to find out that my brake was pinching the tire every time I tried to brake.  So we adjusted my brakes changed my tire and I was on my way again but for the rest of the ride I didn’t use my front brakes to avoid getting another flat!!  We got up the second pass in about an hour and then we went downhill for about 20 mills before we got racked to go to lodging.  Since it took an hour and fifteen minutes to fix my bike we had to rack to lodging so we wouldn’t be late for our sponsored meal.  I missed out on only 10 miles but this was the first day that I didn’t do all the miles.  It was disappointing but alright because it wasn’t me racking myself and it was due to timing issues.  As long as I can keep pushing through and not give into the pain and tiredness and rack myself I will be happy.  But so far so good but I have two months to go!!  Other than the bike issues the ride was amazing and we had beautiful scenery.

Bike Trails!!

Due to unsafe riding conditions we had to rake our bikes and drive 45 miles to where we could start biking safely.  After that we had a 45 mile ride into Kellogg, ID and it was all on a paved bicycle trial that used to be railroad tracks.  It was around a lake and was absolutely beautiful.  Since we didn’t have to worry about traffic for the first time on the trip we were able to be more relax and have a little more fun while riding.  We stopped and took pictures of the lake and surrounding scenery.  Since we didn’t have to worry about traffic we were able to make 6 men pace lines instead of the normal 3 that we were used to!  We also played different games while riding to make the time go faster.  We were riding a little slow just so we could enjoy the ride and have some fun but it started pouring down rain on us with about 15 miles to go.  And since it was 45 degrees outside we instantly all started freezing so we booked it as fast as we could to our lodging so we could warm up and get out of the rain.  The last part of the ride was pretty miserable but fun at the same time I was just so relieved when we got off the bikes.  We ate lunch and then played some full court basketball.  At 5 we went to a local pizzeria for dinner that was sponsored by Wes Clarkson’s parents.  Wes is our Crew Chief for the summer, or as we like to call him our mom!  We then went to a local McDonalds for some ice cream and free wifi so we could do our blogs!  

Twin Lakes Camp!

Today was our easiest day of the trip.  We woke up at 6:30 and started our bike ride to Rathdrum, ID.  We had a day off so we were all feeling really good and rested.  Also we had only 35 miles to bike today so it was a very easy day.  It’s kind of weird thinking that we a 35 mile day is nothing compared to when I first started biking and thought 25 miles was a long ride! It just shows how far we have come!  But since it was a short day we all stopped at the Washington and Idaho border and took some pictures.  Besides the 45 degree weather, the ride was a piece of cake.  When we got a half a mile outside of Twinlow Camp, which is where we were staying for the night, we all staged up and rode in 2x2 behind the vans.  When we got there a bunch of kids were there cheering us on and clapping for us!  Since we had no friendship visit for the day we just unloaded the vans and had the rest of the day free.  We all took a little nap and then headed to Red Robin for lunch.  For dinner the camp sponsored us and cooked a meal for us and it was delicious.  In return we helped them with the clean up.  After that we went to a little place called the Lighting Bar so we could watch the Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and play some pool!! While there we talked to some locals and got a donation which was pretty awesome.  Then we went to a campfire that was put on by the camp counselors.  We just hung out for awhile and talked.  After about an hour and a half we said our goodbyes and went to bed.  It’s crazy the number of people you meet and can just sit down and talk to for hours but then have to say bye and will probably never see again!

FIRST DAY OFF!!! :)

Today was our first off day!!! And it felt amazing to finally be able to sleep in until 7:30!!  Yeah who would of even though that I would think 7:30 is sleeping in! lol It was a great change of pace from waking up at 5 and 6 in the morning.  We started the day off by hopping in the vans and going to the ARC of Spokane for breakfast and a friendship visit!  While we were eating breakfast the regulars of the ARC started filling up the building.  Over the next few hours we played games, put together puzzles, danced, and watched the variety show they put on every year.  We even were able to help them make a travel journal where we talked about every place they have been and every where they would like to visit.  The people there were so excited and happy to see us it made us feel really good and special.  This one lady Joan walked around asking us all to write her a message on a piece of paper so she could remember us.  Then she spent the rest of the time telling us how awesome we were for visiting them, how long they have been waiting for us to get there, and how happy they are that we are finally there.  It feels amazing to make so many people’s day like that!  But at the same time it’s kind of sad that they make us seem so great just because we are willing to spend some time with them.  But it’s just because they want to feel like they belong and not like they are different from everyone else.  There was another little girl there that I spent a lot of time with making puzzles and she would constantly tell us how happy she was that we were there.  When it was time to leave we all said our goodbyes and took a few pictures to remember the day but in the end I was a little speechless from all the gratitude we were shown there.  After the great friendship visit we headed to lunch which was sponsored by the local Lion’s Club!  They had a great buffet with grilled chicken and amazing cheesecake for dessert!  After being stuffed we headed back to lodging for some free time.  We used this free time to go to the bike shop for and bike maintenance needed and to Wal Mart for anything else we might need!  Then we had a dinner sponsored by the Nelsen’s family.  We were welcomed to an amazing house and landscaping.  They had tennis courts, a basketball court, volleyball, corn hole, hillbilly golf, and ping pong all waiting for us when we got there.  And as if that wasn’t enough they also had a wonderful meal catered from Panada Express!  We had an amazing time there and were able to talk to their and some of his friends that were Pi Kapps at Washington State University.  We were sad to leave the fun filled house that they had provided for us.  It’s amazing how families are so willing to open their homes to 28 complete strangers to provide them a mean and an evening of fun!  For the rest of the night some people went to the movies while others went back to lodging to relax!  "The only disability in life is a bad atttude."

Washington State University

This morning we woke up at 6AM and headed to the Washington State Pi Kapp House where the made breakfast for us. They had bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, and omelets ready for us. It was all very delicious! After breakfast we had a 75 mile ride to Spokane, WA waiting for us. So we got on the bikes and hit the road. We mixed up the pace lines again and did even more amazing today, and beat the rack time by almost 2 hours! You can tell that we are all getting way more comfortable on the bikes and we are all slowly getting in better shape! It is amazing to see the progress we have made from just 6 days ago! Having better success on the bike has made the team more excited about the summer and biking every day. You can tell that it is slowly bringing us closer together and making us a better and better team! Ten miles outside of Spokane the Pi Kapps from Washington State University brought us pulled pork sandwiches for lunch. Lunch tasted great and we are greatly appreciated for both meals they sponsored for us. When we all got done eating a police officer came to do our first arrival. We were all very excited about it and couldn’t wait! We set up in two pace lines of 11 riders and then had one van in front of us with the other three behind us. It was amazing to be escorted into the town and made us feel even better about what we are doing. Escorts like this are a lot of fun but also bring us a lot more attention from the city. We were escorted all the way to the Christ Redeemer Church where we will be staying for the next two nights. The building was very old and cool looking. It had all sorts of hidden rooms and secret hallways in it with a basketball hoop in the main room, which we all enjoyed very much! For dinner we were fortunate enough to have the Sear’s family invite us over to their wonderful home right outside of Spokane. They had amazing food including lasagna, which is my favorite! They also let us enjoy their pool and hot tub! "The only disability in life is a bad attitude"

Making Vast Improvements!

Since we have been having problems with tons of red flags and slow bike riding we were looking for ways to improve.  While we know that it is impossible to bike every single mile, we still want to bike every mile that we can!  So last night we had a meeting to try and decide the best ways to improve our efficiency on the bike as a team.  One major issue that kept coming up is that the strong riders kept together and the weak riders kept together.  We decided that we needed to mix up the stronger and weaker riders more so that we would have less red flags and the pace lines would wouldn’t get so spread out.  So we split the strong, medium, and weak skill level riders up and mixed them all together to make our pace lines.  And it shocked us all how much we improved.  From yesterday to today it was a night and day difference.  The pace lines were staying close together, everyone was biking harder, there were no red flags, and everything was running so much smoother!  And it was a perfect day to be clicking so well together because we had 115 miles to ride to Pullman, WA!!  This was the longest of the trip so far and for most of us it was the most miles we have biked in one ride! We did so well that we beat rack point  by over an hour and we made it all 115 miles to lodging without having to rack!  It was a huge team booster and you could tell how excited and pumped everyone was.  We all helped each other through it and pushed each other to finish.  It was amazing how 22 people that just met each other nine days ago were working so well and hard together to encourage each other to finish the ride.  It was the first century that we have finished and you could tell that the spirits of the team were high.  Today showed us all that we have what it takes and it definitely brought us more together as a team.  It was an amazing ride!!  After the ride we all went to lodging and got ready for another friendship visit.  We got there and they had karaoke and pizza for us.  So naturally after we got done eating we started singing and dancing with the kids.  We all had a great time!  By the time we got back to lodging we were all exhausted and it was safe to say it was the best sleep we got all summer.  Overall it was a huge milestone day for the Journey of Hope Trans America Team today!!

Bike Every Mile or Cange Lives??

With a 5:30AM wakeup call we were on our bikes and headed to Walla Walla for a 75 mile ride.  Our rack point was 60 by 11:30AM, which we didn’t make.  Due to rough riding and some flats we got red flagged a lot and were not able to bike as many miles.  Five miles into the ride we got red flagged because of a flat and when I stopped I heard medal fall from my bike.  I looked down to see that the screws of my pedal came out and part of my pedal was laying on the ground next to my bike.  Not wanting to rack I took a screw out of my other pedal and put it in my broken one hoping it would last the day so I could fix it tonight, but it didn’t.  About four miles later it broke again.  So I had to decide to either rack my bike and call it a day or bike the rest of the day with only one clipped in shoe.  And again the power of motivation, teamwork, and the Journey of Hope came through for me and I naturally decided to bike with only one clipped in shoe.  That day I was in a pace line with Joe Konnerman, and after about 20 miles of biking with one working pedal it started getting very hard and started hurting really bad.  But Joe kept telling me to push through it and that I would be disappointed with myself if I racked myself, and he was right.  He didn’t care that we had to go slower than others all he cared about was keeping my mind off my one burning leg and foot that was doing almost all the work.  But I pushed through it for 40 miles, and then we had to rack due to timing and all the red flags we had that day.  We have rack points for when we have programming during the day.  Because even though it is awesome that we are biking across America that isn’t really what our summer is about.  Helping improve the lives of people with disabilities dwarfs our personal goals of biking every single mile everyday.  The biking is just a means to an ends of our goal to change lives across the country during the Journey of Hope.  And even though we may not bike every single mile every day we realize that we can still say that we biked across the country because the route we take is far from straight.  The most direct route from Seattle, WA to Washington DC is only 2,700 miles, the distance from coast to coast is only about 3,200 miles, and the route we take consists of over 4,100 miles!  So as you can see we can miss a few miles in order to change lives and still bike across the country!!  But overall the days ride was amazing and it was awesome to see myself do things and push myself through things that I never thought I could!  After we racked we headed to lodging at the Sustainability Center at the Walla Walla Community Center.  Form there we went to a sponsored lunch at Jim Peterson’s house.  He had amazing food that filled us up and even allowed us to swim in his pool and sit in the hot tub to relax.  When lunch was over we had little time to get back to the Community College to get ready for a friendship visit at the Lillie Rice Center.  We were overwhelmed by their hospitality. It was great again to spread the message of Push America with new people. It brings a lot of joy to them hearing of fraternity men doing what we’re doing.   We ate dinner their while talking to the guests that were there.  It was a lot of fun but after dinner we had to head back to lodging where we got nice and greasy.  We all went outside to clean our bikes, which they needed it badly, under the instructions of Branden Sowers!  Then we were able to relax and enjoy a movie on a projector before going to bed.  Today was an amazing and very important day.  It again showed me that nothing is impossible with the right teamwork and motivation!  It also made us all realize that in the big picture the miles we bike are not as important as they lives we change!!

Richland, WA

This morning was one of the roughest mornings I had ever had and was so hard to wake up.  After such a grueling and physically demanding ride from yesterday I was sore all over and didn’t want to move from my bed.  I was sore in my legs, butt, back, neck, and everywhere else on my body!!  But as we were awaken, the Brink family was carrying in sausage, bacon, and French toast for our breakfast so that gave me a little motivation to get up and move.  After breakfast we had a 75 mile ride to Richland, WA.  This is where the true struggle began when I tried to get on my bike.  Every part of my body was telling me no but I knew everyone else was feeling the same pain so we all pushed through it together.  With head winds, tons of rolling hills, and sore muscles the ride was a pretty tough one.  But we all finished on time and this was our first full ride where we didn’t have to rack our bikes.  This gave tons of excitement to the team.  And the first thing we noticed as we rolled into Richland was that there was a river going right beside the local community center that we were staying the night in.  So naturally after a hot day on the bike a few of us jumped in to cool down.  The current was strong and the water was freezing cold but it was a great decision and made us all feel refreshed.  Then we all unpacked the vans and set up in the community center which was really nice!  Then we went to a friendship visit at the local arc.  When we got there they had a line of people waiting and cheering for us as we walked in.  It was amazing and really cool to see so many people so excited to see us.  We went through the line introducing ourselves and shaking everyone’s hands and then going inside and eating a taco dinner, which was delicious!!  Then we played bingo which sadly no body from my table won but we all had a great time!!  Then we ended the night by going to lodging and watching a movie!!

Feel the Burn!

In the mornings we have exactly 30 minutes to get out of bed and have all of our stuff packed up and our bags packed on top of the vans.  If we don’t get it done in 30 minutes we have to wake up 30 minutes earlier the next morning.  Well yesterday morning we didn’t get packed in 30 minutes so we had to wake up early which made us wake up at 4:30AM.  We packed our stuff, ate breakfast and started riding.  Our ride was 124 miles to Yakima and we had to go through the Cascade Mountains, which sounds hard enough.  But when we found out we had two mountain passes to climb on day 2 it made it sound even harder! The first mountain pass was basically one hill that didn’t stop for 10 miles and the second one lasted for 12 miles. That’s 22 miles of climbing.  We climbed a total of 8,500 feet for the day.  The first pass was difficult but we all made it and they had lunch waiting for us at the top.  Then we got to descend for 15 miles while hitting 45 miles per hour.  I don’t know if you have ever been on a bike going that fast but it was exhilarating and kind of scary!! But as soon as we got to the bottom and turned the corner the second pass sat there staring us in the face.  We were all tired and already sore but we just dug deep and started climbing knowing that the end would come and we would have another awesome descent waiting for us at the top!!  And after 2 hours of non-stop climbing I was only a mile away from the top but it looked like it was an eternity away yet, and it came to the steepest part of the climb.  My legs were cramping, my muscles and butt sore, and all I wanted to do was quit.  I was literally seconds away from giving up when the unbelievable power, teamwork, and motivation of the Journey of Hope came from out of nowhere and kicked in.  I spent the whole day riding with Branden Sowers, who is an avid cyclist, and one of the best on the team.   But even though he knew I was hurting, struggling and wanting to do nothing but give up he made sure I didn’t and did nothing but encourage me and kept my motivated and focused on the amazing descent waiting on us.  But about a half a mile away that was starting to not be enough.  And that is when Dean, the professional cyclist with our team, came and gave me that last push I needed.  He rode beside me with his hand on my back filling me with even more encouragement and motivation.  There were times I would just stop pedaling but the two of them together would not let me quit or stop no matter how badly I wanted to.  When I got to the top I have never felt more tired, accomplished, motivated, or proud.  I have never physically pushed myself as hard as I did to get up that hill.  I was 1 of only 11 riders to make it up both passes, but the fact that I have known these guys for only 6 days and they believed in me more than I did myself, showed me just how close we are all going to be at the end of the summer.  While standing there this overwhelming warm happy feeling came over me and my eyes started watering!  It was such a powerful and amazing feeling that words cannot really describe it.  But I will never forget what I accomplished and how I felt when I finished.  It was one of the greatest feelings in the world!!  After a little meeting we got to go down the 25ish mile decent and hit speeds of 45mph again but this time we were swerving and dodging potholes the whole way down.  It made the ride that much more intense and exciting!  We racked at 94 miles at 5:30 due to time, but that was a total of 11 hours on the bike!  What an amazing day!!

ITS FINALLY HERE!!!! OUR FIRST DAY!! :)

TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!!! I woke up with a huge smile on my face and excitement running through my body.  I have been preparing, fundraising, training, and waiting for this day since November.  For the past 8 months I have been questioning if I should be doing this, if I could do this, what this summer was going to be like, how it was going to change me, if I was going to enjoy it, and had countless other thoughts running through my head.  But today was it the day we get on our bikes and departed from Seattle to ride our bikes across the country to try and improve the lives of people with disabilities.  It was almost an overwhelming feeling, but I was so ready for it!  We had a kick off breakfast at the Olympic Sculpture Park.  One of my fraternity brothers from ISU, Chase Gray, came and wished me good luck.  It was nice to see a familiar face and was greatly appreciated.  After breakfast we took some last minute pictures and got a speech from Kyle one of the Push America Staff and went to the start to get ready to start the ride.  As soon as we got start everyone couldn’t help but to smile and be extremely happy.  I couldn’t help but to think of everything I have done in order to be able to go on this trip, but that feeling of when we started washed away every worry I had and I knew it was all worth it.  The smiling faces went away 2 miles into the ride when we approached our first hill that was half a mile long and had a grade of 15%. Lol  And the rest of the ride didn’t get much better.  It was the hardest and hilliest 45 miles I have ever biked in my life! We did have one guy wreck his bike while going down a decent going 35mph.  Luckily he wasn’t hurt as bad as he could have been and just had some road rash.  Everything else went well and no other injuries happened.  Some of us decided to do a Push Challenge which consisted of us doing 1 pushup and sit-up for every mile we ride, so we did 45 pushups and sit-ups.  Then we had a sponsored dinner at the Ashley House.  The Ashley house is a transition house.  When families first find out they have a family member living with a disability it is a huge shock for most of them.  So what the Ashley House does is houses the person with a disability until the family is able to take care of them themselves, and they also help support them in any way they can by giving advice and contacts in the community that will be help to help them.  While there I met this 13 year old boy named Gilbert and this 18 month old girl name Camellia.  Gilbert was bound to a wheelchair and had no use of his arms or legs.  His head and mouth were the only parts of his body he could move.  But when we went into his room he was playing a nascar racing game on his computer using a joystick in his mouth.  Blowing made it go faster and sucking in made it go slower.  And then he used his tongue to control the car and in which direction it went it.  This is also how he controls his wheelchair.  He talked crap to the game just like any other teenage kid would do.  And watching and listening to him play his game you would never guess he was living with a disability until you see his wheelchair.  Seeing this kid play, act and smile the way he did even though he had every reason to complain about his life just inspired me like I have never been inspired before.  Most people would of just given up, complained, and let those challenges ruin their lives.  But not Gilbert he still lived life to the fullest and is happier than most people I know.  And Camellia had a disorder that caused her bones to not mature or grow strong.   They were so weak in fact that at 18 months she already broke her arm from crawling and broke her leg from trying to walk.  The disorder is not fixable and her caretakers said she was not expected to live long.  Her own weight will one day most probably break her spine.  This really caused me to take a step back and look at life in a different way and choked me up a little.  Because even though this little girl will most probably face many struggles and live a short life all she cared about was playing with my plastic water bottle.  And she did it with the biggest smile on her face.  Being around her made you do nothing but smile and appreciate life that much more.  It really made me realize how the small things in life really don’t matter and should never bring you down.  These two kids are the reason why we are going to get on our bikes every morning no matter how bad we hurt and no matter how tired or sore we are.  They are the inspiration that makes us want to make a difference for people living with disabilities because all they want is to be accepted and treated like a normal human being instead of being judged just because they have more obstacles in their lives then we do.  This first friendship visit was an amazingly powerful one and I will never forget it.  It will touch me and inspire me to never let the little things in life get in my way from loving life and smiling.  I hope stories like this will inspire you to do the same!!  I know I am biking across America to improve and change the lives of people with disabilities but today I feel like Gilbert & Camellia changed my life more then I will ever be able to change theirs!  “The only disability in life is a bad attitude!”

Seattle Orientation Day 3 & 4

Monday was not to exciting of a day.  We just had our orientation stuff again to go over how the summer was going to go and to make sure that we all were comfortable with the policies and procedures! And we went over the punishments for not following them and or riding our bikes in an unsafe manor.  The punishments went from being racked for the day all the way to being sent home.  It sounded kind of harsh that we could be sent home after doing all this preparation for this trip.  But its necessary to enforce the punishments to make sure we all make it across the country without anyone getting injured or hit by a car.  We also had skills assessments so they could see as bikers where we all stood and how comfortable we all were on our bikes.  This just amounted to us riding our bikes while pointing out debris and other obstacles like potholes that could be on the road.  We also practiced looking back without swerving all over the road.  That is so we can look back to see if traffic is coming when we are out on the road.  Dean Peterson all watched us and critiqued our riding styles and positioning on the bikes to see if we could do anything to improve them.  Then he gave all our bikes a quick look over to see if everything looked good.  Dean is a professional cyclists that we are fortunate enough to have come help us out while giving us tips on cycling and even showing us how to do maintenance on our bike.  Then we just had another free night to walk around Seattle.  I just want to get this journey started, I am getting really anxious!! Today we had a 30 mile training ride in Seattle.  This was so we could get used to biking with each other and riding in pace lines.  We had a few problems as far as keeping things going and got red flagged a lot.  So it took a little longer then it should have but other than that we all did a great job and had a great ride.  The ride made me that much more excited and anxious to start our journey across America.  I am wanting to start so bad its almost becoming unbearable!!  Also during the day we learned that this summer there is going to be a lot of “hurry up and wait.”  Its just due to programming of the summer and the friendships since we have to hurry up to get some places but then have to wait to either leave or start. But this ride and the 4 day orientation just showed me how amazing this summer is going to be!  We had a kick off dinner at an Italian restaurant and then had rest of the night off, but since tomorrow is the first day of biking we spent most of the night packing all of our stuff up and getting our bikes and bags ready!!  Tomorrow is going to be the start to the greatest journey of our lives!!

Seattle Orientation Day 1 & 2

Well I landed in Seattle safe and sound.  I called one of the Journey of Hope guys and had them come pick me up at the airport, and in about thirty minutes they were there.  The crew guy driving the van already had two other cyclists with him so I put my bike and bags into the van where I could find room.  And this was when I met the first three guys of the 28 that I would be spending my entire summer with.  I am not going to lie I was a little nervous but also very excited.  The first three guys I met where Chase, Bryce, and Paolo.  My flight was delayed by an hour and a half so I was late getting to the hotel we were staying at sp we were in a rush.  We threw our stuff in our rooms real quick and had our first team meeting.  We started by going around the room and saying our name, where we are from, what school we go/went to, and what we are studying/studied.  We also had some of the national Push America staff there.  They are staying with us for the first few days to make sure everything got running off to a good start, and I was finally able to put a face to the voices that I have been talking to for the past 6 months about the Journey of Hope.  As we went around the room introducing ourselves I just looked around trying to comprehend how these 28 complete strangers were going to become my best friends over the next 71 days.  All I could come up with was this summer is going to be a wild, crazy, incredible, unforgettable, and life changing journey!  After the team meeting was over we all got in the vans and headed to the University of Washington where they where grilling burgers and hot dogs for us.  We all got there ate and then re introduced ourselves and started going over the policies and procedures and the rules of the road that Push America has for the Journey of Hope.  Then we did a little ritual that each Journey of Hope route does on the first day.  For it we just went around the room said what our name was again and said what made us do the Journey of Hope and why we wanted to do it.  It was really awesome to hear these guys give personal reasons of why they were here and what they wanted to get out of the summer.  It broke down the walls we had and really let us to start to get to know each other.  Then we had the night to ourselves so some of us just explored the city of Seattle and got some ice cream at a restaurant called Dick’s and called it a night.  On Sunday we just woke up ate breakfast and headed to REI, which is a recreational store.  It was the largest REI in the country.  It had everything including a waterfall, climbing wall, a test bike trail, conference rooms, and a huge sales floor.  It was pretty awesome to walk around it.  Then we stayed there all day in one of the conference rooms they provided for us and went over the policy and procedures to make sure we all knew all the hand signals and safety rules we would be using this summer while we were biking across America!!  A Pi Alpha(someone that has participated in a summer event of Push America before) brought us lunch for the day.  After that we had our first friendship visit at the ARC of Seattle.  It did not have the turnout it was supposed to so we had to change the plans a little bit.  But it was still a lot of fun and was a good opportunity to learn what to do and how to act when things don’t go as plan, since plans will change often over the summer.  And this is when I found out that we did not have somebody there to put out bikes together like I thought we were going to.  So it was interesting trying to put my bike together when I did not know how it was taken apart and have never put one together.  But luckily a few of my teammates knew what they were doing so they helped me out and made sure that I did it right.  We had another free night in Seattle so a big group of us walked around Seattle and got ice cream again.  Then we walked to the Pier and walked around for awhile.  As we were all walking back to our hotel and joking and talking about nonsense I realized that I have only known these guys for less than 36 hours but it felt like we have been friends for months.  This is when I realized that these guys were going to slowly go from strangers to my best friends in a short 2 months.

Hey

Hey sorry guys it has been awhile since I have posted anything but we don't always have internet.  So just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about the blog and am still doing it.  I will post several posts the next time I get internet so keep checking back!!

Seattle here I come!

So I am currently on the plane and heading towards Seattle!! And I can’t wait to get there.  Thursday and Friday were both hectic and busy days.  Thursday was my last day of work before leaving and after work I had to move all my stuff out of my current house.  I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to rent a place or buy a house so I just rented a storage unit and moved all my stuff there until I get back. But I finally got all my stuffed moved and got home around 11:00PM.  Friday I woke up and cleaned out my car, vacuumed, washed, and cleaned it all up so it wasn’t dirty while it was sitting in the garage for the next three months.  Then I headed to Evansville to pick up a few last things for the trip and headed back home. Then I had to go visit my sister, my niece and nephew, and my grandparents so I could say bye.  After that I went to visit my aunt and uncle Rich and Mary Lou.  My uncle Rich is a big reason of what has been pushing me to prepare and participate in the Journey of Hope.  About two years ago he had a severe stroke and became disabled.  Seeing and hearing them talk about their daily struggles to get through each day just makes what I am doing that much more real and important.  Them, like many of us, were just living a normal life without a worry in the world until he had a stroke and their lives were forever changed.  Which just proves that our message of acceptance and understanding, which will be promoted across America, is that much more important, because any of us at anytime could be just one health condition or one spinal injury from becoming disabled?  I will bike the entire summer with my uncle in the back of my mind!  After leaving their and saying all my goodbyes I finally made it home and was able to finish packing.  When I got done it all started to sink in and it was crazy to see that I had the next 2.5 months of my life packed in a duffle bag! But sadly enough I didn’t get done packing until 2:30AM and I had to leave my house to head to the Indy Airport at 3:30AM.  So I was only able to get about half an hour of sleep, which made the 3 hour drive to Indy from St. Anthony a little rough.  My first flight flew out of Indy and landed in Las Vegas with no problems.  Yeah I was in Las Vegas for the first time, exciting right??  Except I was stuck in an airport the whole time so I didn’t get to go explore the city but after all it is Vegas so they had slots everywhere in the airport.  So I naturally had to play a few of them, and actually came out $100 ahead! So the trip has started off great so far minus the lack of sleep!!  Our plane in Vegas was delayed an hour due to mechanical issues but we are now in the air heading to Seattle.  I was able to get about another hour of sleep on the flight to Vegas so now I am running off of only 1.5 hours of sleep in the past 36 but pure excitement and adrenaline is running through my body keeping me awake and going.  I cannot wait to start this awesome summer and journey across America!!  We have a four day orientation in Seattle before we actually start our Journey of Hope across America, so as always I will keep you all posted on what we are doing as a team!! Until next time, remember that we all have disabilities just some of us are fortunate enough to hide them and others are not!! “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”

4 Days and Counting....

Welcome back and I hope everyone enjoyed the three day weekend and had a great Memerial Day Weekend!  On Friday as you know I tried to bike home to St. Anthony from Terre Haute.  I wanted to try to leave at noon but wasn't able to start biking until 1:30, which put me way behind schedule.  But I was going to attempt to make it home anyways.  I was 22 miles into my ride and feeling great, ready to keep riding until death from below put a stop to me.  One of the pieces of the sharp rocks or debri that covered the shoulder of highway 41 made it into my tire and gave me a flat.  This was my first flat that I have ever gotten from biking.  But luckily we had a JOH training weekend a month before and I knew how to change the tube to fix my flat so I could continue riding.  So it was no big deal until I realized I had no spare tubes with me...I mean I have never gotten a flat tire so why would I carry extra tubes with me on a 100+ mile ride??? haha After realizing my studpidity I called Keith Gettelfinger, who crewed the Journey of Hope last summer and is the one who convinced me to finally man up and apply for to ride the Journey of Hope this summer, to see if he could help me out.  Luckily he is an awesome friend and he came and saved me.  He went and bought me some tubes and brought them to me with an airpump so I could continue my ride even though it was a 25 minutes drive (one way) for him.  So after sitting on the side of highway 41 for an hour and he finally arrived and I was able to continue on my ride.  But due to the late start and the tire flat there was no way I was going to make it home before dark and I didn't want to put myself in danger so I had my amazing gf Jordan come pick me up and take me the rest of the way home around 7 PM.  By that time I made it 70 miles, so I was still excited about the ride!  The rest of the weekend I didn't really get to ride much due to my brother graduating high school and graduation parties.  I finally got my new bike tires in so I am gonig to put them on tonight and go for one last ride before I pack my bike up for Seattle!!! Between the fundraising, the training, working with my work to get off for the summer, and preparing for this journey I have never felt such a powerful purpose in my life for what I have done and am doing!! Its a great feeling when you put others before yourself and you put so much time, effort, and money into improving the lives of others.  I can not wait for Saturday and to see what this summer has in store for me!!! Until next time, "the only disability in life is a bad attitude"

Only 9 more days!!

I only have 9 days left before I fly out to Seattle and start the Journey of Hope so I thought I would just give everyone an update on how everything is going.  My training has been coming along alot better the past couple weeks.  On Tuesday I was able to go on a 50 mile ride, I was tired afterwards but not sore the next day so thats always a good sign since I will be biking twice that in one day this summer.  I tried to go on a ride yesterday but the wheather was pretty bad in Terre Haute and I didn't feel like getting stuck in a thunder storm on my bike!! As far as fundraising I am getting closer and closer to my $5,000 minimum everday but I still have a little ways to go.  I have been getting a few donations in the mail an donline from talking at church this past weekend and from the newspaper article which is always good.  But if you haven't donated yet and would like to, please visit pushamerica.org/events/joh and do so ASAP.  On the left side of the screen there will be  link called 2011 Journey of Hope Roster and then look for my name on the alphabetical list on the next screen.  I finally am getting most of my gear in.  yesterday I got my leg and arm warmers, my short and long/winter gloves, and I got my bike jacket.  Now all I am waiting on is my aerobed and new bike tires!!!  As the day draws closer and the more excited I get.  But with only 9 days left before I leave I have a ton of stuff to do.  Including finding somewhere to live for next year and moving all of my stuff out of my current house in Terre Haute.  This last week is going to be pretty hectic.  Also as one last note I am taking off work on Friday and the plans are to try and ride my bike from Terre Haute to St. Anthony to get one century ride in before I leave.  It is about 112 miles so it willl be tough but we will see how everything goes!! Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day weekend!! Until next time remember "The only disability in life is having a bad attitude!"

Just 3 Weeks Before I leave!