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!