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!