Sorry about the long wait....

Hi everyone,

First let me apologize for the long wait between posts. We have only had wireless one time and of course the high school had a filter which managed to block blogspot.com as well as just about every other website.

I am going to try to post as much as I can about each day, but I have only so much time today to write.

Napa to Sacramento
This day was rough. As you can imagine, we had to climb out of the napa valley and into Sacramento. There were some fantastic views along the climb, but after the climb, we arrived in farm country. After about 20-30 miles there, our team was rolling into the city. We stopped at the capitol building for a small reception with supporters and the local Ark chapter (an organization for assisting the disabled). That night, we traveled to the same Ark chapter for a sponsored dinner, a performance by the Westside Ensemble, and a tour of the facility and a chance to interact with the residents. That night we slept in 'Sac' High School's gym which had a good to fair amount of cochroaches.

Sacramento to Jackson
50 miles had begun to sound easy by this point, but after the first 40, this day finished off with 10 miles of elevation gain. After the ride, we had a friendship visit with a different Ark chapter. At this visit, I met Jon and Larry David. Larry David had a tendency to call everyone 'Old Man' no matter their age (despite the fact he was in his late 20's). Arm wrestling was the theme at this visit with just about everyone taking their chance against the Ark champion who other residents claimed was a 'show-off'. After this visit, we were all in high spirits and ready to get back to lodging, but a huge obstacle stood in our way. On our route to lodging we managed to find what I believe to be the steepest 2 miles of road I have ever seen. On tired legs, everyone ran up the hill on pure adreniline and wished they hadn't eaten that second hot dog or those baked beans at the lunch. We finished the day with a trip to walmart, where we suprisingly saw Jon working and we talked to him for a while about his job and he let us know that he wasn't allowed to wear our shirt at work (the one he had bought), but he wore it under his walmart shirt anyway. This made me smile.

Jackson to Markleeville
This is the day that nightmares are made of. Having not done much research or talked much about the Journey of Hope with past riders, I was ignorant of the beast that was Kirkwood. In the first 50 miles, we climbed from 1500 feet to 8500 feet elevation. After a brief 1500 foot decline in elevation on a downhill we climbed to 8000 once again. Roughly 4 miles from the top of the mountain, my chain began to derail incessantly and I found the problem to be a loosening link. After some help from the crew, I thought the temporary solution would hold. However, after about 30 pedal strokes the whole chain flew off my bike, ending my hopes of reaching the ultimate top and my day. All in all, I rode for close to 13 hrs that day and came very close to finishing. Some day I will return again (possibly for a ride-along with a future team) and conquer Kirkwood.

Markleeville to Carson City
For this short ride (30 miles), I was racked due to the lack of a bike shop in the small town of Markleeville. I spent the day with Pace, a north team crew member who somehow has the only van with 3 TVs, nicknamed 'the spaceship'. That afternoon, we visited the local Boys and Girls club and played soccer, kickball, and put on a puppet show for the kids. After the soccer game, I went back to retrieve my sandals and noticed one was missing. A few minutes later I saw a kid carrying around my sandal and I began to reach for it and he took over. I began to chase but he was on his home turf and I knew that if I pursed he would keep going. I instead chose a stealthy approach. As we began to gather for the picture, I camped out and waited for him to make his return. He entered the group looking for me, but I managed to stay out of his sight just long enough to ninja my sandal back. Thank god it wasn't my camera or phone, I probably would have never seen those again. It was a fun change of pace to spend some time with some very active kids.

Carson City/Dayton (Day off)
We began this day by eating lunch at the Golden Nugget buffet. We then walked over to the children's museum for a puppet show and some time with the local children, both disabled and not. Next, we played a riveting game of wheelchair basketball in which there were many collisions and even one hard spill. At the children's museum, I was put in jail by one of the kids, also named Alex and he and I talked about the sports teams we liked before it was time to leave once again. That night we went to another Ark chapter and participated in a dance, having an opportunity to meet even more friends.

Dayton to Fallon
This ride was another short one (50 miles), but was by no means an easy one. About 20 miles into the trip, I began to experience excruciating knee pain. I came close to racking at the 10 miles to go point, but decided against it. This was a good decision, despite the amount of pain I experienced at every stop light in town. That night we had a friendship visit and dance at the local high school in which we were staying. FYI Fallon is best known for the 'Top Gun' training being located there.

Fallon to Hawthorne
This was a nice ride, but a longer one. Along the way, one of the riders almost got bit by a rattlesnake after it lunged at him as he rode by. We rode through the hills and desert, eventually circling Lake Walker as we rode into the town. At the beginning of the ride, we split with the north team as they turned right and we turned left. Can't wait to see them in DC when we arrive, but now our team is more mobile and tighter knit. That night we had dinner at the Elk's club and learned a little more about what their fraternal organization stands for and explained to them what we do and thanked them for their sponsorship.

More to come and more pictures hopefully!

Orientation in San Francisco

Today is Day 3 in San Francisco.

I arrived on Wednesday mid-day, luckily with my bike and bag making the trip also (after initially being tagged under a Mr. Mitag, headed to San Diego). After trekking to the US Air baggage claim, I met up with a group of about 10 PiKapps and took the 1/2 hr trip to the University of San Francisco lodging.

After moving in and building the bikes, we met up and began our orientation. After an early night (3 hr time difference) it was day 2. The day began with an early wake up and a practice pack, making sure we could put everything we had into a backpack and a duffel bag. After this we had a skills assessment and unfortunately I remained at Stage One for the duration of the assessment; not due to the lack of skills, but rather due to the stubbornness of my tire. Long story short, I have gone through 3 tubes (initial, plus 2 brought with me) and heard the crew chief utter the words 'that can't be good' too many times to count. My tube is currently being replaced at a local bike shop. After this ordeal, the day markedly improved.

We headed off to our first friendship visit. These visits are the staple of the Journey of Hope. After a long day of riding, the schedule is rarely empty. Almost always a friendship visit is scheduled with a local center for people living with disabilities. On day 2 we spent roughly 5 hours at the Janet Pomeroy Center in San Francisco playing basketball, having a barbecue, and interacting with the adults and children who benefit from what the center provides. On more than one occasion I experienced goosebumps and chills at the sight of how these residents, despite their limitations, are able to persevere and enjoy life for all it can be. Highlights for the day were seeing a man with little or no vision sink a foul shot, an adult holding up a younger kid so he could slam dunk (which drove the whole crowd crazy), a halftime dance party, a resident, Susan's epic crowd riling speeches and patriotic songs.

Today, Day 3, is a little more of a relaxed day before our practice ride tomorrow. We woke up at 8 and began the day with meetings. After completion of these meetings, we headed to In-N-Out burger, a traditional meal for the team. On the way, we managed to go down the 'crookedest street' in America. While there we explored the Fisherman's wharf and had a great view across the harbor of Alcatraz.

Right now as I write this, I am preparing to leave for a SF Giants game. Tonight, they are playing the Athletics and it should be a packed ballgame. As I stated before, tomorrow is our training ride, a brief 15 miles of fun and we kick off on Sunday morning at the Golden Gate bridge.

My next post will most likely come from Napa, CA which is our first stop on this epic journey.

This is going to be a great summer.

Crunch Time

Well, it has come down to the final week at home.

Am I excited? Yes. Am I a bit scared? Yes.

I hope that my preparation will pay off but it is quite hard to prepare for consistent 60 mile/day bike riding without actually riding for 60 miles a day for a long period of time.

I have bought everything I need now and it is only time that holds me back from this journey. I am sure my temporary nervousness well subside when my feet hit the pedals in San Francisco late next week.

Fundraising update: $5930 (THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!!!)
Training update: Ready but not underestimating the challenge that lies ahead

The next post I make will be from San Francisco!