Globe, AZ

7.3.2010

Our ride today was a blast. It was a huge relief to finally get out of the desert and back into some interesting terrain. We spent the day going in and out of mountain passes, with some longer climbs and quick downhills. There was no headwind and the temperature hung around a chilly 90 degrees. It was the most fun I’ve had on the bike since Cambria, and I took all kinds of pictures.

Today was also the first day I really felt in shape. We were taking the hills at a good pace, and we were cruising on the flats. Talking with the guys in the pace line really made the day fly by, and we went the 80 miles in what seemed like no time. The best part was at the end of the day though when I got the purple cowboy hat award. The hat is passed around from team member to team member when we have the weekly circle up. The person who displays the most enthusiasm in that week, as deemed by the previous owner, receives the hat. I was pretty pumped to get to hold on to it for this week.

We’ve got some hard days coming up so I’m gonna keep this short, do my pushups and get to bed.

Tempe Day 2

7.2.2010

Happy Birthday Nick!

Today was our second day in Tempe Arizona, where we had a layover day. This morning was interesting because we didn’t have to wake up until 11:30AM. Which is ridiculous on Journey of Hope time. After wake up we headed right over to an ice cream social / friendship visit at the Westward Ho. This building was originally designed as a luxury hotel, where JFK and other famous people had stayed at various times. It was once the tallest building in Phoenix, but has since been dwarfed by some of the other city structures. It is no longer used as a hotel and instead serves as a home for assisted living. All of the people who work at the center are volunteers, so they were happy to receive our help for a day.

I spent most of the time talking with a nice 84 year old woman named Trudy. She had grown up in Austria before she moved to the United States, and worked as a secretary at the United States Embassy and the U.S. Air Force. I had gone to Austria for spring break, so we spent a good deal of time talking about the local cuisine and culture (as far as I had been able to experience in a week). We talked a little more about her family and her late husband before it was time to go. She was such a sweetheart, and the whole affair really brightened up my day.

Later on we explored the rest of ASU’s campus, and relaxed at one of the dorm’s pools. It was almost like a resort with sand volleyball, a saltwater pool, a hot tub, and smokin’ hot girls in every direction. Grad school perhaps? After the pool we watched a sweet video called Darius Goes West. It was about a kid with muscular dystrophy who was confined to a wheelchair, and his journey to go from one coast to another spreading the word about what it’s like to live with a disability. Needless to say the film got me really pumped up about the trip we’re doing, and I’m definitely ready to hit the road tomorrow.

Tempe, AZ

7.1.2010

Today was a pretty frustrating ride even though it was a pretty short stretch. We had about 60 miles to get to our destination. We had to make sure we had made it 45 of those miles by 9:30. This meant for a pretty quick pace, and we were making pretty good time. Then I got in my first wreck. One thing I’ve noticed in my life is that I’m incredibly lucky when it comes to situations where luck is required. I’m not talking the kind of lucky where I’ll win $1,200 dollars playing blackjack (like Bill did when we were in Vegas), but the kind of lucky where I can get into a wreck and walk away with a fully functioning bike, an intact helmet, and a scratch on my finger. The wreck was completely my fault, and fortunately I was the only person in the pace line who was hurt as a result of my stupidity.

The crash put us a little bit behind in making the rack point, but we were able to dust ourselves off and push it out. What ended up happening is that the team ran into some unexpected construction, and EVERYONE got racked to the staging area for our arrival. Instead of a 60 mile day, we ended up riding about 35 or 40 miles, which was another huge frustration. The arrival itself slightly made up for it though. We had a police escort of 6 cars, and it was a nice long ride into the city of Phoenix. It was fun to hear everyone honking as we entered the city.

Phoenix was the first big city that we’ve been to since San Francisco, and we were welcomed at Arizona State University with dorm beds and showers with hot/cold knobs. We took a short train ride from center city to the main campus in Tempe where we would be staying the night. Fun fact, the total mileage of the trip so far is exactly the same as my Psi Chapter initiation number: 1127.

We had dinner and a friendship visit at a local community center where we played kickball with some students our own age with various disabilities. I was talking with a guy named Brian Ballard who was telling me about his job at the library. He was 19 years old and just finishing up a job training program in his high school that would prepare him to earn his own money upon graduation. He was telling me about how he likes to work out with his dad, what kinds of movies he likes, and his trip to France to watch his sister dance in a show. Although I hate to say it, he was the first person with a disability that I have met so far who really showed me how similar I am to the people we meet with every day. It was a really great experience for me.

Tomorrow we have yet another day off, and we get to sleep in until 11:00 if we so choose. It’s ok. We’ll be paying for it on Sunday when we go 500 miles in 5 days.

Wickenburg, AZ

6.30.2010

I lied before about the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Today was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I feel like this is going to be a recurrent theme throughout the trip. Our ride from Parker AZ to Wickenburg AZ was a total of 108 miles from beginning to end, but the hardest part was the wind and the heat. Throughout the entire trip I doubt we changed more than 20 feet in elevation. Up until today I thought this would have been a good thing. The problem with no elevation change is that there are no downhills to break up the monotony. When you’re going up and down, there is a stretch of misery followed by a stretch of fun. When you’re pushing through wind in the Arizona heat, however, it’s a completely different story. You’re pretty much riding at one speed the whole day, and each mile is paid for with pedal strokes. There is no coasting. In my opinion it’s much harder to keep a steady pace the entire day than it is to climb hills and be rewarded when you reach the top.



To add to the ride’s difficulty, we were fighting a headwind for most of the day, and temperatures climbed into the triple digits in the afternoon. We woke up at 4:00am and were on the road by 5:00am. Our pace line arrived at lodging at 4:45pm, pedaling for almost 12 hours and through the hottest part of the day. Part of the reason it took so long is because we had a pretty bad wreck at one point where two guys went down. We were also plagued with flat tires throughout the day. Our rims would heat up in the sun and literally cause our tubes to explode. We kept on pushing by talking to each other, learning little fun facts or playing road trip games. The shower I took today might have been the best one I’ve taken in my life, and I was sharing it with 5 other naked dudes.

Once we were cleaned up we went out to our sponsored dinner at the local elks lodge. There we enjoyed all the salad and lasagna we could eat, with sweet lemonade to wash it down. I’m stuffed to the gills right now, but I think it’s alright considering I burned about 6,000 calories today. At the elks lodge we put on our first performance of Kids on the Block, a puppet show about some new kids who arrive in town. Mark has Cerebral Palsy, Renaldo is Blind, and Ellen has Downs Syndrome. The puppet show is designed to show kids the many things that people with disabilities are capable of doing, and how to interact with people who may behave differently than them. The show was a hit, and although I was not chosen as a puppeteer for this performance, hopefully I’ll be making my debut pretty soon.

I am WIPED. Nighty. Night. (It’s 9:00)

Parker, AZ

6.29.2010

Today we arrived in Parker Arizona after riding about 40 miles. It was a short trip from our stay in lake Havasu. The dam in Parker is over the Colorado River, and is the structure that creates the Lake. The ride today went quickly and mostly without incident. Ryan Larson got a flat just as we pulled out of the parking lot in lake Havasu, but once we were on the road it was smooth sailing. As the day went on, temperatures reached 110 degrees (By 10:30!) and I was starting to taste the hard boiled eggs we had had at our sponsored breakfast that morning. We kept it together and pulled into lodging just in time to watch the Portugal vs. Spain matchup in the World Cup on the senior center’s flat screen TV.

After lunch at the senior center, we went to go take our “Showers” in the Colorado River. We literally brought our Jerseys and a change of clothes with our soap down to the dock at the local fire station and sudsed up in the river. When we were done getting washed up we spent an hour or so skipping stones and watching the boats go by. I’m working on getting rid of this cyclist’s farmers tan, but I’m pretty sure the endeavor is hopeless.


No friendship visit today, so we’re just relaxing here until we ride out again tomorrow.

Lake Havasu Day 2

6.28.2010

Today we woke up at 7:45am and continued our pampered lifestyles. We went to breakfast at the Knights of Columbus where the Knights and their wives served us plateloads of pancakes, sausages, and scrambled eggs. There was even a side table filled with all types of donuts and pastries which we got to take with us.

Later in the day we had some free time. I decided to mail home some of the un-needed things I had packed along. As it turns out, you really only need the two shirts and the pair of khakis they provide you. We honestly spend the rest of the day in our cycling jerseys anyway. I mailed home my towel because I have my speedo chamois, and the southern sun can dry anything you own in about 3 minutes.

For dinner and the rest of the day, we spent time at the home of Dean and Martha Bennett. We lounged around their spacious in ground pool and had a dinner of baked potatoes with all the fixins. Their home, or I should say estate, had a beautiful view of lake Havasu and a yard landscaped with various species of cacti. They explained that land out here is very cheap, so they had plenty left over to fix up their house. That may be something to keep in mind.

Still plenty more to see though, and we hit the road tomorrow.

Lake Havasu City, AZ

6.27.2010

Forget Disney, Lake Havasu AZ is the happiest place on earth. The ride getting here was pretty standard. There were hills, there were flats, it was hot, etc. Honestly I don’t remember most of it because the rest of the day was such a blast. When we approached Lake Havasu we met up with members of the local fire department and police force at a gas station 12 miles outside the city. They rode with us on their mountain bikes all the way into the city, where we were met at a local Wal-Mart by a huge reception committee. The only unfortunate part of the ride was when the local fire chief kept clearing his nose while riding in front of me. It was so hot that I was only slightly upset with the resulting shower.

When we arrived at the Wal-Mart, we were greeted with water and Gatorade, and they had set up the inside of the garden section with patio furniture for us to rest on. The entire affair was planned by the town’s, I kid you not, “Journey of Hope Committee”. All the way into the town we were greeted by honks from passing cars and smiling faces. It seemed like everyone knew we were coming, and we even saw a big “Lake Havasu Welcomes the Journey of Hope” sign on the way into the town.

Once everyone had rallied at the Wal-Mart, we were given a police escort through the center of the town to the community center where we would be lodging. This was the longest and most official police escort we’ve had so far. There were two police motorcycles leading the double pace line, and the parade continued for about 10 miles. We were even allowed to run red lights!

We arrived at lodging to a huge lunch prepared by local families. There were sandwiches, assorted fruits, chips, homemade cookies, and all kinds of sodas. We sat down to have a meal with the firefighters and police officers with whom we were riding before we hopped in the vans and headed out to the Lake Havasu Yacht club. A yacht club in the middle of the Mojave desert would sound pretty crazy if the town’s famous lake were not so impressive. They took us out to the middle of the 30 mile long lake on a two story yacht where they let down the anchor and let us jump off the top of the boat into the water. We were out there for 3 hours trying all types of different flips, singing I’m on a boat, and consuming the buffet of fried chicken and potato salad that they provided us. They also taught us how to make a tasty treat before we got on the boat. What you do is take 6 pieces of cookie dough, put them on an aluminum pan, put the pan on the dashboard of your car, and leave your car in the parking lot for 3- 4 hours. When we got back from the boat ride, our cookies were baked to a delicious golden brown by Arizona’s triple digit heat. They even had that delicious gooey center. This is definitely a trick I’m bringing back home.

As we were eating our dashboard cookies on the ride home, our day was far from over. We returned to lodging to discover that tables had been set up all over the gymnasium for a banquet in our honor. There were local townspeople, volunteers from various assisted living centers, and even a live band that was preparing to play. The dinner was an even bigger affair than lunch, with 10 folding tables filled with various meats, salads, and desserts. The people of Lake Havasu really know that the way to a cyclist’s heart is through his stomach. Today is the first day that I haven’t felt hungry while writing my blog. After dinner, the band put on a rock show with Foo Fighters, Beatles, Blink 182, and Black Sabbath covers just to name a few. We rocked out for the whole show with the program’s participants. This is definitely my longest post so far, so thanks for sitting through it if you’re still reading, but there was so much stuff to cover. Today was absolutely awesome.

Also. I was just going to go brush my teeth when one of the other cyclists told me to look in the freezer, where I found a pile of Jju - ju - bars. These are a Korean brand of freeze pops that I was originally introduced to in AP Biology class in high school. Life is so good. I never want to leave this place. Fortunately we have a layover day tomorrow!