Thank You

It's Sunday morning. It feels like 12 in the afternoon but everyone is asleep. I caught a beautiful sunrise on the lake and I can't help but think it doesn't get too much better than this.

I finished my ride on Friday night. I want to say thank you to everyone for your support.

I can't say I really have any sort of parting message. There are so many things I have to say, a few posts I started but never completed, but they'll have to wait for now.

So take it for what you will. If you felt inspired, that's more than I intended and more than I could have asked for. If you think this was a little crazy and now you're worried about me, just remember I'm at home now and in good hands. If you think this was pointless, then i'd ask you to reconsider, because even though I don't know exactly what it means, it means something. What that something was, I'm not sure, but a lot of things in this life don't make sense right away.

Oh and Don, like you said at the end of Blue Like Jazz, "I hope we get to meet some day soon."

I leave you now with this parting video. Enjoy.

Sprint

This is it. The final week. The final state. Some might call it the "Final Frontier". Today I crossed the border into Virginia which means the next border I cross will be into Washington DC. Not only is this the final week of my bike ride, but this is also my final week in London town. What a trip. Oprah says it's ok to cry, and I think I might. In fact I almost cried on the bike this morning, but that was mostly because this morning I didn't see how it was possible for me to finish this ride before leaving London and I was feeling very discouraged, hence the measly 30 k when the morning before I had gone 60 in almost the same amount of time. This final week is going to be a sprint to the finish in every aspect of my life in London. I have one suitcase packed and ready to go. The other will have to wait until Friday night when I've had a chance to wash all my smelly gym clothes (my bathroom now officially smells like a locker room, my flat mate Lynn can vouch... sorry Lynn, but at least I'm putting the detergent in the right compartment now).

At work today some of my teammates were talking about working out as we watched the olympics on one of the screens on our floor. My other coworker who sits opposite me and away from my team was talking about how he could beat any one of the bicycle sprinters. I don't think he works out though... ever. I turned around and chimed in with a request to take a little bit of a longer lunch break to go work out. I had a chat with my coworker Andy, whose also kind of my manager... but not really, and I told him about my ride and how I wasn't going to be able to make it unless I took a longer lunch hour for the rest of the week to go ride. As I explained to him what I was doing and showed him my map and the plan of attack I made on excel (it's always good to work on excel spreadsheets at work, no matter what you're doing with them) he became more and more sympathetic and by the time I was finished explaining my goal he was getting excited about it as well. He ran the London Marathon this year so I know how much he must LOVE training plans.

I went home, changed into my gym clothes and brought my work clothes to the gym and put them in a locker. I rode 50 km faster than ever before, just over 56 minutes. With the extra riding I would be doing during my lunch hours this week, I was back on track to finish. I am again hopeful that this whole fiasco will not fizzle out in a most disappointing display of extravagant, drawn out failure. I have reason to believe that God is with me an dhas been with me the entire time, providing me with just enough guidance and hope to keep me going at every point throughout this "trip". It would be foolish of me to credit it to myself, not to mention extremely arrogant that I could actually control the external factors the have been driving me and keeping me motivated just beyond the point of quitting.

For the past two weeks there have been about 60 seconds every morning when I've debated whether or not to just give up and go back to sleep. Every morning I tell myself that if I give up today, I give up forever, and so I get up and go to the gym without really seeing how I can finish. In a Theories of Personality psych course I took my junior year I was given a test that measures your likelihood of future success based on two factors: your Will power, and your Way power. Your Will power is intended to measure you're drive and determination to succeed in any given goal whereas your Way power is intended to measure your ability to analyze exactly what needs to be done and set up a plan of attack with which to follow through. I scored very high on Will power, but below average on Way power. It seems to be hold true yet today, although I must say, with the whole excel thing I drew up I might be improving on that front :)

It should also be noted that If I were to simply have given up my social life, I would have no problem finishing, and I'd probably be done already. But I've also decided that to completely quit on my social life would also be a failure of sorts. True, I have missed out on some things here and there, but overall, I'm content with the choices I've made.

Tomorrow I have my leaving drinks with four of my other friends who work on our same floor of over 300, four other interns who are also leaving at the end of the week. (sigh)

Well, this is it. My next post will be the one that tells you whether I made it or not.

The American Dream

A few weeks ago, I met another Ironmonger staffer.

"You know who you look like? Ah what’s his name, you know, he's in that movie... Ah, what is his name? Oh! Edward Norton!"
“Oh yeah?! Is that how you recognize me when I come in here?"
"Yeah. Well, don't forget about me in your next movie!"
"Ok, I won't! My name is Scott, by the way."
"George"
"Right, well I'll see ya later George."

Monday night, while George was cleaning up the equipment for the night and I was finishing my ride, we got to talking. He commented on how hard I was working lately and asked what I was training for. I told him about the ride across America and how I'm trying to finish it before I leave London in a few weeks. From there we got to talking about America and how great a country it is and how he grew up in a home in Portugal where his Dad supported everything America stood for and everything America did. He told me how he thinks it is the most advanced country in the world. He's never been to America but he would love to go. He spoke of freedom and a place to call your own. He thinks that even the countries who don't like us, still try to imitate us. I told him how refreshing it was to hear someone speak so highly of America because I haven't been hearing a lot of that around these parts lately. He thinks that a lot of the anti-American sentiment is being fuelled by the media and is kind of the popular thing to do right now but deep down, people still think America is the greatest country to live in, and with the next election upon us, American sentiment world wide is sure to pick up.
The vision of the American Dream is still alive. He described freedom as the American suburbs, where there are no walls and no fences separating you from your neighbours. There is only grass. It's a place where mutual respect and community thrive, where the whole town knows the name of the running back on the local football team who scored the winning touchdown on Friday night. And all this coming from a Portuguese guy who’s never been there! I told him it was all true. I told him how I loved seeing my picture in the paper when I had a good game. I confirmed that there really are no fences separating me from my neighbours. (And yes, we own guns but we only use them for hunting).
We promised to exchange information. I told him I would love to give him a place to stay in Chicago if he ever decided to come. He wants to go to some jazz clubs. George offered me a place to stay in Portugal as well; his girlfriend owns a house with a pool on the beach. I hope I can take him up on that sometime (and I hope his girlfriend doesn't mind!). Before I knew it a half hour had gone by and we were the only two left in the place. It was time to go home.

80 miles a day

This past week I came down with a throat virus. Nothing serious but it made me a bit weak. I actually didn't get on the bike once as I tried to adhere to Grandma Rosie's advice of not trying to do everything at once. It has been a slow week because of this. This past weekend I passed by body weight in urine and I spent the first hour of Sunday morning coughing up an entire lung's worth of green gunk. But by Sunday afternoon I decided that I had had enough of this sitting around and decided it was time to get back on the bike. I eased back into my routine with a 40K ride on Sunday afternoon and this week I plan to really kick out a good amount of miles as I regain my strength and attack the bike with a fresh pair of legs. The task of finishing is looking daunting now as I'm approaching a necessity of around 80 miles a day to finish by the time I leave this city.

But in the words of Coldplay, I maintain the refrain, "Just because I'm losing, doesn't mean I'm Lost!"

Proud Member of the Century Club (... sort of)

I'm proud to say that being a member of the Century Club (... sort of, it was actually 100 kilometers)means something different to me now than it did in college. This morning I felt as though Marek was challenging me to an endurance challenge. Every time I looked over at him it on his rowing machine it seemed he was looking right at me saying, "You might think your something special but I've been doing this for years" Youth versus valor. Who would win? I knew I couldn't make it much longer without stopping for another drink and as I hit my 94 km mark I looked over and saw he had stopped for a drink. Thank goodness. I had made it. It was just me and the bike again. I don't know whether he was challenging me for sure or not but either way, I beat him. I know Marek doesn't read my blog, but maybe someday he will so I just want to say thanks for the inspiration to keep me on the bike today and help me complete my first century. Below is a video of what my legs looked like shortly afterwards, quivering from the workout, saying to me, "what did we ever do to you!?"

FUNdraising

Deutsche Bank London's matching scheme agress to match charities within the UK. As Blood Water is headquartered in Nashville, TN they don't qualify. I've started a fundraising page on firstgiving.com. I had been looking on the UK counterpart of that website justgiving.com and only recently found out about first giving through my friend Kyle Verumuelen's fundraising efforts for World Vision. Just a quick plug for Kyle, he's running his first marathon this coming October along side his counter part, Ryan Hall who will be running for America in the Beijing Summer Olympics later this year. Kyle is very funny, a great guy, good looking, and one of my good friends. You really should meet him. The video below is an advert Team World Vision have put together gearing up for this years Chicago Marathon.



Kyle is keeping a blog about his training at fakemarathoner.blogspot.com

Cheers,
Scott

Oh and my goal is to raise enough money to build a well. I don't actually know how much it costs to build a well but I'm pretty sure it's about a million dollars. To donate just click on the link on the right side of the page.

Day 61: Eat Drink and Be Merry

If there were one refrain I could give form my latest holiday in Greece, this would be it. Eat, Drink and Be Merry. Solomon's words of enjoying the days of my youth while I had them were constantly on my heart this past weekend. I haven't had a holiday as good as this one in a long time. It was a holiday for ample food, great company, breathtaking views, and enough exploration to make one envious of a Life Napoleonic. Aegina, Mykonos, Poros, and Sifnos were the Islands we briefly graced with our presence on this 4 day Easy Cruise, each island having distinct memories of it's own. On Aegina, it was the seaside taverna where friendships were born, on Mykonos it was the windmills, the local waiter on his break who pretended to run off with Kyle's camera, and Paradise Beach and Club where we danced like nobody was watching, on Poros it was the beach and a great little shopping district, and on Sifnos it was the joy riding and finding hidden treasures of the island (who knew Greece was home to an Ostrich and Reindeer?!). I wrote 15 pages in my journal on the airplane rides home. I wrote all the way from the tarmacs of Athens and Thessaloniki to the touchdown in London Town. Sitting on the bike last night, still feeling a little dizzy as if I never left the boat, I wondered how long I would continue living off the high of this great holiday. If anyone would like more detailed stories of my trip, send me an email or a comment and I'll get out my journal and let ya have it! For all you other casual readers, thanks again for your interest, I should be back on track and approaching Dallas by the end of the week.
Cheers,
Scott

New American Standard Bible (©1995)

Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime;

Ecclesiastes 3:13 moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor-- it is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.

Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works.

Boat Cruise on the River Thames, London, American Independence Day

Jack Johnson Concert in Hyde Park, London July 2

Grant and Carolyn's wedding, Chicago, June 28

Day 49: Back on Track

It’s been nearly 10 days since the last time I roused myself to walk over to IRB and make another negligible dent into my cross country tour which actually only takes place in my mind, on a virtual map, and seldom now in conversation. There are no cows staring at me. There are no beautiful sunsets. There is no hail to hide from. There are no parades and no musicals. So long as I’m under this roof, there is no sense of adventure; the elements have been conquered. My motivation is fleeting. There is only the cool, pleasant breeze of air conditioning I feel if I stretch out my neck and lean far enough back and to the left. The only thing that feels real in here is the tinge of pain just under the bone of my right knee. I feel it with every downward press but it doesn’t quite hurt enough not to ride.
I ran into Marek this morning on my way into the gym. Marek introduced himself to me about two weeks ago. If I were to stick with the Average Joe’s analogy, Marek would be the Vince Vaughn of IRB. He’s the man. He walks around like he owns the place (which he might). He’s rowed thousands of miles. He knows what it takes to succeed in the gym. He’s faced the mental and physical challenges head on. He’s the man for the job. I asked him how he had been since I hadn’t actually seen him since the day we met. He asked me how the slacking was going. There was a group of at least 20 kids in there on a field trip so I wasn’t sure I had heard him right.
“I’m sorry?”
“I said how’s the slacking been? You’re biking across America right?”
“Ok. Ok. You caught me.” I said as I lifted my hands as if I had been caught stealing cookies. “It’s been a busy week.”
He raised his eyebrows, unconvinced.
“But I’m back on track now.” I said as I continued on my way into the gym.
After biking for an hour I began to stretch out my back and sore knee near the rack of seven dumbbells which constitutes the majority of the free weights section. Marek walked by and said, “Alright, we’re back on track now. Gonna start riding a few extra miles a day. Good.” He said as he walked into the back room without waiting for my response.
“Yup.” I said, thinking to myself, “I’ll start tomorrow…or maybe the day after.”
It’s Day 49, I should be well over half way, but I still haven’t crossed the Texas border. Fatigue, pain, and worst of all, a lack of motivation are now becoming commonplace. I need a new plan. A new SMART goal. So here it is. I was originally planning to finish my ride at the same time as the Ride:Well Team but since they passed me over a week ago and I’ve been mostly at a stand still since then. I don’t think I will be able to catch up nor keep up with their pace. My new goal is to finish this trek before leaving London on August 23rd. I have a few holidays between here and there so excluding those I should have a total of 41 days left to ride approx. 2,980 km (1851.69 mi), that's approximately 73 km per day (45 mi/day) with no days off. So Marek, here’s my goal: 75-80 km per day: 35-40 in the morning and 40 in the evening. I’ll start on Saturday.

Day 25: Yet Even This He Accepts

I just finished reading "The Problem of Pain" by C.S. Lewis. I didn't anticipate this book to be an enjoyable read but I did find myself feeling lifted up by the end as he leaves us with this beautiful picutre of what heaven might be like. I don't want to offer a full on critique, or more likely, praise session right now as I don't find much joy in doing so. In fact, I find it a bit of a laborious task. What I would rather do right now is draw on a few things he said that particularly struck a cord with some things I've been thinking about lately.

Firstly, I mentioned in a previous post that my goal in this life was to get to heaven. I want to expand on that a bit as I see this goal in new light after reading what C.S. Lewis wrote. He says "It is hardly a compliment to God that we should choose Him as an alternative to Hell: yet even this He accepts," (chapter 6, Human pain). When I mentioned that my goal was to get to heaven, I was effectively saying that my goal was indeed to avoid Hell. When looking at this from God's point of view, this really isn't a praiseworthy goal and everything else I do "in the name of Christ" suddenly seems to become tainted with selfish motive. Lewis continues saying, "The creature's (speaking here of you and I) illusion of self-sufficiency must, for the creature's sake, be shattered; and by trouble or fear of trouble on earth, by crude fear of the eternal flames, God shatters it 'unmindful of His glory's diminution'. Those who would like the God of scripture to be more purely ethical, do not know what they ask. If God were a Kantian, who would not have us till we came to him from the purest and best motives, who could be saved?" I see any attempt of mine to take back my goal and make myself right with God to be purely vain as it is only through regarding myself as completely inept that I can fully rely on Christ's saving power, even though I am still tempted, I admit, to think myself able in my best moments to act proudly towards God.

More to come!
(this picture is from the time I spent in New Mexico, one of the many beautiful sunsets)

A short video

As promised...

London to Brighton Baby! (Part 2)

Friday night before our trip I rode around the southwest of London for 4 hours looking for the correct route out of town. It shouldn’t have taken me more than two hours but London has a funny way of giving multiple streets the same name while also giving the same street multiple names.
Our ride down on Saturday went much smoother than I expected and although we took a few wrong turns, we were always able to make it back on track with no more than 100 yards of back tracking. We were able to stop for a nice Pub dinner along the way, however, at the time we stopped, we thought we were much closer than we actually were. After leaving the pub around 6:30 or 7, it was starting to get a bit darker outside and we realized we had almost 20 miles left to go!
The next 20 miles went a lot faster than the first 30 as we were determined to make it back before nightfall and before the rain.
We reached Ditchling Beacon around 8 PM and 3 out of 7 of us were able to ride up, better than the 2 out of 10 average of the charity ride. It was a nice cruise down the other side and when we had made it into town it was only starting to drizzle. Kyle headed to the train station while the rest of us headed to the Holiday Inn where we were able to fit all 6 into one double deluxe room. The bed was big enough for 3 and the other 3 were able to find plenty of space on the floor. An awesome 2 for 1 deal on pizzas at a shop on the corner was about all the Brighton we could handle for the night as it was almost 11 O’Clock by the time everyone had showered and we were all pretty tired and sore from the day’s ride anyway.
The next morning we went out for a quick breakfast around 11 after checking out of the hotel and then headed down to the beach to take a couple of pictures and dip our tires into the sea! From there, Emil and Seamus headed into town on their way back to the station while Chris, Lynn, and Trevor stayed near the beach the rest of the day.
Before checking out I had checked the weather report and the chance of rain had gone down from 100% as it said on Thursday, to only 77% so I decided to chance it and head back to London by bike.
I wasn’t more than a half hour into my ride when I took my first detour because the bike path that went along the highway strayed off a bit. I stopped for directions shortly after that for the first time and was told about an easy way to take some side roads back to a bike path that went alongside my route on the A23 highway. As I was on that route I saw an old beaten down bike path. I decided to go for that, unfortunately there was a small fence and about 15 feet of brush between me and the bike path. Shortly after I rode into the brush I realized these plants were Stinging Nettle. I made my way over the fence and to the bike path on the other side but not without much pain. I discovered on Wikipedia after I got home that Stinging Nettle contains a poison similar to that of insect bites. Wikipedia also said “The plants have stinging hairs (trichomes), whose tips come off when touched, transforming the hair into a needle that will inject a cocktail of irritants: acetylcholine, histamine, 5-HT and possibly formic acid. This mix of poisons cause a sting or paresthesia from which the species derives its common name, as well as the colloquial name "7 minute stitch" and burn hazel.” Just prior to this I was thinking about how my shins and calves weren’t sore or anything and they were actually feeling quite good. Not anymore.
I must have stopped for directions at least 6 times while finding my way back. The best advice I got was from a guy at the Devil’s Dyke golf course who simply said, “Keep the sun on your back and at least you’ll be going the right direction” and so that’s what I did. I began disregarding other’s directions when I didn’t think they were right. On my way back down from Devil’s Dyke I passed through a roundabout going North to South where over an hour earlier I had passed going East to West trying to follow someone else’s directions.
I stopped at a gas station to ask for directions a little further down the road. I had been biking down London Road parallel to the A23 which goes straight to London. I told the guys I was thinking of just staying on London Road but he told me that about a mile down the road, it merged in with the A23 and that I would need a lawyer if I was caught biking on that rode because I would get thrown in jail. I didn’t know where else to go so I decided to head down London Road anyway and hope that his ignorance of local bike trails would be sufficient enough that he just didn’t notice there was a bike path next to the road!
Well we were both right. London Road did eventually merge in with the A23 but there was also a bike path along the side. I passed one exit and the bike path kept going so I continued on down the side of the A23. Unfortunately, a little ways down, the bike path then merged into the A23 as well. I saw a sign for POLICE in the distance so I decided to hop off my bike and walk down to the station. I figured I would either get thrown in jail (unlikely) or they would help me find my way back onto my path. As I got a bit closer, I realized it said in smaller letters “unmaked cars operating”. There was no station. I biked back up to the nearest exit and again began biking and winding around side streets as best I could trying to keep “the sun on my back”.
While I was on the road I had a lot of time (over 11 hours as a matter of fact) to breathe in the fresh air and just have a good think about life. I decided that my journey back to London had some parallels with my journey through life.

At the end of this journey, I want to end up in London. At the end of this life, I want to end up in Heaven.

Throughout this journey, I have asked people for direction, sometimes they were right, and sometimes I had to choose not to follow them and just go the way I felt was best. On some occasions, it worked out, on other occasions, I ended up climbing large obstacles or walking down the side of the highway where I wasn’t supposed to be.

I tried to take a short cut early on and got stung.

While I was out “in the middle of nowhere”, I saw a sign that suggested I was on the right path and a feeling of relief came over me. It was then that I decided the only way I would be able to enjoy the rest of the ride was to simply accept the fact that I didn’t know where I was, that I had a clear idea of my goal, and only a vague idea of how to get there, but that I would get there eventually. It was then that I realized, the hardest part for me about living the Christian life, is letting go of control of the direction I am going in this life. I’m not saying that I’ve now done this; I just know that that’s the hardest part for me. If I could just let God take control of my life, what would that look like?

I had only been riding for three hours when I saw that sign and felt that amount of relief. I couldn’t stop smiling because I was so happy to know I had made the right choice, and that I was no longer going the wrong direction. Now imagine, 20, 50, or 100 years of trying to follow this path toward a goal and finding at the end that you were on the right track. Despite some hiccups, some detours, and a little bit of back tracking, you reached your goal.

I think that’s a little bit of what Heaven is going to be like; A HUGE RELIEF. I think we’ll get there and say to one another, in jubilant exultation of course, FINALLY! To know that the journey was not wasted, to know that the difficulty and confusion, and struggle for faith and righteousness were all part of a mandatory prerequisite, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it all had purpose, and to be finally done with that leg of life. Because I believe at that point we will see that Life has actually just begun.

Day 10: London to Brighton Baby!

My level of respect and admiration for the Ride:Well Team grew enormously this weekend as 6 of my friends and I rode from London to Brighton on the southern coast on England. I don't know the exact mileage we rode on Saturday but I believe it was between 50 and 55 miles which is still about 10 miles shy of the pace I believe the Ride:Well Team is going to be averaging every day for 7 weeks straight this summer as they cross America! I'll be making a short video of our excursion soon which I plan to post on this site. Over the course of the next week, I'll be spending some time tracking how far I rode on Sunday coming back to London as I got lost after about an hour into my journey and didn't find my way back on track until the 5th hour. More reflection on the trip to come, as well as the short video, but for now I just need some sleep. I have my alarm set for 6AM tomorrow; not sure if I'll be heading to Ironmonger or not because my quads are still a bit swollen from yesterday's journey home, but at least I have good intentions :)

Day 7: Arizona

I crossed my first border last night as planned, just barely though. My 388 Km mark was actually on the bridge over the river that separates California and Arizona. However, I slept through my morning session. It was much needed sleep since I didn't get to bed until after midnight last night, and we'll be doing a big ride tomorrow.

I picked up my bike and a couple panniers to pack for tomorrow's big ride to Brighton. I also spent about 4 hours on the bike this evening scouting out our route out of London. I got lost many times and only figured out where we'll be about 45 minutes into our trip. I'm expecting we may get lost a few times tomorrow as well but at least we'll have a solid start. Much better anyhow than we would have otherwise had, unless of course someone else was reading the map!

7 of us will be making the ride to Brighton tomorrow and then cramming into a two person deluxe room at the Holiday Inn for the night. The weather on Sunday says 100% chance of rain so we're not sure yet if we'll be riding back. I'm bringing some rain gear and still plan to make the trip regardless, although I may be eating my words tomorrow when I see how I feel after 52 miles out on the road. And then of course there's the hill right before we'll get to Brighton that everyone at our workplaces seems to know about, The Ditchling Beacon, a 800+ foot unusually steep climb that only 2 out of 10 bikers can climb without walking their bikes. I imagine we'll all be walking up that hill.

Wish us luck!!

(thanks GildedCage)

Day 6: Champions of Champions

There was a buzz about Ironmonger last night as Manchester United faced Chelsea in Moscow for the Champions League Final. It was the first time two English teams have faced off for the Champions league title. It was definitely the easiest biking night I've had so far as the game was not only entertaining and kept my attention off the workout but also got my adrenaline (and my fists) pumping several times throughout the match.

As Christiano Ronaldo netted the first goal at the 26 minute mark, I through my fist into the air, looking around shortly afterwards to make sure I was in good company…and I was! The staff at ironmonger were also celebrating as Man U. took the first lead of the night. Chelsea’s go to guy, Lampard, responded just before half time with a goal off a rebound.

The game wasn’t decided until the 14th shot of the shootout when goalkeeper Van der Sar rejected one from Chelsea’s Anelka

For full coverage go to http://www.uefa.com/

Anyway, it kept me entertained for about two hours and helped me crank out 63 Km last night on the bike. Combine that with the 40 Km I rode this morning and I’m within striking distance of making my first border crossing into Arizona this evening! Follow this link to see my latest progress:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=115645441922679210953.00044d91f1f27576fb504&mid=1211202275

Cheers,
Scott

(thanks uefa)

Day 5: Joshua Tree National Park

I had a business meeting after work last night that went until 8 PM and after walking back to my flat discovered that I was unfortunately locked out. After searching for my roommates, I eventually walked over to talk to my landlord and he let me in. That was about 8:45.

Since #1, I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and #2 my “Average Joe’s” gym (Ironmonger Row Baths) closes at 9:30, I didn’t end up cycling last night and thus stayed the night in Palm Springs. I have to admit though, if I were going to unexpectedly stay the night somewhere, Palm Springs would be the place to do it!

I had a bit of a struggle waking up this morning (I think this is inevitably going to be a common theme for me) and got a bit of a late start, I still managed to pump out 41 Km this morning which brings me to somewhere just south of Joshua Tree National Park. At this pace I should be in Arizona by tomorrow night!

On another note, four friends and I just booked a hotel on the Southern coast of England, in a little town called Brighton for Sunday night! Our plan is to bike there on Sunday, stay the night, and (hopefully) bike back to London on Memorial Day! Looks like I’ll get to dip my tires in the Sea after all, even if it is the “wrong” Ocean!

(thanks *hiro008)

VIDEO: Introduction to the Ride:Well Tour

What's this all about?

I have been a fan of Donald Miller's writings since the fall of 2004 when a friend introduced me to Blue Like Jazz while we were studying in New Mexico. I didn't read another book by Don until another friend introduced me to Through Painted Deserts shortly after we hiked across northern England following "Hadrian's Wall Path" in the spring of 2006.

Since then I have read Don's two other books, Searching for God Knows What and To Own a Dragon. I highly recommend all of them. I signed up for Don's email newsletter a few months ago and this past weekend received the first letter Don had written to us. In this letter he described that he would be riding across America to support the Blood:Water Mission, a not-for-profit organization with a goal of building 1,000 fresh water wells in Africa. This bike tour is designed to raise awareness of the mission and support the cause financially by way of donations.
For detailed information on the cause please go to...

http://www.bloodwatermission.com/

http://www.donaldmillerwords.com/

http://www.ridewelltour.com/

From these sites you’ll be able to see a much better description of the cause including a video from Don Miller describing his recent involvement with the Blood Water Mission.

So where do I fit in? Saturday morning I encountered a moment of inspiration, which turned into a surge of ambition, and in a rare turn of events, evolved into action! After reading the email from Don, I roused myself from bed and asked my flatmate what the distance would be to bike across America. We found on Google maps that from LA to Washington DC is approx. 4,305 Km (2,675 Mi). I know that doesn't actually equal coast to coast but I plan on updating the exact route after I find out where the team will be taking off from and ending. I'm planning to do the 4,305 kilometres in a gym here in London, England. In order to complete the 4,305 Km in seven weeks I'll need to ride an average of 615 Km/ week. My plan is to bike around 30 km/hr for 3 hrs a day; an hour and a half in the morning before work and another 1.5 after.

I know my ride won’t exactly coincide with the team’s because I’ll be going on a few holidays during that time, thus in order to finish around the same time, I’ve already started my ride!

I’ve also started tracking my progress from Santa Monica Pier in LA on Google Maps. You can see where I’m at by following this link to Google maps:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=115645441922679210953.00044d91f1f27576fb504&mid=1211202275

Thanks for your interest in the mission! If you would like to support the cause financially there is a link on http://www.bloodwatermission.com/

Right now I am in the process of investigating Deutsche Bank’s fundraising matching scheme so if you’re considering a donation, please hold off until I find out whether I’ll be able to track it somehow and use it towards the matching scheme.

Check back often for updates and to find out where I’m at on my journey across America (sort of…)!


Cheers,
Scott

P.S. Don, I'm planning to be in Portland sometime in October. Let's do coffee :)