Day 5. 596 miles.

So today was supposed to be a little longer at 122 miles. I started earlier than usual and was planning on getting to Plymouth (right outside Minneapolis) at around 4:30 or 5. So it took a lot of changes to put me back 4.5 hours to arrive at 9:15.
Good news is my legs feel great and when I was on the bike today, especially towards the end, I kept up a good pace just above 15mph. But what made me so late? Well…
3 flat tires
1 shredded tube
1 hour of trying to hitchhike
1 hour borrowing frank’s (a guy I know from all of 2 minutes talking to him) mini van to go get a new tire from the only bike shop within 30 miles.
Talking the guy at the bike shop into selling me the only tire he had left in my size even though someone else special ordered it.
Driving the van back.
Starting to finish the 84 miles I had left at 3:30 sucked! I even considered hitch hiking to make up for lost time but just biked it out instead.
Ended up to be fine. Just late to the Harrison’s which sucks but I had a good night.
Today’s route put me farther past Minneapolis than I thought so tomorrow is short. Only 90 miles. Should be fun.

Thanks to everyone for the calls/texts/tweets. Once I finally got service on my phone it was so great to hear from many of you. Please keep it up!

Day 4. 474 miles

Today was the hardest day to get moving in the morning. In the morning I’m nicer to my legs, even a little sympathetic to their pain, so I stretch them and message them knowing its all just an act. They won’t feel good. Not in the morning or day or at night. The consoling of sore muscles is just sad. I look at them and know what they’re about to do. What I’m about to put them through.
After training for the past couple months I knew days like this would come. In training you listen to your body, don’t overtrain, eat right, cross-train, if really necessary take a day off etc etc. I’ve found that while actually doing the event (now biking) you also listen to your body. Then you tell your body to shut up and pretend like it doesn’t hurt. Kind of pointing your finger at it and cutting it off every time it starts to whimper.

That was what today was. Pushing far past discomfort, far past pain and starting to learn a little about trying hard. I think a lot while biking because that’s all I have time for/can do.
I’ve come up with an approach/thoughts to all this
1) Pain can’t hold you back. Only the desire to not be in pain can. Accept it, deny it, turn your mind off, love it, or hate it. Whatever it takes just get over it.
2) Treat your body like a machine with an on and off switch. Then never choose the off switch.
3) Never slack off. If I find myself slowing up a hill I kick into overdrive to remind myself to work hard. Have two speeds. Fast and faster. To quote Steve Prefontaine “to give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”. So while it’s hundreds of miles long I try to approach every mile with a sprinters mentality. Give every pedal everything I’ve got. Don’t sacrifice the gift of a healthy body and healthy mind.
4) Think about the kids. Through all this I hope the kids who get the scholarship money for camp know how much I want them to go to camp. I hope they know that this week of discomfort and pain and sweat and fighting my muscles is all for them to experience and learn about a guy that gave up His life for them. I consider it a small amount of effort to give for something so good. I hope I can give people a small glimpse, even as unrelated as it is, as to how hard I believe we should work for God and people and each other.
5) Go into every day, and every moment of every day, wondering about how everything I mentioned before incorporates with my potential. Do everything I can to tap in and discover my potential. When it’s mile 45 of the day and mile 425 overall and there is a 2.5 mile hill with a couple hundred feet of elevation to climb and you have 55 miles to go after is the moment I love. There I get to see effort. I get to see exactly what I’m made of. Then I get to try to improve on that tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll ever achieve being great or some level of excellence or anything but I love trying every day. It feels right.
6) Lastly, and most importantly, thank God. I know it sounds corny but it’s true. I spend a lot of time every day thanking God for a good set of legs. Some people are smart, some good at business, some good athletes. I think I have a lot going for me to thank God for but one is definitely legs to bike with. I consider it a gift. One that I want to give up to do good for God.

On that note it feels good to have more distance behind me than ahead. 325 miles over 3 days sure does sound nice. Can’t wait for the week of camp after!

Day 3. 375 miles

Today was spent traveling from Janesville to Richland Center Wisconsin. The countryside was, again, beautiful but early on the hills got me pretty good. It was about 4 hours of up a hill at 8-10mph and down at 20-30mph in quarter to half mile increments. Basically it was enough to give my quads a good shredding from the get go. But this was the only challenge today which was pretty nice.
The downhills were good but knowing another uphill would follow was annoying. Finally I made one last climb before going down a hill that seemed to turn and wrap around the large hill like a steep switchback. It lasted for about 3/4 of a mile and, without pedaling, I got up to 38.5mph. 38.5mph is fast especially if you know my bike Jazzy (the jazzy maiden). I call her jazzy because she’s blue and whenever she’s in motion she squeaks and makes a knocking noise every now and then. I like to think she’s just playing a little song to pass the time.

After that I had a slight tail wind (which felt like heaven) and averaged about 16mph all the way to Richland Center.
Once there I made my way up my host families steep driveway where they greeted me. Their house was amazing with a view to match. Best of all was the family. Diane, John, Mckenzie and Alyssa welcomed me to their home where I was then treated like a king. The girls even took me out to ice cream after dinner. I got to tell them all about the Dale House and Young Life too.

Wasn’t expecting today to be as easy as it was and have such a great family to hang out with as well. I can only hope tomorrow goes so well.

Thinking of all of you. Feel free to call/text me anytime! I miss you all!

Day 2. 275 miles.

Today went pretty well. There was a headwind the entire 110 miles but it was really strong for about 60 miles (corn fields) which slowed me down to what felt like a snails pace (12-13mph). It was more mentally than physically exhausting. I was able to pick it up the pace in the last 25 miles and finish strong.

The worst part of the day was losing my wallet. I absent mindedly left a pocket open on my bag after eating a snickers bar during a stretch. I backtracked 7 miles or so and didn’t find it where I stretched and didn’t find it. So I biked back wondering how on earth I would make it to Minnesota with no money for food and no id to get money transferred. I wondered if I would have to beg/plead to people and just live off water and the gu/powerbars/snickers in my pack which would only last 2 days. Right as I was thinking this I almost ran over my wallet. I slammed on my breaks jumped off my bike so fast, threw it on the ground, and ran to my wallet. I had biked around 14 miles (about an hour) from when I lost it to when I found it, right next to a sidewalk, and no one had picked it up. It was amazingly lucky. Gotta give credit to God on this one because, in between less kind words, I sent up about 1,000 prayers and also just asked for the situation to work out. Guess he thought it easier that I just find it than have to organize people to feed me randomly.

Well that’s all. I’m in Wisconsin now. Met my family for the night and they’re cool. I gotta sleep now though. Thanks to everyone for the texts/phone calls today. Was very encouraging.

Day 1 under the belt. 164 miles

After 750+ training miles I had 0 flat tires. Today I had 2 and. Slashed tire to deal with as well. When a piece of glass cut my tire I put a new tube in, inflated it half way (hoping to keep it from too much pressure and popping) and biked through the ghetto of Gary Indiana (murder capitol of the US or something like i think?) to get to the nearest bike shop 18 miles away. This all added a couple hours and extra miles onto the trip.

When I got to Chicago it was a relief to see my friend Greg waiting outside holding his arm out like a finish line and cheering as I rode by with my hands in the air tour de France style.

After that we went to Chipotle and I had 2 burritos and a large coke (still gonna lose weight) and a couple large glasses of water to prepare for tomorrow.

Overall highlights from today were passing through 3 states on my bike. Seeing the Lake Michigan coast from those three states and some alone time on my bike (I’ll probably get sick of that by tomorrow or Wednesday)

Raising money is going well but please still consider helping by giving or spreading the word.

I’ll keep you updated on everything.

Keep on Keeping on

I’ve been giving my legs a rest the past couple days. I biked 45 miles tuesday and it was so easy I almost forgot I even went out. The weather has also sucked which has made me feel less bad about staying off my bike. I’ve been focusing more on raising money, my diet, and working on the lose ends of the trip.

It has paid off too! I finally got some word on sponsors and to my surprise raised just over $600 for kids to go to camp which is a good start. I got my bearings on what funds I might be able to raise and have set a goal of $2/mile ($1,600 total… a goal I would love to blow out of the water since my original goal was $3,000 which may have been a little lofty). Most of the sponsors weren’t people who already told me they wanted to give. A number of business sponsors have been helping out from small companies giving money to a screen printing company helping me out with a jersey and bike companies helping me out with gear (check out the sponsors in the “Biking Kids to Camp” page above).

Things have been going great. I want to thank any of you again you have supported in any way and ask you to keep going with me. As much as it is tempting to go it alone sometimes I am encouraged by doing things like this and seeing the people who want to get involved.

Thanks and God Bless.