First week down

Sorry its taken so long to update. Internet is pretty rare out here. I had to strike a deal with one of the crew members to get some face time with a decent connection. I've taken about 250 pictures so far so I'll put some up when I get the chance. Luckily, I've been writing every day, so here's a day by day account of the Journey of Hope thus far.

June 12
85 Pictures. 50 new friends. 2 days. 1 team.
I really don’t know where to begin here. Already, before I’ve biked a single mile, my every expectation has been far surpassed. I’m having a great time, meeting amazing people, and growing and developing as a person. And we haven’t even left San Francisco yet.
I guess I should start at the beginning. Wednesday I flew out of Houston to Phoenix and from there to San Francisco. There was a fellow team member, Reid Grobe from the University of Houston, on the flight with me. Together the two of us managed to track down some other Pi Kapps in the airport and we all got picked up and taken to Orientation by the crew. Orientation is taking place at the University of San Francisco, which has been extremely gracious to put us up for the few days we’re here.
Orientation has been a mix of skills assessments, where we learn and are tested on the different skills we’ll need on the road, such as cornering, riding in a paceline (a long single-file line that cuts drag), and changing tires. The rest of the time we’re either in meetings or hanging out with all the guys. It’s been an extremely busy time. We rarely get more than thirty minutes between being in one place and having to be in another, and that includes showering and taking care of our own business.
It’s been rough, but tonight we were rewarded with the evening off to see the city of San Francisco. I went with fellow TCU team member Scott Asher and the two of us walked to Haight and Ashbury Streets, where we played the tourist game for awhile. It was a great chance to relax, talk to a friend, and see some sights. After we went back to the dorm, we picked up some more guys and took a bus to Chinatown. There were about 15 of us in all and from that group; five of us split off and got dinner together. I had a great time eating with the guys and, for the first time, I felt like we were getting past the preliminary stages of friendship and really getting to know each other. We spent the rest of the evening in the various shops of Chinatown, trying on the funny hats and taking pictures. I’ve honestly never felt more like a tourist (and I’ve never been more okay with that). Also, we found an ivory tusk on sale for 95,000 dollars. It had a sign next to it that read “no pictures”. Naturally, I’ll be putting up pictures of it soon.
So, that was my evening. I love all the people I’ve met and time is flying by. I’m now in my room, cranking this out before I go to sleep. All that we’re lacking now is a bit of cycling.




June 13
Just got back to our dorms after our training ride. Now more than ever, I’m so excited to be biking across the Golden Gate Bridge and kicking off. I rode in a paceline with the other three guys from TCU and I thought that we did a great job. If we hadn’t been sidetracked by a couple of flats along the way, we probably would’ve been one of the fastest groups. I knew the other guys were going to be in great shape but I had no idea how I’d stack up. After today though, I think I’ve been able to prove to myself that I belong out here with the best.
We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge down to the piers after a 6 o’clock wake up and breakfast and worked for a bit more on riding in pacelines and group communication. After that, we took off on a twenty mile ride that wound through a lot of the districts surrounding the bay. It was a great ride. I had a lot of fun riding with the other TCU guys and we kept a good pace that wasn’t too brutal. I spent some time riding at the front of the paceline, taking the brunt of the wind resistance so the rest of the line can ride at the same speed with less effort. I did a pretty good job (in my mind at least) until, right when I was starting to wear out, we hit the biggest hill of the day and I, being the prideful guy that I am, decided to tackle it before I dropped off. It gassed me pretty bad but the ride wasn’t too long so it’s all good.
After the ride we hung out and had lunch on the bay. Lunch today was a crew chief lunch, which means that the crew chief, on a measly budget, provides us lunch. Today it was a single sandwich (one slice of cheese and two of meat) and a handful of pretzels. It wasn’t much but all it has to do is get us through the afternoon until dinner, which is sponsored by Gamma chapter at UC Berkley. It’s the kickoff dinner, so I’m sure it’ll be good. The afternoon is going to be taken up by the last of the orientation meetings, so it’s good to know that those are almost over.

June 13
Tomorrow is the big kick-off. I’m feeling completely ready so most of the nervousness has been replaced with excitement. I really need to be sleeping soon (wake-up is at 5:30) but, from the sounds of it, the excitement is too palpable to think about sleep. People keep popping into my room for a quick word or a frog snap. Also, we’re in the process of naming our bikes. Hopefully Caroline gets me across the country this summer. Wish me luck and say a prayer friends. Tomorrow marks the start of something special.

July 14
I've been really excited to be out on the road and now the time has finally come. Kick off today started with us biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, which was really cool. I blew out a tire about 30 miles into the ride and so I wasn't able to finish, which was pretty frustrating, but things could have gone a lot worse. As it is, it was a good, hard day of riding even if it did end too soon. We had an incredible friendship visit too. Every year, the Napa Little League sponsors a Challenger Division, which is like a Special Olympics little league. Their last game was today, so we were invited to tag along at their end-of-the-year party. All in all, there were several hundred people there, including us and friends and family members of the players. It really was a great experience, but I'm exhausted. Luckily we get to stay in a hotel tonight. After this its gym floors for a long time.

June 15
I am currently lying on my sleeping bag in Sutter Middle School’s gym in Sacramento, California. I didn’t have any mechanical problems like yesterday so I finished my first full ride of the Journey of Hope and I must say that it was quite an experience. After a good night’s stay in a Best Western in Napa, I woke up at six for a breakfast at Denny’s before taking off.
It didn’t take long for it to become apparent that we’d need the extra calories of that big breakfast. A few miles into the trip we left the city and hit a ridge that we’d spend the greater part of the day climbing. We had a steep climb that lasted about 3.5 miles that lasted for a half mile, followed by us hurtling down the other side. At my fastest, I hit 35 MPH today on those downhill runs, a pretty intense speed when you consider that I was on such a frail piece of machinery. This was followed by another climb, over and over. It was tough, but I really got to bond with a couple of the guys. Going at such a slow pace, we were really able to talk about some things. And we found a lot of things to keep us going. One of the three guys in my paceline (we lost one guy on one of the hills so it was only three of us for most of the day) filled us in on his mantra: “We take joy in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope”, which is Romans 5:3-4. Of course, I responded with James 1:2, “Take joy when you face trials of many kinds, my brothers.” Between that, we summoned the energy to get up the mountains. And letting fly on the bottom was great.
Also, we got to see some of the most beautiful country imaginable today. Having sights like the ones we saw helped a lot in terms of staying distracted from our burning quads. Speaking of distractions, I’ve realized that the crew members know that whatever songs we hear when we stop every ten miles or so for pit stops get stuck in our head. As such, they’ve taken to playing the most obnoxious stuff possible. I’ve had Britney Spears and bad techno running through my mind all day. Imagine trying to peddle to that. Not the best possible choices. We did manage to counteract this by singing our own songs, though. It’s just a little more difficult than you’d think while on a bike.
Once we finished in the mountains, we took a quick break and checked up on things. We did the math and realized that we’d have to set a hard pace to make rack point. We spent the rest of the day in relatively flat terrain, hauling to make it to Sacramento in time. We passed more wine country with beautiful rolling hills in the background. Lucky for us, those hills were just in the background. We ended up making rack point and coming in as the second or third paceline in. After putting our bikes up, we clapped all the other groups in and then ate lunch, which was Subway sandwiches, a great alternative to our usual crew lunches. After lunch, we gathered in two long lines and rode to the capitol building of Sacramento. While there wasn’t an appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger, there were some news crews and people around to greet us. After a few words of welcome, we got back on our bikes and rode to the middle school, where I’m typing this. It’s great to have some time off to relax and catch up on writing. Unfortunately, an internet connection is a luxury out here. Hopefully I’ll find one soon so I can put this on the internet.

July 15
Tonight’s friendship visit was great. We drove out to the Southside Art Center, which is an art center for people with developmental disabilities. Some of the art that these people have created is truly astounding. My favorite was an old landscape painting that a client had taken and painted a futuristic scene over it. It was a drab background of the previous landscape with brightly colored spaceships and towers superimposed on the canvas. Since I have absolutely no artistic talent at all, it was really cool to see what these people could do. One of the focuses of Push America is the abilities of people with disabilities and I think that really exemplified that ideal.
After touring the facility we were treated to a pizza dinner by the Art Center, People First of California, and Arc of Sacramento. It was a great meal to end the day. My favorite part of the visit was a performance by the Southside Ensemble, a band made up of Southside Art Center clients. It was great to see all the guys get into it and even better to just sit back and watch those amazing people show their talents. It’s definitely been a full day. The best part is that every day is getting better. I’m living the dream right now.

July 16
The trip to Jackson today was a frustrating one for me. I finished my first full ride yesterday and really thought I was beginning to get in the proper rhythm of things and then I had to deal with several setbacks today. I volunteered to sweep today, which means that I and one other rider stick in the very back of the group and wear orange jerseys so the crew can know exactly how far along all the riders are.
Two miles into the ride, we came up on the back group dealing with a flat. We thought it was just a flat tire but it turns out it was completely blown, which means that we wasted a good fifteen minutes working at it until we realized it was a goner. After we racked the person who lost his tire, we had to hop in a crew van and drive up ten miles to the next crew stop where the other sweep and I jumped in with another paceline. We biked a hard ten miles and then we stopped at the next crew stop. From there we gave all the riders there a head start and spent some time with the crew. After awhile we left again, just the other sweep and me. We only rode about two more miles before my tire, the second one in three days, blew out. Flats are a fairly common occurrence on the road but some guys make it across the entire country on their original tires so losing two in three days was extremely frustrating, especially because my spare was in the bottom of my bag in a crew van thirty miles down the road. I was really disappointed to be done for the day after only biking about fifteen miles.
On the positive side though, I did get to spend some time with the crew. Honestly, some of my favorite guys out here are crew members. Apparently, there’s been an ‘us versus them’ mentality between crew and cyclists in the past but I haven’t seen it at all out here. They work just as hard, if not harder, than the cyclists do and they get none of the glory. They’re up earlier in the morning and later in the evening than we are and they never eat until all cyclists have. With the cycling portion of this trip, one could easily be motivated to participate for the wrong reasons: the glory, or just the physical challenge. However, with the crew members, you know it’s purely a labor of love.
I’d only been in the crew van for about twenty minutes when one of the guys I was riding with invited me to take a quick power nap. I figured I would rest for about fifteen minutes but next thing I knew I was waking up an hour and a half later to the sound of all the riders being cheered into the city. It definitely wasn’t the plan to crash like that but it was probably necessary that I got that rest. Even with that, I took a nap once we got settled into the gym. I guess I’m just more tired than I thought. Tonight we’re getting fed by the Jackson Lions Club at a place called Mel and Faye’s Diner. I’m really looking forward to it. A good meal is greatly appreciated out here and I fully expect tonight to deliver the goods.


July 17
Today was the infamous Kirkwood ride. From what I had heard, going in it sounded like it would be the hardest ride of the summer. Looking back on it now, there’s no way that we can possibly do anything as difficult as what I just finished. Today’s ride pushed me mentally and physically harder than probably anything I’ve ever done. But, having done it, I couldn’t feel better.
The day started off at 6 am with our wake up call. Breakfast was provided by the fine folks at Mel and Faye’s Diner in Jackson. We were fortunate to have such a good breakfast provided. Most dinners are sponsored and a lot of lunches are as well but almost every single day our breakfast consists of half a bagel and a banana. I guess they knew that we’d need the extra calories.
We left Jackson at 8 and began climbing almost immediately. The climbs weren’t as steep as those from a couple of days ago, but they were much longer. We started the day at 1,000 feet above sea level and within a few hours we’d climbed to 5,000. It was a steady, constant climb but I had a really good paceline and we all managed to pull each other through. One of the other TCU students, Adam Wilson, had some problems with his knee and had to compensate with his other leg for most of the ride but gritted it out and we had few problems other than that.
One of the advantages of today’s ride was that we were treated to some beautiful vistas. We ate lunch with some other groups at a scenic overlook about 5,000 feet up. It’s easy to zone out by staring at the tire in front of you but one look off to the side was often enough motivation to keep going. Lunch was short but sweet. The crew members were playing music and a lot of guys had stopped so it was a very welcome break from the monotony of slow uphill climbing.
We never adopted a particularly grueling pace, but we took short rest stops and everyone pulled consistently and evenly and we made really good time. We climbed as high as 8,000 feet before we got a break by riding downhill for a couple of miles down to 7,100 feet. After that, we had another climb ahead, this time to almost 8,500 feet. By this point in the climb we had pretty much passed through the threshold of pain and our bodies were doing everything automatically. We just got to the point where thought was more a liability than an advantage and after that the whole experience became a numb one.
At 8,500 feet, we came to the top and looked down on a huge drop. The decline lasted 14 miles and we lost about 5,000 feet in altitude. At my peak, I went over 50 miles an hour on my bike. It’s a sensation that’s a lot like skiing, except the consequence of falling is much, much greater. Once you hit a speed like that, there’s not a lot you can do for yourself in the event of a bump in the road or some other debris. To be honest, I made peace with dying on that road. I have never been more scared in my life. It was just like a roller coaster except that tiny voice in the back of your head that tells you that you’re safe is silent. I’m not sure I’ll ever go that fast again, but it was definitely worth it for the singular experience.
Once we plateaued at the bottom, we knew it was just a matter of time before we would be pulling into our lodging. The ride just didn’t seem to end though. We had a few miles of straight, flat ground during which one of the guys in my paceline said something along the lines of “Take that, Kirkwood!” Sadly, the mountain had its revenge soon enough. There’s a running joke around here that says that we spend every night at the top of the biggest hill and today was no exception. Just when we thought we had conquered the beast, one final, neverending hill loomed ahead. By then, my hands, butt, and back where completely numb. Every peddle was more of a mental battle than a physical one. But we got there, somehow, some way. The Jackson Lion’s Club drove all the way out to Markleeville and grilled out for us and every time a new group rode in they would throw a hot dog and hamburger on a bun and make sure the riders were well taken care of. Five minutes after arrival I had downed two hot dogs, two hamburgers, and a few brownies and I was off to the showers. The rest of the evening was spent cheering the rest of the guys in and relaxing with the Lions Club members who made the drive out. My group finished the ride at 6:30- a 10 and a half hour ride. Other groups lasted as late as 8 before coming in.
It was a monster day, something that truly took everything I had. After this, every other day this summer seems like a joke. As difficult as it was, I loved it and really enjoyed the challenge. It was precisely the type of day I had in mind when I signed up for this experience. Already I can see the extent to which I’ve grown by being a part of this day. I’m having the journey of a lifetime, and I can’t express how thankful I am, to my parents, my friends and family, my supporters, and to God for giving me this opportunity. I love you all, take care.

July 18
My favorite sportswriter is Bill Simmons. He's a huge Celtics fan, and he writes that some of his most poignant memories as a child were watching Larry Bird's Celtics and their championship runs. However, he didn't remember the championship teams as much as he remembered the defending champ teams. He writes that "the way you can look into the essence of a team isn't by how it wins a championship, but by how it defends that championship the next year." He discusses how Kevin McHale broke his foot but gamely continued playing on it throughout the playoffs one year in a desperate attempt to defend a title. Even though his foot and his career were never the same, McHale will tell you that he doesn't regret a single action. That was on my mind a lot today because I was interested in seeing how I would respond today after yesterday's ride. Today was forty miles long and mostly flat, which was pretty new for us.
It's been astounding to see how much better of a cyclist I am now than I was a week ago. As a group, we're much better at handling our bikes and our pacelines are much tighter. A week ago, we would be able to ride about 18 miles an hour on flat terrain. Today we averaged 22 miles per hour. When I was second in line, my tire was literally three inches off of the leader's. Admittedly, we were gunning it today and trying to finish as quickly as possible, but it was good to see that I can go much faster now than I could previously. It's also been heartening for me to see where I stand in the group. As of today, I think I could ride in the fastest paceline the South route has to offer and hang in there. Hopefully I'll just be able to keep improving with time.