Welcome to Bike for Haiti By Erik and Abdiel

The idea of this trip began ten years ago on a family road trip. As the sights of the United States passed by me I dreamed of riding my bike across the country. I brought the matter up during our road trip. I remember saying something like “Next time lets do this by bike...” Of course at the time everyone thought I was crazy. Then five years ago on another road trip I discussed my dream with Abdiel, a friend of mine. He thought that a bike trip would be crazy, but also a great experience. Overtime the idea slowly started to develop and take hold.

While this bike trip will be a great learning experience for Abdiel and I we eventually decided to ride for a cause. We not only wanted this adventure to mean something to us, but to serve a purpose for others. This is why we have decided to ride for Partners in Health (PIH), and Haiti. As many of you know it has been about a year since the earthquake devastated Haiti displacing people out of their homes. Even more then a year later people are still living in tented communities. PIH is not only dedicated to continue to help those harmed by the quake, but has existed in Haiti for many years. As a co-founder of PIH, Dr. Paul Farmer has been revolutionizing how medicine is brought to those in need throughout Haiti. The mission statement for PIH states “When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well... Whatever it takes. Just as we would do a member of our own family - or we ourselves were – ill.” This means that PIH is very adamant about helping those who fall ill upon their doorstep. (To learn more about what PIH is doing for Haiti visit PIH Stand for Haiti website)

Any donations are greatly appreciated. We hope the links to our blog will help better inform you about PIH and Haiti. A great book to read is “Mountains beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder. You can make a one time donation to our cause and give our ride purpose by going to our PIH Fundraiser Page or if you would like to donate an X amount of money per mile we ride that can be done by going to Pledge per Mile. Remember even the smallest contributions help.

* Your donation can: give a years worth of tuberculosis medication for one person that costs about $10-$20 dollars in poor countries such as Haiti. Antiretrovirals for HIV range from $70-$80 per year, per person. *All donations will go to PIH*

Friday, April 15, 2011

Hill Climbing (Day 15)

The day started out cloudy and cold but with a tailwind! It couldn't have been any better! After only being able to ride fourteen miles yesterday by 11:00 we had gone 36 miles. We were making good progress. We had no mechanical problems except for the fact I got my 5th flat. However, that did not slow us down at all. We kept riding till nighttime and camped in Findley State Park. With a great day of riding there was only one thing that slowed us down, the hills of Ohio. Yup, that's right! There are hills in Ohio. The hills were not the longest I've seem, but they sure were the steepest!

Earlier that day we stopped at another bike shop to pick up some extra parts. The guys saw where we were riding and told us we would most likely have to walk our bikes up those hills. We just thought they were crazy. We were sure we wouldn't end up walking any hills until the Rocky Mountains. We first descended some really steep hills into a valley that contained a national park. The park was named Cuyahoga Valley, and was our first national park for the trip. The park seemed really nice with lots of trails. We road by a spot where great blue herons were building nests. There were about twenty in one tree. After riding to the end of the valley we came to the hills the bike shop was telling us about. They were short but they sure were steep. We proved the people in the bike shop wrong, and were able to bike up the hills. However it wasn't easy... It took all the strength I had with my low gear ratio, and hauling a 70lb trailer.
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