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 22, 2011

Not So Flat After All (Day 23)

After a good nights sleep in the Presbyterian Church Abdiel and I were off early. Our goal was to make it west of the Mississippi. The river was about 85 miles away. Today we lucked out because we had a tailwind! It was pretty awesome! Abdiel and I have had so many days with headwinds that we joke around by saying if we are heading into the wind then we must be going the right way! Way back when we first started our trip we had somebody tell us that the whole headwind thing was a myth. He told us that he had ridden east to west and only had about four days with a strong headwind. Either he was lucky or Abdiel and I are bad luck.

Nothing too exciting happened today as we road. The riding conditions were pretty mellow and we were enjoying the tailwind. The best part of the ride was when we were getting closer to Chester, IL. We were off in some farm fields when all of a sudden we came across a set of hills. The hills took us by surprise because they were long and steep. While we only had a few to climb we had more to go down. One hill I was able to hit my max speed so far for the trip. I hit about 42mph and Abdiel hit a little over 43mph. It is pretty amazing that we can go that fast without getting speed wobbles anymore. I remember the first couple days of riding my bike would start to shake going 25mph. The trailers have now become part of our bikes and how we handle them. It is actually pretty funny when we try to ride our bikes without the trailers. Without the trailers one would think we would be super fast, however without them we now wobble all over the road.

We made it with enough daylight to cross the Mississippi but decided not to cross. That is because there was no place to stay on the other side. On one of the bike maps we found a place where it is free for bike riders to camp. The spot was run by a local bar in the town. They let us stay in a cabin made for those biking across the country. Showers where available too! That night since we finished a little early Abdiel and I did a lot of bike maintenance before going to bed.
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