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 29, 2011

Rain, Rain, Rain.... (Day 27)

We woke up early again to do a long ride. The day did not look good from the start, but with a warm front being stalled over us our only option was to ride. That meant more rain again. This time we started in the rain and we finished in the rain. In fact it rained most of the day. A steady drenching rain. Our cloths from last night hadn't dried so we ended up having to put on damp cloths and head out again.

While it rained most of the morning the hills were a lot easier then yesterday. Instead steep long uphills the terrain had a lot more rolling country side today. Despite the rain the riding was very nice. Later during the day the rain stopped and we came to a viewpoint. Off in the distance it seemed like we could see a little bit of sunshine. After some more riding we were heading to darker clouds off in the distance. It didn't look good. Off in the distance we heard some thunder rumble. All we could think about was yesterday and how bad the lighting storm was. We continued to bike hoping things wouldn't get worst. We eventually came to a town and decided not to stop. The thunder didn't seem like it would be too bad because it was very sporadic. Plus we wanted to make it to a motel before dark. Stopping to wait the storm out would have delayed us from finding a safe spot at night. It is a good thing we didn't wait because the storm never passed. It was mostly rain with an occasional rumble of thunder.

Eventually we made it to the small town of Hartville. There we grabbed a quick snack and headed off. However, it wasn't long before we found out that the route we needed to take was closed. There was a detour but this would turn our 25 mile ride to the motel to a 40 mile ride. This news was very depressing because it was 4:00 and still raining. If we were to bike another 40 miles we wouldn't make it to the motel till about 9:00pm. As we started to ride the detoured route a man pulled up next to me in a car. He said he was a pastor of the local Baptist church. He was wondering if we would like a place to stay. Being down about a motel being a good ride away, I said it would be great. One great thing about this trip is how well we have been taken care of by others. People have done so much for Abdiel and I it has been amazing! A great learning experience to all the good that can exist out there.
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