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*

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Chilling in Frisco (Day 41)

This morning when we woke it was freezing cold. It was most likely one of the cold3est nights we have had the entire trip. Because I had to wait for my shifter to come in around one in the afternoon we just hung around the camp. Once the sun came over the mountains things really started to warm up. The tent turned from freezing cold to hot. Once it started to feel like a sauna in there we packed all our gear up, and trudged through the snowy campground road to route 9. We biked about a mile into Frisco and got some breakfast. After Breakfast we went to a coffee shop and hung out a good five hours to wait for my bike part to come in.

Once the bike part came in the shop took another 2.5 hours to put it on. In the end everything cost about $200. I was not to happy about that. Especially with how long they took to actually put the part on. Although I should be thankful the shop didn't charge me shipping for the part because they had to special order it.

Once my bike was all set to go we headed down the road again. While we road it started to snow pretty hard on us! It was the hardest snowfall we have seen all trip. Eventually we lost enough elevation for the snow to stop. For a late start we got in about 25 miles. It was one of the most scenic 25 miles I have ridden. We saw a bald eagle, tons of deer, and a bunch of elk. The snow covered mountains began to pop out of the clouds as the sun started to set.
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