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*

Monday, May 9, 2011

Hoosier Pass (Day 40)

Today was another relaxing day. It has been pretty easy biking for the last couple of days because my new shifter will be at a bike shop in Frisco by Monday. Today we were only fifty miles from Frisco and are camping just outside of the town. Most the camp spots are closed here but that didn't stop us from camping out on the snow. We basically had to push our bikes down a snowy road to where there are camp spots in the summer. We were wanting to camp in Breckenridge, but at the welcome center they told us there was no camping there. With Breckenridge being a huge tourist spot a hotel was out of the question. So here we are outside of Frisco camping in the snow.

The day was an awesome day! I would say it was one of our best days. The first part of the day we spent climbing toward Hoosier Pass. The highest in our trip at 11,539ft, not 11,250 like I previously thought. For the first eighteen miles our so the grade was hardly up at all. It didn't really get steep until we had four miles left to the top of the pass. Biking the last four miles wasn't too bad because it was really scenic and kept us going. Even though we have finally climbed our tallest pass the steepest grade we have gone up has been in Ohio. I personally would have never guessed this. The grade up to Hoosier wasn't terrible. I could keep a constant speed of 5-6mph. When I was in Ohio at one of their national parks I could only keep a speed of 2mph. I was struggling just to keep riding my bike.

At the top of Hoosier we hung around for about an hour. We talked to some people about skiing and our trip. At the top people were still going out to back-country skiing. Abdiel and I were both wanting to ski after talking to everyone that was heading out. One guy told us that Breckenridge has an annual snowfall of about 300in. However this year they got over 500in. It looks like a lot of the ski areas around here will be open until June this year

Going over the backside of Hoosier Pass into Breckenridge was a major highlight of the day! There were about 10-12 hairpin turns. It was a pretty good adrenaline rush. The descent was one of the bests for the whole trip. Also as we descended over the pass we crossed over the continental divide. However, we will be riding north following the continental divide crossing it a couple more times.
Posted by at

13 comments:

  1. Mrs. Knee and the KinderKidsMay 10, 2011 at 6:48 PM

    msr dt
    i.m s that your bk b down.

    from
    EMMA

    I am sorry that your bike broke down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mrs. Knee and the KinderKidsMay 10, 2011 at 6:56 PM

    missrr davitt
    i hoop you haav no mor flat tirrss
    from ashley

    I hope you have no more flat tires.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mrs. Knee and the KinderKidsMay 10, 2011 at 7:00 PM

    mr davt,
    I yz iN a pla yth mado jane and ashley. it yz frm aLFNT and pige.

    Boden

    I was in a play with Meadow, Janie and Ashley. It was from Elephant and Piggy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mrs. Knee and the KinderKidsMay 10, 2011 at 7:05 PM

    Mr. Davitt,
    I hope you don’t have any more flat tires.

    From Connor M.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mrs. Knee and the KinderKidsMay 10, 2011 at 7:08 PM

    Misdr DAViT
    AR YW YSiNGK Miy MIDONLS CORD
    FROM Connor W

    Are you using my McDonald's card?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mrs. Knee and the KinderKidsMay 10, 2011 at 7:11 PM

    Misdr Davt wir ar you now
    from
    Arthur.

    Where are you now?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mrs. Knee and the KinderKidsMay 10, 2011 at 7:18 PM

    good day msr ddaft
    i mas yoo wa wal yoo cam bakk
    from Elizabeth

    I miss you. When will you come back.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Erik DavittMay 15, 2011 at 7:57 AM

    Elizabeth! I miss you too! and all the kinderkids! I have about 1200 miles to go. We plan on making it to the pacific ocean by mid June.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Erik DavittMay 15, 2011 at 8:00 AM

    Aurthur, right now I am near the Wind River Mountain Range in WY. Today we plan on biking over a pass to get to Grand Teton National Park. Some people have told me that there is about ten feet of snow at the top of this pass! Do you guys still have snow in NH?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Erik DavittMay 15, 2011 at 8:01 AM

    Hey Connor, I have been using your Mcdonald cards! thanks! they keep me well fed!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Erik DavittMay 15, 2011 at 8:03 AM

    Connor M, I have gotten two other flat tires since you have written me... I can't believe it! Luckily they are easy to fix! I think I have had a total of 13-14 flats the entire trip!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Erik DavittMay 15, 2011 at 8:05 AM

    Ashley, I have gotten two more flats! can you believe it? Lets hope I don't get more. Thanks for writing!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Erik DavittMay 15, 2011 at 8:06 AM

    Emma, Thanks for your concern about my broken bike! things are fixed now and working! Lets hope I can make it with no more breakdowns!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)