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, May 6, 2011

Meeting up with other Cyclists (Day 34)

Today we had another long day in Kansas. The coolest part of the day was when we met other cyclist biking across the country. Since we have been on the Trans American Trail we have been hoping to meet up with others. I believe one of the cyclist told me that a few hundred cyclists ride the trail across America every year. About midday, we met a gut by the name of Matt who was heading West to East. He told us that there was a German guy ahead of us who was heading to Oregon and two other cyclist about our age heading to San Francisco. He also shared some of his journey with us.

Matt trip looks a lot different then ours. He took six months off of work to ride and is taking it a lot slower then we are. He told us that he rides about 50 to 60 miles a day and mainly stays in motels. What was crazy is that he told us he started March 11. The stories of cold and snow sounded crazy to us! Hopefully as we go through where Matt has already ridden we won't meet up with more snow.

After talking to Matt we biked the rest of the way to Scott City. There in the town park where we decided to camp we met another cyclist from New Zealand. He was very friendly and helped us out with what we could ship back home. He told us to keep all of our warm cloths because the ride through the Rockies, and Yellowstone was very cold for him. He showed us pictures of Hoosier Pass and the road was still covered in snow. He also told us about a website called warm showers. It is a website that helps cyclists find a free place with a shower to stay overnight.

The information we got from the other cyclist was very helpful in informing us about what is to come. They both told us that the climbs are gradual, so hopefully they won't be as steep as the Ozarks.
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