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

Up Up Up (Day 39)

It seems strange to be surrounded by mountains since for the last five hundred miles or so it has been flat. However, despite that strange feeling I get I am super excited to finally be in mountains. For most of the day we climbed up to a pass that was about 9400ft high before going down a little to the other side where it is pretty flat. While climbing we were surrounded by 10,000 to 11,000ft mountains. As we came over the pass off in the distance there were snow covered mountains about 13,000 to 14,000ft. Eventually we will be heading up to Hoosier pass which is at about 11,250ft. We should bike up to the top of that pass tomorrow and cruise down to Breckenridge.

Today we decided to camp in the town park of Hartsell, CO. We met a very nice couple there who took us out for supper and want to take us out to breakfast tomorrow. They were also very helpful in helping us understand more about the area. It seems as we keep biking things will get more and more rural. It will be common for towns to be about 50 miles apart. We are really getting into rural America now. Another interesting aspect of the area is how dry it has been on this side of the pass. The couple told us once we cross over the top of Hoosier Pass there will be snow all around us. The side we are is very dry and only got about 12 inches of snow this winter. However, just over the pass places like Breckenridge have had a record season of snow. So it looks like we will see snow again!
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