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, June 2, 2011

In the End

One thing I have learned on this trip is how generous the American people are! All throughout our trip we met people willing to go out of their way to give us a helping hand. Sometimes it is easy to fall into the viewpoint that Americans only care about themselves, and are unwilling to give a helping hand. However, during this journey I discovered the opposite! It is easy to fall upon that viewpoint when we do not put our trust in others. There s till are great people out there! They surround us all!

Now that the trip is over I would encourage anybody to try a trip like this. It doesn't matter who you are. With the right mindset, anybody can do it! I hope this blog will be useful to others interested in doing the same or may inspire them to seek an adventure of their own!

Here are some stats from our trip:

We covered two countries (United States and a little part in Canada)
We went through 16 States
Max speed 52-54mph
Steepest Grade was in Ohio
Highest pass was Hoosier Pass in Colorado
Rainiest Weather was in Missouri
Worst riding weather was from Walden, CO to Saratoga, WY
Out of 62 days we only spent 5 days in a motel
We only took five full days off for the entire trip
With days off we averaged 69.3 mi/day
Without the days off calculated in we averaged 75.4mi/day
Our lowest average speed was 8.1mph
Our highest average speed was 13.5mph
Our average total speed was 10.7mph
If we had biked nonstop with no rest or sleep we would have crossed America in 16.5 days
Our highest mileage day was 129mi
Finally, overall the trip was 4297.97mi
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 3, 2011 at 4:10 AM

    Congratulations Erik! Love Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike S.June 3, 2011 at 6:57 AM

    Congrats guys. I enjoyed keeping track of both blogs and seeing the journey progress. Glad I was able to be a small part of your trip.

    Good luck with school and your future endeavors!

    ps. You guys have me really wanting to travel across the country, more than I wanted to before.

    ReplyDelete

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