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, April 4, 2011

Camping In The Rain

We started out with a beautiful sunny day and ended up camping in the rain. We were hoping to make it to Utica, however we were about 35 miles short. So instead of having a house to stay in we used our tent.

The reason we were slow had nothing to do with the climbs. The road was fairly flat as it ran along the Erie Canal. Even though it was a sunny beautiful morning the wind was blowing against us at about 20-30mph. That slowed things down a lot. However despite the wind the scenery was very beautiful once we got out of Albany.

Going through Albany was fun, but draining too! I am finding that riding with lots of traffic tenses my muscles a lot. We crossed the Hudson River on route 20 which is virtually a freeway in that area. We then went through downtown Albany which was rich with history.

Once past Albany we were into the farmlands. We kept going till about 8:30pm. We wanted to hit 70 miles. By the time we finished it was dark. We set up camp in the woods, cooked some food, and then went to bed. By the time we got up for day 6 it was pouring rain. We slowly got our stuff together and packed our wet soggy tent up.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 4, 2011 at 8:43 PM

    It is great to hear of your progress. The two of you have been in my prayers daily as you embark on this adventure. I hope you get warm and dry soon.
    ~sherlock

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 4, 2011 at 8:55 PM

    Is that your super stinky tent?

    Brandon

    ReplyDelete
  3. GabeApril 4, 2011 at 9:56 PM

    Yaaaa! rain camping! That is living. Remember you're mostly water inside. Being dry is illusion. :)

    Gabe

    ReplyDelete
  4. bob davittApril 5, 2011 at 5:54 AM

    How you guys did it in the pouring rain is beyond me .... but of course what else would there be to do except pedal on. Glad the wind was with you!!
    -bob d.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Erik DavittApril 6, 2011 at 3:58 AM

    Yeah... I didn't bring that stinky tent lol.

    ReplyDelete

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