4 - Patrick Wanninkhof

It's going to be a late night due to blog posting. Technically, it's already the next day on the east coast. I apologize for those waiting to read this that have to read it in the morning instead. It was such a long day today, because of what happened yesterday. I climbed up Loup Loup Pass today and roughly 1/3 of the way up, I broke down into tears. This is why.
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Yesterday was a terrible day for cyclists all over asociated with a cross country organization. My team rode into camp early. We were out having drinks when my route leader came into the bar and went over to another leader. "Did you hear what happened today? There was an accident and someone was killed with Bike and Build". My heart stopped. I couldn't think. I couldn't move. Then my heart raced faster than it did the entire trip. Erin. Is she okay? What about her teammates? I fumbled for my phone. It took a minute for me to even get a hold of myself long enough to say "Hey. Are you okay?" As soon as I did, I felt a relief. She responded quick, praise the Lord. The accident was a separate ride for their organization, but her route leaders knew the man who died and some of her teammates knew the girl who was injured.
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How could I have managed if it was her? The girl who was inspired, perhaps even convinced, by my cross country aspirations. What would I say if it was her teammates who I know she must be practically best friends with by this point? Questions poured into my head as tears poured into my eyes at the bar. I stared blankly at my phone thinking about what if it was the other way around. What if it was my organization? If it happened to my team? If it was my friends? Me?
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I panicked. I panicked a lot on my trip up Loup Loup. If my orgnization had this happen, I would be petrified. So many people are working hard to make sure we remain safe and that can be wiped away so quickly. If it was my teammates, specifically? I couldn't finish the trip. Before the news yesterday, we calculated how many hours we all hang out with each other and compared it to how many hours you hang out with your friends in a normal week. By comparison, we have been friends for almost 2 years. I can't fathom a world where these people were hurt. We have had some close cars pass us and run us of the road, though we work hard to make sure we ride as safely as possible. If it was me who was hit, I thought about the disappointment. The fear and anger of those at home. The regret for letting me do what they saw as crazy.
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As a rider for an organization of this size, we preach safety and call each other out often. "You forgot your helmet!" "Car back!" "Loose gravel!" We make all efforts to keep ourselves out of danger, all we ask is for drivers to not add unnecessary peril. The tragedy that occured yesterday was not one that can blame the young man named Patrick Wanninkhof or the woman named Bridget Anderson. These two were hit from behind by a woman who was "distracted by her phone". I have never imagined this in my life. Today, I did. I replayed that scenario. I saw it in my head. My teammates getting hit. Myself getting hit. This young man named Patrick Wanninkhof. The young woman named Bridget Anderson.
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As a driver of a car, you're responsible. You control a vehicle that has the ability to kill of you are not careful. People are wreckless with that power. People text, talk on the phone, play with the radio, so their make-up. You name it, people probably have done it while driving. It makes me sick hearing about this death. It's selfish. The woman behind the wheel who deserves to remain nameless is under investigation. They're conducting a toxicology test to determine whether to charge her with something serious or just "inattentive driving". That's it. The woman hits two cyclists, admits to looking at her phone, and winds up with a $175 fine. Patrick graduated from the University of Florida in 2012 and immediately joined Teach for America. He began his career teaching science at a public performing arts school in the Bronx. His cyclist page told of his love for helping those in need, much like my own. His life was taken and might be replaced by a fine.
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Today alone, I had two major incidences where cars put my life in danger. Today, I wore a bright green jacket (which turned into a vest after it got hot) and my same neon yellow helmet. I watched a lady who had a stop sign at a fork in the road look both ways and then go straight towards me as if I wasn't even there. I slowed down as much as I could and proceeded to swerve around her. Later in the day, I had my descent from the top of the mountain. The speed limit was 50 and I was going what can be assumed was above 30mph. A blind curve was ahead and there were double yellow lines in the road. Going above 30mph on a bike is scary. One crack in the road, bit of glass, or patch of gravel can cause a dangerous wreck. I decided to ride in the road, because the shoulder was small and more likely to have those obstacles. A tow truck approached me and merged into the on coming traffic even with me in the center of the lane telling him to wait to pass. He forced me over to the shoulder as we approached the blind curve and just in time, too. Cars were rounding the curve towards us. This truck would have hit them head on or swerved and hit me. The amount of time it would have taken him to slow down from 50 to 30mph for roughly 20 seconds is not something I think is much to ask. I've even had a car pass me with an on coming bus and lose their side mirror, because they couldn't wait 15 seconds for the oncoming bus to pass first. Lives are at stake when you drive recklessly.
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I don't want to scare you into thinking I'm unsafe. We abide every rule we can and are always prepared. I'm also paranoid now. And to end on a high note, I want to share my highlight of today. After my breakdown while climbing the mountain, a car passed me. With my still puffy, tear-filled eyes, I saw a car approach on a place where I couldn't get over. They waited behind me for a moment and when they passed, a lady popped our of the window. "You can do it!" was all she said. Those simple words and 10 seconds of patience was all it took to become a highlight of my day and a memory for my trip. I thank God for those people and I pray that you, as a reader, will do at least the simple things like this couple did to brighten a biker's day.

5 - 102 degree tacos

Short blog tonight. Arriving early to camp was a great decision. I got here at 11am.I got a good meal, a chapter of my book read, and an hour nap before I normally get to camp. Shortly after I arrived, the heat was tremendous. It was 102 degrees for hours of the day and it's rumored to be 107 tomorrow at certain points. Unfortunately, tomorrow is a 70 mile day and it's nearly 90 at 9pm. It doesn't seem promising for a cool morning like we have had.
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To make it better, I took on the challenge of a Bike The US For MS alumni to set the record for tacos eaten from a taco truck. I managed to scarf down 18 tacos tonight. Placing myself above the challenger, but 8 away from the all time record. I might have held the 8 in, but I knew tomorrow would be rough if I tried. I'll call that a victory, still.
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Tomorrow, I hope to write a heartfelt blog about the tragedy that occurred today with Bike and Build with a driver hitting a rider. I'm sure I'll sob. I almost broke down today hearing about this because I have a good friend on one of the bike and build routes. All I can say is that prayers are needed. Prayers for cyclists everywhere. We may be "rival" organizations of bikers, but we care about each other. Nobody can doubt the sorrow we feel for that guys family or the organization as a whole. Our sympathies go out to those affected.
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My alarm says I'll be up in seven and a half hours. I guess the hour nap came in handy. Wish me luck falling asleep in this sauna of a tent. Good night.

6 - Breaking down my days

I would like to take this time to quickly plug the podcast my teammate had created. It is so impressive to have time for this and it's pretty accurate to our lives on the road. The podcast is called NoTiers (like no tears and northern tier). It can be found on iTunes or wherever else you can find podcasts. Pretty sure notiers.com will also get you places you want to be.
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I digress. A day in the life of a cyclist is what I want to talk about. Well, this is in fact a lot harder than I made it seem when I was preparing to leave and maybe even when I was calling home. "All I need to do it wake up and bike from one place to the next." False. I'll take you through the process, as it might be called (It seems more like a freeform ritual to me. A process is too structured and repetitive). Because of the random structure of a biker day, I'll go through 3 days in 3 segments. These segments of the days can vary so much, that order of this doesn't matter. I just want it to seem logical.
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Night 1.
Just got to camp. Find a pretty tree or pavilion to put your bike against. Hopefully, it's going to be a dry night (it isn't). Set up your tent and move almost your entire cubby of bags into it. Organization is key, because a tent only has so much space. The sleeping bag, clothes for tomorrow, snacks and water, and whatever else you might need to get some sleep. Then the clouds roll in. Great! Rain makes everything so fun. You hurrily grab some tuna, crackers, and maybe a piece of fruit of you're lucky enough to have one that's not spoiled. Time to seclude yourself in the tent, eat, and get some sleep. Goodnight!
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Morning 1.
You wake up bright and early. 6am was the alarm, but you snooze it until you hear some other bikers stumbling about. By the time the early crowd is ready to leave, you emerge from your tent. Everything is wet. Cool, it's frigid outside, too. You quickly roll up your sleeping bag, put on your padded shammy shorts, and start hauling your things to your cubby. Tetris begins. How did it fit last night? Yeah, the tent goes on top of the duffle bag and sleeping bag. Once it's all in, it's breakfast time. Bridget is already 30 minutes into her meal. You'll just have a few granola bars, peanut butter, and maybe a banana. Oh wait. You ate that last night. Oh well. Time to throw on the arm warmers and head out for the day.
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Day 1.
30 mile legs between rest stops today. A bit long with only fields to look at. At least the biking is keeping your body temperature from plummeting. Once the sun comes out, it changes. Sweat dripping. Why didn't you leave at 6am with the early crowd? Why did you spend so much time at rest stop one? Why did you choose to put myself through this? Questions run through your head. You can't turn them off. Some are about the day ahead, some are about your life, some are about your past. Drown them out. Drown them out with music/podcasts. Freakonomics podcasts? Nerdy, but it works. You zone off to Stephen Dubner talking about whether cheap wine really tastes worse than expensive wine. Next thing you know, you have 10 miles left!
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Night 2.
A church for the night. This is nice. You always love staying indoors. You're a lot less likely to get rained on indoors! You move my things inside and find a location near an outlet. Success. You get a shower as people are rolling in. The team all arrives and a few people want to get food and a beer. Food is much better when it's not canned or cold. It's expensive, too. You burnt 5000 calories today, but it will cost how much to get that back? I guess you'll go with a burger and fries. That's a lot of calories. Back at the church, you decide to catch up on blogging, Facebook uploads, and general conversation with loved ones. It's 10pm and you forgot about postcards and never got to the blog. That was the first thing! Well... Alarms are set. 6hrs and 42 minutes of sleep if you pass out right now. Goodnight.
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Morning 2.
Snoring, alarms, indoor voices... Control them! It's 4:30? It's a long day, but that's crazy. Time to put in headphones. You need to drown it out. An hour more sleep is all you can muster. The commotion is getting louder. There is a delicious breakfast place in the first rest stop 20 miles out. That's not far. You pack up your things much like yesterday and get on the road. Breakfast is crucial. You need good fuel for today as you've got a lot of hills and distance to travel. A helping of French toast with a side of hash browns will get you there.
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Day 2.
It's 9am and you've knocked out a quarter of your day. This is nothing like it was supposed to be. You have been jamming to eminem and drake all day at 17mph. At this pace you'll be at camp early. After a lunch of peanut butter on a bagel, you hit a wall. The speed you had isn't there. Music is just making you feel like you're not as fast as you normally are. Now there is self doubt. Are your legs finally done?Maybe you needed more to eat. Some stashed clif bars and trail mix gives you a boost. Seems like 12mph is your new pace as teammates are passing at 16. You try to tag along. Conversation gets going and you finish the day with a compromised 15mph.
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Night 3.
Camping again tonight, but it's supposed to be beautiful! You take out and set up your tent, much like you always do. It smells. It smells awful. Oh that's right, your tent was wet when you put it away 2 days ago and the last thing in it was tuna and a smelly unbathed biker. Open the vents and get on with the unpacking of your cubby. No food in the tent tonight, though. You go out to a restaurant in order to charge your phone, because the trailer battery isn't working, again. You even find Wi-Fi. On the way back, groceries are bought. You now have stuff for a few days. How will this fit in your food cubby? It won't, but you make it work. Hanging out with teammates for the rest of the night will give you energy, but bedtime rolls around and you feel a days worth of biking sneak up on you. You stumble into your sleeping bag and crash.
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Morning 3.
Good morning world! You've had a good night's sleep. It was chilly and your tent was on a great patch of grass. You are ready to go much earlier than the others going out to a cheap breakfast joint with you. You sit around and realize how much more of that great sleep you could have had. Oh well. Breakfast is worth it. French toast and hash browns, again? If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I guess... Everyone is at breakfast, so it takes forever to get food and pay. You leave the diner at 9am and there are supposed to be headwinds!
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Day 3.
First time in a while, you're leaving with the others. They pace much faster than you want to go. You hold strong, because falling behind means you can't draft. The wind is too brutal to not have some blocked for you. 30 more miles left, but legs feel like cooked noodles. You drop off. Music blasting, you chug at a steady 9mph pace. No need to hurry. Arriving to camp at 4 is not worth the pain. You arrive at 5 content with your slow and steady choice, because you still weren't last! You catch up with the gang that you let slip away and you realize that the day is over. No worries. No wind resistance. No regrets. Not until tomorrow, at least.
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It's tough to bike across the country. 3 days of biking can be so different, but in the end it is so worth while. I am blessed to be on this trip and with the people I'm with. Time for bed, though. I chose this blog post over an appropriate bed time tonight. Oops. Good thing it's a short day tomorrow. :)

Family versus Framily

Family - a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household.
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Friends - a group whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection
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Framily - a group in our lives we would include in our family, whether they are blood-related or not, typically because we love them.
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Thank God for all of these in my life.
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Family. My backbone and the people who made me who I am today. My family stretches much more than the definition. I have my mom, dad, and sister who are readily at my back. While on my bike, I think about my life and how they have helped me become who I am today. I've learned so much from them.
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I see my immediate family as characters from the Wizard of Oz. My mother taught me to love, but also to be a bit stubborn. This trip is a great example of using both. I'm riding for a cause and even when the going gets tough, I won't accept riding in the van. My father taught me how to think logically, but how to think about others before myself. My dad always asked me questions I didn't know the answer to. He challenged me to know the world around me frequently as I grew up, but was first to remind me that being humble and unselfish was most important. Most of what I am is because of the lessons my parents taught me. I can't forget about my sister, though. She had the same parents, yet we are very different. She was the one who had to teach about adventure. Without my sister, I think I'd be an introvert. It is hard to think of what I would be doing, but I doubt I would have landed this awesome job or be a part of this awesome summer if any of these people were not who they are.
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I can't forget about the other family I have, though. My mom and dad both being the youngest of seven, I have a lot of relatives. Hearing from aunts, uncles, and cousins while on this trip has inspired me to not let my purpose in life go away after this trip. I am made to help others. I am built to be active. I can't let this journey end on August 4th. Hearing how I can inspire, seeing how I can make a difference, and feeling as good as I have felt in years, my family has taught me about happiness and how easily that is spread to others. Thank you.
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To my friends. My framily. I think I gloat about you all too much. We have a giant group message going and it's pretty much the first thing I look at when I get internet. All I can think of when I see it is how much I miss you, which is why I say that so often in the message. You all have seen the drastic change that has happened in my life. From welcoming me at my lowest point to my ascent into pure happiness, you all were there for me. I don't think I have time to write out to every one of you in the way I want, but I'll do my best before my phone starts dying.
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Shelby and Mariah. You're the staples to my happiness. You somehow took a tattered version of me and made him happy again. With all my dumb choices and ridiculousness, you loved me unconditionally. I am your flash puppy, but I felt that through thick and thin you were the ones loving me when I wasn't deserving (much like a puppy). You both taught me how much love means to those in need. Meg, Kait, Raj and Rachel. You are all so different from each other, but you all show me how to have a good time. All of you have been through so much stress and I have seen you overcome time and time again. Congrats on getting new jobs, quitting bad jobs, finding love, and doing what is best for you in life. You all are in theater, which means the job market is slim for you... But I've learned from Ed Wagonseller and you have proven to me that you can do anything you want if you're a theater major (even if it's not theater). The boys (Jackson, Josh, Sean, Gary, and Grant). I've gotten so much confidence from being around you all. I love your enthusiasm and carefree attitudes. You all remind me frequently what matters and what doesn't. I've seen you all in such silly states, but you know how to act when it comes to business.
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My framily is large, much like my family. Both have taught me to do what is best for myself as well as what is good for others. I can't thank them enough for support, the video messages, and prayers. I made it through this trip thinking about each one of you and how much I can't wait to tell my stories over and over again to each of you. My phone is at 9%, so I'll be ending the blog here (sorry it seemed rushed by the end). Make sure to call me, text me, message me on facebook, or do something to keep in touch with me for this next week. I love you guys!

7

...Deadly sins.
...Continents in the world.
...Seas.
...Colors in a rainbow.
...Wonders of the world.
...Days in the week.
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Seven. That is how many days are left in my cycling adventure. I'm feeling bittersweet about it already, because I know this week will be over very soon. However, this experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. The people I've interacted with, the people we have helped, and the effort we have given to make this world easier for others. I hope you have enjoyed my blogs. I plan to go back and add pictures to each blog as well as maybe give more information that I remember. I am not ending the blog now. Who knows, I might right a post every night until we get there, because days seem short from here on out (71 miles maximum).
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What I am going to do is keep reminding you that I couldn't have made this impact without your help. Your donations we're crucial in this mission and it's not too late to donate. Every dollar we raise from here gets donated to the MS clinic in Seattle. If you would like to donate, whether it is again or for the first time, go to www.biketheusform.org and click the orange donate button. It takes just a few minutes. You can donate to me specifically by choosing my name in the drop menu, or pick those from my team who I have written about. As you donate, you can also remain anonymous or out your name and a memo bragging about how awesome you are for donating. Trust me, the money is put to good use either way. Our fearless leader, Don, is all about the money we raise going towards the cause and not getting spent on anything extraneous for the organization (which is why we camp so often and don't stay in hotels or get free food). Please donate if you can. I have decided to do a drawing from a hat for those who donated $20 or more and pick one or more lucky donors to win free things I have collected from around the country. Who knows what you could win? I certainly don't know yet, but you should totally get in on that while you have a chance! I have some things already that you would want, so donate to my cyclist page and I will let you know winners later next week.

Apocalypse NOW?

This will be a short post. I'm hoping I feel well enough to finish the post in the first place. We are currently having our last rest day and it's 100% necessary even though our last rest day was 4 days ago. We are in Sandpoint, Idaho in a sports complex. This place is beautiful, but coming into this place our intern and route leader was very sick! He was puking and lost 15 pounds of fluids and things. Food poisoning, we thought. Tofurkey in a warm, water filled cooler and twice chilled protein shake isn't good for a stomach, we said.
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I'm the past 12 hours, five or six people have gotten sick. The worst two being the people sleeping closest to me last night. Yesterday, I shared a beef stick with two people that are now sick (one of which is the worst). I should feel sick right now. I should be puking what's in my system right now if my stomach history is any indicator of my immunity to stomach bugs. Please pray for us. We have 8 days left.. An easy ride out of Sandpoint tomorrow (30ish miles), 6 short mile mountain days with tough climbing, and an easy day into Seattle (30 miles). I can't imagine having this bug while climbing a mountain for 19 miles... Pray nobody needs to experience it.
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Thank you and God bless.

Bike the Us for MS Northern Tier 2015

How can I say this in a way that is fitting to the people I have called friends and role models for about 8 weeks now? I think I'll use different words that we have heard or used ourselves to describe the team, because it seemed to be a good blog format.
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Crazy. Indeed, we are. I have teammates like Emily Huber who has biked with BTUSFMS 4 years in a row with 1 year being the very difficult Bike the UK. Jack Shi left his job to come do this with us, but this lifestyle is attractive to some. It's attractive to my team. We are people who want to see the country we live in and it's beauty. You may think we are crazy and we might agree at times, but my teammates and I know that nothing this rewarding can come from a task deemed "tame".
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Inspiring. From my own experience, I know I've met the most inspiring people of my life while on this trip. Don Fraser and Cassie Wertz are prime examples of this inspiration. Don is the founder and the most chill guy ever. He is actually from Wrightsville Beach and reminds me of the surfers from Wilmington. A few years ago, he decided to ride self supported with some friends across the country. He wanted to do this to help raise money and awareness for the disease his mother has. Look at what that turned into. This man has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few years to pay for research and treatment of MS. He has touched the lives of everyone on this trip and has had the privilege of hiring a past rider named Cassie Wertz. Cassie is the only other full time employee working for this organization. If you've ever emailed BTUSFMS, Cassie is probably the one who responded to that in a matter of minutes. She works hard behind the scenes, but deserves an immense amount of credit. Seeing Cassie and Don gives me a strong motivation. Whatever those two are going to do, I would follow them to do it without question or doubt.
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Tame. We just had Phrom (Prom with a F sound) yesterday. What this means is we bought crazy outfits from all over the country and all wore them one night to go out for a bar crawl. Leo Lopez and I wore SDSU kids jerseys and the matching blue short shorts to accompany it. Others included a burning man hippie, denim diva, and soccer mom. We looked ridiculous out in public, but had so much fun. We might not be like past trips where we drink every night after the day is over, but we have fun on our rest days. Comparably, I can't say we aren't tame, but that doesn't make us straight edge folks. The non-biking stories I'll have from this trip will definitely make you disagree with the word tame.
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Athletic. False. Well... Maybe it's not completely false. Joe Letchford and Will Luck are two people who I wish I could be more like. They'll bike 90 miles and then workout on a jungle gym. Alex Webb and Brian Oliver are a different type of unreal. When they finish a day of bike riding, they often go out running. When I say running, I feel I undersell what they do. They'll go out for like 5 to 10 miles and run them at a pace that I would need to sprint to keep up with. I've heard of them running as fast as 5:40 miles. However, we have had many people who weren't cyclists before this trip. We are now fit, if we were not before. We are now cyclists, if we were not before. We are churning, bike pedaling machines.
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This trip has changed my life, but it's not the bike riding. The people are the true life changers. As always, thanks for reading this. However, I'm going to end this blog with a call to action. I've seen how much people can change lives or just motivate others to do good. Go out of your way to help others this week. It really feels good to help someone carry their groceries to their car or go out of your way to show someone else kindness. It's contagious. Until next time.

Thinking Thoughts (A Reminiscent Post)

I apologize for what will seem like a jumble of thoughts. 3 weeks left of this magnificent summer and I really can't seem to wrap my head around many things. If you haven't heard the podcast some of my teammates have created, please go to iTunes or any podcast app and find NoTiers. It's tremendous and they work very hard on it. I digress... I would like to say many things because as the podcast says, "I have a biker brain."
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#1.
I can't say enough how much everyone reading this means to me. I'm sorry I don't post here as often as I wanted, but sitting in my saddle for hours a day with nothing but your thoughts gets tough. I couldn't wait to share my stories with you all before this trip began, but now I know how difficult it is to relive and rethink these thoughts over and over. I don't know what stories I've told you or what stories I repeat in my head until I get sick of thinking them.
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I've had many mental breakdowns. I had another this morning while listening to the live podcast my teammates recorded. I don't want to spoil it, but they talked about what a biker thinks about in a given day. It's actually the most difficult part of this trip. My legs can bike 107 miles into 20mph Montana headwinds, but my head can't fathom it. It's weird to contemplate life as much as I have in these past months. I often think about my future. My job. My family. My best friends. All of the people who have made me who I am. I often think they have sculpted me into an amazing person who will change the world, but 6 hours on a bike in a day can make your head play tricks. I'm sick of music. I'm sick of comedy. I'm currently trying to listen to economics podcasts to keep distracted. People are even past that and listening to Harry Potter books. I cannot wait for Glacier National Park when we get more beauty that will help me be distracted from my thoughts.
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#3.
Dreams are funny. I don't understand them. My teammates aren't psychiatrists. They're making it harder and harder to sleep at night, which is why I'm writing this instead of sleeping. I've had dreams of my bike wheels shattering while flying down a hill, but then magically being okay when my teammates came to get me. I had a dream about crashing in cars that I needed to drive to support Bike the US for MS. I've even had the dream of being left behind and alone. It's hard sometimes because the team is so close, but I can't get out of my own head once I'm on my bike.
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#4.
I'm going to cry. I did this trip, because I love people. I love people who are deserving of the love a stranger can give. My teammates are roughly 30 people who deserve every ounce of love they can get. Some just love to ride, some have a strong connection to MS, but every one of them has been genuine to someone because they are kind deep down in their soul. I learned the other day that some people won't let us do service projects for them because the organization won't do background checks. Don (the founder, CEO, and our fearless leader) has sworn not to do them because anyone who signs up for this trip is tremendous. I don't know how I can leave these people in August. Some of them go out of their way to ask me how my ride was, some of them want to become best friends with my girlfriend, and some of them are already making plans to visit me. I am honored to be a part of this team and I wish it never needed to end.
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#5.
Bar Harbor was weeks ago... There were days when 70 miles was long. There were days when I got scared of a 2 mile hill. I've had a flat. I've had numerous bike repairs. I've gotten little sleep and slept in. I've gone over "The Kanc" and "Breadloaf". I've made lifelong friends and met patients who I will remember for a lifetime. I have been fed by churches, towns, and route leaders. I've drank floats, shakes, beers, and plenty of water. I've biked thousands of miles, skimmed through plenty of flood puddles, and waded one hundred or so feet of overflow. I've been on back roads, gravel roads, bike paths, and interstates. I've slept through strong winds and thunderstorms as well as alarm clocks and snoring. I've taken showers in churches, fire stations, parks, pools, houses, sinks, hoses, and lakes. Nothing about this journey is simple, but all I need to do is bike. It's just two wheels and me for the next 900 miles.
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God bless and goodnight.

Minneapolis MS Achievement Center

I'm going to preface this blog by saying the italicized words are my thoughts. I want you all to feel as close to what I felt during this day. Before I get into the emotions of the last day in Minneapolis, let me set the scene.
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The sun is centered above the head of thirty cyclists. We are travelling 3 miles through the city on their transportation of choice, at this point, in anticipation of a day that the founder of the company and only full time employee flew out to see. Arriving to the MS Achievement Center at first seemed like we got the wrong address into an industrial area, but delving deeper into what seemed like parking lots we found a hidden gem. The lot behind the center was turned into a precious garden and filled with patients and workers of the center. All you could see was joy, signs of appreciation, bubbles, and tears that were beginning to line your eyes.
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These people were clearly deep into the stages of multiple sclerosis. This was the first time we got to meet people who needed as much assistance with their disease. Many cyclists I'm with have relatives who they have seen at this stage, but I haven't. I've heard about friends and family who are hard off but still fighting. That is what I saw in these people.
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The first experiences with the patients both brought tears. We arrived in the clinic to applause and I was given a little windmill from a patient and a Hershey kiss from another. The best gift to start off the day was a CD that a patient made for us. He was once in a band that travelled the country, so he wrote and played us a song. We all got to sing along to his song. I would like you all to imagine the group of patients, workers, and cyclists singing to this while the patients played miscellaneous instruments (assisted by workers). This is the first bridge into the chorus (which is where I started to see the tears of my teammates and where I began to join them) :
But giving a donation to us makes you all our heroes
Fighting in a battle with out diseases everyday
A genuine concern to help us keep on getting better
Encouragement so given to continue on this way
Celebrate the meaning of this moment
By the grace of God we're standing here today
Humble in accepting what we got for free
So grateful for your service in this way
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Seeing these people was looking at the faces of the lives you have all helped us make better. The next part of our trip was lunch, where I got to know different patients like Jojo, Laura, Anna, and Michele. My team of cyclists split up and we all got to spend some time getting to know the patients through conversation. Topics include family, hobbies, and their experiences with the disease. After this, we listened to more thank yous, but this time read by the patients (more tears from me). Then they shared a movie about the clinic before we got to talk about our organization.
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The last part of the day was so tough to handle and it made up nearly half of the 3 hours at the clinic. 15 cyclists and roughly 20 patients went into their arts and crafts room and got into a circle. Cyclists would tell their name, age, hometown, and why they ride. Patients would tell their name, how long they've had MS, and favorite part of the center. Emotions ran high two people in when a patient could barely speak. Sobbing. Struggling to think of what to say. "Thank you". "I love this place". "I love this place"... I lost control of my emotions two people in. It was a roller coaster from there. We had patients who were witty and loved the spotlight to talk about their stories as well as patients who struggled due to the speaking because of the disease. As a cyclist, I didn't know why many people were riding along side me. The patients are my motivation, but the cyclist are my inspiration. These people quit jobs, cry when they see a patient that reminds them of their family with MS, and will never think of themselves first.
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It is so very hard to put you in my shoes for that day. It is impossible to make you feel what I felt in the center, but from the bottom of my heart I thank you. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to experience that. I thank you for allowing my life to change for the better. The patients in this clinic thank you for providing the donation of $25,000 to the clinic. And I hope you are thankful for the opportunity to assist these people. These nameless faces. These struggling patients of a center in Minneapolis. These wonderfully kindhearted humans.
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I am going to give whoever reading this two pieces of advice now that 99% of you will ignore. First. Donate to these people with MS. Whether that is through Bike the US for MS, another organization, or just your time for a local person with multiple sclerosis. BTUSFMS donations are collected at biketheusforms.org and takes money directly from our online donations to give it to the people in need. Everyone who is part of this organization wants every dime to go towards a cure and will make sure that happens with your donation. Second. Bike the US for MS. You will never truly understand the changes I have made in my life as well as others unless you try it. It is the most amazing experience of my life and it is extremely rewarding to see your hard work and efforts out directly into a cause worth fighting for. If you are motivated, if you love helping others, and if you have any span of time, you should bike at least a segment for this organization. I guarantee you will walk away (or bike away) a better person.
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As always, thanks for reading and God bless you all.