Future Dr. Rosen Rosen hits the road for...

Little Rock, AR

2010-05-02T08:59:00.001-07:00

The ride to Little Rock started off like most other days, except that we were treated to an amazing breakfast in Hot Springs before hitting the road. We were a bit concerned about the weather, but since it was out of our control we put our rain jackets in our pockets and crossed our fingers for no serious storms.

I started out riding with a large group, but it broke apart after a bit and I found myself with my favorite riding trio - Jen, Jody and me.

Jody of course kept the ride interesting. What should have been a quick trip into Little Rock became a series of mishaps involving Jody. It started with her flat tire, later as we were much closer some how her seat got loose and we stopped for that, and then just as it seemed we would reach our destination without further complication we stopped again for a bug in Jody's eye. This was only a problem because the bug happened to attack her good eye, so she really couldn't see much. From that point on we managed to ride the rest of the way to the church without any other problems.

We all got cleaned up and headed downtown for some fun since we had a day off. There was an event on the riverfront and started the night there.

It was all the crawfish you could eat. I of course had none and Jody wasn't so sure about them either, but cleaned her plate to be polite.

We were all quite hungry by this point, so we left the event and found ourselves a restaurant for some good dinner. We watched as the torrential downpour hit Little Rock and then made our way to a local piano bar. The music was lacking and the night was coming to a close, so we packed up our van and went to our gym to crash.

Hot Springs, AR

2010-05-02T08:58:00.002-07:00

Since I'm so far behind the posts up until CBUS at least will be mostly pictures...

The ride to Hot Springs was a favorite for me. It started off very muggy, but the view was pretty amazing even under the grey sky.

Shortly after our brief stop to take pictures the skies opened and the humidity broke. The rain felt amazing at that point. By the time we reached our destination we were pretty much drenched, but since we had plans to hit the hot springs later we didn't mind too much.

We headed to bathhouse row to enjoy a dip at one of the hot springs places. It was pretty much like a really warm swimming pool.

I was bored after about an hour and decided it was time to walk around the street some more and do some shopping. Jen and I found some fun critters (hermit crabs with very fancy shells). Unfortunately, we couldn't get one because it probably wouldn't survive the trip with our group caring for it...

We capped off the night with a trip to the waffle house. We'd passed a few and had been craving it for a while, so our time to enjoy it had come.

Arkadelphia, AR

2010-05-02T08:58:00.001-07:00

The day had finally come...the ride for world health olympics.

It started off like any other day. Tango was on support so everyone was on their best behavior in the morning since they know we mean business. Sarah Voss happened to be the very first rider to walk out all packed and ready to go, which was a first for the trip. She said she knows Team Tango is serious and she packed the night before to avoid our wrath.

We had a particularly good breakfast including some amazing donuts provided by the church that put us up at the last minute. The team hit the road and i hit the oven. It was not just a special day because of the olympics, Bryce was also celebrating his birthday and that meant cake was in order. I put my pillsbury skills to work and baked two cakes before speeding off to get ahead of the group before lunch since I was driving the lunch van. About 3 miles before the planned lunch stop I finally passed the front group and parked the van just in time for them to roll up for some grub.

They headed out on their way from the lunch stop to get to Arkadelphia to prepare for the games to come. Once everyone had arrived, naps and snacks were had and the opening ceremony was set for 3:30.

The games would consist of 5 events testing all aspects of the riders abilities - athleticism, coordination, salesmanship, teamwork and coordination.

The day started with the wheelbarrow relay race. Each rider would be wheelbarrowed to a bowl of water, drink the entire bowl with a silly straw and wheelbarrow back to their teammate. Team Rice Water Stool took the early lead. Their enthusiasm was unparalleled by any other team in the competition.

The teams at the start.

Team Rice Water Stool on fire.

Libby have a lot of problems with her silly straw.

Following the intense wheelbarrow races we took things down a notch for the artistic portion of the games. Each team was asked to create a bike from playdough and then sell the final product to the judges.

The winning team with the red giant bike.

Team Rice Water Stool's work (my vote for winner, but I was overruled)

We brought back the action with a water balloon toss.

My camera decided to die for the fourth event - dizzy bat. Pete protected riders from the fence as they staggered back to the start line. By the end the scores were tight and it would all come down to the final event - the pie eating competition.

Each team was given a pie to eat together. The person eating could not touch the pie and the first team to finish would be crowned the winner.

Team Rice Water Stool had fallen behind the lead, but would not go down without a fight, and the final event would bring them the win.

Way to go Team Rice Water Stool.

All the competitors were fantastic and rewarded with a delicious BBQ of hamburgers (prepared by yours truly and Justin), pasta salad, fruit and two delicious cakes!

Magnolia, AR

2010-04-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

Another state line today! We were right on the border and expecting to hit the sign as we passed out of town, but sadly we never found it.

We did however find some of the friendliest people. When a few riders stopped along side the road to change a flat this officer came to make sure everything was ok and then proceeded to call media people in the town of Stamps and Magnolia to let them know about our arrival. He was also more than happy to pose for a few photos.

You may or may not remember my mention of a surprise from an earlier post (heading from Ranger to Fort Worth) Jen and I were in the trail van and figured it would be fun to plan a little event for our next mail drop and support day. We made a quick stop at Dollar General to see what we could send. Then we packed it all up in a box and secretly shipped it to our next mail drop. Here you can see some of the preparation.

The package arrived right on schedule and was sitting on the table in Magnolia when we arrived at the church.

In addition to that box I also received two amazing packages. Emily and Jes sent me all kinds of important items I need for the trip. The safety glasses will be perfect for rainy days and perhaps the O.R. in the future. And who doesn't need candy!

Finally after much anticipation the entire team arrived and it was time to open the surprise package from Team Tango. The box was full of components of the competition to follow in Arkadelphia. Katie was definitely the most excited.

Since we would be on support the following day without a kitchen we Team Tango-ers decided to do some prep when we had the opportunity. Justin made some delicious looking pasta salad and Jen and I decided that rather than lose all the stale bagels to the garbage we could make them into bagel chips. We made A LOT of bagel chips. This is just a small sample...

By the time that was finished it was way past our bedtime!

Texarkana, TX

2010-04-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have a special little treat today. You get to join me for our 94 mile ride. I documented every 10 miles of it just for you.

Quick meeting to go over the route. Everyone was still a little testy from the windy day before. Brian just after saying "Andy, no jokes today, just go through the route."

First 10 miles completed. Tail wind keeping our speed up.

I was near the front so I shot this one behind me.

Still speeding along after 20 miles.

Now at the back of the line after my pull.

Rest stop ahead at mile 29.

water stop.

quick pic when we saw one of the wind mill pieces being transported by a truck. The thing was huge.

Back on the road now 40 miles in.

I was towards the front of the line again.

still speeding along.

Sarah leading the line.

another 10 miles down the road.

Sarah still pulling.

and the people behind me, including a sweet thumbs up from Jen!

Are we there yet? ...no.

Hello New Boston.

I was up front, same people behind me, but my photography skills appear to be getting worse.

Almost there...mile 80!

At the back of the line again.

so close!!!!

Good old Walmart as we get to Texarkana.

We're here!

Hello host!

Paris, TX

2010-04-26T15:39:00.001-07:00

The road to Paris was rough, you can't tell from our smiling faces, but we were awefully grumpy that day riding right into the wind. 55 miles couldn't be over soon enough!

Finally the end was in sight and we had made it to Paris! The obvious pose being an Eiffel tower like the one would see soon enough. Jody got squished, but I think it still looks pretty good.

We finished the ride at the pride of Paris, TX, a 60 ft replica of the Eiffel tower with a giant red cowboy hat atop it. We had some lunch and then the media came for some shots of us on our bikes and quick interviews with Katie and Jody.

Paris turned out to be quite a cute little town and we found a fantastic restaurant bar with internet to entertain ourselves that afternoon. But as it turned out all we needed was photo booth on my computer to keep us busy.

Everyone took advantage of the internet, delicious food and outstanding beer selection.

On the way back to the church Jen and I made a pit stop for frozen yogurt. It was serve yourself and pay by the weight. What an amazing idea. Why doesn't this exist in Columbus!?!?!?

The historic downtown had lots of cool little shops and buildings as well as a very pretty fountain.

Greenville, TX

2010-04-26T15:38:00.004-07:00

Since I'm so far behind and I can't seem to find any pictures from this day this will be short and sweet and finally I'll be all caught up...at least for one day.

We headed out of Fort Worth to Greenville. We opted to rack the bikes out of the city so we could ride more safely around Dallas. We were on our bikes around 9 and heading out of town. The wind was cruel in our faces until lunch. We met the owner of a little restaurant who was very excited about us and gave Jody lots of free goodies. He even offered to let all of us stay at his house! Too bad we needed to get another 20 miles east that day.

From lunch we had a nice little tail wind to our temporary final destination. We would rack our bikes again to avoid some construction and get to our actual destination. We were treated to a delicious dinner and then trekked over to a bowling alley slash sports bar where we watched a little basketball and I played my first game of shuffleboard. It was close, but beginner's luck just didn't get me the win. Next time.

a little headwind a little tail wind

Fort Worth, TX off day

2010-04-26T15:38:00.003-07:00

I started this trip with a mission. I would find myself a fantastic pair of cowboy boots.

Our day off in Fort Worth started way to early for me and Jen. We went to pick up bagels at 7:30am since we had been on support the day before. After getting the bagels we knew there was no sense in going back to the camp right away because everyone else would be sleeping. We figured it was a good time to go scope out the stockyards again and look into some fun things to do that day.

Fortunately a couple of the stores opened early and I was able to do some preliminary shopping. We looked in two places. I found a good pair and even better salesman in one of the stores, but wasn't ready to commit without a little more searching. I put two pairs on hold and we went to scope out another store.

We went to the place where custom boots are made. I did find some incredible boots there, but lets just say they were WAY out of my price range. Here is one glorious pair I would love to have, but could never afford:

After killing enough time we returned to camp. People started waking up and we all enjoyed our typical breakfast plus some donuts supplied by Justin's family. It was such a nice day and we were all still worn out, so we decided to take naps in the grass:

Once we were all refreshed it was time to return to the city for some shopping and fun:

I made my boot purchase and Jen got herself a nice belt and buckle. We walked around a bit and then caught up with the guys to listen to some music before finding somewhere for dinner:

We also did some browsing in several other stores. I probably should have purchased this sign, but I had my credit card held so I wouldn't spend anymore money after the boot purchase.

I also thought this was a pretty good sign as well. Mom, is there anything on it's way to the next mail drop?

Since going to jail the day before wasn't enough, we went again in Fort Worth.

And then this awkward moment occurred. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but as soon as Jody joined me on the horse we were both very uncomfortable.

We finished the night with one of the best dinners of the trip. Texas does food right with corn on the cob and an awesome baked potato on the side. Yum!

Fort Worth, TX

2010-04-26T15:38:00.001-07:00

Team Tango on support! Justin and honorary Tango member for the day Katie took off right on time (as usual) in the lead van marking the way to Fort Worth. There departure was followed by multiple complaints about how quickly we put the breakfast away, but Team Tango means business, so we just told everyone to eat fast so they could get on the road for the 100 mile ride they had ahead of them.

Eventually everyone was on their way and Jen, Pete and I stalled before hitting the road ourselves. We sported our new team uniforms for the day and got in a quick game of 3 square:

Pete hit the road next as lunch van for the day. Jen and I knew we had some time to kill in Ranger, so we came up with a super secret surprise for the team and took care of that. Details to follow soon, but since I think a few riders occasionally check out my blog I can't reveal anything just yet.

With phase one of the surprise complete we figured it was safe to hit the road. We met Jess at the first water stop, jammed with her for a bit and then saw her off, back on the road. After giving her a head start we were back on the road again.

We came across a little town of Palo Pinto. And in that town was a very cool little prison museum. This was clearly a place we needed to visit.

We checked in first. No one was there...

When we went back outside we ran into a couple ladies who worked there. They were very nice and told us all about the buildings. This room they made up to look like the infirmary with lots of old medical equipment:

After getting a good look around inside I was anxious to find the cells. They happened to be outside. The helpful lady was happy to take a picture of us in the cell, which is a good thing because I don't think the automatic timer really would have done this one justice:

Here we did use the automatic timer to pose with this happy statue...

From Palo Pinto we headed to lunch. We sat outside a Subway until everyone had eaten and we cleaned up so Pete could go on ahead to rescue some riders with bike malfunctions. Before leaving her recommended a little restaurant just up the street for lunch. He was adamant about the great burgers. This wasn't particularly exciting for me or Jen since neither of us eat burgers. We figured we could still check it out and grab something other than peanut butter and jelly.

We went inside and it was clear this was a place that didn't often see a couple girls in tie dye very often. The chalk board had the menu posted. Hamburger, cheeseburger, and grilled cheese. The option was clear. We quickly received one delicious grilled cheese a piece on hamburger buns turned inside out. Just as we were finishing up we had a call from Jess about a tire problem so we paid and were off to check things out.

She had a pretty bad gash in her tire so we picked her up and headed toward Fort Worth. We had been warned by Katie of a western wear resale shop in a town called Weatherford on the way. This was obviously something we could not pass up. We needed something to wear for the weekend, and when we reached the shop it was as great as anticipated. We both left with new shirts to sport.

Finally we arrived at Camp Carter in Fort Worth (thanks to Dr. McIlory who hooked us up with this place)! The camp was beautiful and everyone was happy to have completed the ride and be in a city. We hung out for a while and then had a fantastic dinner provided by Jess's family before heading into town.

The guys enjoyed some cold beverages and tried to look tough while drinking Mike's. Not too successful....

I showed off my new attire with Bryce before hitting the town.

We all headed out to the stockyards and after checking out a few bars to hang we came across a place called Lola's. It turned out to be a very good choice because a bluegrass band that Jen knew was playing that evening AND we arrived early enough that we didn't have to pay the cover.

We all gathered back together and headed to the van before it was too late. Everyone was hungry so we stopped at a little taco shop on our way. Pete danced on the table while we waited for everyone inside. It was the slowest taco shop ever and Pete and Tim had their minds set on cheeseburgers anyway. They headed off toward McDonalds while everyone was waiting on food.

After about 15 minutes and the beginning of a downpour I received a frantic call that they needed picked up because the inside of McDonald's was closed and they weren't allowed to walk through the drive-thru. It was White Lightening (the passenger van) to the rescue. With McDonald's successfully ordered we went to get everyone else from the taco shop and head back to camp for a good nights sleep!

Ranger, tx

2010-04-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

Rollin to Ranger one hill after another. The actual ride wasn't too eventful. Support did take some excellent photos on the road.

We had planned to take showers at a truck stop for a bargain price, but as we were getting close to town Katie and I noticed Ranger College and both thought it would be an excellent idea to ride over and ask if we could have some free showers there. We met a very friendly guy - Mr. Lopez - who was very helpful and called the Dean of students and told him he was gonna bring a couple interesting girls to "hollar at him" in his office. After a couple minutes of chatting about our group and what we were doing, we had ourselves some free showers!

Things definitely picked up in the evening at the church where we found the Karaoke room upstairs, black lights including. Very entertaining for much longer than it probably should have been.

Abilene, TX - April 21st

2010-04-21T14:25:00.006-07:00

Finally a short day! It was just 40 miles between us and Abilene. We all leisurely headed out of town. The first part of the ride was quite scenic. All was well until about mile 18 when we came up on the entire group standing around under a very graffiti'd bridge.

Travis had wrecked on a big gap in the road and was sitting on the ground. Turns out crashing with a bunch of med students isn't all that useful, but lucky for Travis we also had Jen, who knows how to make a sling out of anything. Eventually Andy came speeding up with the support van to the rescue and whisked Travis off to the local hospital.

The rest of us continued on our way wishing Travis all the best. I rode with my typical crew of Jody and Jen. We were expecting to come up on a water stop around mile 20. Sadly it wasn't well marked and some evil bandit had stolen our water jug and snacks, so we thought there wasn't one at all. Jody complained relentlessly for the next 15 miles about being hungry. Lucky for Jen and I we came up on a 7/11 and decided to stop the complaining and have Jody get a snack. We also tricked her into getting a slurpee (which she didn't like and ended up giving to us). From there it was just a quick 5 miles to the church in Abilene.

We arrived very early in the afternoon and decided to walk around and explore the town. We went on a VERY long trek and managed to find some delicious ice cream at a Mexican ice cream shop. Megan and Lauren enjoyed some of the more exotic treats while I stuck with ice cream and sprinkles.

Things got very exciting that night when we had free rein of the baptist church family center, which included a bowling alley and roller skating rink! We all got a little bowling practice in preparation for the upcoming bowling and sunglasses birthday party in CBUS and went back to our roots and did some serious roller skating and blading.

Tim getting really serious at the bowling alley

Pete and Chris

Pete and Tim rockin the lanes

Chris making sure my helmet keeps me safe

Sweetwater, TX - April 20th

2010-04-21T14:25:00.005-07:00

The day started like the previous few...grey and cold with lots of fog. With 100 miles ahead of us this wasn't a good way to start the day, but it made for a good picture of riders in the mist:

We continued through the cold and finally reached the lunch stop around mile 55 and all loaded into the van to get out of the cold. We didn't stay long because we knew we still had a long way to go and wanted to keep moving.

I was riding behind Jen and since she has been out to get my bike she didn't warn me about a very sharp object in the road that took out both my tires simultaneously.

As luck would have it the support van pulled up just as we started to fix my flats and Roshan and Jeff took over and did it for me in style, Roshan sporting a scarf and arm warmers.

Before we finished we (Jen, Lauren, Megan, and me) were joined by some fellow riders...Katie, Heidi, Brian. We all took off together to help pull each other through the wind fields of Texas. If you look off in the distance you can see the hundreds of windmills along the road.

With about 10 miles to go the sun decided to make and appearance and we hit some rolling hills as we rode through sweetwater. We were tired when we reached the high school, but that was nothing a slurpee wouldn't fix!

Lamesa, TX - April 19

2010-04-21T14:25:00.003-07:00

The day started off great with hot breakfast served in the Hobbs high school cafeteria. We headed out of town in the cold and grey (much like Ohio from October to March). Jen and I had missed a pic with the sign on the way into town, but luckily we passed the awesome sign again and got our pic. Jody thought she was posing for a senior picture as you can see in the first B.

The day didn't get much more exciting from that point on. It was 70 cold dreary miles. Most of the riders were sad because, because a key and charismatic rider, Tim was not on the road. We plodded on, alone, wondering when he would rejoin us. Fortunately, we were joined by his roommate, Heidi, who pulled us through some key parts of the day. Although it must be noted that she was completely unrecognizable, as she was dressed in rain gear which resembled a burka. There were several surprises on the way, beginning with Jen's sudden surprise Bathroom stop at a gas station. We found new strength in our legs when several dogs, closer to our destination, gave chase in the road. Our pace may have suffered at 14 for 3 hours, but suddenly we were pushing 24 when the mutts were in hot pursuit. Upon arrival in La Mesa, we checked out the town, including a DQ, dollar general, and McDonald's because we couldn't go to school until after 3. Welcome to the real USA. We arrived in Lamesa to spectate an intense game of middle school football, which several riders decided to join. The competition was fierce and Pete almost killed one of the children. As the sun set the game came to a close and we retired to the gym to catch some z's before our century to sweetwater the following day.

Hobbs, NM - April 19th

2010-04-21T14:25:00.001-07:00

The great bicycle crash day...

Team Tango (my team) was on support into Hobbs. I was excited because I had such a welcoming response from the superintendent when I asked about staying at the school and when we arrived everyone lived up to my expectations.

Jen and I were in the lead van and arrived in Hobbs to do a presentation at a church in town. We presented to the group and managed to convince many people that the cause was very worthy and received a lot of donations following our talk.

After the presentation I checked in with Justin and was informed of a big crash that had occurred. Most of the group was riding together in a line and when one goes down, many go down and that's just what happened. There were no major injuries, but a few bikes had some pretty bad damage. Fortunately the people of Hobbs were awesome and although there wasn't a bike shop in town the superintendent was able to track down a man in town who was excellent with bikes and he was able to repair two of them.

The school cafeteria treated us to dinner and afterwards we went in search of internet. We found a little restaurant with free wifi and chips and salsa and we spent some time updating blogs and returning emails before heading back to the school to sleep in the pride of Hobbs - the high school gymnasium!

Carlsbad, NM - April 18

2010-04-21T14:24:00.001-07:00

"Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a United States National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park for most visitors is the show cave, Carlsbad Caverns. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natural entrance, or take the elevator (the exit for everyone) directly to the Underground Lunchroom some 750 feet (230 m) below.

Carlsbad Caverns includes a large cave chamber 3rd largest in the Americas and 7th largest in the world, the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber which is almost 4,000 feet (about 1,219 m) long, 625 feet (190.5 m) wide, and 350 feet (about 107 m) high at the highest point." - wikipedia

We had been excited about going to Carlsbad for quite some time. It would be our 3rd national park in 3 days and it just so happened we would be there during national park week = free admission!

We decided it would be easiest to just ride right to the cavern and then rack our bikes to our host site for the night. After all we did ride 100+ miles into the wind over mountains the day before. We had definitely earned a break. However the ride turned out to be one of the most painful so far. We were anticipating and nice decent from the campsite right to the park and instead were greeted by the same winds and rolling hills as the previous day with the added bonus of some rain and gray skies.

Needless to say we were happy to reach the vans and get all packed up and head to the caverns.

It was pretty incredible and the pictures won't do it justice, but going to the cave certainly made up for the misery of the ride that morning.

Pete very excited about entering the cave:

Stalagmites:

whale's mouth:

cute group pic in the cave:

typical shot:

Guadalupe Mountains National Park - Friday, April 15th

2010-04-13T21:18:00.002-07:00

Our destination - According to wikipedia - "Guadalupe Mountains National Park is located in the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet (2,667 m) in elevation. It also contains El Capitan, long used as a landmark by people traveling along the old route later followed by the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line."

Numbers for the day:

106 mile day
105 miles of head winds
2 big climbs
1 relatively gentle grade for about 6 miles at the beginning of the day
1 climb that started off gentle for about 7 miles and became painfully steep for the remaining 6 into the park
1 completely exhausted but very proud Maggie

We got out on the road early knowing we had an epic day ahead of us, a century ride (100 miles in a day) in and of itself is a huge physical and mental challenge. Before even getting a few miles out of town we were struck with head winds. I’m not sure there is anything more frustrating while cycling than strong headwinds.

When the climbing began the group started to break up a bit. I reached what seemed like the top, but it turned out the hills just kept on rolling all day long. For a large part of the morning I rode side by side with Roshan. We couldn’t really have much of a conversation because the wind was blowing so hard it was too difficult to hear each other talk. After what seemed like forever we reached the lunch stop. Katie had located a nice little store where it cost $1 or the purchase of a cookie to use the bathroom. I decided that price was too steep, ate fast and got back on the road.

The road seemed to go on forever, but finally after passing the final rest stop at mile 80 the climb was in sight. We were warned it was about 13 miles up and would get worse as we moved further up the mountain.

The climb seemed to last forever, but finally the park enterance appeared and I knew I would be able to get off my bike very soon. I mustered up as much energy as I could to ride toward the campground and was welcomed by cheers of the support team for the day and the other riders who had already reached the top.

El Paso, TX - OFF DAY - Friday, April 16th

2010-04-13T21:18:00.001-07:00

For some reason we don’t seem to understand the concept of an off day. Here’s how I imagine it going for most people:

-Sleep in late in your very comfortable free hotel room

-Get up and find some delicious brunch/lunch for yourself

-Hang out by the hotel pool for a while
-Head back to the comfy hotel room for a nice nap
-Wake up and grab some dinner
-Reorganize stuff and catch up on blogging before getting back in the wonderful bed

Here’s how our Ride For World Health style off day went:

-Woke up at about 7:30am (after going to bed around 2am following a rockin dance party at the hotel bar and a late night run to Walmart for snacks)
-Played around on the computer for a bit to avoid waking up everyone else in the room
-Start feeling pretty hungry - contact Bryce (who would obviously also be awake) to plan for breakfast
-Send Bryce and Andy to scope out dinners and start texting everyone to wake up and get ready for breakfast
-Head to Mexican style diner for brunch - eat eggs and hashbrowns and pout because they didn’t have anything sweet like pancakes or waffles

-Return to hotel
-Spend some time helping organizing for the next couple days
-Sit by the pool for about an hour
-Reround everyone up to head to White Sands National Monument
-Drive out to White Sands
-Purchase sled for sand dunes

-Run around sand dunes for a few hours

-Watch beautiful sunset

-Reload van and head back to hotel...exhausted.

In the end, amazing day - but probably not the best preparation for a century ride the following morning...

El paso, TX - Wednesday, April 14th

2010-04-13T16:06:00.001-07:00

We had home stay in Las Cruces. I had a lovely night with a guy named Joe. He housed 7 of us, treated us to smoothies, and we watched one of his favorite movies with him.

Everyone reconvened at the synagogue early in the morning and enjoyed an awesome breakfast while the lead van marked the route. We needed to get on the road quickly to make it to our Global Health Day event at the Paul L. Foster school of medicine in El Paso. Along the way we made two important stops.

One at what we thought was the the sign for entering Texas

And then again about 400 yards down the road at another sign welcoming us to Texas.

When we entered the city we all met at a gas station to rack our bikes since the streets weren't very bicycle friendly. We headed over to our event, which turned out to be awesome.

We gave our revamped lecture and they had an additional lecturer. I may have missed that lecture due to my need to sell merchandise whenever possible. But it worked out for me because while I was out staffing our table I got to give an interview to a newspaper.

From our global health day we headed to the Holiday Inn where we had donated rooms for the next two days!!! I unfortunately didn't make it to the pool because it was Team Tango's turn to do laundry.

We pit stopped at Walmart for detergent and refreshments and headed to Lone Star laundry. Those industrial washers are very impressive! We filled three of them for all our gear!

Then we attempted to use our resources to dry those items none of us are willing to put in a real dryer. It didn't last very long once the wind started up a bit, but it seemed like a good idea at least for a little while.

After sorting all the laundry we rounded out the night with a trip to a little brewery for dinner and then a hotel party ending at the hotel bar which as it turns out is an extremely happening place on a Wednesday night in El Paso! We danced our pants off and before resting our tired bodies in comfy beds made a quick trip back to walmart for some snacks!

Las Cruces, NM - Tues, April 13th

2010-04-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

Since I'm so far behind on my blog right now this day will not get the time and effort it deserves. The day started off just like any other. We had a 65 mile ride ahead of us and we were on the road around 7:30. I road with Jody all morning and we had a pre journal club two man journal club. I figured since I stayed up until midnight the night before I might as well discuss the article as much as possible. It was one Adam had chosen and was very interesting and educational.

We rode through the first water stop and on to the lunch stop where all the fun really began. I'm really trying to take advantage of my time in the southwest and collect as much local apparel as I can. I'm on a mission for some kickass cowboy boots at some point, but that's not where this story is going. I'd been eyeing a particular belt buckle since the previous days stop and with the encouragement of Jen and Jody I decided it was time to make my purchase.

With a new belt and buckle around my waist it was time to leave the rest stop and get to the synagogue at Las Cruces. I hit the road with Jen and Jody and we were on our way. Just as we were beginning a massive downhill I felt the buckle loosen and my fantastic new purchase fall behind my back wheel. As my friends dropped further down the hill I jumped from my bicycle and started running backwards to rescue my belt from the road. Just then I saw Libby and Bryce coming in my direction. After checking to make sure I was alright they headed down the hill. I grabbed the belt from the road, wrapped it around me and tucked it into my spandex for good measure. I coasted down the hill hitting my max speed for the trip so far - only 41 - I'm hoping for faster another day and met back up with my friends at the bottom of the hill. We headed off together to cross the Rio Grande river and cruise through the city before arriving at our destination.

We made it to the synagogue before it was unlocked and the van wasn't there. We hung out for about an hour before Chris came to the rescue with freeze pops.

Soon after the staff arrived, welcomed us inside and fed us snacks. We had a quick journal club followed by a delicious pizza dinner and we were off to our homestays. I had a fantastic evening with Joe watching Vertical Limit (one of his favorites) and enjoying a very delicious smoothie!

Deming, NM - Monday, April 12th

2010-04-12T19:35:00.001-07:00

Team Tango on support again.

I rocked sweep with Pete on the 65 mile ride to Deming. We were awfully busy the entire day.

We acted as team photographers. This pic shot from our speeding van at about 45mph. I was quite impressed with my skills I must admit.

Hanging with the locals at the first rest stop.

Keeping everything under control.

We crossed the continental divide. Don't ask me about the pose. It was Pete's idea. I have no clue what was going on. He was a valley and I was a mountain. I'm still confused.

Lordsburg, NM - Sunday, April 12th

2010-04-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

On our tenth day of bicycle riding, here are ten lessons from the road:

1. If you brag about not having a flat yet you’re bound to get one the following day. Good work Libby, Katie, Pete, and Adam.

2. It’s perfectly acceptable to walk backwards on the interstate to get a picture with the state sign of Arizona if you missed it when entering the state because it was poorly located.

3. People who’ve ridden 75 miles through the desert are excellent customers for ice cream trucks.

4. When trying to avoid riding on the interstate a ‘primative’ dirt road is acceptable...

5. It’s important to wear your helmet at all times while walking around in your cycling shoes...Justin

6. It’s nearly impossible to find cold drinking water in the desert, but cold shower water is no problem.

7. When the battery is low in a defibrillator resulting in an annoying beep every 30 seconds the best thing to do is pull it off the wall and hide it in the locker room overnight.

8. No matter how long you try to take when getting ready in the morning, you still end up waiting for the lead van to leave and mark the road.

9. Bad road conditions make everyone angry and extra sore.

10. I’m fairly certain you could build an automobile if you just walk a mile along the interstate and keep your eyes peeled.

Willcox, AZ - Saturday, April 10

2010-04-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today was my favorite biking day of the trip. We headed out of Tucson (a very bike friendly city) on our way to Willcox (just 87 miles away).

The first 10 miles consisted of big bike lanes and smoothly paved streets...mostly.

Then we headed east along I-10. We encountered some rolling hills and I’m finally starting to feel like I’m getting my biking legs...at least a little bit. Unfortunately doing one century ride in August and basically no physical activity until starting a cross country ride in April is a bit uncomfortable.

During the ride we played a little game called “who can find the coolest thing on the side of the road” Jen would have won since she saw an entire intact owl, but about an hour later we saw another one, so it was a tie for the day.

We cruised a little faster after lunch heading toward and very hyped up water stop at a place advertised constantly on the side of the road called “The Thing.” We finally arrived at 3pm and saw it. Turns out the advertisement is false and it’s just a bunch of things.

With all the rolling hills we were a bit afraid of what the last 20 miles into Willcox might hold, but no need because it was mostly downhill with a bit of a tailwind and we were hangin out at Willcox high school before we knew it.

The strawberry support team cooked us up some mean pizza bagels and with the free wireless at the school I finally was able to catch up on all my blogging!

Tuscon "day off" - Friday, April 9th

2010-04-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

What was originally planned to be just a day off in Tucson had to be slightly modified to also include global health day. We were informed the evening before we would be awoken promptly at 6am by the very friendly maintenance man at the place we were staying. We were all overjoyed at the idea of waking up early and getting our day started at the crack of dawn.

As promised at 6am the happy maintenance man whistled his way across the room and flipped the lights on. We managed to pull ourselves together and get everything moved into a storage room like he had asked by 7am.

Since we wanted to be sure we could be out of the way during the day at our host site and since some lucky ride for world healthers were hangin with friends the rest of us were able to pile into one van and take a field trip to pick up our free bagels at Einsteins! We all enjoyed a lovely breakfast and I modeled my stylish fanny pack.

From there we went back to our Tucson home, added a couple more to the van and headed over the University of Arizona for our global health day. It consisted of shouting at people from our table on the mall about free bagels and coffee in an attempt to entice them to come hear about how cool our trip is and buy one of our amazing tshirts or waterbottles. While the table was manned Libby, Megan and I took advantage of the shopping opportunities and got ourselves some new shades. I want to be sure to have a good pair for my sunglasses and bowling party (May 16th, further details coming later).

From there we moved into the med school to give our lecture and then sort out what we would do with the rest of our day off. After approximately 1 hour of attempted decision making we had a plan. Most of us would head to the Museum of the Desert and then reconvene for dinner.

This "museum" turned out to be one of the coolest zoos ever. It had all kinds of desert wildlife including snakes, lizards, mountain lions, otters, and more!

We capped off the night with a lovely dinner at a Mexican restaurant where we celebrated Tim's "birthday"

Tucson, AZ - Thurs, April 8th

2010-04-08T21:17:00.001-07:00

Let's play a little game called good idea or bad idea...

wake up at 4:45am for a 5am hike up Picacho Peak so we can see the sunset and be back in time for our ride to Tucson...Bad idea. Never trust a guy with a mustache (cough, Tim, cough) when he says "trust me, it'll be worth it."

It was still completely dark when we started out.

I cursed him the entire way up and the entire ride to Tucson, but the sunrise was quite nice...it's was an ok idea

Pit stop at the DQ slash Picacho Peak Plaza for some coffee and souveniers...really good idea.

Riding with brand new cowboy hats on all the way to Tucson...even better idea.

Having breakfast for dinner...maybe the best idea of the day!

Picacho Peak State Park, April 7th

2010-04-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

LONG DAY! The ride to Picacho Peak State Park was a long 90 miles.

On our way out of Phoenix from our little slice of paradise at the JCC we fought city traffic and a little more wind than most of us appreciated. But a lovely surprise awaited us at the first water break. Chris and Megan had secured lots of free donuts for all!

From there we continued southeast along 87 for what seemed like forever. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at and the sun was blaring down upon us. Finally around mile 55 we rolled into lunch.

Those of us lucky enough to have internet on our phones (not me...) noticed that not far from lunch was the Casa Grande National Monument. Obviously, it warranted a stop. After filling up on peanut butter and jelly I headed out with Katie, Travis and Bryce. We reached the monument after 5 miles and road over to check it out. It was $5 to enter and we figured that money would be better spent on crappy souveniers so we eyed the monument from the gate and were on our way again shortly.

The next 35-40 miles seemed like they lasted forever. We ran into a guy who is walking across the country to inspire people to live a healthier lifestyle. When our photo shoot with him was over we rode on to Picacho Peak State Park.

The last 10 miles seemed to last forever, but finally we came to the park enterance and we greeted with a little hill that seemed entirely unnecessary at that point.

I was so happy to get off my bike and relax for a while, but instead a walk to Dairy Queen seemed like a good idea. We took fabulous camping showers (some of the nicest showers we've had so far), watched the sunset, had a hobo dinner D’Ardenne style, s’mores and campfire stories with Bryce.

A brilliant idea was proposed to hike bright and early (well not bright exactly) so we all hit the hay a little bit early so the 4:45am alarm wouldn’t be quite as painful.

phoenix, az - tues, april 6th

2010-04-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

I was on support the day we rode into Phoenix. It was a very short day so we could make it to an event at noon. I was in the lead marking van again. I was with Sam and Heidi and we had a bit of a challenge getting everyone safely through the city and over to the medical school for the presentation. We had everyone there pretty early and all chilled outside until about 11:30. We moved inside and awaited our audience.

We had a small crowd and Pete, Lenore and I presented to the group. It went pretty well and we had lots of question to answer at the end. Afterwards many of us were anxious to get to the JCC (which was absolutely beautiful and the people were fantastic to us) so we could spend some quality time at the pool. I finally was able to try out the underwater feature on my camera and we sure did get into those underwater pictures.

We also had journal club event that evening and had it at a local Italian restaurant. The food was delicious and we actually talked about the article some as we ate. We left the restaurant exhausted, made a quick run to Walmart and then it was definitely bedtime.

Buckeye, AZ - April 6th

2010-04-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

The ride into Buckeye and the events that followed were actually worth talking about and I think I missed the entire day!

The day started off like any other day. We were heading out of our glorious stay in Dateland, but before we did we met up with all the school kids at the flagpole. We joined them for the Pledge of Allegiance and then Katie gave a brief intro of who we are and what we're doing. From there we were on our way with about a 70 mile day ahead of us.

I cruised with Megan and Jen for most of the day. We made a few pit stops to do some souvenier shopping and check out some cactuses before crossing the border into Buckeye.

We insisted on taking an O-H-I-O picture and Jen reluctantly agreed to join, but only if her face was not exposed.

Just as we headed out from the sign probably a little over a mile from our destination the air wooshed out of Sarah's tire. We pulled over for her to fix it and as she did she noticed some little prickly things stuck in her other tire too and Megan and I inspected ours and also found the same thing. We stupidly tried to remove these prickly things and woosh....we had a couple flats of our own. Not equipped to change all the tubes and so close to our destination we decided to walk our bikes the rest of the way. After what seemed like forever we arrived at a nice Mexican establishment to join the rest of the team before heading to Buckeye High School.

We stayed in a wrestling room again and once we were all showered and had a little snack we headed back to the nice Mexican establishment to watch the championship basketball game. We managed to disrupt a couple meetings that were going on at the same time as the game, but probably were the best business the place has seen in quite some time.

We headed back to the school to get some rest before another long day. Sadly we (well I) wasn't able to figure out how to turn out all the lights and most of us had the worst night of sleep of the trip:(

Dateland: A diamond in the rough - Sunday, April 4

2010-04-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

It was another long and hot ride from Yuma this morning, but the roads were great and the final destination a very pleasant surprise.

Due to my pretty extensive sunburn I opted to wear my arm warmers all day and took Bryce's leg warmers after about an hour of riding to protect my poor legs. We rode together at a nice comfortable pace taking in the view as we went.

We also found a nice little place for people to stay next year

3 miles outside Dateland I rode over a nail that took out my poor tire:( It was VERY hot and I was on a busy road, so I opted to call the van to rescue me. We pulled into the all in one Dateland shop including Quizno's, gas station and ice cream. I actually tasted one of the famous date shapes and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

We'll be spending the night in the elementary school gym which happens to be on the same property as the sheriff's office and possibly the home of the town fire truck. After a nice home cooked meal and some free internet I'm ready to crash!

3:10 to yuma - Saturday, April 4

2010-04-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

Today I learned again the importance of sunscreen. Interestingly I've learned this lesson a number of times before, but it seems every year (or every time I have an opportunity to get some sun) I manage to fry myself.

We left our really nice host site in El Centro at 7:30 in an attempt to beat the heat. I, of course, got dressed and ready to go and did not liberally apply my sunscreen. We rode a nice flat ride (well the flatness was nice, the roads however were not too impressive). We were actually able to keep a really nice pace line going for the majority of day and all pulled off to lunch together right near the Mexico border. We all took a little hike over to the fence while border patrol kept a close eye on us.

One road in particular - named "Center of the World" road was quite rough! You'd think if people were going to name the road that, they would put some pride into and keep it up. Not so much. We were still excited to be there.

We were in a bit of a hurry to get to town because we had a little event at the BW3. We sat outside on the patio watching the final four and had our tshirts and posters out. From there we headed back to a fantastic high school where we slept in the wrestling room on the very comfy mats!

My first day riding - Friday, April 2nd

2010-04-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today I hit the road on Bruno Gustofson (my bike) and found out just how out of shape I really am. I still managed to finish and even was able to keep up with some of my friends for most of the day.

we biked right along the Mexico border and saw a lot of border patrol action

we did a little climbing followed by the fastest 10 miles of biking I've ever experienced when we decended about 2500 feet (6% grade almost the entire way!

and...I had my inaugural ice cream stop:

We're in Campo! - Thursday, April 1st

2010-04-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

Our first day heading east was a support team day for me. We all loaded up the vans and headed just outside the city. We (Team Tango) dropped off all the riders and then Pete and I headed out in the lead van, Wayne or Grey Goose, to mark the route.

The first 3 miles were a doozy of a hill and just plain gorgeous! That was followed by a winding road through beautiful mountains and after not too long we found ourselves in Campo, CA.

After a quick check in at the campsite at Lake Morena, we decided to run a few errands and explore town.

We first stopped at the post office to pick up our first mail drop. Unfortunately we arrived at the post office during the one hour closure for lunch, so we did a bit of exploring...

After all our tasks were completed we went back to set up camp and anxiously awaited the riders.

Slowly everyone trickled into our campsite and we prepared some cookout food, bundled up in all our layers because it was FREEZING and crashed for the night in our tents.

Tire diiiiiip - Wednesday, March 31st

2010-03-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

And so it begins! We had our ceremonial tire dip this morning. We rode down the giant hill from our luxurious home for the past 3 days to the beach. We all carefully carried our bikes down to the sand and precariously placed them where we thought the waves would not reach them. After Pete convinced some poor bystander to be our photographer we lined up together for a nice group shot and just then we not only dipped our back tire, but really got the entire bike in on the action as well as most of our shoes.

The rest of our first group ride went off without a hitch and concluded with a solid climb back up to our temporary home. We finished up our official retreat business practicing our lectures and running a few errands.

Megan, Libby and I went on a little adventure to the local bike shop where we were able to convince them to give us a hefty discount on some new floor pumps (you rock UC Cyclery) and then continued on for some grocery shopping. I must say any grocery store with an ice cream shop right inside really knows what it's doing.

We had a nice farewell San Diego dinner out in Del Mar and returned home for some final preparation for tomorrow. East coast here we come!

The Retreat Continues - Tuesday, March 30th

2010-03-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

The second full day is coming to a close and I'm wiped out again. I can't wait to get on the road and see all the hours of work I've put into this ride over the past year become a fun and exciting adventure.

I had the pleasure of waking everyone up again this morning to enjoy another breakfast of cereal and as many bagel's as you could ever want from Einstein's. I personally enjoyed a piece of Matzo with peanut butter. I'm attempting to observe Passover at least a little bit since I missed out on Seder for what I think was the first time in a really long time - and probably the first time of many for at least the next four years.

We started the morning by going over the lectures we hadn't covered yesterday and then had a quick bike maintenance clinic making sure everyone is prepared to at least attempt to change their own flat tire. Then we decorated the vans (picture coming soon...I hope). They look quite nice if I do say so myself.

Finally had a little free time this afternoon and walked out to the beach. It was gorgeous and a much needed break from the organizing and work involved in these past couple days. It reminded me how much I like being outside and in nice weather no less. I'm really wondering why I didn't branch out to a few nicer climates when I applied to residency. I guess there's always fellowship to look forward to...

We finished up the day with our first event. It was one we pulled together at the last minute thanks to an amazing contact at UCSD who we connected with over email about 3 weeks ago. We had a pretty good crowd and I put my student council merchandise sales skills to use and convinced a few attendees to purchase our nice waterbottles and tshirts. I'll be happy to sell any of these items to anyone of you reading this also! I happen to think the tshirt is quite nice and would recommend buying it to everyone!

I think that's about all I can manage to talk about now. I really need some internet that will let me add some pictures because I think they will add a lot to these stories and I just won't have to write as much!

Until tomorrow...

And so it begins Monday, March 29th

2010-03-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

Not too exciting today. Woke up at 6:45 to get the troops moving. Talked over a few important things, passed out our sweet uniforms, ran a few errands, lunch, intro to education, looked over the lectures, WENT ON A STELLAR BIKE and somehow managed to climb a pretty large hill even though I've been tapering my training (to nothing) since Pelotonia in August. Now I'm relaxin with the Garth to my Wayne, Libby. We're keepin an eye on all the goods while the kids get some grub. It seemed like the perfect time to catch up on the blog. So now it's up to date and picture-less. Things should be getting much more exciting in the next few days. We dip tires Wednesday and head east Thursday!

Day 1 - The Retreat

Here we go! - Saturday, March 28th

2010-03-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

4:00am - wake up to annoying alarm
4:50am - Tim Horton’s drive through, donuts make 5:30am much better
5:30am - team assembles at Katie’s

6:30am - bikes securely loaded and off we go
8:30am - first minor...almost major...crisis
Jeff from the back of the van “Maggie”
me “hold on, we’re doing something really important” (attempting to get truck drivers to honk at us)
Jeff “Maggie, can you look at the bike directly above me”
Me “OH (wide eyed) f-bomb, Bryce we need to pull over right now”
Bikes apparently not so securely loaded...oops.
9:00am - Crisis averted, bikes re-secured on the side of the freeway and off we went again.
10:00am - driving
2:00pm - still driving

9:00pm - still driving
11:00pm - 80s dance party courtesy of pandora on the ipod

you get the picture.

Eventually we arrived safe and sound, all bikes accounted for in San Diego late Sunday afternoon. We got settled in at the Shiley Sports Center and after a few quick get to know you games we all crashed hard on the floor.

(I'll add pictures later. The internet isn't cooperating, but at least we have it, so that makes me happy)

Hitting the road TODAY

2010-03-26T22:05:00.001-07:00

This will be short and sweet since I'm waking up in less than 3 hours to get moving. It's been a VERY busy week leading up to the ride. I'm completed my last rotation of medical school, filled out a billion pages of paperwork for residency and attempted to do all the final ride preparations.

Today was exhausting and a bit rough. Thank you Columbus, Ohio for the snow and freezing cold weather. It made for a very pleasant experience getting the bike racks on the van. There's nothing quite like sitting on the roof of a van in freezing cold ice covered snow.

Jeff and I had a delightful time. We're really hoping to do it again sometime soon.

Wheels roll (hopefully) at 6:30 tomorrow. So I give up for now. Gotta get up a little early to get some donuts and coffee for the troups. Nothing makes people happy at 5:30am like...well, nothing makes people happy at 5:30am, but donuts do help.

Ride in 4 days!!!

2010-03-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

We pull out of C-BUS in just four short days! I can't believe it's so close. Finally all this work will actually turn into one amazing adventure. It's been an eventful few weeks. Between making calls and sending emails all across the country finalizing our host sites there have been a few exciting med school moments, one really big one to be exact.

Last Thursday was match day. A day when across the country graduating medical students find out where they'll spend the next few years of their training. My envelope was a bit more exciting than most since I had applied to two different specialties. I was not only going to find out where I would train, but what kind of doctor I would be. I was quite excited to get my envelope as you can see...

And what was inside...I'll be spending the next four years training at the OSU OB/GYN residency program!

I'm very excited to get started in June, and until then I'll be rockin it out Ride for World Health style:)

Here are a few things I'm really looking forward to:

1. Mail Drops! Really hoping for another Cathy Bernacki - a delightful, giant stuffed bear.
Click here to see how to send mail to the ride:
Ride For World Health Mail Drops!

2. special road signs

3. spandex - all day, every day. Especially this very special pair!

Haiti

2010-03-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

During February I went to Fort Liberte, Haiti on a medical mission. I was asked to write a little something about it by the global health office for their newletter, so I figured I might as well take advantage of the time I spent writing it and post it on here too.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I departed Columbus for my trip to Haiti. I had been anxiously awaiting it, and was excited to have an opportunity to travel abroad and provide medical care in an underserved community. The trip was planned prior to the earthquake and has been occurring annually for more than 5 years. This year was my first time joining the group. The community where we worked is always in need of medical aid and throughout the year different groups of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other volunteers visit the city of Fort Liberte to care for the people there.

Upon arriving in Fort Liberte we unpacked the loads of luggage (two 50lbs bags per person filled mostly with medications and other medical supplies) and stocked the clinic. It was overwhelming to see such an abundance of supplies filling the clinic shelves. The following afternoon and evening we held the first clinic. We saw a variety of patients, many with similar complaints to what I might have seen in a family medicine office here, others with typical ailments in Haiti like worms or typhoid symptoms, and sprinkled amongst all those patient were also some people with more urgent or severe problems.

There were a few patients who particularly stood out from my week in the clinic. On the first day we saw a woman with a very infected dental abscess and treated her with IV antibiotics. She returned the next day for a second round and already her face was half as swollen and more importantly it was filled with a smile. I wondered what she would have done if we had not been staffing the clinic that particular week.

Later in the week I had a patient with classic symptoms of hyperthyroidism who had seen a doctor and had been prescribed an inadequate dose of medication for treatment. Unfortunately she had no way to obtain the proper dose and we didn’t have the medication she needed with us. We were only able to treat some of her symptoms and hope that the next group to arrive would bring the appropriate medication and start her on an adequate dose.

With both these patients I was glad we were able to provide some relief, but each day I felt as though there was so much more that many of these patients needed and we just weren’t equipped to provide and was not readily accessible to the people there.

Having never been on the trip prior to the earthquake I’m not sure how things might have been different. We saw significantly more patients than in years past, and a few who had come from Port Au Prince, some with injuries still healing after the disaster. I do know this community was in great need prior to the earthquake and as Haiti begins to rebuild will continue to need even more support. It was a privilege to be able to participate in this trip, to work among a group of amazing individuals in such a welcoming and thankful community. I hope to continue to have opportunities to provide medical care and work towards a more sustainable comprehensive care for the people there.

Countdown to the ride: hittin the road to San Diego in 14 days.

It's been a while

2010-03-09T21:46:00.001-08:00

I was hoping I could post to this regularly before the trip, but had a feeling I wouldn't be able to do that, and as it turns out I was correct. I've been extremely busy putting the finishing touches on the ride...nothing too important...just trying to find places for 25 bikers to sleep in a few cities. I also just returned (well about 2.5 weeks ago) from Haiti and want to put up a little post about that. Hopefully in the next day or two as the last few things fall into place for the ride (thinking positive!) I'll blab about that and include some pictures.

The last couple of days I've been helping work on the posters we'll have with info about our beneficiaries. I think they turned out pretty nice, so I thought it would be nice to include them, so here they are:

Hopefully those are big enough to help show how great these two organizations are.

the white death has arrived.

2010-02-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

What to do with myself when the white death ruins my plans of learning to drive a manual transmission car? Obviously rather than spend hours on the phone begging people in random towns across the country to let a group of 25 young adults sleep on the floor of just about anywhere they're willing to offer I figured creating a little blog for the ride was a much more worthwhile use of my time (and it'll provide me with a little break from denials and unreturned emails and phone calls...sigh). I may not be as eloquent and humorous in my writing as my landlord (a.k.a. uncle Howie) and cousin Shane, but I thought I would at least give it a shot so I would have some documentation of my fast approaching trip from San Diego, CA to Washington, D.C. on my amazing new bicycle Bruno.

I consider my first trip cross country by bike to be among the top 5 experiences of my life so far. So here I am gearing up to do it one more time with a different group and for a different and equally incredible cause. In the next 7 weeks as the ride quickly approaches I have lots of planning to finalize and a few other adventures ahead of me. We have about half the hosts for the route secured so before the end of the month that will need to be finished, wish me luck!

Also, next week I'll be boarding a plane on my way to Haiti. Since starting medical school my family friend and one of my mentors has gone on a medical mission trip to Haiti in February. I have wanted to join him each year, but with the busy medical school schedule I haven't been able to make it happen until now. Even before entering medical school I had an interest in international work of some kind, and once I've completed my medical training I'll be able to provide care in underserved communities around the world. It's something I'm really looking forward to, and I hope to learn ways to do that both on my trip to Haiti and as I travel cross country teaching others about global health issues.

I'll return from Haiti for a week of lots of phone calls and begging for hosts along the route, once that's finished (and it will be by Feb 28th) all that will remain is mapping out the specific roads from town to town and probably a bit more fundraising, oh and my very LAST rotation of medical school! Then it's off to San Diego on March 27th.

So now I have a blog, but unfortunately I'm no better at driving a manual transmission car. When I return from Haiti in two weeks I'll likely be getting well acquainted with my bicycle a little sooner than I had planned since there will no longer be an automatic transmission car in my life...oh well.

You can help support my ride and our amazing beneficiaries by clicking this link