Amazing Adventure #1: Complete

I did it! I actually managed to ride my bike, with a pack (~70 pounds), from Boston, Massachusetts to Kingston, Pennsylvania! On top of that, I was able to chat with come great folks about their beliefs and direct them to the LIVESTRONG donation site on this blog. I will be posting their interviews on this blog...as soon as I figure out how to post audio... Also, pictures are on the way as well. Didn't get to take as many as I would have liked, but it was harder than I thought to ride AND talk AND take pictures...

To all of those I've met on my journey, THANK YOU! Thank you so much for your kindness and willingness to speak with me, some of you quite candidly, about your lives, faiths, and beliefs. I hope that each and every one of you keeps in touch with me! Email me... comment on the blog... and tell you friends!

The experience on the road was most definitely a major life altering one, and also quite humbling. There is a lot of thinking and self examining to be done when alone on a bike for 12 hours a day for 6 days. I think that even my own faiths and beliefs have changed after hearing your stories and just all of the time by myself. I found myself going through such a range of emotions while riding. MUCH of the ride was on hills. Turns out I'm not very good at the hills. I know I mentioned in an earlier blog that I didn't have an ideal bike. Not only was the bike not ideal, it was just plain awful! I would HIGHLY recommend NOT using a mountain bike for any type of touring, especially if its a little to big for the frame of your body. I came across some major pain issues in my shoulders, wrists, and knees. Yay for pain relievers and anti-inflamitories!

I have one more big thank you before I sign off for today (and try to get some rest!) and that is to my human map and riding buddy, David Colacito. He helped me train for this, he rode the route with me (far ahead of me about 95 percent of the time) and was super encouraging. This was a blast back to the past for him as he did many many tours in his time here on earth, and I'm grateful to have had him in my presence and in my life. Thanks David!

I will be consulting my soggy journal (got caught in a downpour...didn't put my journal back in the plastic bag) and updating according to topic. Of course, I will probably go off topic from time to time, so tune in and keep following!

Thanks again to everyone who I've come in contact with through this. You are all amazing inspirations to me!

Till next time...

H

xo