Day 5

So I must begin by apologizing for not posting in so long, school and training seem to have gotten the best of me. I have finally started my journey of hope though and I must say thank you to my many sponsors who helped me raise $6500 to help people with disabilities.

Now for the fun part, I am writing this post from the gym floor of the Carson Middle School in Carson City, Nevada. In the past 5 days I have ridden over 300 miles of my 4000+ mile journey. Day one started wonderfully with an awe inspiring ride across the Golden Gate Bridge before heading northeast towards Napa, California. The ride for the day was 75 miles and I am proud to say that not only did I ride every single one of them, but also my paceline was in the first group in for the day averaging a stout pace of 15.5 mph over some very hilly terrain.

Day 2 we departed Napa and continued on to Sacramento. The ride was only 60 miles but the opening 28 miles were a steady climb up a 3-6% grade. My paceline for the day worked very hard and ended up not only making rack point by over 10 minutes we also managed to finish as the 3rd team to our arrival point. The guys in my group refused to quit and were rewarded with being able to take part in our arrival ride to the steps of the state Capitol building. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet the governator. The day was finished off by a wonderful friendship visit with People First of California, an organization run by people with disabilities for people with disabilities where they foster an environment where their clients can express their true artistic talents. Their band's cover of "let it be" nearly brought me to tears.

Day 3 we moved on to Jackson where I received my first flat tire of the trip. After a quick change I was back rolling and the remaining leg of our 65 mile trek passed without much drama. The folks at Ark of California and The Jackson Lions Club presented us with meals fit for kings which was nice given that our date with the sierra nevada mountains was right around the corner.

Day for was ominous, it's the day talked about by every pi alpha I have ever met. The infamous Kirkwood is a 60 mile climb straight up two mountain passes rising from a base elevation of 1200ft and rising to 8100 before dropping down about 700 and then rising to a final elevation of 8500 ft at Carson Pass. The small glimmer of hope is the remaining 20 miles is all downhill into the bustling metropolis of Markleeville, Californi, pop. 300. The Jackson Lions guys showed up to our campsite and feed us burgers and chili and we all fell fast asleep. My paceline finished the 80 mile day in 8hrs17mins so needless to say, we needed the rest.

Today was a brisk 40 miles downhill into Carson City and finally a much needed day off before north and south teams split and my team begins our weeklong sprint down Nevada into Arizona. Speeking of rest, I think I'm gonna grab some now.

-Till next time

Halfway there

Last week was a monumental week for me because it marked the halfway point of my fundraising for this summer.  Unfortunately I had the flu followed by a nasty sinus infection and wasn't able to train much in the past few weeks but fundraising took a huge jump and to date I have raised $2625 towards the required $5000 I have to raise by June, so I guess you could say I am right on track.

I would especially like to thank the folks at McElroy Translation for their generous contributions to my Journey of Hope.

Now that the weather, and more importantly my health, has improved, I will be able to get out and log some serious miles on the bike in the coming weeks.  The rain and snow (yes thats right, snow in South Carolina) had forced me inside onto the spin bikes in the gym, and while riding for 2 hours indoors in front of a mirror can be so exciting, Im ready to get outside again.

I want to thank everyone who has donated to my ride so far, in tough economic times it is hard for everyone but I have been amazed with the extreme generosity.  I can only succeed in this journey with the help of my sponsors, so if you feel led to donate, please follow the links in the right hand corner of the page to make a secure, tax deductible donation to my ride.

-Wes

Being Thankful

So it has been a while since I last posted but I figured it was an appropriate time.  This time of year I always have a lot to be thankful for, a loving and supportive family, and a mother who is a phenomenal cook (gonna have to do some pretty serious workouts to make up for lost ground this week).  This season I have one more thing to be thankful for.  Today I just got back from a local bike shop where I picked up my wheels for this coming summer.  Thanks to folks at Freewheeling Bicycles in Austin, Texas, I will be riding the Journey of Hope mounted on a 2007 Specialized Allez Expert road bike. A big thanks goes out to them for cutting me a great deal on the bike as well as some riding accessories. Freewheeling is a local shop in Austin run by cycling enthusiasts, and this is the second bike I have purchased from them. Their service is friendly and personal and you can tell they really care about the customer, I hope I represent them well this summer.

One thing I learned at home though, is just how terrifying riding on a city street can be.  Something as small as a honda civic suddenly sounds like a bicycle crushing semi truck barreling down on you and I found myself cringing in fear from cars I usually scoff at when in my truck.  City riding will take some getting used to.  Unfortunately I am stuck on the spinners at the Fitness Center until I get home for Christmas break when I will be able to take my bike back to school with me.

On a completely unrelated note, I ran in my second Turkey Trot, a five mile run that my father loves the register the family for, on Thanksgiving day, and speaking of thankfulness, I would be thankful for a tube of Icy Hot right now.  It has been since April last time I ran more than a mile or so and it shows.  Apparently you use different muscles when training for cycling, because the 100 or so miles I have ridden in the past couple weeks did me no good and this year my dad walked away with the win.  Its ok, last time I wiped the floor with him (finishing nearly a mile ahead of him) and then the Texas longhorns promptly choked against the Aggies as I watched in horror from the stands, but not so this year.  So yes, I take full credit for the Longhorns' 49-9 destruction of the Aggies and will gladly concede any future footraces to my old man (as long as we arent on bikes).

Till next time...

Things I forgot...

So as I often do, I realized I forgot some things in my last posting.  Now that I have figured out how to put links in the blog, thanks dad, a few have come to mind that I figured would be useful to the readers on here who want to know more about the Journey of Hope, Push America, and Pi Kappa Phi.  So I have included them below:

Push America
Journey of Hope home
Journey of Hope facts
Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity

If you are interested in sponsoring my ride you can donate online here through Push America's secure online system, or you can mail donations to:

Push America

P.O. Box 241368

Charlotte, NC 28224

*Make sure to specify "Wesley Donaldson - JOH2009" in the memo line of the check

I am starting my official training regimen next week so that will probably provide some humorous (or painful and tragic) posts so stay tuned.

So it begins

I guess some introductions are in order.  As mentioned in the "about me" section of this blog I am senior in college.  "What are you doing after college?" is the question that every student dreads and yet hears it every day and never seems to have the "right" answer.  Well at least for this coming summer after I graduate I have a relatively concrete answer.  As the title of this web page suggests, I will be participating in the 2009 Journey of Hope.  Mounted on the back of a bicycle I will ride 4000miles from either San Francisco, California, or Seattle, Washington, across the country to Washington, DC.  I will join around 84 other men in this endeavor.  Along the way my team will raise awareness for people with disabilities through construction projects and friendship visits at local organizations that serve people with disabilities at places we stop along the way.

The Journey of Hope is an annual event sponsored by Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and its national philanthropy, Push America.  I joined Pi Kappa Phi in the spring of my sophomore year in college because it offered something that most college fraternities do not.  The brothers of Pi Kappa Phi seek to build better men through defying the negative stereotypes of college fraternities by being leaders in the community through service and action.  Push America was founded by brothers of Pi Kappa Phi to establish a national organization through which to serve.  Push America supports people with disabilities by stressing the importance of teamwork, abilities, empathy, and integrity and also by promoting "people first" language which stresses the fact the people with disabilities are first and foremost people and that their disability is a secondary fact.  The Journey of Hope raises thousands of dollars annually to support this cause through donations raised by the riders.  For more information on the ride and to sponsor me visit my fundraising profile.

This Blog will serve as a training/ fundraising log as well as my primary means of communication with friends and family from the road.  I will try and update journal entries as much as possible when I get on the road come June.