Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
What You Learn When Cycling Across the USA
After 2 weeks and over 1,200 miles I have learned...
1. People are incredibly generous. They have given food, showers, beds, computers, watches, massage machines, books, dvds, and over $200,000 to the Bike for Burundi mission
2. Eating 40 Clif bars / week gives you incredible "tail winds"
3. I have seen far more cattle than humans on this trip
4. Even though we have huge overpopulation problems in the world, mostly all of the land in the Southwest of the USA is unoccupied
5. British humor is not actually hard to understand...they just aren't very funny ;)
6. You can tell the exact direction and speed of the wind while cycling by the difference in time between seeing and smelling road kill...it's science
7. Pancakes, pasta, rice, and cookies provide the best energy
8. You get incredible sleep when cycling over 100 miles / day
9. The body is pretty good at adapting to ridiculous physical challenges...most of the struggles of carrying on have become mental issues
10. When riding into rough headwinds and wanting to quit, it helps to look down at the Burundian flag on my bike and remember all of the children that I'm cycling for
11. Long hair makes for an itchier head than short hair
12. The countryside of the USA is gorgeous
13. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut is by far the best Clif bar flavor
The good stuff is at http://bikeforburundi.com/team-blog/
1. People are incredibly generous. They have given food, showers, beds, computers, watches, massage machines, books, dvds, and over $200,000 to the Bike for Burundi mission
2. Eating 40 Clif bars / week gives you incredible "tail winds"
3. I have seen far more cattle than humans on this trip
4. Even though we have huge overpopulation problems in the world, mostly all of the land in the Southwest of the USA is unoccupied
5. British humor is not actually hard to understand...they just aren't very funny ;)
6. You can tell the exact direction and speed of the wind while cycling by the difference in time between seeing and smelling road kill...it's science
7. Pancakes, pasta, rice, and cookies provide the best energy
8. You get incredible sleep when cycling over 100 miles / day
9. The body is pretty good at adapting to ridiculous physical challenges...most of the struggles of carrying on have become mental issues
10. When riding into rough headwinds and wanting to quit, it helps to look down at the Burundian flag on my bike and remember all of the children that I'm cycling for
11. Long hair makes for an itchier head than short hair
12. The countryside of the USA is gorgeous
13. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut is by far the best Clif bar flavor
The good stuff is at http://bikeforburundi.com/team-blog/
Sunday, March 18, 2012
photos from Bike for Burundi
Maryland Ave in Phoenix
Cacti in Arizona
See the guys ahead of me cycling down the road?
Entering AZ
Looking into New Mexico
Sea Lion in Redondo Beach, California
Los Angeles, California
John next to the RV
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Pictures From 1st 2 Days of Bike for Burundi
Craig leading the pack through the desert in California
Jack rabbit at the 1st night campsite
Cycled on a road between 2 bombing sites near Mexico
It's pretty out here
Right after we dipped our tires in the Pacific
Photos are courtesy of David Strauss
We have ridden 388 miles in 4 days and are now in Phoenix, AZ
More info at...
Saturday, February 25, 2012
First "Group" Ride Ever...Fail
Today I went on my first group ride ever. It was supposed to be a 63 mile loop from the foothills up to the mountains, which summited at Caesars Head. This trip did not go as I had planned...but I learned a few things.
1. A steel touring bike with wide tires (my bike) is about 5 times slower than a carbon fiber road bike
2. Even if they may have a $5,000 bike and are in decent shape, it's no fun to get passed by a 75 year old guy
3. Its also not fun to get passed by a 45 year old guy who looks pregnant
4. I really want one of those fast road bikes so I can actually see what I'm made of!
5. The directions are important to figure out before you start riding. You could take a wrong turn and end up cyling 20 more miles than expected (Oh well, it was nice to get 80 miles in)
6. I wish there were break stations on all of my rides that were stocked with delicious food
7. Cyclists make all sorts of crazy hand signals when riding together in a group...I have no idea what any of them mean
Even though I was inconsistent with my speed and wasn't able to stay with a pack for most of the time, the experience was nice.
A couple other nice things from this past week...
1. TTR bikes hooked me up with some new tires and a tune up for an amazing discount! My new friend Micah from over there is about my age and has a cool story. His dad is a missionary inThailand
2. I have now lived in the same city as my girlfriend for a week and a half :)
3. While finishing up my ride today I saw on a church sign the verse that I wanted to be my theme for the recovery of my achilles. "Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers work in vain" Psalm 127:1...so again, praise God for a great recovery so far!
8 days until Bike for Burundi! Make a tax deductible donation at http://www.bikeforburundi.com/
1. A steel touring bike with wide tires (my bike) is about 5 times slower than a carbon fiber road bike
2. Even if they may have a $5,000 bike and are in decent shape, it's no fun to get passed by a 75 year old guy
3. Its also not fun to get passed by a 45 year old guy who looks pregnant
4. I really want one of those fast road bikes so I can actually see what I'm made of!
5. The directions are important to figure out before you start riding. You could take a wrong turn and end up cyling 20 more miles than expected (Oh well, it was nice to get 80 miles in)
6. I wish there were break stations on all of my rides that were stocked with delicious food
7. Cyclists make all sorts of crazy hand signals when riding together in a group...I have no idea what any of them mean
Even though I was inconsistent with my speed and wasn't able to stay with a pack for most of the time, the experience was nice.
A couple other nice things from this past week...
1. TTR bikes hooked me up with some new tires and a tune up for an amazing discount! My new friend Micah from over there is about my age and has a cool story. His dad is a missionary in
2. I have now lived in the same city as my girlfriend for a week and a half :)
3. While finishing up my ride today I saw on a church sign the verse that I wanted to be my theme for the recovery of my achilles. "Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers work in vain" Psalm 127:1...so again, praise God for a great recovery so far!
8 days until Bike for Burundi! Make a tax deductible donation at http://www.bikeforburundi.com/
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The scariest thing that's ever happened to me on a bike!
So long Seabrook Island. The beach front resort where I have lived for the past 1.5 years can no longer be called home. Although I will probably never live in a place as beautiful again, more so than the daily dolphin sightings and the pristine maritime forest, I will miss the people. I was blessed with an incredibly encouraging atmosphere to work and teach children in, but it was time to say goodbye to dear coworkers and welcome a new phase of life...the phase of full time missionary (aka unemployment).
I'm now in Greenville, SC and am training for the next 2 weeks to prepare for the Bike for Burundi (http://www.bikeforburundi.com/) challenge. It's an exciting time, but after only 2 days, the mountains have humbled me. The Appalachians are probably 1/3 as tough to ride as the Sierra Nevadas, but I have been huffing and puffing nonetheless.
Yesterday, after I climbed Sassafras Mountain, the tallest mountain in SC, which measures in at a "whopping" 3560 ft, I almost died on the descent. This mountain did not have switchback roads. This mountain road also had springs next to it which leaked onto the asphalt. These factors did not phase me when ascending, but when I started back down I was in for the biggest adrenaline rush I have ever experienced on a bicycle. It was not that my brakes stopped working, but that they worked too well. Since it was not raining, my rims were dry. The road, however, was not. As I plummeted at 40 mph I tried to pump my brakes, but my touring bicycle does not have as nice of an ABS brake system as my old Subaru Legacy did. My rear tire locked up and it whipped to the left, then to the right. My heart stopped as I thought I was going to be thrown from the bike and would slide down the road face first...somehow I recovered and made it down the mountain. My adrenaline was rushing for the next 15 miles or so and I was pretty afraid.
Lesson learned = Fishtailing is scary = avoid braking too hard on wet roads = avoid wet roads whenever possible, especially if you are going downhill at a 45 degree angle.
That experience on Sassafras Mountain was more frightening than when I severed my achilles tendon in a crash last summer. The achilles accident happened so quickly and then I was in shock. With the wet road situation yesterday, I actually had to think about the reality of what almost happened. But anyway, speaking of the achilles injury that happened on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, I bought a Swamp Rabbit Trail cycling jersey yesterday! It was a bit on the expensive end, but I had to buy it as a sort of souvenier, or a "take that, stupid stinkin trail! you didn't keep me down forever, and now I'm going to ride across the country!" sort of thing.
Here is an example pic of the jersey.
I actually love that trail, and 100% of proceeds go towards trail maintenance. Hopefully they use the dollars I gave them to smooth out the trail edges!
18 days until the ride! Help the orphans and pygmies in Burundi by making a donation dedicated to Jeff Hennessy at www.bikeforburundi.com/donate/
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Blessings? Yes Please!
This past weekend was pretty standard at first... on Saturday I cycled 100 miles and then consumed about 8,000 calories. The weather was unreal for January! I can't believe that it was 70 degrees and that I am still able to train in shorts every day. The warm weather made me happy and so I rode the 100 miles faster than I have since I started training in late October; 5 hrs 48 mins.
The morning session was actually quite different than usual because David Strauss, the man who will be making a full length documentary about the Bike for Burundi trip, came out to shoot some video. It was quite strange to have a man driving closely to me with a camera strapped onto the roof. Every now and then he would zip off into the distance and then I didn't know when I would see him again. One time I was having trouble finding him and then I realized he had his camera set up in a crop field about 200 yards from the road. Ha. Since I am not used to having someone video anything that I do, I thought it was hilarious to be followed by David. Every time I passed him I started laughing. I suppose I am a bit camera shy. At lunch he interviewed me for a few minutes and then he left. He said he is not sure what the focus of the documentary will be, but that he will gather lots of footage and will then decide on a story.
Later on Saturday night I went to have dinner with Bonnie Turco, the woman who is organizing Bike for Burundi, and her husband. They were great and they gave me the Garmin GPS that will be attached to my bike during the trip. The only problem is that the map software we will use to link our maps to the GPS requires a computer with a CD player. My computer died a few months ago, so I realized now was the time to buy a new computer. Bonnie had a little computer that she wanted to give me, but then we saw that it did not have a CD player. Bummer! On Sunday morning I told the people at breakfast that after church I was going to buy a computer. When I came back for lunch, right before leaving to go downtown to buy a computer, Jack Rankin, the weekend manager at St. Christopher, said that he and his wife Ardy wanted to give me one of their barely used computers so that I can blog during the bike ride and have a computer to use afterwards. What?!?! Huge blessing! I was extremely excited. Later in the night my buddy Daniel Dunn donated an Under Armour cold gear shirt and a pair of nice cold weather tights for the ride. Whoo hoo! This past weekend was great was a great! I can already see tons of ways that God is using people to bless this trip.
Less than 5 weeks until the ride.
The morning session was actually quite different than usual because David Strauss, the man who will be making a full length documentary about the Bike for Burundi trip, came out to shoot some video. It was quite strange to have a man driving closely to me with a camera strapped onto the roof. Every now and then he would zip off into the distance and then I didn't know when I would see him again. One time I was having trouble finding him and then I realized he had his camera set up in a crop field about 200 yards from the road. Ha. Since I am not used to having someone video anything that I do, I thought it was hilarious to be followed by David. Every time I passed him I started laughing. I suppose I am a bit camera shy. At lunch he interviewed me for a few minutes and then he left. He said he is not sure what the focus of the documentary will be, but that he will gather lots of footage and will then decide on a story.
Later on Saturday night I went to have dinner with Bonnie Turco, the woman who is organizing Bike for Burundi, and her husband. They were great and they gave me the Garmin GPS that will be attached to my bike during the trip. The only problem is that the map software we will use to link our maps to the GPS requires a computer with a CD player. My computer died a few months ago, so I realized now was the time to buy a new computer. Bonnie had a little computer that she wanted to give me, but then we saw that it did not have a CD player. Bummer! On Sunday morning I told the people at breakfast that after church I was going to buy a computer. When I came back for lunch, right before leaving to go downtown to buy a computer, Jack Rankin, the weekend manager at St. Christopher, said that he and his wife Ardy wanted to give me one of their barely used computers so that I can blog during the bike ride and have a computer to use afterwards. What?!?! Huge blessing! I was extremely excited. Later in the night my buddy Daniel Dunn donated an Under Armour cold gear shirt and a pair of nice cold weather tights for the ride. Whoo hoo! This past weekend was great was a great! I can already see tons of ways that God is using people to bless this trip.
Less than 5 weeks until the ride.
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