Bethesda, MD to Washington, DC

Today was just a whirlwind of emotion. We only had 10 miles today, so the ride was nothing but a dream. We woke up at 6, and had one last great crewchief breakfast…this time, we got to have as many banana’s or cereal or bagels as we wanted. We chowed down, know that this was it. 24 hours from now, we go our separate ways, never again being all together.

My paceline was decided a long time before today. Brad (UNC), Trent (Nebraska), Jeff (Kansas), and John (RIT). The five of us. They called us Super Best Friends Paceline, because we always rode together but never talked during our rides…we never needed to.

We started the ride, pretty easy, and carried through until we reached THE George Washington University, which was Stage up. We then cheered on the rest of the team as they arrived. As usual, we had to wait a half hour for the Trans team to show up, and a whopping 2 hours for the south team to show up…seriously, we know we are Varsity.

After a few pictures, and a tour of The GW Pi Kapps’ house, we started to get in arrival formation and headed to the Capital Building. As we approached, there was an army of spectators, cheering and noise from every direction…one of the coolest feelings I’ve ever experienced.

There were my parents and my family in their power blue T shirts with “Team Sean” directly displayed on them…I’ve never been so proud. Finally, we got to the Capital Building. It took 67 days, under 4000 miles, and a level of energy I have never reached before in my life.

Standing with the 100 or so cyclists, I saw all the families together, along with my own, and for once, I saw life with a little more clarity. I don’t know if I can describe that feeling. Sure it was a feeling of accomplishment, but it was more of a feeling of thankfulness, to all those that have help me get to where I am right then…all those that donated, those on my team that pulled me through tough terrain, but especially to my family who believed in me from day 1. We took a few pictures, paceline pics, team pics, and eventually met with our families and friends.

Thanks to my brother Neil, and his wife Rachel for being there, along with Sasha and my parents. I was also greeted by Alex Mitchel and Alan Willar and his sister Erica, friends from back home at Michigan. Finally, I got the chance to do what I was waiting for 67 days…to lift my bike over my head. Probably the closest feeling I’ll ever get to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup, but much more meaningful.

After a few speeches by Chad Coltraine (the CEO of Push America) and few others, we headed to our hotel for the evening. I quickly got changed and met up with the family and Michigan friends and walked over to some Irish Pub styled restaurant. They asked a lot of questions, which I answered just like usual. It still hasn’t hit me that it was over yet.

After dinner, we took a stroll down the National Mall, seeing all the great memorials, including the Lincoln and Washington Memorials. Not too long after, it was already dinner time and we headed back to the hotel for the Final Banquet.

The dress was business casual as it was told to us. The South team, decided to show up a little trashy with tanks…I guess that’s why they’re call the JV team. The banquet was pretty nice way to wrap everything up. They had a slideshow of good memories, along with a few awards. The entire time I was thinking of how it went so fast.

One banquet and a couple of cheesecake slices later, we departed and met in Drayton’s room for one last time as a team. We went around saying our goodbyes. Good thing I’m an engineer and don’t have any emotions, because if I wasn’t, I would have had tears pouring down my face. After a wrap of everything, we headed outside and onto a Party Bus/ Limo. Zak, the rider from Houston, dad is the owner of a Limo company and provided us a complimentary limo for the evening. We had a little fun driving all over Washington, before calling it a night.

That was it. 67 days. Less than 4000 miles. And one incredible journey. I don’t know what else to say. It’s been the time of my life, these past days. Never had I had such a feeling of accomplishment. But I do have one last thing to say…Thank you. Thank you for those that have been reading my blog and following me. It was those little comments you left after each entry, and those wall posts on facebook, and texts, that helped me get through the toughest days.

So what’s next? Tomorrow after brunch with my family, I leave for Traverse City, Michigan where I will be spending the next week with 3 of my best friends from high school, Jameson, Chris, and Brian. From tubing to putt putt, it’s going to be a nice break from reality. After a week of vacation, I’ll be finishing the differential equations class I was doing before my computer crashed, before I head back to Michigan. This semester will be a tough one, but its going to be especially great as I will be the upcoming Warden for the fraternity.

Until next time, and thank you,

Sean

Hagerstown, MD to Bethesda, MD

Today was our last full day of riding, and the riding today went pretty smoothly.

We woke up at 7:30, which was nice but we had so much to do and still had a 60+ mile day, we were fighting time.

I rode with Jason today and we basically kept changing pacelines. We started off with Jorge, but after he had 3 flat tires before 10 miles, he basically decided to rack. So Jason and I kept going until we met up with Stefan and Nick. We kept moving but we were hurting. Call it fatigue from the Appalachians, but we were for sure getting tired, and we had a very strong head wind. Even on the downhills, the fastest we could go was 10 mph. We kept pedaling and before we knew it, we were the first paceline. From last to first. We kept pushing ourselves knowing that time was not on our sides. After passing all but one crew stops, we made it to the 55 mile mark, where the crew had to serve us a crew chief lunch and then rack us up to lodging. It sucks that we couldn’t finish, but we didn’t have much options.

Our lodging for the night was the Landon School which was really nice especially for our final lodging of the trip. It was basically the preppiest school, which had money pouring out of it.

After getting ready pretty quickly the team set off in their route specific team shirt to go to the all team dinner. At the dinner we were able to catch up with the other routes and see a few frinds from the other routes. Like usual, we were the first one to arrive, and we eventually had to wait an hour for the south team to arrive. All three teams enjoyed pulled pork and chicken from Red Hot & Blue Barbeque at the St. Stephens United Methodist Church. After everybody was filled up, we began to go over plans for the big arrival tomorrow.

When we returned to lodging all of the team members laid their jerseys, maps, and anything else that they wanted autographed by the entire team in a line, and then we spent a good amount of time going through and signing each article. It is going to be nice having these jerseys and maps to look back upon and remember the great summer that we shared with everyone. Finally, we began by saying our goodbyes, to each one of us. I don’t know where the summer went by, but it was too fast.

Cumberland, MD to Hagerstown, MD

Today was a great day; we woke up and departed our lodging at the Western Braddock Inn in Cumberland Maryland.

There was a lot of climbing throughout the day, which made it tough for us as we were also battling the humidity on the ride. I was drenched in sweat through most of the ride. I kept pedaling and before I knew it, it was over. It was definitely one of the tougher days. The ride was capped off with a little drizzling rain at the end of the ride.
We arrived at the Potomac Center which was sponsoring for the rest of the day. We quickly got showered and prepared for a tour and friendship visit of the facility. We toured the facilities and we broke into smaller groups and played board games at the residence halls. After we played games for a little while we headed back to the gym for dinner with our new friends. I played a couple card games with Brad and some of the campers. We were playing spades with a bunch of new rules. Brad was getting a little irritated because every new rule seemed to hurt him only, but he shrugged it off. We soaked up every bit of this time as we could, because this was our last friendship visit for the summer.

After dinner the team had a little time to themselves, and then we participated in our last team ritual. Finally, I am a Pi Alpha, which has given me a new perspective on college, and even life. It was a tough day for me when I came to the realization that we were only two days out from DC and our friendship visits for the summer were finished with, but I cannot wait to see all of my family and friends when I arrive. Afterwards, we called it a night especially since it was approaching 2 AM.

Uniontown, PA to Cumberland, MD

We woke up at 6, had another crew chief breakfast, and got ready for one of the toughest days on the trip. In my paceline was Brad (UNC), Brian (Colorado), Chris (Colorado), and Tommy (Illinois). Hill after hill, mountain after mountain, we just kept pedaling. It wasn’t easy my any means. We were going up pretty steep hills for miles, one of the roads had at least a 15 percent grade uphill. I was in a pretty fast paceline, and we made it up to lunch as the second paceline, with the sweeps over 2 hours behind us…we were that spread out. I felt a little dizzy, but nothing too bad, I’m guessing it was just over exposure to the sun. At lunch we had a crew chief lunch, consisting of a 2 meat, 1 cheese sandwich and some fruit. I was dripping with sweat but we only had 12 miles more, with what I was told, a pretty sweet downhill. We started rolling, and before we knew it, we were flying at 50 mph down the mountain, into the town. We lost Tommy in the downhill, and we were worried sick. We gave him a call, and apparently he got stung by a bee on the way down, but was fine and racked himself to lodging. A few miles later, we saw him and he basically just had some bad luck.

We got to the hotel, and unpacked and relax. After I took a shower, I fell on the bed and was out until dinner. I was so tired, and it was just what I needed, a 3 hour nap.

For dinner, we were again sponsored by a rotary club at a park. They served us ribs and this lemon chicken that was pretty scrumptious. I ended have a ton of ribs, over 12. After dinner, we went back to hotel, where we cleaned out the vans, as it was getting to the time of the summer. We finished things off by going to the conference room and having our version of secret santa. It was pretty funny, and a lot of fun, and kind of sad that out time as a team was running out. We then had the rest of the night off, where we just watched TV before calling it a night.

Pittsburgh, PA to Uniontown, PA

Today was a pretty usual day on the bike. We got a little taste of the Appalachian Mountains, which are getting to be a bit of a challenge, I suppose a good way to end the trip.

We woke up at 6, packed up and had a crew chief breakfast. It’s been a while since we had a crew chief breakfast, so it brought back some memories…half a bagel, half a banana, and cup of cereal. After breakfast, we headed out to Uniontown. I was riding again with Jorge, so I knew that there was a good chance I would get frustrated at some point today. I also rode with Houston (Tennessee), Tyler (Southern Miss), and Zak (Houston). We headed out going at a pretty good speed. Then we hit a few steep hills. Now, they weren’t too bad, but they were pretty steep, probably 13 percent grade. Sure it sounds tough, but with the conditioning we had for the past 2 months, it should be bearable. However, Jorge decided to test my limits, and we were going at roughly 4 mph up the hills. I could run faster. Regardless, we pushed through, and we made it to lunch.

25 miles in, we were sponsored by this hotdog place called “The Red Caboose.” It was in the middle of nowhere and had ridiculously low prices. Surprisingly, they had lines out the door, and it was barely 10 AM when we arrived there. They gave us chilli-chaz dogs and brownies. Probably not the best lunch, especially considering that we still had 35 miles to go. We had a little contest at who could have the most chilli-chaz dogs. I topped out at 4.

During the rest of the ride, I thought I was at a severe disadvantage from the amount of food I had for lunch. However, I was feeling fine, if not better than before. There were a few more climbs, but nothing too bad, and we managed to get to lodging. Houston and I were struggling, not because the terrain was tough, but because we were going so slowly.

We were staying at a YMCA for today, my favorite type of lodging. We cleaned up and we had some downtime before dinner. We went to the Uniontown Mall, which felt really empty, probably because it was a Tuesday afternoon.

Once we got back, we headed to a park where we were provided a pasta dinner by the Knights of Columbus rotary club. The meal was great, the perfect carb load-up for tomorrow, what was going to be one of the toughest days on the bike.

After dinner, we headed back to the YMCA where we had the rest of the night off. After a quick workout, I just relaxed. Right before lights out, Tyler came back from scouting looking scared. He was telling me that scouting was torture, seeing what he would have to climb tomorrow. Basically, harder than anything we have ever done. There were literally, two walls that we had to climb. They stopped at a gas station, and the clerks actually referred to the hill as “a wall.” Well, it didn’t exactly help me go to sleep.

Regardless, I think tomorrow will be alright…hopefully.

Pittsburgh, PA (Day Off)

I woke up at 8, not because I had to, but because I was so used to waking up at the break of dawn. We got ready and walked over to UCP (United Cerebral Palsy), a non-profit organization helped with providing independence to people with cerebral palsy. We met a few of the art classes and hung out for a couple hours. I met this guy named Nathanial who was just as big of an ESPN buff as I was. We spoke a lot about college football. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a big fan of Michigan. I also spoke to a girl named Missy. She didn’t have as much ability as Nathanial, and required a computer for her to communicate. Because of it, it took quite a while for her to say only a few words. It was truly amazing to see her go through such barriers every day, as I couldn’t imagine how frustrating it would be.

We had a brunch consisting of a very traditional Pittsburgh meal. We had cheese and potato pierogies, kielbasa, and haluski (cabbage and noodles). It was pretty good, but a little greasy. After the meal, we got a Pittsburgh Pirates hat and some candy.

We headed back to lodging where we got only a hour or so to relax before we headed to lunch. For lunch, we went to a cycling themed bar and restaurant called “Over the Bars.” They served us cheeseburgers and fries, and we also met an alumni that did the trip three times in the early 2000’s. The food was pretty good, and the décor on the walls were pretty interesting. After lunch, we had some downtime at the hotel before dinner, which I pretty much napped.

For dinner, we went to Dave and Buster’s, where a sponsor donated us a meal and about 10 bucks worth of games. It was pretty fun, but a little boring at the same time. I’m not too big on cheesy video games, so I pretty much played pool and shuffleboard the entire time. We headed back to the hotel. We went to bed early, considering that we had another early wake up.

Niles, OH to Pittsburgh, PA

We woke up at 5 and got ready just like usual. For breakfast, the sponsors put together something in the cafeteria. It was basically some sugared muffins and left over cold pizza…disgusting. Easily the worst meal of the trip so far.

We got on the road and just kept pedaling. In my paceline was Rich (Iowa), Jorge (George Washington), and Brian (Colorado). The roads were pretty good, nothing too bad. However, those rolling hills from yesterday started to appear again but worst. We got a pretty good idea what the Appalachian Mountains were going to look like. Once we hit past the state line, we stop seeing the never-ending sight of farmland and instead started to see these old fashion towns. They were pretty nice, each with a little downtown and streets of small mom and pop shops.

Rack point was pretty lofty at 55 miles by 10:30, especially considering the terrain was much tougher than anything in the past month. Considering that Jorge was in my paceline, I was particularly nervous, but we pulled through. For a while, we got to the point where rack point was going to be tough, but after giving Jorge a little motivation, it worked out. Right before we entered the city of Pittsburgh, we had lunch. For lunch, we had McDonald’s, a chicken sandwich, a double cheeseburger, and half a box of French fries. It was nice to know that all the calories that we with great effort burned, were gained backed by in roughly 10 minutes. We were about 10 miles away from lodging. Due to the unsafe-for-cyclists bridges all over the Pittsburgh, we were given a police escort into lodging. It was pretty sweet to go through the streets of Pittsburgh, especially as we got to pass by Heinz field and Pitt’s campus.

Once we got to lodging, which we were lucky enough to stay at a Holiday Inn, we had to wait a couple hours for our rooms to get ready. It wasn’t much fun just sitting outside the hotel when all I wanted to do was to shower and then sleep.

We finally got our rooms and got cleaned up. Afterwards, we had a sponsored event with the parents of a Pi Kapp from Virginia Tech who did Journey of Hope the previous year. We went across from Robert Morris University to a bowling alley from cosmic bowling. Of course, bowling isn’t my specialty, so I tried to not be the worst one there. I don’t know how, but I succeeded. For the third game, our group got a little too bored, so we put bumpers up and tried to get the lowest score possible. It was a pretty good twist to bowling and finally, I was competitive at bowling.

After bowling, we went back to our lodging. For the rest of the night, I met up with one of my closest friends from Michigan, Jason Banish, and the rest of his family. Him and his brother, Shawn, picked me from lodging, and drove me to his hometown, Houston, about a half hour away. His house was nicely tucked away in the foothills. I was lucky enough to been at Jason’s house before, a couple years ago when the frat when to Pittsburg to volunteer for a weekend. I met his parents and we all just hung out in their patio. It was nice to just relax. Jason prepared some appetizers, fried okra and green tomatoes. He picked up a couple recipes during his internship in Mississippi from the past summer. Ever since I started Journey of Hope, I started to hang out with a few guys from the south, so I knew how good fried okra is, but Jason’s appetizers were scrumptious, a good sign for dinner. For dinner, his parents prepared a traditional Pittsburgh home-cooked meal, with chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables and a Polish dish called kielbasa. I found out a little later that there is a very large Polish population in Pittsburgh, which is very influential on Pittsburgh’s cuisine. After dinner, we had some mocha cake courtesy of Shawn, and some icecream. The cake was so good down to last bite. The entire meal was perfect and just what I needed to get through the last week of the trip. It was also very nice for the Banish family to wait for me to arrive to have dinner. After dinner, Jason and I caught up a little before it was time to start heading back. The whole dinner was great, and I felt like I was at home during my stay at the Banish’s.

Before we headed back to the hotel, Banish gave me a quick tour of downtown Pittsburgh. We stopped off at Washington Street, where you could see the entire skyline of Pittsburgh reflecting above the river. Breathtaking. We then went past the pro stadiums including the new hockey arena for the Penguins. Pittsburg surprisingly reminded me of Indianapolis due to its big city skyscrapers but with it’s small town feel.

Once I got back to lodging, it was already close to curfew so I went straight to bed. All though I get to sleep in, I would still have to wake up by 8:30.

Cleveland, OH to Niles OH

We woke up, packed our bags and got ready for another day on the bikes. Breakfast was a crew chief breakfast. Half a bagel, half a banana, and cup full of cereal. It’s been a while since we had a crew chief breakfast, so I suppose it was nice. I was originally suppose to ride with some of the same guys I rode with into Cleveland, but at the last minute, I chose against it, and joined another group. My legs appreciated that decision.
Today, I rode with Tucker (Iowa State), Matt (Colorado), Brian (Colorado), and Rudy (TCU). We started off the day making pretty good time. Then we hit a few rolling hills and we realized out we’ve been taken the lack of elevation change for granted, and also how out of shape for hills we were. The first couple hills were definitely a struggle but we pushed through it. We had some interesting scenery though. We passed through an Amish village, and passed a few horse and carriages. I would have taken a few pictures, but I felt it would have been a little disrespectful, with the whole, electronics thing. Before we knew it, we made rack point, which was 45 miles by 10:30. Not easy but pretty realistic.Literally a mile later, we hit this patch of bad roads, and Rudy got a flat. We were currently the second pace line, and after wasting 20 minutes with the flat, we were the third. Right when we were getting ready to head out, Brian found out that he had a flat as well, the worst of timing. Since we were crunched on time, Brian had to rack and the four of us headed out to lodging. It sucks that it happened that way, but our options were limited. After some long stretches of riding 25 mph, we finally made our destination at Fairhaven School for Children with Special Needs.
Right when we got there, we met our sponsors and they gave us lunch at the cafeteria. Lunch today was a take-out box which had fried chicken and French fries. I don’t know where they were from, but it was pretty good. I wish they gave us some kool-air or some juice to down it, but I guess you can’t always get what you want. After lunch, we cleaned up and had a friendship visit at the gym. At around 2, a bunch of people with intellectual disabilities rolled up. One of the sponsors paid for a musical “DJ,” for lack of a better word, and we started dancing. It was a little more of the awkward dances based on the music. The “DJ” was a chubby 40 year old with a toupee who sang songs only out of the 60’s…kind of different of the music we usually can relate to. Regardless, we made it work, and it turned out to be alright. I danced with this African-American lady who appeared to have autism. All was fine until she used some “not camp appropriate” words and I just awkwardly smiled and tried to avoid here as best as I can. Unfortunately, due to my dark nature, I sort of stand out from everyone else on my team. Regardless, it turned out to be fine.
After the friendship visit, we headed to dinner. We were sponsored by the management of Olive Garden. It was a wrong day to roll out the unlimited breadsticks and salad. 27 hungry cyclists, you do the math…it adds up. After the pasta dinner, we headed back to lodging where we had the rest of the night off. It was pleasant to be done so early, as this was the first time we had so much free time since, it seems like, Chicago.
A few of us ended up going to mall, where a splurged on a cheap pair of sunglasses. I was a little surprised to see such a nice and big mall at Niles, considering that the population mustn’t be too great here. I was also interested to see that everyone there were Pittsburg Steelers fans rather than Cleveland fans. I guess Niles is a little fair-weather, but what city in Ohio isn’t? I also saw someone wear a Michigan football jersey, which was just…strange to say the least.

Cleveland, OH (Day Off)

Today was a really relaxing day, which I desperately needed after pushing it to my physical limits the past few days.

We got to sleep in until around 8, a nice break from waking it up at 5 for the past few days. We then walked over the Cleveland Clinic’s hospital’s own cafeteria where we got a very filling feast of eggs, sausages, and muffins. It was surprisingly good and fresh for hospital food. During the breakfast, we were given a short presentation about the hospital. The hospital basically was an interim hospital for patients that are almost ready to live back at their homes. With that being said, the overall mood of the hospital was very cheerful, unlike the usual hospital. We were then introduced to three teenagers that were rehabilitated at this hospital and their stories. There was this one kid who one day at hockey practice, just collapsed. He had a very unlikely brain injury which led to brain injury. Bad news after bad news, he never fully recovered. I spoke to his father a little bit and he was telling me how he was down and sad for two days. After that, he was the happiest kid in the world doing the best he can. I asked if he had any chance for a full recovery. His father whispered in my ears, “not even a slim chance.” It really hit me hard, how not only can it happen to anyone, but also how the youngling approached his whole situation with nothing but a smile.

After breakfast, we were given a tour of the hospital. The whole tour left a pretty good impression for me. I was really impressed not only by the state-of-the-art technology but also the genuine happiness of all the staff and patients. We went into this one room where this girl who was in her late teens, with blood flowing in and out of her, and she was constantly cracking jokes with a smile on her face. We also visit some of the other wings of the hospital including the Learning Center for Children with Autism. Basically, a wing that looked more like a school with its lockers and classrooms. However, it had not patterns, so it wouldn’t disturb any children with Autism. The lockers were basically noise proof and the pictures on the walls and the ceiling lights had no pattern of its placement. It looked like a hospital room fit for a clown.

After the tour, we had lunch at the garden in one of the quads outside the hospital. It was a pretty standard lunch with pulled pork sandwiches and fruit however the presentation of the food was spectacular and it looked like the food was catered.

After lunch, we had some free time up until dinner which most of used for a really relaxing nap. Once 5:30 hit, we loaded up the vans and drove 30 minutes away to Avon lake. Our sponsors, parents of two Bowling Green Pi Kapps that did the trip last year, served us ribs, fruit, and cookies. It was by far one of the best meals of the trip. What was so great about it was that it was an easy dinner. We had a chance to relax and eat our food peacefully. After the nice dinner, we sat outside in their backyard by a fire pit.

We headed back to lodging where we had a team meeting. It was the second to last team meeting of the trip. It’s crazy how fast it’s been. It really hasn’t hit me yet. We were already talking about the itinerary of DC which was only a week away. We each got a string necklace with a piece of a chain attached to symbolize out brotherhood in a nutshell.

After the team meeting, we went to bed, left with food for thought. Only a week left. Tomorrow, we’re in our last day of Ohio.

Sandusky, OH to Cleveland, OH

We woke up at 5 AM and got ready for another early arrival. Today was 65 miles, but we had to finish before 10:45. We left SS Headquarters, our lodging for the previous day, and headed to breakfast, a small restaurant near some of the busier parts of Sandusky. We biked an easy 5 miles to breakfast. For breakfast, we were sponsored by a restaurant that served us bacon and French toast. It was unbelievably good, but not exactly the best thing to eat before biking.

After breakfast, it was already 7:45, so we only had 3 hours to go 65 miles, which means we had to average a little bit over 20 miles per hour…not much of a realistic task. In my paceline today was Alex (Illinois), Jason (George Mason), Matt (Colorado), and Rich (Iowa), 4 of the fastest guys on the team. I really didn’t want to go too fast, because my legs were killing me from yesterday.

Regardless, we started to head out and I was doing alright. Then after 15 miles, we picked up the speed and then I was struggling, my legs were dying. At one point we were going at 30 mph on flats, and I physically didn’t know if I could finish today. Anyways, I kept on pedaling, and we ended up making rack point and biked the entire way. It wasn’t easy, especially with the speed we were going and the stretch of roads that were covered with potholes, but we finished. We were the first group to stage-up for are arrival, and only one other group made it. It was a pretty cool accomplishment to say the least. The best part of it all, was that stage-up was at this park that had an amazing view of the skyline of Cleveland, and only showed the best parts of Cleveland. From this distance, you couldn’t see any of the poverty and bankruptcy of city.

Once all the crew vans filled with racked cyclists got to stage up, we biked to our arrival. We had a police escort to downtown Cleveland, and we were meeting up with a sponsor outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He brought us lunch which was pulled pork sandwiches from I guess, a reputable restaurant, and Italian-styled pizza from another restaurant. I was so hungry that I scarped it down, but from what I could remember, it was pretty good.

The local Fox news were a little late for our arrival so they had six of us get back on the bikes and cycle around the block for about 10 minutes. Pretty cool, so if you’re in the Cleveland area, watch the 6:00 news.

After lunch, we got to go inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We only had a few hours to spend there, so we got the most out of it and rushed through it. It was pretty interesting, especially about the impact rock and roll had on society in the middle of the century. There was a 15 minute movie that we saw in a small theatre. I don’t really know what happened in it, considering me along with all my other teammates, just fell asleep 5 minutes in.

After we finished, we drove to lodging, which was at a hospital. We were staying at one of the rooms in the east wing. We showered up and had a couple hours to dinner.

After a nice nap, we headed to dinner, provided by another sponsor. Dinner was on a cruise ship that departs into Lake Erie. We headed to the port where we met Jim, who was the first Project Manager of the first Journey of Hope team, and he was the guy who started the Journey of Hope.

The dinner was great, vegetables, steak, chicken, and cheesecake. But it was an all-you-can-eat buffet, which was the best part for a hungry team.

The cruise ship departed the harbor, and got to see the Cleveland skyline once again, but a little closer. I was really impressed at how big the city was. The sponsor, was telling me that Cleveland was the Beverly Hills of the 1800’s, where all the multi-millionaires of that era lived, including the Rockefellers and the Morgan. It was also the home of Standard Oil and US Steel, two of the biggest companies of that era.

I liked the sponsor, but I could tell there was something a little off about him. His story of the reasoning behind the first Journey of Hope is a little different than the one that PUSH America tells. He was a little bit bitter about the whole thing, but I guess I would be too if I was in his shoes. He was really pissed off that we didn’t ride every mile, and I complete agree.

After the boat docked, we headed back to the vans and drove back to the hospital. It was already 10:30 and I was exhausted from the day. I went back and finally just slept.

Toledo, OH to Sandusky, OH

We woke up at around 5:45, and started to pack our bags. Like the previous day, we had another early arrival at Sandusky, so there was a clear rack point. We basically had to go 22 mph, without stopping, in order to make the 50 mile rack point. Not an easy task, but manageable.

We kept a pretty steady pace. The roads were alright, even though it was Ohio. There wasn’t much to see along the way except farmland, surprisingly. There was a stretch of which we were on the interstate, but it wasn’t for long. We eventually passed a couple cities that I recognized. Fremont, where Neil and Rachel picked up their puppy, and also Tiffin, home of University of Tiffin. My U of M inline hockey team always plays Tiffin every year, and we crush every time like 15 to 1. No joke, I think they actually enjoy getting blown out.

Before we knew it, we made to Sandusky. We arrived at a friendship visit with at least 150 people waiting for us, which was pretty cool. They served us sloppy joe’s and watermelon. After the lunch, there was a dance with a lot of hits from the 90’s including “If I had a million dollars,” a favorite of mine. Afterward, there was a water-balloon toss similar to an egg toss. After enough people were out, it turned into a water-balloon fight. I ran inside for cover, because I really didn’t want to get wet. Unfortunately, it started sprinkling, but it didn’t rain to hard. After a pretty long friendship visit, we hopped back on the bikes and headed to lodging, which was at the headquarters for the organization.

We took our showers, and got ready to go to Cedar Rapids. Before we left, a few of us did work on some leftover watermelons from lunch.

We headed out to the park. It was my first time there so I was pretty excited. We got there at around 5, so we didn’t have too much time. We had time to hit up three roller coasters before we had to meet up at 8 PM: Millennium, Mantis, and Raptor. While we were waiting in line for Mantis, we randomly ran into a few of my chapter brother, Kevin, Frank, and Charlie, two of whom I saw up in Ann Arbor.

At 8, we met up with the rest of the group, and it was only 4 of us that wanted to stay a little longer. So everyone left, while the four of us stayed. We had to be back at lodging by 11, so we really only had time for one more ride…Maverick. It was probably the best ride of the day, just because it was night, so you didn’t know when all the turns were going to happen.

We left the park, and finally got dinner at around 10 at a local Wendy’s before heading back to lodging. Overall, a really fun day. The only other major amusement park I’ve been to was King’s Island in Cincinnati and I absolutely believe that all four rides today were better than the best ride in King’s Island.

Ann Arbor, MI to Toledo, OH

Today was pretty sad as I did not want to leave Ann Arbor.

We woke up and packed our bags. We had an early arrival for lunch, so we had to wake up early at 5 AM. It felt like a different campus with the empty streets and the pitch dark sky.

For breakfast, the Rampton’s made us some eggs, sausages, and some muffins which was really good. A couple of guys did a challenge, of completing a 2 liter bottle of cola before cycling. 250 grams of sugar, 800 calories. One guy didn’t make it. Needless to say, this was not a challenge I would consider doing.

After breakfast, we hit the roads. Chris (Michigan State), Trent (Nebraska) and I decided to sweep for the day. The day was pretty easy, with the occasional stretches of bad roads. However, entering Ohio was pretty lame, imagine that.

We were cruising pretty easily. Then, at the 40 mile mark, 10 miles from our lodging at University of Toledo, we found out we were a little crunched on time, so we booked it to stage up, going at roughly 25 mph on flats. Once we finally got there, we met the Mayor of Toledo, and he rode his bike with us right in the middle of the U of Toledo campus.

The arrival was pretty awesome, and was by far one of the best so far on the trip. There was a couple live feeds for the local news channels. After the Mayor spoke, the Pi Kappa Phi regional governor spoke, along with the President of University of Toledo, who told us to “just keep pedaling.” After the speeches, we moved into once of the banquet halls in the school, and they provided us a chipotle lunch along with some fruit. A couple staff workers from the school spoke about hardships in their life. Before the end of the lunch, the Mayor presented the school with a mural on two doors painted by a local artist. After the presentation, everyone had a chance to sign it.

We then went to a friendship visit, at the rec center of University of Toledo. We met up with a local organization called sunshine that works with people with intellectual disabilities. For about an hour, we just shot a basketball around. This one girl kept calling me a cheater. I did the natural thing and called her a cheater back. It turned out to be a good time.

After the friendship visit, we walked over to one of the dormitories where we checked in for the rest of the evening. After a quick shower, we drove the vans to dinner, at an Outback steakhouse. It was an early dinner, but who can complain about steak. We got a 6 ounce steak along with a baked potato. It wasn’t that much food, so we filled up on free bread by having a bread eating contest. It was either the smartest or dumbest thing we did that day.

After dinner, the day got even better. We drove about 20 minutes away to a spa clinic, where we all got massages. I was exhausted so I ended up sleeping for most of it, but I felt really relaxed afterwards. Chipotle, steaks, and messages…yeah, today was a tough day. We headed back to lodging where we had the rest of the night off. I worked out a bit, and fell easily to sleep after such a long but nice day.

Coldwater, MI to Ann Arbor, MI

Today was by far the best of the trip for me for obvious reasons.

We woke up at 6, packed our bags and got ready for breakfast. Today, breakfast, which included egg casserole, was sponsored by Kevin Kelley’s parents.

We hit the roads and started rolling. The roads for the most part were pretty good. We were on highway 12 for majority of the ride until we hit Saline, Michigan. In my paceline was Alex (Illinois), Jason (George Mason), and Chris (Michigan State). Chris and I had a lot of people waiting for us at Ann Arbor, so we wanted to get there as fast as possible. Chris also was teasing me a little, by putting a bunch of Michigan State stickers all over my bike. Luckily, I found them all before it got too embarrassing but it was close.

Halfway through our 75 mile ride, we had a sponsored snack compliments of the Michigan Mom’s and Dad’s Club, ran by the parents of U of M alum, Ben Luster. They had some of Michigan’s specialty, cherries. The cherries did remind me of my time spend in Traverse City, the cherry capital of the world. After the snack we booked it, and raced to Ann Arbor. There were 5 mile stretches where we were reaching speeds of 27-28 mph on flats, pushing my limits to a level I have never gone before. Before we knew it, we were in Ann Arbor. It felt really weird to be biking on a path I knew like the back of my hand. We went down Main Street hitting the nice touristy part of Ann Arbor, eventually passing the Big House, taking a left of state to pass the Law Quad, and Yost Ice Arena. Finally, we arrived at a house on Granger Street, a few streets down from the Pi Kapps house. Our lodging today was provided by the Ramptons, whose son, a University of Elon alum, rode Journey of Hope the past year.

Since we were the first group to arrive at lodging, I took my paceline to the Pi Kapps house and gave them a quick tour. Coincidently, we arrived at the house the same time that an alumnus showed up to visit the house. He was a graduate of Michigan in ’93 and he now lives in Toledo. After the short tour, we headed back to lodging for lunch. Lunch again was provided by the Michigan Mom’s and Dad’s club who gave everyone a T-shirt and a bag full of trail mix for the rest of the trip. For lunch, they served us beef and cheddar sandwiches and fruit.
We unpacked our bags, I got to claim a couch for the night (score!), and showered up. After everyone was cleaned up, we took a couple vans to REI, the exact place where I bought most of my equipment for the trip. I bought a way-overdue tire which should get me to DC (knock on wood).

We headed back to the lodging and got ready for dinner. Dinner today was to be hosted at a baquet hall with the Eisenhower Center, a facility that works with people with traumatizing brain injuries. There was a western theme with cowboy decorations all over the walls. In addition, many Pi Kapps from my local chapter attended the event, including Matt Po, Satish, and Frank and a few alumni’s as well including Dziuba, Jordan, and Spotts, a Pi Alpha. It was interesting to see my two “fraternities” mix, my U of M chapter and my Journey of Hope chapter. After the sloppy joe dinner, a dance broke through. The dancing was different than anything we’ve encountered because most of the dances had a lot of rhythm to it…nothing close to a western themed dance that was promised. Regardless, it was a lot of run and a great way to let loose after a solid day of riding.

Once we arrived back at lodging, I led a van tour around Ann Arbor, hitting all the major buildings and facilities. It made me really appreciate the school, and made me especially appreciate the state for pouring so much money into the school.

Once we arrived back to lodging, I took a third of the guys to the Pi Kapps house to see the house and for us to hang out. My chapter brothers taught them the house’s favorite tailgating game. Overall, it was a blast and made me really miss Michigan and really excited to live in the house this upcoming fall. Thanks again to Matt Po for setting up everything up including the rides there and back. Before we knew it, curfew was fast approaching and we headed back to lodging. It was by far may favorite day of the trip so far and made me really proud to be a Pi Kapp.

South Bend, IN to Coldwater, MI

After a pretty stressful day yesterday, today turned out a lot better, and was quite relaxing.We woke up at 6, had a sponsored breakfast which included egg casserole (yum) and zucchini bread (double yum), and headed out to Michigan. After a pretty rough day yesterday, I decided to sweep along with Michigan State graduate, Chris Kelley, and TCU senior, TJ. Ten miles after we departed South Bend, we were already across the border in Michigan. Since there wasn’t any sign, we couldn’t tell exactly where the border was, but we had an idea based on the license plates on the parked cars.The roads were pretty enjoyable throughout Michigan except for the occasional three mile stretches of nasty cracks and pot holes. However, there were times where the shoulder was bigger than the road, a site I have never seen while cycling.Thirty-five miles through, we had a snack break provided to us by Kevin Kelley’s parents, a Central Michigan University graduate who currently works for Push America. After some delicious cookies and juice, we were on the road again. It was roughly half way to Coldwater, but because we took such a long break, our legs were tight and and the last half felt forever. We pushed through and we finally made it to lunch and lodging. Lunch was provided buy Kevin Kelley’s parents along with Chris Kelley’s family, along with Carroll Luster. Carroll Luster is the mother of Ben Luster, a chapter brother of mine who road in 2006. They greeted us with a huge poster which had all our names on it, along with a University of Michigan flag. After the subway lunch, we road a mile to lodging, took a van ride to a local gym to shower, and pretty much relaxed until dinner. I decided to be a road marshall for today and drove the first 20 miles to make sure there wasn’t any hazards for tomorrow’s ride...there wasn’t. Once we got back, we had dinner donated to us by the same sponsors as lunch. i also met the sponsor for tomorrow, who is a Pi Alpha from Elon University but lives in Ann Arbor. For dinner they served us corn, salad, and grilled chicken, which was all pretty good. After dinner, we took the vans to a car wash and vacuumed them out until they were practically good as new.
Once we got back, we had a pretty lengthy team meeting and I may have zoned in and out through it, I’m not too sure, I can’t really remember.
I’m pretty excited for tomorrow. Ann Arbor, here I come. Hopefully, I don’t get a flat tire, which has a good chance of happening considering the state of my tires.