Gratitude

I just want to say a big thank you to the people who have given of their financial resources to get my fundraiser to where it is and who have lent me a hand in getting ready for this long ride ahead of me. I'm not going to name names as some wish to remain anonymous and some don't even think they've made a significant contribution yet. There are a couple people who have taken time out of their lives to give me a hand training for this bicycle ride. One guy has driven upwards of an hour to give me a lift when my tires have popped. Another great friend took me out for a tutorial ride back when my new bike was foreign and a little frightening. Numerous people have given me advice and recommendations on how to prepare. The research fund hit the $650 mark this past week. That's roughly 22% of the goal. Another $100 and we'll be 1/4 of the way there! After about 4 months, we're almost 25% there! I know the economy is bad and right now many people don't have expendable income that they can give even though they want to. That makes that $650 so much more significant. Others of you have given funding for the trip itself. Maybe you don't see yourself as having contributed much but I truly believe that what you have given will be compounded so much as I travel! $50 will easily turn into a couple of hundred as people across this great nation get connected with what the ALS Association is doing. Thank you for your contributions to end ALS forever.

There and Back Again!!!

As hard as my last couple attempts for 50+ mile rides have been, they were made up for by today's ride. I'm almost positive that the flats I had last week were the result of the tube not being adequately inflated, the added weight of the cargo rack/bags and improper riding techniques. Today, the weather was perfect. I was almost a tad chilly during the first 20 minutes to just outside of Hanover. The sun was perfect and the scenery (while I wouldn't use the word beautiful) was nice. The route wasn't overly complicated and I didn't make any wrong turns. When I told my waiter at IHOP that I'd ridden my bicycle down from Hanover, PA he was thunderstruck and brought me about 6 glasses of water. The burger and fries tasted so good after riding that distance! Just after leaving IHOP, I happened upon a very interesting sight which I think my former English professor, Dr. Prior, would be excited to see:

On the way home, I took a more straightforward route (a straight shot on route 30 right into Hanover). I had a couple scares, though. One driver wasn't watching me come up the road and started making a turn right into my path. I was able to brake in time, though, and I was in such a good mood that I let him off with an "Idiot!" instead of something a bit more descriptive. About an hour from home, *I* was the one not watching closely enough and hit a 2x4 wooden board on the shoulder of the road. The tire didn't go flat, though, and I chalk that one up to grace. So that's my story! This was the farthest I've gone on bike in a single day (with the possible exception of when I got lost coming home from Carlisle). 58.7 miles! The 50 to Baltimore next week won't even be such a big deal. But I'll get to see how doing 50-ish miles two days in a row feels!

There and [not] Back Again: A Cyclist's Tale

Rough day today. It's the day before my birthday so I thought I'd treat myself to lunch at an awesome burrito place (Roburrito's) and browsing at Books-A-Million in York, PA. The day started out really well. I got on the road at about 10:15 this morning and made it up to my dining destination a few minutes before noon. Great lunch. Had fun browsing at an actual legit bookstore and drinking a caramel frappe. Then came the ride home. It started out well enough but once I hit one of the main roads running through York, I got a sudden flat tire. It was okay though. It happens. Getting upset doesn't reinflate the tire. So I asked Siri where a bike shop was and she points me to one about 3 miles away. I start walking and arrive there after about an hour or so of walking. The staff in the shop are very friendly and knowledgeable and they equip me with an inner-tube and some tire levers. I start dismantling my rear tire and trying to get the thing on there. It's not going so well. After about 15 minutes of trying to get the task finished, I'm hot and sweaty with grease on my hands and still not making good progress. I ask the guy for some help and he does it in a matter of about 30-45 seconds. Internally, I wave goodbye to the last little bit of confidence I have about my ability to handle anything mechanical. I pull out my credit card but the guy says "Don't worry about it. This one's on me." I reply "Are you serious??" "I sure am." "Thank you so, so much! I really, really appreciate it!" I hand him one of my cycling business cards and say "I'm definitely going to have to get better at changing tires but let me give you this. I'm riding across the US next year to raise funds for Lou Gehrig's Disease." So I'm back pedaling and thanking God for such an amazing thing to happen as a free inner-tube, set of tire levers and installation job. I'm shaking my head that it took so little to make me angry and upset and huffing and puffing. Then came the icing on the cake... POP Believe me when I say a couple of f-bombs were dropped upon discovering my SECOND flat. I had checked the tire and frame for debris. For good measure, I had checked them again. And then I thought "What the hell! Let me check it one more time." Nothing. A single pebble had fallen inside the shop when I was working on the tire and I'd thought that was likely what did it. But no. Apparently there was something I'd missed. I'd missed it three times apparently! I was about ready to fly off the handle and just start screaming and cursing like a madman. But instead I called a couple of my friends and described the situation to their voicemails. My mentor was the guy who answered my phone call and volunteered to drive the 40-ish minutes to York to pick me and my cycle up. All that to say, I know this is all part of the process and there will be grace for each step of the way. Maybe I'm getting all these flats because that's what I need to get this practice in *before* I find myself in Nowheresville, Kansas with an empty tire. This is all a part of the journey to do something significant. It's often incredibly sucky but Lou Gehrig's Disease victims are worth the struggle.

The Fundraising Catalog

Wes's Cycling Trip Fundraising Catalog

The Knee and Other Developments

It's been a slow couple of weeks as far as activity to prepare and raise funds. After coming back from Carlisle, I had to take a break from cycling due to my knee injury. The Monday following my fall on Whiskey Springs Road, the swelling still hadn't gone down enough and I was concerned that the injury was more serious than I'd previously thought. So on Monday June 30th, I went to a walk-in orthopedic clinic in town. The doctor took a look at my knee and said he didn't think any real damage had been done to the ligaments or tendons and suggested that I simply double the dose of ibuprofen and ice/heat the knee every couple of hours as I had opportunity. So that's exactly what I did. The injury isn't quite back to normal but there is barely any discomfort the last couple of days and the swelling has gone far down almost to the point where the knee looks normal.

Something that I'm constantly having to remember is that I have plenty of time to prepare and that I don't need to be busting my hump to get as far as possible as quickly as possible. I've got slightly less than 9 months until I leave, giving me a wide margin to get my distance up and build up endurance from this injury. I was planning to ride down to Baltimore at the end of this month but if I can't make it down there until even the end of August, that's perfectly fine!

Another cool development was the publication of my news story! You can check it out at http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_26085822/change-pace-penn-township-man-training-bike-cross! Since I hit the press, I've had a few people approach me expressing real interest in what I'm doing and asking questions about my plans. It's a thrilling experience but so surreal to see my picture in the newspaper.

New Year's in July is going well also! I've had a number of people tell me what they're giving up to help find a cure for Lou Gehrig's Disease and it's always exciting to hear how they're getting invested in this project. What I'm going to try to do is develop a new idea each month to keep the fundraising efforts fresh and interesting. We'll see what happens for next month!

The First Real Adventure

Here's what happened on the trip to Carlisle this week:

I left my apartment here in Hanover, PA around 10 am on Monday and pedaled to McSherrystown where the directions started. The first half of the trip went about as well as could be expected and I arrived in York Springs (roughly halfway there) around noon. I contacted my host (Bill; his wife Gerri was unable to join us on the ride there) who was planning to meet me there and left a message detailing where I was on the list of directions. We met up on Whiskey Springs Rd. which is a bit farther than halfway there and continued on together. Shortly after meeting up, though, the first serious hills began. Towards the high point of the ride, I was heading up a hill when my legs simply would not continue on. I didn't have time to unclip my shoes and fell over into a grassy patch on the side of the road. The pain wasn't so bad but the swelling alarmed me. My knee had struck the bike as I went down and when I next looked at it, it was roughly the size of a nectarine. I hadn't ever seen something swell so large or so quickly and seriously thought my bone must have popped out of joint. But we took a break and then continued on. Upon arriving at my hosts' house, we put an ice pack on it and relaxed with some cold tea and water. I went out to run an errand with Bill and he gave me a brief tour of Carlisle. I got to see Dickinson College (where I'd wanted to go when I was a wee high school student) and Dickinson Law School. Upon returning home, Bill and Gerri showed me a slideshow of their cycling tour of Europe and shared a couple of their stories from the road. Then we sat down to a delicious dinner of ribs from the crockpot and a couple of sides. Afterwards, I took a soak in their hot tub to further help my knee recover for the trip back tomorrow. Lastly, I went to bed after watching a couple of episodes of Law and Order: SVU with Bill.

Tuesday morning followed a less than perfect night's sleep but I knew I had to hit the road home. My knee was still aching a bit but feels able to handle a little bit of riding. We ate a light breakfast of cereal, muffins and orange juice. Then the first bad omen... I discovered that one of my tires had gone flat and needed a new inner tube. Note to self: always bring a tube and pump with you on the road! Had I gotten a ways before finding this out my only plan was to call someone for help. Not a very good plan! Bill had a tube handy and showed me how to replace it. I'll have to practice it some more before I get it down but I have a rough idea of what to do now. Then I set out. Which leads me to mistake #2: Instead of humbly confessing to Bill that my sense of direction is unspeakably bad, I cleverly decided to try mentally reversing the directions he'd given me (turning rights to lefts and lefts to rights). It's not always that straightforward, though! Anyway, my first wrong turn happened about 10 minutes into the trip home and I rode for a while without realizing I'd missed where I was supposed to turn. Fast forward an hour and a half and I rode roughly 6 miles IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!! By this point, I was pretty frustrated with myself and losing my calm, cool collectedness. After traversing the high hills (walking for a little while), I was getting worn down and the clock had been ticking. Add another hour and a half and I was just too exhausted to continue mentally reversing the directions and I simply told Google maps to take me to Hanover, PA. It sent me careening through this unnamed, unpaved road that literally runs between cornfields on someone's farm. I was running low on water at this point and my cell phone was down to the last 20% or thereabouts. I just kept on keeping on though and decided that steady perseverance would win the day. Then Google maps threw a wrench in the works. Some of the road names were confused and it was sending me in two different directions. I rode for a little while and it sent me back the way I came. I got there and it told me to return to where I just checked a few minutes ago. At this point I was down to 1% battery and I decided to just ride straight on this one road until I get to some area that Google says I will reach. I didn't reach it despite Google's affirmations that I'd be there in a matter of minutes. I was completely out of water. 1% of battery was still hanging on and I decide to call my close friend and mentor, Bruce Schwarz. I prayed that he would answer his phone (he often isn't able to). He answered. I shared my predicament, all the time praying that my cell wouldn't die. He said he'd look up where I was on his GPS, call me back and give me some directions. I told him that if I didn't answer his call it's because my cell died. A few minutes passed and his call came in telling me that I was literally just about 3 miles from McSherrystown (a small village immediately next to Hanover). I headed south to McSherrystown and reached the Subway near Food Lion and just vegetated with about 5 cups of ice water and a foot long Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sub. But I couldn't move any further. I just had no gumption to continue. I called Bruce again and explained that I had nothing left in me and I could barely move. I'd been pedaling the majority of the past 6 hours using my left leg so as not to strain my right one with the injury. I was picked up about 6:30 and made it home after over 7 hours on the road and at least 50 miles under my belt.

Lessons learned:

1) Know your limits. I should have unclipped before my leg gave out on the way there and I took that blow to the knee.

2) Know how to change a flat tire on your next major cycling trip. This one was just stupid. I should have thought about the possibility of getting a flat.

3) Admit your weaknesses. I should not have set off to mentally reverse the directions Bill gave me but should have asked for him to print off reverse directions for me to follow.

4) Keep on keeping on. I did this one well. After a while of riding on Tuesday, I gave myself a pep talk saying "Wes, don't lose your cool and become upset when you make mistakes. Focus your energies on keeping going." And that's just what I did.

5) It's okay to ask strangers for help. Had Bruce not answered his phone, I would have gone to someone's house and explained my situation to them and asked if they could give me some water and either directions or some phone charging time.

So that's it. With every major accomplishment there will always be stories of hardship, frustration and inconvenience. This is just one of those. And the lessons I learned will be invaluable to me on future rides. I'm not at all discouraged now. Just a little bit more aware of what to expect.

A Defense of Traveling Cross-Country

Recently, an old friend of mine posited that if I were to not make the cross-country trip, I could probably raise a great deal more funding for actual research. His allegation did carry weight as traveling across the US costs money. And not just a little bit of money either. Firstly, there's the equipment I need for the road. I need a good bike, repair equipment, supplies with which to maintain my bike. Secondly, I need places to sleep and eat. I'll be doing mainly camping and staying with folks on the Warm Showers network (www.warmshowers.org) and that's a whole lot cheaper than staying in hotels and motels every night but it still costs money. Additionally, I need food. Buying from a supermarket and cooking it myself will save a lot of money compared to eating out nightly but it still costs a bit. So I'll need a hammock or a tent, campground dues, food and equipment to cook with. And then you've got all the other stuff that is just part of life. I've got to make payments on my credit card, have money to get back into the swing of things once the trip is over and keep my cell phone in minutes. All that to say my friend had a point that I might be able to get more for research if I don't make the trip across the country.

I can hear you! "How's he going to dig himself out of that one?" you say. Here's why I'm making the trip across the country. I'll be staying at about 60 different locations over the course of the trip. If, in each location, I describe what I'm doing and what ALS is to a dozen different people and gather a collective donation for ALS research of $25, me going on this trip will basically be paid for. If I'm able to gather a collective donation of more than $25, more money will be going to help ALS victims than if I'd stayed at home. So when you give money to me for candy or just funding of my trip itself, don't think of it as "I'm helping Wes go on a vacation." Think of it as "I'm helping Wes reach a larger audience."

And I'm planning to contact every small/moderately sized city's newspaper a few days in advance to organize a story letting small-town America know about Lou Gehrig's Disease and the efforts of The ALS Association in alleviating the suffering of its victims. So sleep easy and know that your donations to my trip are not being used to pamper Wes Rosselet as he leisurely makes his way across the US on an epic vacation.