Phoenix, AZ

What a recovery day! After our talk at the University of Arizona we pulled into a little piece of heaven or more properly a little piece of the promised land at the Jewish Center of the Valley of the Sun.  After a couple of nights in wrestling rooms and a church basement floor this place was exactly what the team needed.  We all worked on our tans by the outdoor pool, hit the weights in the gym then headed for the sauna and hot tubs (aka a real "schvitz" for my Columbus crew).  Tonight we went to a hole in the wall (my favorite kind of place) family run Italian joint and got all carb loaded up for our 96 mile trek to Picacho Peak state park. Can't wait to get back on the road.  No Chain!

The beautiful entrance to the Jewish Center

Suns out, Guns out?

Underwater pictures, kids our age shouldn't have this much fun with a camera.

Ristorante Giuseppe's - Scottsdale AZ

Buckeye, AZ

Yesterday's ride was 88 miles from Dateland to Buckeye Arizona. Buckeye was named after the number of Ohio residents that had moved to the area so it was a fitting place for us to spend the night. We started the morning by meeting the students whose gym we crashed the night before, we gave a short talk about who we were and where we were from then hit the road.  A pretty substantial tail wind and pretty flat roads along interstate 8 got our average speed for the first 50 or so miles to right around 27 mph which is a lot of fun when you're in a big group.  One of the best parts of the first week had been getting to watch the progression in skill and comfort level with the bike for some of the more inexperienced riders, our front group continues to grow every day and sharing the road with them has been a lot of fun.  The weather has been beautiful, lots of bright sunshine and luckily we've been finishing most of our days ride before the afternoon sun really begins to beat down on the pavement.  We made it in to town right around 1 pm and couldn't get into the school we were staying at in Buckeye until around 4 so we headed to the local watering hole Las Posistas for some afternoon margaritas, which quickly turned in to crashing the place all the way through the national championship game. With only a 30 mile ride from Buckeye to Phoenix today, everyone took the opportunity to have some fun and we definitely had a lot of laughs.  We just arrived at the University of  Arizona College of Medicine to give a lecture, its a beautiful campus right in the middle of downtown. This afternoon we are headed for the Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale, it has a pool so everyone is really excited to get there.  Tomorrow its back to camping, hopefully it'll be warmer this time around.  No Chain!

The students at the morning lecture

Our first rest stop at an old school gas station

The front group stopping for a flat.

I never get tired of the scenery.

Im 1/2 a Buckeye so it works.

We all celebrated with margaritas

Libby celebrated by jumping in a bush.

Dateland Dance Party

Dateland community school (elementary thru high school all in one) is one of 2 buildings in Dateland Arizona, the other being the local convenience store, and were all sitting out in front of the school enjoying the beautiful evening.  Another 80 miles of cycling down, the scenery improved a lot today, we passed through a lot of mountains and farms over mostly flat roads.  A solid group of 10 riders led today which with everyone taking pulls on the front bumped our average speed to close to 21 miles per hour for the day putting us into this metropolis before 1:00 pm local time, giving us a lot of time to kill before bed time.  So far we've had multiple games of horse on the basketball court, an easter egg hunt, and an incident with a school bus that we can't go into details about. We also all (for the most part) experienced  and survived our first earthquake! It was located in Baja, California which were super close to right now and was measured at 7.2, the school we were in was definitely swaying so I ran as fast as I could to the parking lot! Overall its been the best day so far, we all needed good roads and a shorter day in the saddle after the beating we took yesterday so it's been a great recovery period (never thought I would say that about 80 miles of cycling). We figured out the sound system in the gym so were planning an Easter dance party for later. Tomorrow we head to Buckeye Arizona where were making a stop for obvious reasons and then its on to Phoenix. No Chain!

The only shade for a water break in a looooong ways.

                                      

Some of today's scenery.

Couple of the dorks on the road.

Mountains & Farms, Mountains & Farms, Repeat

Dateland is famous for Date Shakes, obv.

So of course after cycling 80 miles I had the largest one they make.

Passed so many border patrol the last couple days, had to get a photo with one.

Our new look to fit in with the locals

Kids. DO NOT get on this man's bus.

Explaing the rules of the easter egg hunt.

Just covering all of our sports.

  "There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open."

First few days...

It's begun!  3 days of riding  down covering close to 200 miles of California and Arizona so far.  The climbs out of San Diego were unbelievable, on day 1 the team rose 6300 feet vertically to end the day at Lake Morena national park.  We camped out on night number one, a first for me and it was definitely an experience.  The thing about the desert is, it's super hot during the day and freezing at night.  It dropped down to 34 degrees and no number of layers that I put on could keep the cold out, and the persistent howling of the coyotes did not help.  We all woke up frozen and tired in the morning and hit the road for 76 miles heading to El Centro, California a border town.  On the way to El Centro we descended down a 6% grade for 10 straight miles, it has been described by people as "being in a video game" and "riding a roller coaster", my group averaged around 36 miles per hour for the trip down the mountain, it was one of the scariest things I've ever done on 23 cm of rubber before.  Last night we stayed in a Methodist church in El Centro and cooked a pasta meal as my roomate Pauly likes to call it.  Today was mostly flat covering 82 miles from El Centro to Yuma, AZ (A new State!) directly through the desert, at one point we went 20 miles without evening passing another car, pretty rural!  We covered the first 40 miles in about 2 hours and then the roads turned horrible, we were riding along a frontage route that followed Interstate 8 and it felt like our bikes were coming apart beneath us due to the number of bumps/pot holes. The road took a a toll on my bike shredding my front tire, so I got to spend some time a long the side of the highway in the hot sun waiting for the van to bring me my gear to change it out.  Tonight we had an event at the Buffalo Wild Wings here in Yuma which really turned into us rehydrating and watching the Final 4 basketball games, the first time I had watched a tv in over a week.  Tomorrow we head back out into the desert and heat for 80 miles to Dateland, AZ population 461, should be interesting.  So far its been a great trip though, I never thought I would get in trouble by the border police for being too close to the fence, or climb some of the hills we hit, or even sleep in a tent with 5 random people I just met last week so even though I feel a little homesick right now I wouldn't trade this trip for anything. No Chain!

Never ending climbs.

Lunch time dance party.

The cafe we stopped at in B.F.E. it was like a museum to the 70's

Camping.

Pretty much in Mexico

Lake Morena where we camped.

The desert on day 2 = amazing farmers tan.

Sailors.

How Heidi gets up hills so fast.

Shortly after this photo was taken Border Patrol was not happy with us.

Sometimes its hard to find shade for lunch breaks when youre in the middle of the desert

First new state! Welcome to Arizona.

Saw more dune buggies on day 3 then cars.

Pacific Tire Dip

We dipped our rear wheels in the pacific today and then biked about 20 miles up the coast along Highway 101. Tomorrow when we leave San Diego we are actually driving about 10 miles south of the city due to traffic/safety issues, so we made the cross country part official today.  Thought this was such a great shot I wanted to get it uploaded right away, Ill put more pictures up soon!

Shortly after the group shot we got attacked by a wave.

The 3 bulls.

Our backyard for the week.

La Jolla Cove

The views on our ride up the 101

Super sexy time.

Avocado

I had avocado on my sandwich the other night at Whole Foods, I’ve never even tried avocado before but it seemed like a good idea at the time.  I think new experiences are going to be the theme for this trip, often it takes leaving ones comfort zone to discover something new and great.  I know trying avocado is a lame example of this but I guess you have to start somewhere right?  Probably a better example would be my new friend Sam.  I often form preconceived opinions about people way too quickly; it’s one of my many faults, so when I saw the kid with the skinny jeans, tattoos and gauged earrings I automatically assumed there was no way we would spend any time getting to know one another.  But much like trying that avocado I’m glad I have.  Sam is a great cyclist; he’s on a pro team in Louisville so he has been a great measure of just how far I have to go in my cycling endeavors. So far the past few days my good friend Pete and I have latched on to his rear wheel and let him pull us up and down hills, valleys and along the California coast.  Its funny how once you get on the bike and start pedaling all those preconceived opinions quickly disappear, especially when you are within inches of each others tires plunging downhill at 45 miles per hour.  Riding with Sam continually drives me to push harder on my bike, and I look forward to riding in his peloton all across the country.  Tomorrow we leave on this great journey and I look forward to continually discovering new and exciting things/places/people all along the way.  No Chain!

Me and Sam.

San Diego or Bust!

Our Whip.

We made it to California! After 36 hours of driving a cargo van  absolutely packed with gear and bikes me and my co-pilot Pete headed directly for the beaches of La Jolla.  We drove straight through, 2,300 miles, only stopping for gas exchanging passenger for riders role each time....A real road trip!

We're all staying at the Shiley Medical Plaza part of the campus of UCSD on a floor where a physical therapy clinic used to be, its just a large empty room now which is perfect for 23 riders to throw down our "beds", park our bikes, and prepare for our ride.  Our backyard is made up of the world famous Torrey Pines golf course and the ocean so its hard to complain about the set up.

So far we've doing a lot of orientation stuff and getting to know the other national riders.  Pete and I got out for our first training ride this morning, we headed straight down the coast from La Jolla towards downtown San Diego.  Beautiful scenery but definitely some major hills to contend with along the way.  Can't wait for the first real day of riding on Thursday.  Ill post pictures as soon as I get an internet connection that doesn't block them. No Chain!

36 hours of endless highway.

Border Patrol stops are interesting in a cargo van packed with stuff

My co-pilot at the end of a lot of driving.

Spring Fever

The last few days I've had the opportunity to bike outdoors, its a really great change of pace from the monotonous hours spent on my trainer in Paul and mines living room.  I've put close to 200 miles on my bike since Monday cruising around the back roads outside of Columbus.  You think you are working hard on the trainer until you hit that first hill after a couple of hours with a little breeze in your face, definitely made me a little bit nervous about hitting the road  for real in about 2 weeks time but I'm sure everyone will be hurting a little bit that first week.  Also I've started packing, which is quite an endeavor when you have to plan for 2 months time, we'll ride in every kind of weather imaginable so being prepared is a must.  Besides clothing, we also are responsible for brining along a lot of supplies I never thought I would own including sleeping bags, sleeping pads, quick drying towels, head lamps, etc...overall though I can't wait to get to San Diego! All the preparing and training will be completely worth it once we hit the road. No Chain!

My first bike

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few."

We were all cyclists at some point in our lives.  I'm sure most of us still remember the thrill of of receiving our first bike as a kid and the joy, independence and challenge that came with it.  Ill never forget the first time I got to ride my bike around the block on my own, the trips over to my friend Nate's house, and making the trek up the "big" hill on the way to the pool at the country club in the summer.  It's this enthusiasm and passion for cycling we held early in our lives as cyclists that I hope inspires me through the tough days in the saddle on our trip.  I had some custom graphics added to my new bike to remind me of the excitement I felt when I received my first bike and when I first heard about the Ride for World Health four years ago as a first year medical student.  I know the graphic on my top tube will be what I look at every time I put my head down and push forward through the wind, rain, mountains and thousands of miles we will cover during April & May. I truly look forward to this challenge of  "Never forgetting my beginner's spirit" along the way.  No Chain!