Days 32/33 Denver, Colorado

The last two days are probably going down as the best days thus far on the trip as far as overall occurrences.  There was one exception.  When I woke up yesterday, naturally I could barely move.  Cycling 45 miles after not being on a bike for five years can make you just a little bit sore.  And by a little I mean so sore you look funny when you walk because it hurts so badly.  It honestly felt like someone was taking a knife to my calves.  But other than that, the days were great! We had a relatively easy ride from Boulder into Denver yesterday, and it was cool to see the skyline the entire time we were on the road.  I had heard a lot of great things about the city, so I was pretty excited about visiting. Our stage up spot was at the Broncos stadium.  Once our entire team was there, we got to walk across the parking lot and enter the stadium where a staff worker met us.  He took us onto the field where we were able to look around the stadium, touch the grass, take pictures, and have fun.  It is amazing to me how big these stadiums can be.  After many photos were taken of schoolmates, tebowing, and acting out a football play, we made our way back to our bikes on the other side of the parking lot.  Waiting for us at stage up was the North Route team.  They had a little longer ride that day from their starting point, so they arrived later than us and were waiting to greet us.  I immediately found my two chapter brothers and two of my best friends, Jimmy and Jonathan, and hugged them both and started talking as if no time had passed without seeing each other.  I was really excited to see them and see how their summers had been going.

 We ate lunch and talked up a storm, and then it was time for our police escort into downtown Denver.  Our arrival was set to go to the steps of the State Capitol building in downtown.  Both the Trans Route and North Route rode behind the police cars, so watching double the amount of cyclists I am used to seeing go through downtown was really cool.  We felt powerful and important.  We got to the steps and had some people give speeches about what we are doing and thanking everyone who came out to see us.  We were then able to visit with family, friends, and anyone else who was there because there happened to be a lot of people come out.  Denver is a pretty big arrival because Bruce Rogers, the creator of Journey of Hope who I have talked about before now, works and lives in Denver, so everything we do is pretty special.  Once everyone was satisfied with the pictures and visits that occurred, it was time to head to THE HOTEL! Yes, we finally get to stay in a hotel with real air conditioning and a real bed.  I can honestly say that a bed is the most underappreciated luxury in the world.  We had a couple hours to kill, so some people walked around downtown, some took a nap, and others just hung out in rooms and spent time with North guys. 

Last night was probably the best friendship visit we have had because, not only did we get to do it with the North team, but it was an absolute blast and was nothing like any friendship visit we had done so far.  We took part in an event called “Pedals for Pennies.”  We met up with a organization that puts on this event every year that helps them raise money.  What happened was a Journey of Hope cyclist was paired up with every special Olympic athlete taking part in the event.  The team of two would ride around a little lake in the park where we were and each lap completed raised a certain amount of money. Those who were not partnered up with a client kept track of laps completed and cheered the teams on each time they came around the starting point.  It was awesome to see the glow on the faces of each client when they came around the bend and saw the crowd waiting for them to cheer them on.  Once the clients were finished with their laps, it was time for dinner.  There was a catered barbeque dinner that was absolutely delicious.  It was incredible how much food they provided because they had no choice since there were well over 100 people in attendance.  After dinner, yet another blast of an event took place: a dance party.  We have had dance parties before and it seemed like those friendship visits were the most fun.  To have a dance party cap off this friendship visit clarified even more that this visit was the best so far.  Again, having the North guys with us there to dance with us and have fun made it that much better.  That night, some guys that rode last year that live in Denver or guys that go to CU Boulder with some of the guys on my team took us out to show us what Denver was like at night.  It was actually a lot cooler than what I had expected.  There is an area similar to Wrigleyville in Chicago next to the Cubs’ stadium.  We were right next to Coors Field (the Rockies’ stadium) which resembled somewhat of a college town.  Overall, it was an amazing day.

Today was pretty relaxed, but it was still fun like all other days.  This morning we had a sponsored breakfast at Bruce Rogers office building.  He works in the private equity business and his office was unreal.  Everything was top of the line and extravagant.  The meal was amazing and I was introduced to a new kind of breakfast food: French Toast Casserole (Mom take note).  After visiting even more with the North guys and talking to some of the employees that work with Bruce, they talked a little about what their company did and showed us a couple videos.  One of the videos they showed us talked about all of the charity work the company did, and a lot of the movie was devoted to Push America and the Journey of Hope.  It had clips of all of the ride-alongs Bruce has done, even the one into D.C. This was the first taste of what the arrival of D.C. would be like, so a lot of guys were looking around with huge smiles on their faces.  We said our goodbyes and prepared for the rest of the day, which I might add was completely free to our liking.  

 After talking with my chapter brother, Jimmy, a lot of us decided we wanted to go to the Rockies and National’s game that afternoon.  It had been forever since I had seen a baseball game in person.  We paid a grand total of $4 for our tickets.  Yes you read right. Single digit. $4. If you are familiar with the Rockie’s stadium, we were in the section that is right above the garden and rocks in center field, so they were great seats.  It was a great game too.  Not only did we pay $4 for the tickets, but we got free baseball on top of that (extra innings).  The rest of the day was devoted to hanging out, eating, and saying goodbye to North.  Tomorrow we leave Denver, which seemed to fly by.  It was great to see Jimmy and Jonathan and I cannot wait to seem them, as well as Louis and Dylan from the South Route, when we get to D.C.

Day 31 Boulder, Colorado

I am dead.  I can honestly say that I just completed possibly the hardest thing I have ever done.  You never realize how hard it is to ride a bike if you have not been on one in over five years.  As hard as it was, I had an absolute blast.  The two guys in my pace line were Eric Miller and Jake Sutherland.  Eric is originally from Fort Wayne and goes to Purdue, but now he lives in Arizona.  Jake is from New Jersey and goes to The George Washington University in DC.  We had a 45-mile day today, and I chose today because it is a rather short day compared to others.  I also talked to a friend from CU-Boulder and he said it is a pretty easy ride. The cool thing about today is that Bruce Rogers, the man who started the Journey of Hope and was the first guy to ride ever, did his ride along with us.  It is very cool to say that I rode the same day as the guy who started it all.  The first 40 miles seemed pretty manageable and I was having a lot of fun.  There were some rolling hills and hard spots, but all in all, those first 40 were not too bad.  The last five, however, were terrible.  It seemed like I ran into a brick wall.  All of the exhaustion and soreness was getting to me at once and I found myself fighting to complete the day.  When I saw the last crew van that marked the turn into the friendship visit about 100 yards away, I felt completely different and hopped to the front of the pace line to take us home.  It was such a great feeling pulling into the parking lot and telling myself I just completed 45 miles on the bike.  I now have a great appreciation for the cyclists who are doing more miles than I did over and over again. 

For our lunch friendship visit, we were at a community center to meet up for some Noodles catered lunch and some activities and games.  I was exhausted throughout the entire thing, but the games we played were hilarious and fun so it kept me going.  The first game we played was called Funny Bones.  We were paired up with a partner, my partner was Andy, who I met at the visit and suffers from Down Syndrome.  Each team of two would pull a card and it was say something along the lines of “Elbow to Knee.”  So the elbow of one partner would be put on the knee of the other partner and they would have to hold the card in between the two body parts.  Whenever a card dropped to the floor, that team was out.  We got to hold 5 cards between body parts and got third place, but some of the positions teams were in were hysterical.  See below for an example of a winning team.  That night for dinner, we went to the Rec Center on the campus of Colorado University at Boulder (the main one: Buffalos). We met up with a organization that supports a team that plays a sport called Murder Ball.  Yes it has the word Murder in it.  It is a paraplegic sport that basically combines rugby, football, and soccer into one wheelchair powerhouse game.  The wheelchairs have cages around them so that when people run into each other rugby style, no body parts are harmed.  We got to play games against the team we met up with and I think it goes without saying we got our butts kicked.  They were running into us from every direction and knocking the ball out of our hands like it was nothing.  But it was an absolute blast.  That night, the three guys from CU Boulder took us out to show us the night life around campus.  The school count is now up to six campuses.  It is really cool to see the different schools.  I am beyond tired right now so I am going to hit the day after a hard trek on the bike.  Thanks for reading!! 

Day 30 Fort Collins, Colorado

Well we finally made it to Colorado.  The big one.  This is the state that everyone talks about when speaking of the Journey of Hope.  People say it is the most fun state on the trip because of the events that are planned and the beautiful scenery you get to look at on the road.  After the normal stop at the border to take pictures of the state line, we were off to Ft. Collins.  I am not sure if I explained this picture at the beginning of the trip, but it is one that I will look back on and be thankful we had it.  At the first state line – Idaho – one of my best friends on the trip, Chris Hamilton, decided he wanted to take a picture with me at the sign.  He said, “come on we are taking a picture, get over here.” Then he guided me to stand in a certain spot and said, “stay right there.” I had absolutely no idea what he was about to do.  Then he just jumped in my direction, and thankfully out of instinct I caught him like I was carrying my wife into the honeymoon suite.  Ever since that state line, we have taken an identical picture at each sign.  It probably sounds lame to some people, but it’s cool to have something like that to look back on at the end of the trip. 

We had lunch at a place calling Ragin’ Cajuns.  It was unlike any burger or fast food place I had ever had.  There was so much food for so little money.  The cyclists were not please when they realized that after eating so much food, they had to get back on their bikes to ride into lodging because of the short distance.  We are staying at a senior center here in Fort Collins and I can honestly say I did not know senior centers like this existed.  It is basically a YMCA for senior citizens.  There is a gym, game room, pool, workout room, and everything else a YMCA has.  We had a lot of downtime in the afternoon, and since we were just hanging out in the lobby watching TV, we had a lot of people approach us and ask about us.  It was cool to have somewhat of a friendship visit incorporated into lodging because a lot of us interacted with members of the center and played games with them.

That night, we walked over to a local park that has numerous softball fields.  In Fort Collins, they have a night softball league specifically for special Olympic athletes.  We got to watch the first game in which our clients played, and then it was time for dinner.  It was a pretty standard “cookout in a park with baseball going on” and we had burgers and hot dogs and all of that good stuff.  Because there were more games to be played that night, we were able to provide batting practice to the teams before their games.  We were all out in the field getting the balls they hit and had fun with throwing it around a little.  Once they had to go to their games, we walked over with them to cheer them on, and some of us even got to be in the game with them.  They needed a pitcher and a couple other fielders, and apparently it is custom to have a couple able athletes play along. It was cool to see our guys in the games with the special Olympic athletes and how  able-bodied the special Olympic athletes showed themselves to be.  After an extremely fun friendship visit that incorporated a style of the game I love so much, it was time to head back to lodging to practice.  Yes I said practice.  Tomorrow I do my ride along.  I am riding a bike 45 miles to Boulder, Colorado.  Needless to say I am excited and nervous because it is the first time since about 8^th grade or freshman year that I will ride a bike.  Wish me luck!!

Day 29 Cheyenne, Wyoming

To say the least, today was awesome.  It was a relatively short day as far as cycling goes.  We had 60 miles to complete before ending up at the Cheyenne Community College.  Once we arrived, we had to change quickly because we were heading to the Hereford Ranch for lunch.  Apparently the ranch is pretty famous because it is longest family owned Hereford Ranch in the country.  We filed into the selling barn where there were bleachers and what looked like a waxed dance floor in the middle.  We went through the line and got an amazing pulled pork and baked beans lunch.  I sat with the lady who is in charge of a group called the Cowbelles, which is a separate branch of the Cattle Women.  She explained to me that she had been to Indianapolis many times for the FFA convention.  We talked about what she thought of Indy and where she stayed and all that and it sparked a great conversation.  When she stood up in front of the entire group to address us and talk to us about what they did on the ranch, she also pulled out a sheet and read us something that we had not heard yet on the trip.  She read a proclamation from the Governor of Wyoming that he officially declared June 24^th “Push America’s Journey of Hope Day.”  Everyone thought this was extremely cool because this year, the days we arrive at cities is different than past years because of how the calendar fell; therefore, no other team will have June 24^th as their day.  It is officially ours and only ours. 

 That night, we had a friendship visit at a park with the Arc of Cheyenne.  We were immediately welcomed with open arms by a very large number of clients.  Paul was one of the first guys I approached and shook his hand.  First thing that came out of his mouth to me was “I love to run.  Wanna race?”  Of course I could not back down from the challenge.   We ran to a tree that was about thirty yards away and back.  Unfortunately, he beat me.  Plain and simple. He beat me.  Yes I am an out of shape college student who has not competed in a running race since the days of recess.  Maybe I should start running on my own.  I’ll think about it.  There were so many games that people bounced around in.  There was a giant Frisbee that people were throwing around to each other, as well as a pick up football game.  We also sat down and had a thorough Harry Potter discussion with a client.  If you know me, you know I loved that discussion.  We talked for a very long time about the movies and who our favorite characters are and our favorite movie.  I was sad to leave the friendship visit because it was our first in awhile, and a lot of us had bad memory loss and forgot how much fun they were.  Tomorrow we enter a new state again which is always a great time.  Gathering around with each other taking pictures with the signs is a favorite event of mine because I love when all of us are together on the road.  I have also heard that Colorado is the most fun state on the trip because of how well they treat and love cyclists.  I am also excited to meet up with the North Route in Denver because one of my best friends from school is on that route. Today was definitely a blast and I was glad to finally have a friendship visit again.  And yes, we do have another one tomorrow! Goodnight y’all, and God bless!

Day 28 Wheatland, Wyoming

Well the guys are extremely exhausted.  At the beginning of the ride, they were feeling great.  The weather was pretty nice because the heat was not too high yet, but it was only a matter of time before it got up around one hundred degrees.  A little further into the trip, we got into a little mountain range it seemed like, so it was nice to see something other than cattle land.  We approached fields that had giant wind turbines as far as the eye could see.  It reminded me of back home up near Lafayette where the wind farm is located.  The heat was not too bad up until lunch.  Once lunch hit, it was like someone put us in the oven.  No cloud in the sky, and sweat was dripping from even a crew member’s face.  We were going through water like it was nothing and since we were in the middle of nowhere, that was a problem. We would have to find somewhere to fill up water and fast.  Thankfully, a fellow crew member’s parents were coming to visit him in Denver, and they had planned on surprising him in Wheatland.  They looked up our routes and met up with the team at my crew stop to surprise him.  Not only were they there to surprise their son, but they brought cases of water to fill up our water coolers as well.  They saved the day to say the least.  Cyclists were thirsty and morale was so low.  Completing this day of cycling had just become a feat, not a goal.  I could not be prouder of the guys for completing the day through the harsh conditions.  The cattle Women of Wyoming had once again been the sponsor of our dinner tonight, and once again the food was beyond delicious.  Tomorrow, we finally have a friendship visit after a long wait and I could not be happier.  Not only do we get to associate with clients again, but I also get to write an exciting blog for the first time in a long time.  

Days 26/27 Casper, Wyoming

Well yesterday we had yet another desert and boring ride.  We played a game today called "Find that Tree," where the pace line or van that could take pictures of the most trees would win a prize from our Project Manager.  The winning team found fifteen trees in a span of 120 miles.  I found 8.  The only exciting thing on the road that took place today is the number of antelope, deer, and wild bison we saw.  You know how on TV when you see extremely small towns with not very many people? Well I do believe we saw the smallest of the small yesterday.  Take a guess at how many people make up the population of Highland, Wyoming. In the hundreds? I do not think so. Ten.  Count them. A grand total of ten people make up the population.  We saw maybe five buildings and one of those was a gas station.  We almost tripled the population with our team when we passed through it.  Towards the end of the ride, we finally got into a city that resembled civilization.  The high school that we are staying at is absolutely enormous.  To put it into Indiana terms, this high school is the Carmel of Wyoming.  There were two practice playing fields that were both turf, and the football stadium was almost identical to Carmel’s.  There was a community pool basically in the parking lot of the high school, so they graciously let us use it during our down time, which was amazing.  I can always appreciate a good pool day. 

Tonight we met up with the NOWCAP organization for a dinner and our first friendship visit in a very long time.  We were served barbeque pulled pork sandwiches, chips, and the biggest pieces of cake I have ever seen.  I met an old man originally from Michigan who was a huge Notre Dame fan, so I immediately connected with him and we talked the entire time about ND football.  The organization had set up an obstacle course in the parking lot for us to complete with the clients.  On the team, each person has his own number so that when we sound off in order, we know if someone is missing.  We broke up into an even team and an odd team to compete against each other.  It started out with those wooden planks that have strings on them where you lift them up one at a time.  Watching the guys try and figure it out was quite humorous.  When that was completed, each team had a client in a motored wheelchair that they had to guide around a cone and go to the next step.  Then people had to walk with eggs on a spoon around a cone.  Next was the classic bat spin and run to their partner at the next step.  My stage was next where we had to throw a football through a hoop ten times.  After that, I had to give the football to a client so that he could complete a pass to my partner.  Down the homestretch we go where they had to complete the saltine crackers challenge (eat ten saltines and then whistle in the fastest time possible).  Once they whistled, one person had to blow up ten balloons and sit on them to pop them.  Once the tenth balloon was popped, they had to run back to the start where the finish line was located.  Obviously my team won because we are just that awesome. 

 Today was a pretty relaxed day in the sense that we only had a sponsored dinner at the end of the day.  During the day, the entire team went to a car wash to clean our vans.  We had been on some dirt roads so far this trip, so it is an understatement to say our vans were dirty.  Other day’s activities included laundry, pool time, mall time, and movie time.  We had a dinner and friendship visit with the Arc of Casper tonight at a local park.  They fed us with Subway sandwiches and chips.  Since we were in a park, there were so many games going on I could not do all of them.  We got a pick up soccer game going with a couple clients, and there was one kid who could punt the ball farther than any of the guys on my team.  It was a pretty fun two days here in Casper, Wyoming.  It was so nice to have friendship visits again.   We have the longest day ahead of us tomorrow when we will go 130 miles to good ol’ Wheatland, Wyoming. Now to sleep in this “basement gym” as they call it, where its just turfed floors for baseball batting cages and training.  

Day 25 Shoshoni, Wyoming

Today really was just the ride and then the sponsored dinner.  I feel like I do not put up enough pictures, so today I felt like I would let the pictures do the talking.  I incorporated a number of pictures I took throughout the day. Enjoy!