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Hello!!  This is Kami and Jess. We are currently sitting in the computer room of the lovely Cotopaxi High school. Yesterday was our support day and we had the pleasure of supporting our riders as they rode from Montrose, CO to Gunnison, CO. The weather was fairly nice with some sun and a tail wind that propelled the riders up the big climbs and down the steep descents.  In fact, our first group passed the lunch stop before Jess and I could catch them!!  After some quick maneuvering by Jess, we slid into an even nicer lunch spot and enjoyed the delicacies of bologna and turkey.  Our portion rider, Scott Elkin from Telluride, joined us for the first half of the day and hit epic speeds going down the last descent. We will definitely miss him and his dog, Coco. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful and we pulled into the Western State University in Gunnison, CO around 3:00 pm. The accommodations were a nice change, as we had private showers and mattresses to sleep on. We wandered around the tiny downtown, popped into a couple bike shops, and enjoyed dinner at the local brewery.  When we returned back to the dorm rooms, a group of us were able to enjoy a free style rap battle; good times were had by all.  Overall it was a pretty smooth, easy day!!  Lucky for us because the trek up to Monarch Pass loomed ahead the next day….. But more on that later!! :) 

P.S.  We hope you enjoyed the picture of Clara at the top of our blog flashin’ some signs in honor of the free style rap battle!!

Ben Meyer has been documenting his 2009 R4WH journey on his online blog. Please feel free to follow Ben’s blog under our Rider Blog link or by visiting http://benmeyersblog.blogspot.com.

Here is an excerpt from Ben’s blog from April 18th as the R4WH riders crossed into Colorado.

We wrapped up Utah today. We are currently in Colorado and surprised how fast the ride is going. The entire state of Utah was filled with nonstop scenery. We spent the whole time climbing up this mountain, then riding down through that basin or that canyon in numerous national parks. We were constantly amazed at our scenery. Verizon Wireless officially wins the best cell phone coverage when out in the boonies. We stayed in some pretty small and remote areas. We were unable to ride out from Boulder, Utah because Boulder Mountain was whited out, but picked the ride back up on the other side to then be greeted by a sandstorm in Hanksville. We were supposed to camp, but Hanksville Elementary School allowed us to shelter in their gym for the evening. The next night we did camp at National Bridges National Park, which reportedly is one of the best star gazinwelcome-to-colorful-coloradog locations in the US. We beared it out through 2 snow storms that day with temps down in the 20s. My sleeping bag is only rated for 40 degrees so I was literally wearing every article of clothing that I brought.The sky did clear up though for a midnight star gazing session. We also pretty much ran out of food so ate mac and cheese with hotdogs for breakfast, but didn’t really care because it was warm (unlike my fingers and toes).

We road into Dolores, CO today, had a lunch lecture and a dinner lecture at different locations. We ride up and up into Telluride tomorrow. Apparently conditions are more favorable for skiing in Colorado opposed to biking currently as a huge storm system is predicted throughout next week.

Hi everyone! Sorry for the technical difficulties we had recently! We had an error in our html code which caused our webpage not to show up in Internet Explorer 7.0. Thanks to a consult to our web page expert and Ride for World Health friend and supporter Dilesh Patel we are now up and running again and working hopefully in all browsers!

High Everyone!

It’s Jeff Jenks. We are currently enjoying an off day in Telluride, Colorado. I can’t believe it has been over a week since we left Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the days are already starting to blurr together since leaving Las Vegas.

After leaving Las Vegas we stayed in some small towns in Nevada, including Alamo and Panaca. Last Sunday we left Nevada and entered Utah, staying in Cedar City that night. The rides in Utah are beginning to blend together, but they were invariably beautiful. I took lots of pictures, but they don’t truly do Utah justice. The topography has lots of inclines and descents, with roads winding through beautiful canyons and national parks.

Monday we left Cedar City and had a tough climb that day, but had some beautiful views of Zion National Park along the way. I think it was the next day that we rode through Bryce Canyon, which was very scenic and a wonderful ride.

On Tuesday I stayed at a couples home in Boulder, Utah, along with three other riders. The ride into Boulder was hard, with some sharp inclines and lots of wind. We were relieved to finally get there. The couple I stayed with live on a farm and have lots of chickens and a pet turkey, dog, and cat. They were great hosts and had a spaghetti meal prepared for us when we arrived. I really enjoyed the food and the great company.

Early last week we had a couple of cold nights and mornings. On Wednesday night we stayed in a school in Hanksville, Utah. We made a trip to Goblin Valley State Park, which was one of the most beautiful and unique places I have ever seen. There are hundreds or thousands of rock formations that look like goblins or mushrooms (depending on your perspective) - it is a wonder that nature could manage to produce such unique rock formations.

The next day we left for Natural Bridges Monument, where we camped out underneath the stars (Natural Bridges Monument is known to have some of the best stargazing in the country), but awoke to find snow all over the ground. We biked anyways, and the temperature eventually warmed up and it managed to be a pretty nice day.

That evening in Monticello we stayed at a Catholic Church, and a wonderful dinner of “Navajo tacos” awaited us when we arrived there that evening. Monticello is a small town in Utah, and our hosts were wonderfully kind and interesting.

The next morning we left for Dolores, where we stayed at a high school. The local Catholic Church again had a wonderful dinner prepared for us when we arrived. It just so happened that the local school was having their high school prom that evening, so we enjoyed our own separate prom in the gym. We attained very cheap clothes from the local Salvation Army store and got dressed up.

Yesterday we left Dolores and had a wonderful ride up a mountain, with our day ending in a descent into Telluride. Telluride, population around 2000, is a ski resort in the winter and a popular tourist destination in the summer. We had an event at the local grade school/high school this morning, but are otherwise relaxing and catching up on trips to the bike store, laundry, etc. this afternoon. We have a contact here who is a real estate agent and avid cyclist, and he attained three condos for us which are being donated. Needless to say, we are enjoying our stay here.

Tomorrow we leave for Montrose, Colorado with some challenging rides coming up this week. Overall, the scenery in Utah and Colorado has been beautiful and worth the hard work on the bikes.

Take care and keep following our progress!

Our ride from Natural Bridges Monument to Monticello Utah began with a special surprise when we got out of our tents….a smattering of snow! Sleeping on top of a plateau in the middle of canyons and one of the darkest night skies in the country with the brightest stars was a treat. Hadley and Sebastian even helped point out some constellations before we went to bed and for the first time I was actually not just pretending to see some of them.

However, overnight many of us were pretty frozen in our sleeping bags as the temperature plunged!! To go along with our snowy morning surprise we had an unconventional breakfast of mac and cheese and hot dogs provided by our wonderful rider from Vermont Medical School, Scott Davis! Since our provisions were running low we had to get creative.

Fortunately, as the day went on the temperatures climbed. The riders bravely kept on despite tough climbs and fierce winds. We stopped in Blanding for a quick lunch at the A and W root beer stand where we enjoyed delicious root beer floats and my personal favorite…chili cheese fries!!! In the evening we stayed at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. The generosity of the parishioners was evident not only from the wonderful Navajo tacos they made us but also the great lengths they went to help us all get access to showers. After more than 24 hours without bathing we were all incredibly relieved to feel so fresh and so clean. Some of the parishioners even drove us to their own homes to let us have a shower with warm water!

During dinner the riders chatted with Father Joe and some of the families that helped out to make our food. We displayed our wonderful Global Health care fair posters and answered any questions that emerged. We talked about the mission of the ride and shared some of our stories from the road.

After dinner we participated in a journal club that discussed the benefits and limitations of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Since many of us have had the opportunity to participate in medical electives abroad we were able to compare our experiences of the serious deficiencies in third world countries’ health care systems to those described in the article. Fortunately the restaurant across the street hosted us and after a lively discussion we ended the night with some karaoke. The staff at the restaurant were very hospitable and forgiving of our less than stellar singing talents. We closed down the night with an all team performance of Sweet Caroline. It was an exhausting day and we all crammed into the church to sleep with our bellies full of fry bed and visions of Jeff Jenks’s “Safety Dance” in our heads.

Clara Ruiz, 2009 National Team Rider

Due to internet issues, this is a blog entry from two days ago, but you can still enjoy it now!

Hi everyone this is Dan Kim & Ellen Acree. We just wanted to update you on what the past couple of days have been like for the team. On Wednesday we finally arrived in Las Vegas for a much anticipated day off. After a beautiful 79 mile ride in from Tecopa, CA past Red Rocks National Park, we made our way to the Imperial Palace hotel and casino. The hustle and bustle of Las Vegas was definitely a stark contrast from the desert camp grounds that we had been staying at for the past two nights. Check in went relatively smoothly save for a broken elevator and a somewhat convoluted path through the casino floor. Everyone found their way to their room and took full advantage of the hardwired electricity by charging an assortment of electronic devices and the plumbed water by taking badly needed showers. I felt human again after giving myself a haircut and shaving the stubble off of my face. It was almost strange seeing everyone in casual clothing with their hair brushed and their faces clean. I must admit, we looked pretty sharp.

The team gathered again to grab a quick bite to eat before heading out to Treasure Island to see Cirque De Soleil’s show, Mystere. We booked tickets beforehand and got great seats in the center section. The production value of the show was incredible. The actual stage revolved, rotated, elevated, folded, and retracted while what seemed like an endless line of performers in brightly colored costumes simultaneously flung their bodies through the air across it. It was as if the set itself was also one of the performers. The constantly changing light schemes complemented the stage perfectly, and the music, which was all performed live by a fully costumed band, was phenomenal. A few of the more memorable performances included a group of acrobats that used a series of tall metal poles to perform unbelievable feats of strength and balance, a pair of Herculean men who were able to balance themselves on each other in the most impossible series of poses, and a meddling clown who would periodically peruse the crowd and dump popcorn on unsuspecting audience members. Despite the high level of energy surrounding us, most of the team was understandably a wee bit tired and periodically dozed off during the performance. Needless to say, we all slept very soundly that night.

The next day we had two events: one at a medical school where we did an interactive activity on resource allocation and another event at a high school. Both events were successful & filled with inquisitive, interested students. Dan actually volunteered to do the team’s laundry with Brenden. He never realized how bad traffic can get on the strip because he’s never had to drive a car down it, let alone a huge cargo van. It felt like it took as long to get back to the hotel as it did to actually do the laundry! Our last evening in Vegas was free; many of us had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, others ate at the Venetian and a few of us saw the amazing Chihuly artwork & fountain show at the Bellagio.

Today (Friday), we took off for Alamo, Nevada – the closest inhabited place to Area 51. We had hoped to see some crashed alien spacecraft along the ride, but sadly we had no such luck. The ride however was nice & smooth with mostly gentle downhills and gorgeous desert scenery. Some of the riders averaged around 23 mph for the entire 70+ mile ride. Those of us on Support Team had a slightly more eventful day. It started with a trip back to the laundry mat to pick up a bag of R4WH clothing that had been accidentally left from yesterday (much to the thrill of those of us who were missing clothes!) and followed with a flat tire on SR-93 between Vegas & Alamo, right where cell phone signals begin to drop out (fantastic!). Fortunately, Dan has changed many tires in his life so it was as simple as figuring out where the scissor jack was and how to get the spare out from under the van. It took about 15 minutes to switch tires and we were back on our way. Our final destination was Paranaghat Valley High School who graciously offered up their gymnasium and multi-purpose room to us for the night. We are also setting up a health fair in the gymnasium for anyone in the town who is interested. All in all we’re glad that we made it out of Vegas in one piece and that we were able to overcome some of the obstacles that got in our way. We’re really looking forward to riding tomorrow since it’s been two days now that we’ve been off our bikes. The ride tomorrow also consists of a lot of climbing, which oddly enough Dan has come to love. Should be a blast!

This is Jess here. My first blog post- I’m not too sure of the timing of the ride but we are flying thru our ride. We have spent this week in Nevada and will soon be in Utah tomorrow. We have had an amazing ride so far. I can’t believe the generosity of the people we have met along the way- the Rotary club at Laguna Beach, the Jewish Community Center, the Pasadena neighborhood, Mimi, Barstow Community college. Even though it is still in the early stages of the ride, we have had a couple adventures already. My personal favorite was the Tecopa sandstorm- the 20-30 mph windstorms that rattled and battered our tents. We had tacos for dinner that night but it tasted a lot like sand.

I uploaded some pics of our Jimenez adventure- it was this Mexican restaurant @ Barstow. We walked in famished and tired into a restaurant filled with stuffed animals. Every hunted animal I could think of- deer, boar, bear, coyote. The food was slathered with grease and salad dressing but it was delicious/memorable.

This whole ride, I haven’t been able to think of a better way to take in the beauty of this country than on a bicycle. My college graduation, my friend gave a talk to the senior class about his four years. About how much he had learned, how much fun he had. His biggest regret was not cherishing and enjoying the journey. I started the ride with the idea that I would not try racing ahead each day on my rides but taking a comfortable pace to talk with other riders and see the scenery. I’ve been able to have been able to tag along with some great riders. 

Edit: We had a slight hiccup today on the ride. Weather.com showed a balmy 50’s in Alamo NV but failed to mention that it would be a steady downstream of rain + snow in the mountains. After conferring with everyone, Team C had to sweep up riders and scoop them up into vans to bus them to Panaca. The snow and sleet on the road made conditions dangerous for the climb and descent on the mountain. Currently staying @ the Volunteer Fire Department. Shout out to Ken- the nicest, most friendly man I’ve ever met, for cooking us a feast tonight and letting us stay at the firehouse. 

Well. Where to begin? It has been a week, and I am not sure that I have all the dates correct (the days have already started to blur together), but here is a summary of the past week as best I can recall.

We left San Diego last Thursday (I can’t believe we have already been on the road for one week)! The ride up the California coast was beautiful. Within one mile of starting my chain broke and I deftly steered my ailing bike out of traffic and harm’s way. Brandon (on support) and Sebastian (always on the ball) were skilled enough to get my chain fixed, and after about 10 minutes we were off again.

Since the ride to the beach was five or six miles away, Sebastian and I were really cooking ( a la Tour de France speeds) and made it up in pretty good time to meet up with the rest of the team. We dipped our tires into the Pacific Ocean, took lots of pictures, saw some dolphins or sharks past the breakers (I don’t know they had fins), and headed up north along the coast.

It was a beautiful ride, and we pretty much hugged the coastline for the majority of the ride to Laguna Beach. Awaiting us were some wonderful sandwiches and friendly folks from the local Rotary Club. We ate and mingled, and loaded up our bikes for the drive into Pasadena.

Awaiting us in Pasadena was a wonderful dinner, and all 26 of us spent the night with host families. I stayed with Bill and Cindy and their dog, a 15 year-old golden retriever. Everyone was so hospitable and friendly. We spent two nights in Pasadena because we had a talk at the USC medical school on Friday (no riding that day).

Saturday morning we shoved off from Pasadena to Hesperia. It was a chilly morning, and as I clipped in and rode down the street to get ready to leave Pasadena, my trusty chain broke again. With the help of Sebastian and a couple other bike maintenance experts, we quickly replace the chain and rode to catch up with the rest of the crowd.

The ride out of Pasadena was beautiful but very hilly. We rode very quickly to the first rest stop up some beautiful switchbacks. The majority of the ride was very hilly – we would climb up and descend down some very beautiful but fast roads. The day culminated in a significant climb that brought us up to the “Mile High Café”. I was very tired and couldn’t have done it without the help of the other hard-core riders I was with. We drove the rest of the way in and stayed at a church in Hesperia.

The next morning, Sunday, I was on support, but the other riders rode from Hesperia to Barstow. It was a relatively short ride down the old historic Route 66, but the riders had to deal with a pretty strong headwind. Since I was on support, I got to enjoy the ride along the Route 66, with all its history and charm. At times it seemed like much hasn’t changed since the 1940s and 1950s along that road, and I imagined the fictional Joad family (from “Grapes of Wrath” riding down that same road.

Sunday night we stayed at the Barstow Community College, and had dinner at one of the oddest Mexican restaurants I had ever been to. Evidently the owners were friends with an avid taxidermist, because they had animal heads on the walls all over the restaurant. They even had the head of a zebra, which I didn’t know was native to Mexico. Anyways, they had an all-you-can-eat option for like $8.95, so we were all happy.

The mystique and charm of Route 66 faded a little bit Monday morning when we set off on a 100 mile ride, most of which was on Route 66. It was extremely bumpy, especially at the beginning, and I was just waiting for something to happen to my bike. Within the first two miles, by front brake loosened and literally flew up off the bike right in front of my face. I couldn’t figure out what had just happened, so I stopped my bike (evidently with my rear brakes) and noticed that my front brake was hanging beside my wheel.

I thought that my day was finished, but Dan was astute enough to notice that the screw was still in and all I had to do was screw it back into the frame of the bike. Evidently the lack of a paved road had loosened the brake enough to dislodge it. I was off again, and the majority of the day was spent on Route 66 traversing the Mojove Desert.

It was hot but very beautiful with some of the most amazing vistas. The support team did a magnificent job keeping us hydrated and well covered with sun block. At times I felt like a race car driver - at the rest stops, they would fill our bottles with water, spray us down with sunblock, and get us on our way again. We stayed at a campsite that evening, and enjoyed a dinner of burgers, beans, and salad, with a dessert of s’mores to top it all off .

Tuesday morning we shoved off from Kelso to Tekopa and rode about 80 miles, through what I think was a part of Death Valley. As you can imagine, it was hot, but the vistas were again amazing. We spent the night at a campsite near the California salt flats. They had hot springs that some took advantage of. We set up camp in the middle of a sandstorm.

The owner of the campsite predicted that the winds would die down at about 8 o’clock, and he was pretty spot on, aside from the fact that they didn’t cease until 8 a.m (he had predicted 8 p.m).

That evening, there were a few contentious games of Connect Four played on a travel set, with the excitement peaking in a no-holds-bar match between Team Canada (Renee) and Team USA (Ben). Although Renee claims that she was previously undefeated, Ben deftly defeated her twice, leaving no doubt who is the best Connect Four player on the trip. The only thing louder than the howling winds were the “USA, USA” chants (not really, I just added this for effect).

The whole night the tents blew around - the ground was too rocky to stake them in, so the only reason they didn’t blow away was that there were bodies and bags holding them down. Luckily, we were all pretty tired, and I slept pretty soundly, despite the fact that the side of the tent kept caving in on me all night.
Wednesday morning when we shoved off for Las Vegas, the winds had died down and we were in store for another beautiful ride, culminating in a 10 mile climb into the mountains. The descent was breathtaking, with a beautiful view of Las Vegas and the Red Rock mountains. The last 15 miles or so were tough because we were biking into a headwind, but the vans awaited us at the end and we all drove into Las Vegas together.
Last night, the majority of us saw the Cirque du Soleil show “Mystique”, which was pretty enjoyable. The evening culminated with a after-show dinner at “Denny’s”, in which I almost finished off a whole Grand Slam breakfast (after eating a whole Chipotle Burrito before the show). There was a little Karaoke late night, and most of us went to bed.

Today there was no riding. We had a talk at the UNLV medical school and a grade school, both which went well. Tomorrow we shove off for Alamo, Nevada. I hope everyone is doing well.

Peace,
Jeff

Tuesday, April 7^th 2009

Leah here! Us riders have started to get tanned and toned, and we’ve started to face our share of challenges as well. This ride challenges us on so many levels, the physical challenge of cycling across the country of course is very apparent, and I think this has proved to be greater than even the most experienced of us could anticipate. I think many of us have been impressed by our hidden powers of sheer will and mental preparation in overcoming the physical challenge! Emotional challenges arise, as we adjust to living day to day with new friends, and as old conflicts with ourselves bubble to the surface in the calmness of our endless pedal strokes. There is also a nearly continuous flow of logistical and environmental challenges that we face. And we surely had a taste of them today!

The riders rode through Death Valley today, and it was pretty much what you’d expect; a desolate landscape with intense sun and heat. The 75 mile ride seemed to go well for everyone, (we stayed well hydrated!) but when we arrived at the Tecopa Hot Springs Campground things got a little more complicated. Steve and I were the first to arrive in Tecopa, a town that seemed to be defined only by the presence of natural mineral hot springs (which apparently is the 2^nd purest in the nation!) After seeing no sign of human life for about 50 miles, we turned into the hot spring and campground that appeared at the proper mileage, assuming it was the place. An eccentric man showed us where to set up camp, and seemed as though he was expecting us. After the rest of the group arrived, Christian, who had ridden with last year’s group for this stretch of the route, pointed out that we had set up camp at the wrong place! It turned out that there was another campground another couple hundred yards down the road that held our reservation, and had an almost identical name! So we packed it all up again and moved, and Steve and I felt more than a tad bit guilty, arghh….

As this whole debacle was unfolding, the wind started picking up. By the time we arrived at the new campground, we were fighting off corneal abrasions from blowing dust, and even struggling to keep our balance at times when the gusts came through! It became apparent that pitching tents and cooking outside would be quite a challenge. We approached the campground manager to see if we could use their inside facility for cooking, and he replied, “No. This is what you do when you camp, you suffer.” I was so impressed with how high our morale remained as we created a wind blockade with our vans, ate a sand coated meal and struggled through an hour long session of tent-wrestling. I really think this speaks to our resilience as a team!

The silver lining to this situation was that all of this happened at a hot spring. After packing our gear away, the most of us headed into the gender separated hot pools (no bathing suits allowed!) for a much-needed, relaxing soak.

Snoring stopped at SIX A.M. this morning zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz went to geeeezzzzzzz…… because today was a century ride, 100 miles through death valley – Barstow to Kelso. The first challenge was getting the riders ready and on the road by nine a.m., and I would like to brag a little and say R4WH hit historic route 66 at 8:45, way to go TEAM! By now, you may be wondering what historic route 66 really entails…has it been repaved? Does it have a nice shoulder with a clear line marked for bikers? Nope, but as a driver of the lead van, I have to say there were lots of smiling faces under a death valley sun for the first down ward sloping thirty miles. We also had some great scenery – lots of long trains winding through the vast array of dirt and shrubs with various mountain tops as a backdrop. Although we were warned that today would be remote, at the first rest stop, we were still able to count the number of cars that passed on one hand. Before lunch, Leah and Kristen, were busy with the cargo van doing a health fair at Barstow community college. They had a great time with fun facts and also had some donations! At about 12 p.m., riders made it up a gigantic climb – one of those I can see it all the way to the top and why am I not there….ughhhhhhhhhhhhh…. sort of painful ascents - and ate some lunch. We made TUNA – the right way with relish, mayo, and wheat bread. I am pretty certain the tuna fueled a new sort of cadence as riders pulled out around 1:30 p.m for the last 55 miles. But the sun hit hard, faces started getting a bit to fire-truck red and we had another pit stop 15 miles later. A pit stop really means power bars pulled, water-bottles filled, and sunscreens lathered. We are starting to learn the routine and riders are really getting stronger (seriously). At the end, we had long stretches through the desert with a gradual incline. We managed to do a moving water bottle fill next to Ryan Walsh – a bit advanced for our taste, but we decided we are getting that good J Tonight, we are staying at a place called Hole in the Wall campground. The desert air is brisk, but our stomachs have been fed again, with some grilled burgers and boiled beans. We might just sleep like rocks tonight. The tents have been set up and the manly men built a fire roaring fire which will soon produce some SMORES ! I am so impressed with the dedication and commitment riders took today to finish the ride. We are all VERY proud of each other. Thank you for reading. We really love your support and prayers. So far, soooooooooooooo good!

Day Highlights:

1) Ryan Walsh rode with a butterfly for part of the ride.

2) The support crew also made a quick stop at a historic dairy queen on the route….yummy.

3) We passed a tree littered with shoes…near Joshua Tree National Park.

4) High Temperatures caused a water shortage at the end – thanks to the vans and a spicket at the campground, riders finished relatively hydrated.

5) Riders avoided wandering Bulls upon our entrance into Hole in the Wall campground.

-Rachael