about the ride

The Where
 
The ride will be from Bar Harbor, Maine to Seattle Washington along the Northern Tier route published by Adventure Cycling Association. They say that the route is 4,295 miles, but that doesn't include trips to and from things like: restaurants, camp sites, cheap motels, grocery stores, laundry, various sightseeing, bars, and of course - wrong turns. I'll expect to end up with at least 4,500 miles by the end.


The When

We will leave from Bar Harbor on May 28 and we plan to arrive in Seattle on August 4. These dates are relatively fixed; if (read: when) we hit bad winds, crappy weather, and bad roads we keep going. I say "relatively" because there is always a chance of something really crazy happening to delay us for a day, but we will likely just make up for crazy stuff by pounding out extra miles on less crazy days.

The How

We'll be pedaling our asses over mountains, valleys, deserts, farmland, Mayan apocalypses, and everything in between. We will have our trusty route leaders backing us up of course: they'll be taking turns rolling in a sweet van and trailer setup to carry all of our things like: camping equipment, food and water replenishment,  various bicycle parts, and other fun things.

The Why

We are all taking a summer off from work, school, and home in order to do something "normal people" consider to be pretty crazy. Sometimes doing crazy things is the best way to get attention. We want to bring attention to our cause: Multiple Sclerosis - a chronic and unpredictable disease that affects the central nervous system. MS affects millions of people worldwide, and in the United States alone, hundreds more are diagnosed each week.

Not enough is known about this disease, and there is no cure - yet. That's why your donations help to fund the James Q. Miller Clinic at the University of Virginia, where they do research into this disease, as well as treat those who are affected. In addition to donating to the James Q. Miller Clinic, we do various projects to directly help people who need it. We do yard and home cleanups all across the country for people who need some help with those things due to their condition, and we also do some home modification projects to help people adjust their homes to their needs.

The Who

A bunch of badass people, that's who. If you want to get involved - which you should - you can start out by donating to the cause - go ahead, it's right there on the top right of the page. Should you decide that a simple donation will not suffice, and you like to ride a bicycle a lot, check out the cyclist application page, and get riding. It is not necessary to ride all the way across the continent; you can choose to ride a partial route, like a state or two. Any way you choose to do it, GET INVOLVED.