Why am I doing this?


credits to Justin Bond of Star Talent Events for the audio.


Thanks for stopping in! This summer, I'll be biking 2500 miles from San Francisco to Gibson City, IL to raise $4000 for the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and the Ford County Youth Soccer Club. My route map.

Why?
There are so many reasons. As a youngster growing up in central Illinois, playing soccer, as rare as it was for the area, was an activity that really shaped me into the person I am today. Not only combining the importance of fitness and teamwork, but also leadership and discipline. I have always wanted to have the opportunity to give back to this organization (FCYSC), and I feel that this is my chance.

Living just outside of Gibson City causes every child to be an avid cyclist to survive that stretch of Route 9 to make it into town. As I've progressed into my current career as an urban planner, I realize how much of an impact cycling can make in certain parts of the United States, in reducing our dependence on vehicles, increasing our health, among other benefits. Atlanta is the place that re-energized my spirit for transportation planning and I hope to be able to return some gratitude to the ABC, a cause that I still feel has an uphill battle in that town.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at supawanich@gmail.com

Friday, July 31, 2009

I'm the dude in the silver state while airborn. days 3.5-5

It's been a few days... apologies, but wi-fi access is apparently quite the novelty here the Silver State, where gambling and open nothingness prevail. But! It has been an eventful number of days. Since my last message in Shingle Springs, I ran into a few other x-country cyclists (coming from VA going westward) I totally smashed the Sierra Nevadas, well... they smashed me at times too.. experienced hail, rain, and a great burger all in the same day, and lost (and re-found my wallet.

To zip you forward to the present, I'm now about 380 miles into the total trip and staying at a lovely Super 8 motel in Fallon, NV (home of the Fallon naval air station, and top gun apparently) My parents and my aunt have been escorting me through Nevada which has been awesome. Today was the first day being supported which was AMAZING after doing the Sierras lugging 65 pounds of weight in tow. I left Carson City this morning around 7am with some serious tailwind and was averaging about 20 mph the whole way to Fallon. My total mileage for the day was 112 miles which should put me on good pace for the trek to Austin, NV tomorrow. For th ose that know me, the fact that I mispaced my wallet is no huge surprise, but it did provide a fair bit of anxiety around here for about 2 hours. Legs are still holding strong and spirits are high. I'm not sure what the highs were today... but it seemed hot and my stellar tan lines can prove it.

Here are some photos below to document some of the fun times.

So Somerset is one of the small towns on day 3 between shingle springs and bear lake (until I hit the rockies, I will refer to that day as the "slog day" as I spent 11 hours slogging up and down the hills for 11 hours at about 5 mph. But this guy here seemed to be down on his luck, as he was asking everyone going into the store for work and odd jobs. He came and chatted with me and let me know he just needed a way to get his can of beans open so he could eat his breakfast. I had no job, but I did carry a can opener. Once I opened the can, he kept saying to me "you're the dude!", he said it at least six times... so there you have it. carry a can opener, and you too can become the dude.

Bear Lake and campground... I actually was pretty hesitant about staying here because it was 4 miles off the road and an 1000' decent to the lake (riding a bike downhill, when you know you have to go back up is like ... well, i'm not sure how to relate it... maybe like having someone making dinner while you're sweeping? maybe not. But anyway, it was the last campsite for at least 20 miles, and i sure wasn't about to try to go another 20 miles at that point. But, taking a dip in the lake was probably the best way to end a long hot day. The campsite was also pretty stellar, I made myself a little fire and ate my dinner listening to my ipod. The gents in the site next to me came over, well at least the grandfather came over and chatted. Nice guy from Sac, he was 69 years old and apparently that night, was the first night he'd ever camped or slept outside for that matter. Wow. But a really nice guy who offered me some marshmellows, which I happily accepted. I slept well that night and was gifted the next morning with a ride with Rick, the camp host who offered to shuttle me back up to the main road with my bike.
So back in the day (meaning roughly 13 years ago) I started long jumping for school... and well since then, I've just really liked jumping... and jumping makes for fun and happy photos.. (btw, check out www.jumpbecause.com, So, you will probably notice a theme for many of my photos of me leaping for happiness or just jumping because it's fun and makes me think I'm not on the latter end of my twenties. So below... here is me jumping because silver lake looks awesome.


Here is me jumping because 8575' sounded like a more round number to be at...and... that the first mountain range of the trip was OVER!

Did I mentioned that it hailed? it hailed. on the same day as the photos above... strange.
Goodbye budget crisis and Prop 13. Hello gambling and no property taxes!
That's it for now. In the meanwhile, I wanted to say a big hello and thank you to everyone who's still reading and supporting! Hope to report in from eastern NV or western UT soon!

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