Just keep rolling, Just keep rolling

Hey friends, family, and all other readers of this blog. This inaugurates the beginning of my trip.  In the words of Bilbo Baggins himself, "IM GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!"  And quite similarly to Bilbo, I will be traveling all the way across the country, from the Grey Havens (New Jersey), through the land of friendly people who love to eat in Hobbiton (Philadelphia and Chicago),  over the misty mountains (Rockies) to the Lonely Mountain (Mt Hood) that is protected by a fiery dragon named Smaug (I got nothing for that one), to find a treasure so massive, there is no possible way to carry it home (The Pacific Ocean).  This is no small endeavor!

I look forward to keeping you updated on the fundraising part of the trip up until June and then really get this thing rolling from June to August!  I have here this cute little thing called a blog that I will be writing periodically in to try and keep those interested ..... interested.  I am super excited to be able to have this opportunity and am excited to see how God uses this trip to impact me, the other riders, the people praying and supporting financially, the churches hosting us along the way, and the families and individuals that are looking for help with their housing situation who we get the opportunity to meet and help along the way! And all to bring God glory.  I will be taking as many pictures as possible through my training (which coincidentally involves a half ironman in may at St George) and the entirety of the trip to display this wonderful creation of a planet along the way!

 If you have any questions about the trip and how you can help or get involved, feel free to comment on the post or follow this link - Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure ! Oh and one last thing, if you look below at this trusty little map of middle earth (America) you may notice the route comes DIRECTLY through Eastern Washington and the Tri Cities. SOOOOO if you want to be cool and join me and the dwarves (they aren't small and stocky, just follow the analogy ;) ) You can join us for a day, the entire last week, or whatever your heart desires...so yeah you should do it! Remember, there is gold at the end! (not really). Alright well peace out fellas. Can't wait to write to you again and update you!

Yours truly,
Scottie

If you can't see the map, feel free to click the picture to zoom! :)

Perseverance and Passion

 It's been 18 days since I left the trip.  I've already gained back 9 of the pounds I had lost on the trip.  I am also still wearing the Desperation Conference wristband that I got the first day I arrived at that.  So what do you really take a hold of after spending 4 and half weeks on a bike riding half way across the country? The first thing I learned, by far, is perseverance.  Right from the get go, that first day of biking, your muscles already feel like quitting, but you have to just keep going.  Climbing up to Skykomish in the rain, wanting to stop as much as possible to warm up, but you have to just keep going.  Climbing up Stevens Pass as the temperature drops and snow is seen on the ground, wondering every pedal if you are any closer to the top, but you have to just keep going.  Biking 100 miles of hilly terrain, becoming delusional at the end, with your muscles shaking because of lack of energy, but you have to keep on going.  From 3 flat tires the next day, to getting lost the next, from going up 3 hills (one on gravel), to biking uphill in the heat, to biking through consecutive days of 80 miles in the wind, to having riding partners wanting to quit, to climbing 9,500 and 11,300 ft mountains, to crashing and having to get stitches, YOU HAVE TO JUST KEEP GOING.  Life isn't always going to be peaches and cream, in fact it might be lemons and cream (imagine with me that lemons and cream is the opposite of peaches and cream).  You might have obstacles that jump in your way, some that seem insurmountable, some that seem 11,300 ft in the air, but you can't give up.  Perseverance is the only way you are going to make it to your goal.

But it's hard to have perseverance for something you couldn't care less about.  so what is your passion? That's the other thing I learned most of all on this trip.  If you don't have passion for what you are doing, it is a lot easier for your mind to give in and give up.  Every day as I was riding was a different experience.  On mountain days, my passion was uphill climbing (that seems weird, but trust me, i love it!) so i bolted as fast as I could to the top of the summits and left nothing behind.  On flat, monotonous days, the passion that kept me going was God.  The fact that I was doing this bike ride for Him, and for His mission, was enough for me to keep pedaling, and pedaling, and hours of pedaling.  When the trip concluded, I got to cap it off in a very unique, awesome, inspiring, passionate, Desperate way!  The end of my trip concluded at the same time as the Desperation Conference in Colorado Springs started.  I was able to cap off a ride of desperate passion and perseverance with a conference that was all about being in desperate pursuit of God, of having no empty prayers, no singling lies, no token vows.  During every worship set, I saw a passion in the youth in that room to ignite a generation, to tell their friends, to change their schools, to change everyone around them and bring them to a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ.  That's our goal guys! "To go and make disciple of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. and sure I am with you always, even to the very end of the age."  Are you passionate about that? Are you desperate to pursue that goal?  or is that just something you skim over as you fruitlessly scan through the bible? If that is your passion, then persevere on!

"Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. " - 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." - Hebrews 10:23

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." -  Hebrews 12:1

"He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels." - Revelation 3:5

So hold strong! Find your passion in the Lord, desperately pursue Him with all perseverance!

Rabbit Ears named Berthoud

Segment 4: Where do I begin? (you get pictures this time)

Well Eastern Utah was pretty boring. After Salt Lake City we traveled over two 1500 ft mountain passes to get to the city of Heber which is a beautiful little place. Everyone got to swim in a crater hot springs. It was a delightful place. The city of Midway, nearby, is designed to imitate Switzerland. After Heber, we had 100 miles over a 2500 ft pass into the city of Roosevelt and then the next day we had 80 days into Dinosaur Colorado. pause. Did you say Dinosaur Colorado? yes, yes i did. A town of 300 people, 330 when we were there, where the main tourism attraction is Dinosaur National Monument. Other than that, the town is pretty boring. We got to celebrate a riveting 4th of July that night. (The lightning was a better show)

In Colorado, things began to look up (literally). We climbed gradually up to the city of Craig. We had a build day in Craig where we all seperated into 7 different groups and helped people with any thing they needed done to their houses. I picked "Scottie's" house for obvious reasons. Turned out Scottie is a grandma with a broken hip and leg. Wasnt expecting that one. We helped her oil her log cabin, mow her lawn, trim her tree, cut her firewood, weedwack, and various other small jobs. She was very thankful as she laughed it would have taken her twenty minutes to plug in the weedwacker. And I am officially a manly man now that I can axe wood. It's a pretty cool talent.



After Craig we started toward the Rockies where we climbed over Rabbit Ears pass at 9426 feet and then dropped back down to the city of Kremmling at 7000 ft. It was a very fun 94 mile day. During the day, we passed through Steamboat Springs where I grabbed a sweet little sticker at the tourist center. My bike is getting pretty covered. The next day we climbed even higher as we crossed over Berthoud Pass at 11,300 ft. If you want to visit sweet, awesome little towns, go to Winter Park. That place is the Beesnees. At the top of the pass, we were greeted with a torrential downpour of hail for 30 minutes, making us all scurry to the bathroom for shelter. Lets see, what else happened that day? OH, 6 miles away from Idaho Springs, I took a doozy of an accident where I dislocated my shoulder temporarily. After assessing the road rash, gashes, and getting my shoulder to move again, I carefully hopped on my bike and rolled the last 6 miles down hill to the church where I was taken to get 4 stitches in my left leg. That wasn't going to stop me from completing my last two rides though, so be sure in knowing that I rode the next day, 50 miles downhill into Downtown Denver, two blocks from the Capitol Building. Luckily, we had a day off in Denver which is a pretty cool city (Portland is still better though). And finally, yesterday, we biked to Colorado Springs in the wind, but it was well worth it as we descended toward Pikes Peak. This morning, I spent the sunrise at Garden of the Gods and got some sweet photos. Ill post those later so be looking forward to that.

Well, the trip is over. I traveled 1800 miles over 6 states, climbed at least 10 major mountain passes ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 ft elevation gains, struggled through wind, basked in the sun, persevered through painful crashes, lived up every city to the best of my potential, but most importantly, I had numerous spiritual conversations with people, and I helped families in need that desperately needed it, all to the glory of God. It's taught me a lot about myself! I will definitely write another post about all the things I've learned and experienced but that's for another time. Thanks so much to all of you helped pray, support, or read along the trip. I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you for helping taking part in this story in my life, and in the life of our Savior's work.


Until next time,. . .

Wind and Potatoes

There is a lot to catch up on! I must get right into this. I haven't had much time to write . . . well you'll figure out why

So we got to Yellowstone and had a day off exploring the park which was (wait for it) AMAZING!!! We saw like 250 Bison and even had a herd surrounding our van as carefully meandered down the street. It was crazy. We also got to see the beehive geyser (which is bigger than Old Faithful) and Old Faithful erupt while we were there. I was so close to the bee hive geyser that I got completely soaked. Turns out later you aren't supposed to stand under the water. whatever. We also got to drive out to the Yellowstone Canyon and check out the raging waterfalls there. Turns out, that's where the "yellow stone" is. I also started a tradition of putting stickers of all the cool places I've been on my bike. So if anyone has a Seattle sticker, or leavenworth sticker, or Spokane sticker, or Couer D'Alene Sticker or Missoula Sticker, you get the picture. let me know, it would be awesome if you could send that to me.

After leaving Yellowstone, the real fun began. We had 4 days in a row of 80 or more miles. The first day we biked into Rexburg and got the VIP treatment by one of the BYU-ID professors and his students. They made us dinner, gave us a tour of their brand spanking new renovated campus, even let me break the dress code and run on their track. Of course I went straight to my events. Turns out, I can still jump 5' 8" pretty easily with tennis shoes on. That surprised me. Oh and astonishingly, I got to weigh myself that day and every day sense. I thought, with eating 7000 calories a day, I would have maintained or gain weight, especially since I don't weigh very much arleady. False, I have lost 11 pounds since I first started. I found the secret guys, bike 70 miles a day!

Rexburg was hard to leave, especially after being treated so nicely. But Pocatello was awaiting us, and so was a 35 mph sustained headwind. 80 miles? try more like 100 with that wind. It was a terrible day. I felt like quitting. I couldn't breathe, I ran out of water every 5 seconds. It was miserable. That's really all there is to say about that. God got me through it and gave me strength and mental perseverance when i had none.

The next day was a 95 mile day into Utah, more specifically into Logan. I got to sweep that day because I wanted to relax. So i took it easy in the back. Fortunately, nothing bad happened with the riders and I was just able to ride. Although, there was a 55 mph wind at one point blowing us sideways. But Logan was a beautiful city! The church made us a huge baked potato bar with everything imaginable! (ironic that we didn't even touch a potato in Idaho) I didn't get to do much else in the city because I was so exhausted so I ended up just watching a movie with my friend and heading to bed at 8:30

And finally, yesterday, We biked the last part of the segment into Salt Lake City. It was quite possibly, one of the best days yet. There's nothing like riding into the Salt Lake mountains and having a gigantic lake to your right. There was even an 1000 ft mt pass that we climbed. I, of course, went as quickly as possible up the thing. I think we should have a polka dot jersey on this trip, as per the Tour de France. I love climbing mountains. Most of the rest of the day was biking through cities, since Salt Lake is so huge! When we got here ( at 2:20 pm i might add, we made good time ) we even had time to visit around the University of Utah campus.

We are planning on making the most of our day off today. Me and a friend or few will be walking around Downtown Salt Lake (where I can finally take pictures THANKS MOM) I have been dying to eat at Rio Cafe since we left Washington. So that is of course on the list. Other than that, thanks so much guys for supporting me and the fellow riders on this trip. We couldn't do it without your prayers.

If you would still like to donate to help me out in getting to Denver, click on one of the links in my last blog posts. I still really need monetary support to get to Denver in the next week. So far my support gets me as far as the Colorado Border and I just need about 300-400 more to get to Denver. Thanks so much for all of you who can. And if you would like something to pray for, please pray for a few of the friends I have met on this trip. They have never really had a relationship with Jesus from what I've come to know and I have been talking immensely with them about what it means to be a follower of Christ and the importance and priority that has in your life. There's been some great conversations. I'll keep you updated how things go with that.

Arrivederci

Purple Mountains Majesty

"What are the purpose of mountains? Everything has a purpose right?" - Heather


"The purpose of mountains is to be awesome and to point to God's awesomeness." - Me


It has been quite a beautiful 4 days since my last blog. Montana is an amazing state! Our first day we biked into Missoula which reminded me in so many ways of the Tri-Cities but with trees surrounding the hills. The city was gorgeous and quaint and bike-friendly and gorgeous. I made the most of my day in Missoula by walking around all the older buildings and eating some Asian food, then hiking up a hillside to peer over the city, and finally walking around the University of Montana. It was a wonderful rest stop and I wish we could have stayed longer than one night.


The second day was not so good. Probably because we had to leave Missoula. It might have also been due to the 77 miles on an uphill slant in 80 degree heat. I felt like hopping in the support vehicle and just getting driven the last 20 miles. I was on the brink of pure exhaustion. But I finished and ended up in Phillipsburg which was a beautiful city on the Scenic Pintlar Mountain Route. A lot of stuff happened that night. First we started off by going to the local burger joint and all getting the burger challenge. This challenge consisted of eating a huge 1 lb of meat triple bacon cheeseburger with fries. We went 5 for 5 and all got free ice cream. To add to the calories, I got a vanilla milkshake and bought varying types of fudge from the CANDY PALACE! (echo echo echo) For the 5000 calories I burned that day exercising, I probably consumed atleast 6000 in that short two hour span.


The next day rocked my world yet again. God has a way of doing that by taking beauty and blowing your mind. 13 miles out of Phillipsburg we climbed over the Pintlar Pass and were met with snow-capped peaks, a majestic and peaceful Georgetown Lake, and most importantly a 20 mile downhill. It ranks very closely to my favorite spot on earth so far, just behind Crater Lake. At mile 60 we got to Butte Montana and were met with another mountain pass and a raging thunderstorm. Hail and rain poured down as thunder ruptured the sky. I personally didn't feel like putting my life in danger going over the mountain pass so I rode in the van the last 20 miles of that day.

And finally today, a nice 51 mile journey gave us a well needed rest. With only one 800 ft climb at the very end, we got to relax and enjoy the scenery surrounding us. Oh, and at the local town of Cardwell Montana, a lady gave a group of us all bug spray to fight off the raging mosquitoes, and then proceeded to take our picture to place in the newspaper. And now we are in Ennis Montana which I thought might be the starting place of Ennis Fine Furniture but apparently not. But the Rockies surround this city and even now as I write this, the sun is setting on the rain clouds hovering over the mountains. It is a gorgeous place. I can't say that enough. gorgeous, gorgeous, Gorgeous.

Tomorrow we have a 70 mile day into our rest weekend location of West Yellowstone. I am very excited to see the park and all the crazy wildlife, mainly the grizzlies and the moose. But that is all the updates so far. Hopefully we get wi-fi again soon. It has been such an amazing ride so far and I can't thank you all enough for praying for us and for supporting me personally so that I could experience all of this glory that God displays for us, and help these people that so desperately need adequate housing. I love hearing from you all, and much appreciate all the encouragement! You guys are awesome. Talk to y'all later.

Montana

So it's been almost 4 or 5 days since i last had wi-fi to blog (the school we were at in Idaho had everything blocked, even blogger). So after we left Spokane, we biked through Coeur D'Alene, over 4th of July Pass on the I-90 and then into Wallace Idaho where we spent the weekend. Apparently Wallace is known as the center of the universe and the silver capitol of the world! Crazy stuff. We had our first build day in Kellogg Idaho which was an absolutely awesome experience. I personally helped paint the entire inside of the house but as a group we also gave the house insulation, shingled the shed out back, and dry walled most of the basement. The owner of the house got to come in after work and see the day's progress and was absolutely blown away. On Sunday we got to choose between 4 churches, all of which were either catholic or some form of a small older styled church that was very structured. Needless to say, I spent most of the rest of the day listening to podcasts that I need to catch up on. But all in all, Wallace was a fun town to relax in and give my muscles a break.

Today, we continued on with our second segment into Montana. I now know why it is called God's country. It's pretty fantastic! We had 3 pretty big climbs, the biggest of which being Lookout Pass at 4860 feet, our highest elevation so far. You may be wondering what I do to pass the time on the road. Well, I'll have you know that I went over 809 rumble straps on the stretch of I-90 we were on. It has been a pretty eventful day. Some of our team had numerous flats and ended up hitchhiking down the pass to the first rest stop so that they wouldn't be left behind. It's quite a story but I wouldn't do it justice. And then just recently, about an hour ago, one of our oldest bikers went over his handle bars on the way back from showers. He wasn't wearing a helmet and ended up taking a pretty big blow to the head. He has been taken to the hospital and I hear he might be aired over to Missoula to get Stitches and such. He is doing well but could use a lot of prayer for a quick recovery so that he can begin biking with us again as soon as possible.

We're about to eat dinner so I can't write anymore but I thought you could use a quick update before we lose wi-fi again.

Addio per ora

Flat Tires

I am not a big fan of flat tires! But before we get to that, I have to catch you up.  Two days ago we left the beautiful town of Wenatchee and biked through the Columbia River Valley with a severe head wind.  Twenty or so miles later, we climbed out of the canyon.  I researched how high this climb would be and it said it went up 1000 feet.  Oh, how I was terribly misinformed! We ended up climbing 2000 ft at a 7% grade.  It was so painful especially after Stevens Pass, the day before, we only climbed 3000 ft.  Well anyway, When we got to the top there wasn't too much downhill.  For 70 miles, it was just rolling farmland which killed my legs.  BUT WE FOUND WILBUR! we may have crawled in our hands and knees but we made that 98 miles! Yeah, I felt pretty much like a pro after that. 


And then came the next day, yesterday.  We biked from Wilbur to Spokane.  It was supposed to be a nice 66 mile recovery day.  I learned very quickly that things never go to plan.  10 miles into the monotonous farmland, I drove right over a nail.  My biking buddy missed me yelling but luckily the guy behind me stopped and helped me replace the tire.  We filled up the spare tube I had on my bike in about 10 minutes, just to find that it had a hole too! By now, the sweepers (that's what we call the two people in the back that never pass anyone and make sure everyone is alright) had stopped and given me another tube which would allow me to most likely get back to the van (we stop every 20 miles to get a snack and rest a wee bit) so that they could check on it.  Well the van had gone 24 miles so I high tailed it over those remaining 14 miles trying to catch up.  The van sent me on my way after pumping up my tire to it's designated PSI.  Six miles into my trip I hear, "popppppheeeeeeeeeeeeeewww".  ANOTHER FLAT.  By now, I am just ready to quit.  It just wasn't my day.  I still have 40 miles to go and I am probably 30 minutes behind everybody.  I walked a mile before the van eventually caught up to me and replaced my entire tire this time.  And with a quick "thank you very much" I was off to the races because I was determined to catch back up to my partner (keep in mind I am probably like 45 minutes behind that group.) Averaging 25 MPH, I eventually caught the very back end of the last group who had just left the second 20-mile stop.  I went flying past the stop without slowing down, zoomed right past the group with a few quick hellos, and kept trekking.  I wasn't even letting hills slow me down.  I would sprint up them like I owned them.  Well I never did catch my group, but I pulled into the Salvation Army only 10-15 minutes behind them.  What a day!


Once we got to Spokane, I showed some of my friends around the Spokane Riverfront Park and obviously took them on the wagon slide.  Can't pass that up!  We even had a little Zips to acquaint them to the NW.  oh oh, and get this, we went to Dutch Brothers because I told them it was one of my favorite places ever and they came through for me.  We told them about our trip and they gave us all free drinks and even advertised our flyer in their window.  Ok where was I? I started thinking about that smoothie again, ummmm oh yeah then we had dinner at the Salvation Army.  We got to sit down with all the homeless / impoverished families and hear their stories.  One family had a daughter that was going into 6th grade who had brought her best friend to sleepover tonight at their house.  They were the cutest things ever! To my friends disappointment, and to my approval, both girls loved math and hated English class (She is an English teacher).  It was interesting getting to share dinner with them and seeing how all of them get their food.  I didn't eat much because we have 90 miles again tomorrow and the food wasn't really the best quality for my stomach but I did eat a little just to be able to relate with their experiences.  It was hard to see some of their situations.  Most had kids, some had disabilities, some had no jobs.  We felt very out of place because we all have it so well off, it felt like we were taking food from people that needed it. 


Last night the Salvation Army gave us cots to sleep on and I slept like a baby! So much so, that I woke up at 4:45 to write this because I felt so well-rested.  Today we have our last day before our weekend break.  We are biking from Spokane to Kellogg Idaho.  It will be another 90 or so miles through rain and storms.  We will have completed our first state today.  It's tough to say goodbye to Washington but I'll have to try.  Speaking of which, I am still only 500 dollars short of getting to Denver.  I have also opened the door up to go as far as my donations get me.  Let that be Salt Lake City or Washington DC.  But I still need your help.  These houses we are building for this organization tomorrow go to people like the families we visited today in Salvation Army.  People desperately need houses! It may rain on us for a few minutes and it may be cold for a couple hours, but some people go without shelter for days, months, years! And internationally, in countries like Sri Lanka, Haiti, Armenia, we build houses for people who have had everything but their lives destroyed! There's a lot more that goes into and if you want more info you can go to fullercenter.org .  If you would like to donate to me just so that I can help out with this group a little longer you can go to Fuller Center Scottie and place my name in the ride you would like to support.  Thanks once again to all of you have got me this far and gave me this experience. 


Talk to you at the next stop (with wi-fi)