Video Killed The Radio Star

In California I was fortunate to participate in my third radio interview. A small station in Port Reyes where we had stopped for a few minutes for our rest break to eat ice cream and recharge.

A Way of Life

On the 4th of July I called my parents to give them an update on my condition which went a lot like "Everything is Awesome!" I had eaten dinner at Aunt Renee's the night before where their roof overlooks San Francisco Bay, and we watched the sunset and hung out over flourless chocolate cake and ice cream. And then on the 4th, Carlos cooked oysters and grilled salmon kabobs. Anyways, on the phone I was talking to my dad about being on the road and what it is like to get up everyday and ride and that's it.

Previously I had noticed myself getting tired while listening to people back home talk about all the things they had to do and how many options they had to consider in what they were trying to accomplish. With this thought in mind, I realized how simple life is now. My primary responsibility is riding a bike from one city to the next. If I can do that, I am successful and I have spent the day doing exactly what I intended to do.

Of course, a lot more happens out here than just riding a bike, but ALL I have to do is ride every day. After that, I am free to move onto the next thing, be that finding a laundromat, meeting host families, planning the route for the next day. All of the extras that take place after riding are the flavor and spice of my summer, while being on a bike is definitely the meat. But try to imagine having only one thing to do every day and if you accomplish that one thing you are free to appreciate, experience, and live the rest of your life.

I find myself strongly desiring to bring this mindset home with me because I have a bad habit of overbooking myself and never being able to devote my whole self to any one thing. Out here I can honestly say that I am 100% present and every day gets my all (it's pretty easy when you only have one thing to do). I absolutely feel like I am accomplishing/experiencing everything that Texas 4000 has to offer and I hope what I am learning can become a way of life.

Single Speed Slaughter

Sometimes we go and do things that don't make very much sense but in the end make a big difference.  I was riding sag (last rider who helps take care of anyone who has flat tires etc...) and thought 'this terrain seems easy and I have to ride at the back so I will ride in my hardest gear today.'  So I rode all day in my hardest gear and it was very hard.  There were two long hills that tortured me at 4 mph for multiple miles.  So, now I can say I rode 74 miles from Florence to Lincoln City, OR in the hardest gear possible. Go me.

Hills Headwinds and Happiness

 

Just reached Dammeron Valley, UT, a few miles from Veyo as the date on the site says. So far I have crossed 3 states which will be 4 tomorrow, climbed lots of hills and ridden straight into heavy headwinds and been happy the whole time. There have definitely been challenges, pain, tiredness, soreness and some suffering but the very fact that I am here trumps any discomfort that I will or have already encountered. The one thing that makes everything worthwhile is THE PEOPLE. The people I meet everyday randomly as I ride across North America, the people who are anxiously awaiting my arrival in each destination, the people at home who love and support, the people with cancer who we remember and recognize every morning before we ride and last but not least, the people who I am riding with. Every aspect of all of these people is what really makes this summer a life changing, perspective widening, inspiring and humbling experience.
Almost every community we have come into has welcomed us with arms wide open and then bent over backwards to give us every accommodation that we could possibly want or need. Great food, showers, laundry, beds, swimming pools, recreation spots on our off days, groups to present our message of hope and knowledge to, and opportunities to meet and interact with people whose stories blow our minds. I have had several conversations with team members about the people we meet, which go something like “Wow, the things this person has accomplished, encountered, or overcome makes riding a bike to Alaska sound like child’s play in comparison.”
I don’t know that words on a page can really express or describe what I feel right now as I reflect on all that I have been through in the past 17 days. My mind is flooded with images of riding up long hills into a setting sun, conversations with teammates about why we are out here, fun dinners that have been put on by church communities. Getting up every day to exert myself physically to a greater extent than I typically would in a full week, trying mentally prepare for what the weather has in store and then to go out and ride, despite any lingering pain, soreness and stiffness or general lack of desire to be on a bike at all ( I never thought that would come from me) has been a stretching experience for me. At the end of every day, though something amazing has happened because I did get up, because I did ride every mile and because I was there when the cancer survivor who has been waiting for months to meet us tells us their story and expresses their love, gratitude and appreciation for what we are doing. We ride for those who can’t, that is our motto and that is why I am here. Not only those with cancer or who are caring for those with cancer but even for our own team members who have come into circumstances that prevent them from being able to ride.
Since I left, I have more facial hair than I have ever had, I have less leg hair and stronger legs than I have had in a long time, I have an amazing farmers tan, I have showered less, eaten better, met more people, talked on more radio shows, slept less, ridden more, gotten angry less, loved more, been extremely grateful, had my mind blown regularly, laughed harder and more (at myself and others), been outdoors constantly, complained a little bit, wanted to quit, wanted to stick it out, felt sorry for myself, missed my wife, seen the Southwest at 15 mph, taken awesome pictures, taken crappy pictures, spent more time in a swimming pool than I have in the past few years put together, given more hugs, applauded in appreciation, remembered that I can make a difference if I try and realized that people really do care.
I am amazingly blessed to be here, sitting in a volunteer fire station in Dammeron Valley, UT, typing a blog entry that pales in comparison to what is really going on. I ride a bike every day, I ride for those who can’t and wouldn’t want to be doing anything other than what I am doing.

On The Road

So, I am officially riding a bike to Alaska! Right now I am sitting in the 10,000 sq ft home of the family of a member of the Rockies route, on our first rest day in Albuquerque, NM. Our hosts have been so generous and helpful, without them I don't think we could continue our journey. Tomorrow we ride out to Cuba, NM and then on to Farmington. Several member of the press just showed up and heads of the Cancer Society and other Medical Centers are here now for dinner (Our host is the mayor of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, a small suburb of Alb, and has a TON of connections). I am going to take pictures of my hand written journal entries to give a daily synopsis of events. Look forward to more posts and pictures! You can also go to texas4000.org and click on the "photos" tab to see pics posted by other riders!

Fundraising Update

With the garage sale and more individual donations, the fundraising total is up to:

$2726

Over half way there!

With a special thanks to:

Jeff Brumfield
De Leon Family
Sutherland Family
for individual donations

and

Clint and Chaliese Jones
The Edgar Family
Jared and Nichelle Fort
My immediate family
My inlaws
My wonderful wife
for garage sale donations and helping a ton on Friday and Saturday

Corpus Ride Broken Bikes Hurricanes and Garage Sale

March 8-10 We rode 230 miles to Corpus Christi to get an idea of what it will be like on the road this summer. But we all didn't ride the whole distance, I think no one rode the whole distance. And this is why, Instead of bringing a couple of 15 passenger vans to accommodate the team, about 10 people brought their cars, including me and so a rotation of drivers was set up. So I drove the first 20 mile leg on Saturday. So, without giving every detail I will chronicle the rest of the ride. About 25 miles into my riding, a freak accident happened, under very unusual circumstances. A plastic bag (From Walmart of all places) got blown under my bike and almost instantly was stuck in my chain and had wrenched my rear derailleur upside down and threw my chain in my spokes. Moral of this story, no more riding for David today. So I rode in a car for the remaining 30 miles of the day. Sunday morning I end up driving around San Antonio for about three and a half hours trying to find the right part to get my bike working again. So at about 2 I catch up with team and am able to ride the last 50 mile s of the day into Beeville. Monday we have about 60 miles to go to get to Corpus and we get started bright and early and the weather is absolutely beautiful. During the second leg of the trip, my group got some bad directions and ended up riding about 10 miles extra. We were a little late getting to the rest stop and pretty much everyone who wasn't driving had left to ride the last 15 miles to Corpus. At this point, there was a steady breeze and a few clouds. So we get a few spring showers while riding through Portland and clouds start to roll in as we enter the causeway (very long bridge) to get on the island. With the road wet from the rain, traffic flying by and the ocean surrounding us , the bridge was a little bit intimidating. The further we get along the bridge, there is more and large debris on the shoulder and BIG dark clouds are forming over the ocean. All of the sudden ( apparently this is typical of Corpus) the wind changed. It picked up to about 20-30 mph and dropped about 20 degrees. This surprised us and those twinges of "wow, should we be riding in this?" began to cross our minds. LUCKILY and what I think was divine intervention, there was a car stalled in the shoulder in front of us which forced us to get off of our bikes to go around them and it allowed all the riders to regroup. At this point there were 5 guys and 3 girls. Immediately after we passed the stalled car, the wind changed directions and gusted about 50 mph. I am sure that if we had still been on our bikes, one of us would have been blown off of our bikes into traffic. But, we were off of our bikes and walking them when it began to rain, keep in mind that now the wind is blowing very fast and the rain is flying horizontally and whapping our necks and faces. The rain continues to pick up, it even starts to hail and we are walking our bikes down the shoulder of the bridge. By the time we got to the end of the bridge, it was pouring sideways rain, the wind gusts were literally knocking us over and we were all kind of freaked out and couldn't believe the storm conditions we were in. Eventually a couple of drivers from the team came to our aid and everything worked out but man, it was probably the most intense weather I have ever been directly exposed to.

The garage sale:

It worked out great. Thank you big time to everyone who donated stuff for us to sell and to everyone who helped to actually make it happen. We grossed $722 and still have plenty of stuff to have another sale. So i foresee well over $1000 raised from this effort. Thanks again to everyone who helped out.

Fundraising Update

So we have some new donors!

the new total: $1830

With a special thanks to:

The Sanders
The Lawsons
The Fletchers
The Ryans
The Nahns
The Dials

THANK YOU!!!

Training Day

This weekend I was extremely fortunate to be able to participate in a professionally run cycling training camp. 43 TX4K team members and a few alumni and family members got to spend two days with state, national, and world champion cyclists and coaches who were absolutely amazing in their knowledge, ability, and dedication to helping us learn. From the most basic beginning rider technique to the to the more advanced rotating paceline (what the pros do in the tour de France) they covered it all according to individual rider ability. I must make note, the men and women who coached us ALL donated their time, talents, and expertise. We did not have to pay a cent to participate. The camp was held in the small town (pop. 243) of Fayetteville, TX about an hour and a half outside of Austin and lasted from Saturday to Sunday afternoon. After we arrived in the town square and received our room assignments in Keiler's Lodge ( They had 14 rooms and we had them all) we met the coaches and began our training. We were split into 4 groups based on riding experience and ability (funny story about which group I started in and which one I ended up in) and received specific instruction on how we were to conduct a 40 mile ride. After that we rolled out for a long, hard ride . We got back a few hours a later, tired, hungry and stinky. There were three of us to each room ( Joe and Ben were my roommates) and I volunteered to shower first and got the only hot water. A little while later we gathered for dinner in the downstairs banquet hall where we had chicken alfredo and more instruction from the coaches. By 9:30 we were all pretty pooped and headed back to our rooms for some well deserved sleep. We were breakfasted and ready to ride at 9 on Sunday morning where we went another 40 miles with strict instructions to stay together and work on our group riding skills, which turned out to make this ride much more easy and rewarding than the ride from the previous day. We got back, showered and packed, had some closing remarks from the coaches and headed back to Austin. It really was a blessing to be a part of the camp. Cycling has been a hobby of mine for years but I now realize how much effort and dedication are required to tap the full potential of this amazing sport.

New Bike!!!

It seems like every post has to have a title with exclamation points because everything is soooo exciting. In case you didn't notice, I got my new bike today. I am one of about 10 who are getting bikes this week. That leaves about 40 teammates who are really jealous right now! J/K but I also got a new helmet, shoes and pedals. TX4K I love you! I had an hour between classes to go pick it up and was really close to not making my way back to class cuz, dang, this thing is hot!

A BIG THANKS

This is a quick fundraising update and list of everyone who has donated so far (these are the ones who are off the hook! everyone else beware!)

The total to date is $1545

Thank you all so much!!!!

Roger and Diane Garriot
David Francis (uncle)
Phil & Lisa Francis
Ken Francis (uncle)
Heather Dudek

Kristin Ferrell
Kenneth Francis (grandfather)
Steve and Loni Francis
Justin Tullis
Ryan Tullis
Joe and Layne Scales
Ryan Gee
Bob and Marsha Batchelor
Jerry and Mary Kizerian
Justin and Beth Bradford
Corey Tammy Townsend

Work

So I am sitting in a microbiology lab surrounded by microscopes, printing out my fundraising letters. The printer at home went on the fritz so my boss is letting me print them out here. Very cool. I was just re-reading the letter and got that, "WOW!  I'm doing something that is awesome!" feeling all over again. I am extremely pumped for the summer.