Morning of Monday, April 4. The Adventure of a Lifetime Begins… Jumped on a 6am flight to LA after 0 hrs of sleep to start the greatest adventure of my life! Got to the airport less than an hour before takeoff. Credit card got rejected so they wouldn’t let me ship my bike. “Leaving my bike here is not an option, we are riding bikes across the country starting today” I retort. Luckily a good friend from the State Hospital showed up to save the day. Thank you Debbie, I love you and owe you a $50 spot 
We then flew to Phoenix together and I knew right then that God was with us on this journey and everything would turn out just fine. In Phoenix my flight was delayed 1 1/2 hrs, but so was the preceding flight to LA so I lucked into changing planes and got flown into LAX early. Sweet start!
Met up with Jeff, Kyle and our Venice Beach hosts, Stef & Mark Fletcher (Stef is a good friend from Haiti, we met each other soon after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince last January and worked together at the Miami Medical Hospital aka Project Medishare). Stef & Mark hosted Jeff & Kyle for the past few days and were absolutely awesome. They even fed us a delicious send off meal of vegan chili. Once we were locked and loaded we drug (and I do mean drug, it was not easy to get those bikes with gear across all that sand) our bikes across the beautiful beach and ceremoniously dipped our rear tires in the Pacific Ocean. Now let the adventure begin!!!
Stage 1: Venice Beach (LA) ~~> Ontario, Cali (70 miles).
Kyle/Fatty’s previous blog accounts for the day’s adventure quite well. Highlights included riding from the beach through downtown LA and meeting many amazing people. Lowlights included getting lost in the dark and riding in circles in some neighborhood trying to find our way to Ontario. Finally after starving from hunger and riding through the LA suburbs for hours we made it to our friend’s home at 10:30ish pm. We were greeted with open arms and an amazing spread of Korean BBQ. Thank you John family!
Stage 2: Ontario ~~> Barstow, Cali (110 miles)
Started with an enormous breakfast of eggs, fresh fruit, cereal and toast at the John household. Then fellow Humanity First (www.usa.humanityfirst.org) volunteers Iftikhar “Iffy” Ahmed and a professional photographer came over to do a little “Bisiklet for Haiti” photo shoot. Iffy was a rockstar and brought his kids along to join in the excitement. He even ran swag for us for the first 70 miles which was huge because we had way to much gear and completed our first mountain pass that day. Before leaving Iffy even hooked us up with prepaid credit cards to help us with food costs along the way, what an incredible man! Soon after he left I asked for directions to Route 66 and got us lost for 5 miles in the wrong direction. Eventually we made our way back and rocked the rollers at high speed. Darkness overtook us and we wheeled into the desert city of Barstow exhausted and a bit sore with 110 miles under our belts for the day. Found a Domino’s Pizza and munched down. Sat at a authentic Mexicana Restaurant next door and chowed down on some guacamole & cheese nachos (had to take off the loaded meat, it was chewy and nasty looking). After dinner we crossed the street and “Cowboy Camped” (no tent, sleeping directly under the stars) on the side of a hill behind the car dealership right in the middle of town.
Stage 3: Barstow ~~> in the middle of the desert near Essex, Cali (94 miles)
Woke up and cruised to the local Denny’s. “Hello French Toast Slam, I love you. Now get in my belly”. After a monster breakfast we hit up the local grocery store for the “bare essentials”: whirlybirds, beer, porn. Just kidding, that’s a ‘Dumb & Dumber’ reference for you comedy movie aficionados. Picked up some PB&Js, Gatorade powder and granola bars for the epic voyage across the Mojave Desert. Route 66 out of town started off great and we were turning quick miles and making big plans. Soon enough though the road deteriorated to potholes and cracks which began to eat our bikes alive. We had 3 flats, a broken chain, popped a spoke and even dodged a green mojave rattler which was sunbathing in the middle of the road. Passed a trailer park named “Mugwamps” and stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch. “I’ll take a large strawberry, banana & pineapple blizzard please” I ask. “That’s called a Banana Split” she quips back in a condescending manner; obviously she’s recognized the dichotomy of intelligence in our beings (the heir to the Dairy Queen’s throne and her free spirited jesters dressed in hi-vis spandex . We return to the open road and the bicycle mayhem ensues. Eventually we roll deeper and deeper into the desert. The Sun has gotten tired of guiding us and has gone to bed, but his lunar sister has risen to smile upon our journey. About 10 miles before our ghost town destination of Essex, California the chain snaps on Kyle’s bike. “Well I guess we can camp here for the night” he states as fate has determined our sleeping spot. I’m not even going to lie, I was smoked and ready to stop so the broken chain was a blessing in disguise. We settle in the tent to stay warm and devour PB&Js and leftover rice with seaweed wraps. Looking through the open mesh of the tent we see the stars shining above, one even dances across the horizon to show off the majesty of the universe which we are surrounded by but never really see and appreciate. I sleep well, best I’ve had in some time. Maybe I’m finally getting back to being where I belong. These recent series of non-stop events and the “Ecstasy & Agony” of life in Haiti have worn my body and soul thin. I feel myself growing stronger with every pedal stroke and every mile.
Stage 4: Middle of Mojave Desert ~~> Golden Valley, Arizona (108.5 miles)
We begin our journey in the middle of the desert and are on the open road by 6:45am. The heat is oppressive and we are baking under the desert sun. Eventually we grind our way to a long climb and bomb down the mountain to Needles. Along the way we accrue several more flats and 3 more spokes are snapped. We have taken the bad wheel off of Jeff’s bike carrying the bob trailer and thrown it on Kyle’s ride. He is being very gentle and doing a great job babying the wheel but the spokes are still blowing off left & right and we’re not sure if we will make it to a bike shop or not. We pull into Needles after battling a killer head wind; we’re 60 miles into the day’s excursion and starving. At the local mechanic shop/food store we load up on pop-tarts, candy, peanut butter crackers and other healthy snacks “Storms are coming, winds up to 50-60 mph” the old timers say. “We better get to a bike shop quick”, so we jet North to Bullhead City and cross over the Arizona line en route. The roads are fast and we discover the perfect bike shop in Bullhead. We tune up the bikes and score a new wheel and tire. Before departing Bullhead City we raid the local Little Ceaser’s Pizza and score 4 hot-n-ready pizzas. We devour 1 1/2, save 1 1/2 for later and take one to our new friends at the LBS (local bike shop). As we depart town the towering casinos scream out for us to take refuge in their creature comforts. I am tempted but we press on. A 13 mile Category 2 climb out of the valley takes us a couple of hours to ascend and deep into the night. About halfway up I look over my left shoulder and tell Jeff “You gotta see this sunset”. My bike leans slowly veers towards his bob trailer and before I know it we are both falling towards the earth in slow motion. We start laughing simultaneously but realize that our shoulders and heads are in the road and traffic is rolling up the climb in our direction. We unclip with authority and roll over to get out of the road. We laugh hysterically with a slight twinge of delirium and proceed up the mountain. The climb is cold and we can’t find Kyle. In his wisdom Kyle has ascended the slope ensuring that we will have to finish the climb that night as well. At the top of the climb the wind shreds us and we bundle up tight for the bomb down to town. We see the city lights but they seem to stretch out ever further out of our grasp. We are so cold that our fingers will barely shift the gears and our feet are frozen. After what seems like forever we eventually make it to a gas station and sit on the countertops while reheating cold pizza and sipping on warm drinks. After thawing out in the local Texaco we go “Ghetto Camping” behind the Dollar General. A day for the record books.
We have been riding through the Mojave Desert for the past several days and internet access has been a world away. Each day we just try to make our points and overcome the adversity that the odyssey at hand throws our way. Every day is a crazy adventure, but why would you expect anything less with these “wild & crazy guys!”
These big miles and touring gear are tough on the bikes but my sleek silver steed has been phenomenal! Got to give some major props to Todd @ Black Sheep Bikes (www.blacksheepbikes.com) for creating the ultimate touring machine aka the fully custom Ti MonstaCross 29er Prototype. Tricked the bike out with a matching Ti rigid fork & seat post and mtn bike components. Thanks to Competitive Cyclists for the incredible drivetrain donation and Kevin & Nate at Spokes Bike Shop in Little Rock, AR for building up this dream machine. The bike has been perfect!!!