It’s 5 am, I have not slept and need to be at the airport in an hour. My body and mind are both crashing; I am beat up, bruised, tired, distraught, gluttonous and sleep deprived. This is not how I foresaw the beginning of the greatest adventure of my young life. Our “Bisiklet for Haiti” (www.bisiklethaiti.com) Cross Country Bicycle Fundraising Tour begins this afternoon but I am already broken. These last weeks have taken their toll and I am beat down, run ragged and in dire need of a mental and physical break. If I may capitulate how we got here I should very much like to indulge you. Our story begins deep in the mountains of Haiti.
Wed, March 9: It’s 4 am and I awaken to rain and darkness. I toss in fits of sleep and pray that I catch my plane back to the US. At 5:30 the sky begins to part and God clears a path to the airport via the longest motorcycle ride I have ever experienced. The path is laid before me and finally I can breathe again as I sit in the Port-au-Prince airport. Too much for me to handle alone, I surrender. That evening I shock my sister with the surprise return. She screams and jumps in my arms, joy overrides her senses. Everyone in the climbing gym looks to see, they wonder why all the excitement but know not the story. Dinner and fellowship with great friends soon follows.
Thurs, March 10: Surprise my brother, Jeff, with a breakfast rendezvous at iHOP. Hide under the adjacent table and surprise my Dad as well. He is so relieved, thought I was hitch hiking back from Florida (I really was going to but decided that it was more important to spend every minute I could with family & friends than to save money). Then went to the farm to see my Mom again (she is the happiest person I have ever met).
Friday, March 11: Travel to Hot Springs and camp out under the stars with my Dad and close friends from our incredible bike team, Bell & CO MTN Biking (www.bellandco-mountainbiking.org). Eat unbelievable amounts of food for dinner. All superfoods but I can’t control myself and devour 5,000+ calories for the day.
Sat, March 12: Spa City Extreme 6 hr MTN Bike Race. 6 laps, 60 miles in 6:22 and crossed the finish line with my Dad (he rode 40 miles). Together we complete our goal of 100 collective miles. I had secretly hoped for another lap but my stomach turned into a rock on the 4th lap and I had to retreat to the restroom for over 20 minutes mid race. Sat on the toilet praying like a drunken man who swears he will never drink again if only the pain and sickness be taken away. Note to self: 2,000 calories for breakfast pre-race is a very bad idea. Finish the last 20 miles strong and am disgusted by the thought of food overconsumption and my lack of will power (this will be a reoccuring theme over the next 3 weeks).
Sun, March 13: Spa City Duathlon. 1.8 mile trail run/10 mile mtn bike/1.8 mile trail run Finish 5th overall in 1:22ish. Win my age class. Take home the Spa Man Overall Award for best 2 day collective finish. Sweet redemption, actually felt better on the runs than the ride.
“Where the Stars Still Shine” Brave New Restaurant Fundraiser Dinner. Fantastic event, we raised over $15,000 dollars to build the new primary school for the mountain children of Baie d’ Orange, Sud-Est, Haiti. Incredible people, wonderful food, unforgettable fellowship. Special thanks to Jennifer Bell, Chris Block, Joe & Katie Clark, Peter Brave and everyone who made this special event possible.
Wed, March 16: Speaking engagement at Beebe High School. Talk to ~400 graduating seniors and all the juniors as well. Gave them an enthusiastic and inspiring tale about life in Haiti and about how to activate themselves and serve their fellow men & women. The future leaders of tomorrow were inspired, some had questions and inspirational stories of their own to share, one cried, many laughed and all were moved.
“Never underestimate the ability of a small group of dedicated people to change the world. It’s the only thing that ever has”. -Eleanor Roosevelt
Thurs, March 17: 22 mile trail run on the Ouachita Trail with Christophe & Mal. My furthest run by 5+ miles. Great day. Loved it! The euphoria post 4 hrs of trail running bliss was so pure and simple in its beauty.
Fri, March 18: Fly to Detroit for Humanity First Fundraiser Dinner (www.usa.humanityfirst.org). Stay with a good friend, Dr Mansoor Raja, and his lovely wife. They were super hosts and their friend is a bonified chef. Thank you all.
Sat, March 19: 8 mile trail run along the river in Troy (suburb of Detroit), basketball & yoga. Power nap then its off to speak at the Humanity First Dinner. Great event, ~160 in attendance, ~$40,000 raised in donations. Blew the crowd away with the Haiti presentation and played humanitarian celebrity for the night.
Sun, March 20: Fly back to Little Rock. Go to an Intro to Buddhism Class with my sister, meet new friends and discover more about one of the world’s great religions. Afterwards we meet at the theatre and watch “Red Riding Hood” for Mom’s Birthday! If I have ½ her energy and love of life in 30 years I will be a blessed man. We have a delicious pizza dinner to continue the celebration then out to the farm to spend the next few days.
Mon, March 21: Mom’s Birthday! We ride horses together for over 3 hrs. Most fun I’ve ever had on an equine by far. Loved the way my body danced with the horses gait. Great day!
Wed, March 23: Fly to the UK with close friend and mentor, Dr Ali, to attend the Humanity First Medical Disaster Relief Course in Leichester, England. 24 hrs of planes, trains & automobiles later we arrive at the hotel exhausted. 1st experience with trains was quite interesting, it was obvious we were not from around there 
Fri-Sun, March 25-27: UK Humanity First Medical Disaster Relief training. www.usa.humanityfirst.org Got to reunite with some HF brethren from the US and met some amazing people from the UK. The course directors treated us like family, amazing hospitality. Was great to unite HF USA & HF UK together for a the common cause “Serving Humanity”. Next time a major disaster occurs we will probably all be working in cohesion and seeing each other again. Glad we took the training session because we will be the future instructors when these courses are given in the US. Only downside was that I ate so much food over there. Seems I’ve developed a food hording mentality during my stay in Haiti. My belly is bowing like an arch in front, been binge eating to the point of sickness. Got to get myself together.
Mon-Wed, March 28-30: SCOTLAND! Too much city in England, get me out of there. No worries mate, let’s go to Scotland Love the green isle of the north, beautiful countryside, some of the kindest and most engaging people I’ve ever met. Major props to my Scottish mate, Jason Doherty, for letting me kick it in his flat. Jason’s dad even took us to dinner and scored me a Kona Coiler 9″ travel downhill bike to play on. Sweet ride! What to do, where to ride? How bout the 100 mile West Highland Way cross country trail, thank you may sir I have another After a day of soaking in the incredible sights of historic Edinburgh I catch the 4:50am train to Fort William on the other side of the island. Wow, Scotland is beautiful, I love it! 9 hrs and 40 miles of mtn biking on Tues followed up by 13 hrs and 70 miles on Wed. Flipped over coming down the “Devil’s Staircase” and think a broke a rib. Not a bad fracture though, just hurts when I breathe in deeply or move. Oh well “Se la vi”. What an adventure!!! It rained on me for about 6 hrs as I rode through the high country and down around Loch Lomand (largest body of fresh water in the British Isles). Finally finished about 10pm just outside of Glasgow. Raided a local grocery store and caught the late train back to Edinburgh. Arrived at the flat exhausted and hypoglycemic at midnight 30, took a much needed shower and crashed.
Thurs, March 31: Rush around after ~3 hrs sleep to pack my bags and race to the airport to catch my flight; I made it whewww (sigh of relief). Spend the entire day flying back to “The Natural State”. Sat next to the most amazing woman on the 9 hr flight back from Amsterdam. She was so inspiring, a world traveler and free spirit from Austin who was now living in Helsinki, Finland with her hubby. I love meeting new people and exploring new places and cultures. Unfortunately my body is pretty beat up from the 110 mile journey across Scotland and I have developed the worst saddle sore of my life. Even hurts to sit down, that might be a problem since I’ll be sitting on a bicycle for the next month 
Sun, April 3: Ouachita Challenge. Been looking forward to this race all year, now I won’t even be able to ride because this abcess on my bottom is killing me. Hurts to sit down, really hurts to sit on a bike. Went to the doc and got some really high powered antibioitics. He tried to I&D (incision & drainage) the wound but no pus came out. God this thing really hurts, please make it go away so I can ride my bicycle across the country (www.bisiklethaiti.com). Such a hard, hard, hard decision not to race but I know I shouldn’t. My body is absolutely toast; I’m chronically fatigued, have not been sleeping enough, been overeating horribly for the past 2 weeks (gained ~15 lbs over the past 3 weeks because of my binge eating, weighed in at 176, feel disgusting and fat), body is beat down and sore, ribs are still extremely tender (hurts to get out of bed or roll over and to give a hug), and worst of all my abcess on my butt is getting worse. OK, ok, I’ll rest today and not race 60 miles over the Ouachita MTNs. Hung out with my mom all day and swagged my dad. He is such a warrior and inspiration, heart of a lion in the body of an accountant (I’m joking he’s actually in great physical shape right now and weighs less than me, go Dad! Hope I’m in as good a shape as him and happy as my mom when I’m their age.
Alright that brings us back to the morning of Day 1 for the “Bisiklet for Haiti” Cross Country Bike Tour. Been up all night disassembling my bike and packing for my 7am flight to LA. The “Bisiklet for Haiti” Tour begins this afternoon and I have not been able to sleep yet (packing all night long). My body and mind are both beat down. I really need a vacation, does riding 100 miles a day across the country count as a vacation?