"Shoot for the stars, and get them"
"Shoot for the stars and land on the moon." That is what someone told me when they heard about my trip. I rephrased that into:
"Shoot for the stars, take a break at the moon if you have to, maybe even several moons, but keep going for those stars, you will reach them."
With God's continuous help, I achieved more than I ever thought I would during this trip:
|
Overcame the fact that my riding partner decided to go back home on the third day of the trip, stuck to my word of riding from Alaska to Argentina, and continued southward. |
|
After four and a half months of riding, I set a new goal: Attempt to break the WORLD RECORD listed in the 1998 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records, which was 264 days of travel time. It would be a tough goal due to the fact that I was merely in El Salvador, Central America, and only had three and a half months to cycle 8,011 miles through 9 more countries. |
|
I brought my average up, then down when I had a fall in Colombia, then up again as this record became harder and harder to picture, then down to zero for ten days when I got hit by a bus in Lima, Peru, dislocating my neck and back and tearing a muscle in my leg. 52 days were left to be able to tie the record, and over 4,000 miles, including the dessert of Atacama in Chile, the driest place on earth, crossing the Andes, and encountering very strong winds for the rest of the trip, very little of which were tail winds. |
|
Averaged 125 miles for the last three weeks of my trip. Dad had come along for the last month and carried all my camping gear in a rental car. During these last weeks my longest day was 159 miles, followed by 158 miles the following day. |
|
The Argentine Air Force had offered to take me to Antarctica on March 7, 2000. March 12 would be enough to get the record, but not enough to go to Antarctica. |
|
I arrived at my destination, Bahia Lapataia, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, on March 9, 2000. |
|
I had traveled 261 days, ridden 211, gotten the record by three days, and missed my flight to Antarctica. Or so I thought. |
|
Due to weather conditions the flight aboard a Hercules C-130 aircraft had been postponed and was still possible on March 11. |
|
I rode 3.6 miles at Argentine Base Marambio, on Antarctic soil, encountering 50 mile an hour winds, bringing temperatures to 13 below Fahrenheit, a slight difference from my 113 Fahrenheit encountered in the Baja California desert in Mexico. |
|
The 264 day record which was in the 1998 Guinness Book was dropped out by Guinness Association, and I found out that the record was held by a group of four people back in 1986 and 1987 who had done the trip in... Oh oh, could it have been less than what I had done? The 261 days that I put so much effort into? The record turned out to be a surprising 310 days, letting me know that I had broken a World Record by 49 days. |
|
Even though I thought I would not be able to go to Antarctica, God still provided a way. |
|
Even though it would not have been necessary to push myself to the limit to get the record, God still allowed me to be unaware of the 310 day record to once again let me prove what I always say: |
WITH GOD'S HELP AND DETERMINATION, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.
|
I rode 15,233.98 miles through 14 different countries. The greatest accomplishment of the trip God gave to me as a gift for trusting in Him and shooting for my star: to have a friend every 80 miles or less anywhere along my route. I thank Him for this and invite you to trust in Him and shoot for your stars...and get them. |
For many more daily adventures, like avoiding a grizzly bear, putting out a fire on a semi truck, or breaking 4 rear wheels see The Reports
|