"Wait... we leave tomorrow?"

At 6:45 tomorrow morning the seven of us will depart the breathtaking country club known as Stanford University and embark on our 67 day quest across the country. To be honest, we are a bit nervous and had to scramble to try to finish up the final preparations, but the car is loaded, the gas tank is full, and tomorrow our childlike excitement will force out any last jitters.

The blog will be inundated with pictures and videos to check up on over the next couple days so keep a look out!

Tomorrow is starting now....

One Last Week in Pictures

Gathering with friends and family in New York City.

Posing with the crest of my high school, St. John's, just after a presentation.

As we rode into Boston, a rainbow appeared over the city.

We gave a presentation about our ride at Partners in Health the morning after we reached Boston. Here we are with Sam Ender (left) of PIH and Julie Veroff, the new Executive Director of Face AIDS.

As we sat in Dave's parents' hotel room before dinner, I watched the sun set over Boston. The ride had to end and this is the image I will hold in my head when I think of its completion.

The Ride Comes to a Close- Final Entry

Endings can be such strange things. The planning and preparation that go into large events can so dominate one's time that to come to a point where all those preparations have come to realization and are no longer needed can leave a whirlwind of confusion, a sense of lost orientation.

That's sort of how the last week of the ride felt. From DC we rode a Herculean 187-miles to Philadelphia in a single day. There we rested with our good friend Michal Trope and her family. Two days later we pushed onto New York City where friends and Dave's family greeted us with open arms. Another rest day was taken there before moving onto Fairfield, CT, then Worcester, MA, and ultimately Boston.

Then that was it. It's over. As we biked along the Charles River Bike Path into the city of Boston, I couldn't help but feel home. Yet this sense of home was heightened by the last two months. Somehow I felt I knew the city, and myself, better than I had before, and that in some way it was due to each and every person we met and every place that we saw.

We celebrated our accomplishment, but inside I mourned the end of the ride. I woke on on August 14 with a pit in my stomach. The previous two months I had held a purpose: to ride and to talk and AIDS. What was I to do that Thursday morning but sit in my bed and reminisce about the greatest summer months of my life? Where could the sky ever be as clear as it was in Nevada? Where would the air ever be as fresh as in Colorado? What had driven me 4,500 miles across a continent on two wheels and some carbon fiber? And most importantly, where could I find that purpose again? I put on my clothes, hopped into my car, and headed back into Boston to try and find the answer.

That day we had a meeting with some of the workers at Partners in Health. Greeting us was also Julie Veroff, the new Executive Director of Face AIDS. After giving a brief overview of our program, Julie turned the floor over to Dave and me who spoke about the birth of the ride, what we felt we had done well (and poorly), and where to go from here. We left with new ideas, but still with the desperate loneliness that accompanies a loss that cannot be regained.

It's now been over three weeks since we rolled into the streets of Boston. Dave, Lauren, and I parted ways to spend time at our homes. A week ago I hopped on an airplane and found myself back in sunny California ready for RA training. Stanford looks different. Campus is always evolving as the university learns what works and what can be trimmed away. Staples remain, however. Roble, my freshman residence and now current place of work, looms large on West campus. Ford Center, the site of so many hours of hard work, grows dusty as the ergs wait in a corner for the day two weeks down the road when another class of Stanford oarsmen will sit down to battle their innermost demons. The Quad lurks like a sleeping giant, ready to be awakened by 6,000 eager young students. It's all still here. I already feel myself slipping into routine.

I suppose it is appropriate that the two posters I bought along the trip refuse to stay on the wall. They are perverted interpretations of divine memories that remain firmly lodged in my mind's eye. How can I take the lessons I learned this summer and bring them back with me to school? Can I avoid the fall into routine that so often encourages apathy? Where can I make a difference now that so many people have made a difference to me this summer?

The moon is shining through my window. And though the night is dark, I know that its soft light comes from the sun. And in the morning the sun will return; bright and proud and ready to shine on and fight all the problems of the day away. I hope that my ambitions to continue the fight against AIDS remain just as devout. The moon reminds us of the sun. So too I hope this period of calm reminds me of my purpose. Sometimes the end is just the beginning.

Washington DC in Photographs

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some profound thoughts about our nation's capital:

This is just one big metaphor. Dave and I are the lions, the helpless creature in the middle is the ride.

Dave in front of his embassy.

On the bike route approaching DC.

Trying to get huge on the bike path from Mt. Vernon to DC. I did 5 and was exhausted. Guess I need to start lifting.

What happened to the East Coast?

On the Road

What exactly happened to the East Coast? Dave and I just finished weaving our ways in and out of cars on Manhattan and are sitting in our friend's, Dan Bacon, apartment in the city. I've been very tired as of late which is why the blogs have been lacking and for that I apologize.

Everyone had a great time in DC. We gave a presentation to a lot of Stanford kids at the Stanford in Washington house and then went out on the town with some people. We drove down to the waterfront and met up with Aaron Frankl and Alec Levy, our rowing teammates. It was great to see the guys and cath up with what everyone has been doing this summer.

On Wednesday we got up at 5:30 and were on the road at 6. Dave and I decided to bike from DC to Philly, originally a three day trek, in a single day. We changed up the route a little bit so that we only had 187 miles. It was a long day but my legs felt good after a rest day and I was very happy to roll into Philly.

We spent two days with the Trope family whose daughter, Michal, is one of our good friends from school. Yesterday we hung out in the city for a while and then split ways a bit. I left the group to meet up with a friend from high school, Pat Kneeland, and then go out to dinner with my Uncle and his family. It was a great to catch up with so many people I hadn't seen in a while.

Today we biked just over 100 miles from Philly to NYC. The miles were easy except for going through Newark, NJ. Bad roads, bad drivers, and a bad route. But we are now here and I'm very pleased. We're about to head out to dinner so I have to bounce, but I'll try to put up another good blog or two in the next couple of days. We're almost there!


Fact of the Day

In 20 years of life this is my first time EVER being in New York City. Worcester, my hometown, is only about 4 hours from New York. There are 3 or 4 times when concrete plans for going to the city were established and then fell through. I jokingly told my parents that I had to bike across the country to finally get here. Whouda thunk?


Trivia Contest

Today's Question: What are the 13 original colonies? (1 point a piece)

Following the North Star

On the Road

Following my blog post this morning we had a great breakfast at the Ashe household, took some photos with the family, said our farewells, and drove back to our starting point for the day. It was a short day- a meager 60 miles!- and we did it in one fell swoop. Upon arriving in Fredericksburg we stopped at Olde Towne Bicycles to pick up some new tires for my bike. As a contribution to the ride the owner threw in an extra wheel which was extremely nice of him!

Dave and me with the Ashe family this morning before setting out on our ride. Notice the Face AIDS pins...spreading the word all across the country!

We're all about to go to bed and are anxious for tomorrow. We're biking to DC in the morning (around 90 miles) and giving a presentation at the Stanford in Washington House at 7:30 (the reception starts at 6:30). It's going to be great to see some of the guys on the East Coast starting with our teammates Aaron Frankl and Alec Levy in DC. Then riding up to Philly over the next couple of days. I can't believe it, but the end is in sight!

Trivia Contest

Answer to this morning's question: Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederacy. 10 more points to my dad who is making some noise on the leader board!

Directions: Ride to Virginia and take a left

On the Road

Saturday morning we got up, dressed, and walked down to the UVA campus. On the way we stopped at Bodo's, a favorite bagel shop of students in the area. The campus was beautiful! Designed by Jefferson as his "last act of public usefulness", the designs are in the neoclassical style and are intended to remind the viewer of the architecture of the Roman Republic. This was, of course, intentional; Jefferson wanted to draw a parallel between the fledgling American Republic and the ancient Roman one.

Around 9:30 we piled into the car and drove out to Monticello, Jefferson's home. We took a tour of the marvelous mansion and learned a lot. Every detail was designed by our 3rd President and construction lasted over 40 years. Full of gadgets and books, the house reflected Jefferson's Enlightenment thinking. After the tour we walked down the hill, past Jefferson's grave, jumped back in the car, and headed back to Charlottesville for the start of our day.

Since we spend so much time touring about the area, we didn't get on the bikes until 12:30. It was our latest start of the entire summer and we had over 90 miles to ride. Despite 11 days in a row of hard biking, the miles were pretty smooth. After some rolling hills just outside of Charlottesville, the terrain flattened out and we cruised pretty easily into Ashland, just north of Richmond. Ashland/Richmond was an important location for us because it is there that our East-West maps intersect with our North-South maps. So it is time for the Great Left Hand turn and the ride now turns north!

Saturday evening we stayed with the Ashe family, some family friends of mine from back in Worcester. Their daughter, Jordan, was one of my sister's best friends before they moved down to the Richmond area in 2004. We got there late in the evening but were welcomed with food (always a pleasure!), warm showers, and good conversation.

Yesterday we slept in, ate breakfast, and then headed into Richmond to check out the town. Richmond, as described by Jordan, is "a little city that thinks it's a big one". This description seemed spot on, but I really enjoyed walking around town. While Lauren went off to shop, Dave and I wandered into the Museum of Science and down Monument Ave which commemorates people important to Virginia history. It surprised me that the first monument we came across was of the President of the Confederacy. Over our time in the South I've become fascinated with the continued devotion to the Confederacy. Everywhere there are monuments to Lee, tombs of unknown soldiers, and plaques commemorating the town's dead in the Civil War. At W&L, one of our guides suggested Confederates in the Attic as a good book to show how the spirit of the South still lives on today.

We returned to the Ashes' in the early evening and had a great pasta dinner. At night we sat around the TV and watched the Sox game, a pleasure I have not had for sometime, before reading and going to bed. Currently we are sitting around reading, writing, and watching TV while waiting for breakfast. We have a very short day today which can be used as another "recovery" day. Monday we get into DC and have another off day. If you are in the area, let us know, we'd love to see you!

Fact of the Day

There are over 1,000,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States. AIDS is not a problem exclusive to the African continent. It is a very real and devastating problem in the US as well. If you are interested in AIDS in the United States, I suggest you read My Own Country by Dr. Abraham Verghese. It chronicles Dr. Verghese's life in a small town in eastern Tennessee as AIDS enters the town's population and how the community deals with it (both physically and spiritually).

Trivia Contest

Answer to Thursday's question: Martha Washington's great grand daugther married Robert E. Lee. Nate Rooks soars back into 2nd place (40 points) breaking a tie with KTO (30 points) and just behind Mrs. Evans (47 points).

Answer to Thursday's BONUS Question: Jefferson, an true "amateur" architect, designed the UVA campus. The centerpiece, the Rotunda, is a scaled down version of the Pantheon in Rome. 5 points to my Dad!

Today's Trivia Question: The first statue we came across on Monument Ave. was of the President of the Confederacy. What was his name?