I was asked a couple of weeks ago to make a little presentation to a group of young people about to leave on a cross-country bicycle trip. The reason they asked me, specifically, is that I'm a cycling instructor certified by the League of American Bicyclists and the group went to the league for a referral for an instructor close by their starting point. Anyway, I did that yesterday.
The group is cycling with an outfit called "Bike and Build" and is made up of college students and recent grads. To qualify for the trip, each participant must collect $4,000 for the group's cause of helping provide housing for those in need, and during the trip they have several days when they stop to work on homes, Habit for Humanity style. Their website is http://bikeandbuild.org . I looked them up when I was preparing for the presentation, and discovered that the organization sponsors seven trips each year, each with a different starting point and destination. The one I talked to was leaving today from Virginia Beach. On the website, I was able to view the profiles of each of the participants, and I was impressed with the quality of the group.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun going up to Va Beach and spending some time with the kids. I, along with another man from the Tidewater bike club rode with them on their short shakedown ride, and naturally I couldn't keep up with a bunch of twenty-somethings but I really enjoyed trying. There were about thirty in the group, including four leaders who were in the same age range as the participants, and they came from all over the country. They were very hospitable and seemed to take my words of advice very seriously.
I'll be following their trip on their website for the 2.5 months they're on the road. Oh, yeah, they gave me one of their t-shirts!
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