Up up up...

Well, up, up, and up are all these mountains seem to do these days! It's been challenging to say the least, but I've been loving every minute of it. The scenery is breathtaking down here! It's so green and lush. Our daily rides are filled with rivers, streams, waterfalls, crazy colored birds, and of course I can't forget our consistent friend...the stray dog!

Our first day out of Medellian took us 50 miles south west to La Pintara. Joost lost his tent poles somewhere along the way so we decided to scratch the camping idea and stay at one of the two hotels in town. A bit tired from our ride, we leerily left our bikes with a night guard and lugged the essentials up several flights of stairs; only to be greeted by two hornet nests already occupying our room! After the very memorable bee attacks Ryan and I had already gone through in panama, I let Michiel do the dirty work. We slept undisturbed save the three discotechs just across the street and woke early for our next ride.

40 more miles, a few more hills, and we found ourselves tired and hungry in a small town called Irra. Reenergizing with a beer or two we found a great hotel right by the river for 5k pesos per person! I think the tile floors
were more comfortable than the beds but it had a huge pool (totally out of character for a place like this) which had redemtive value.

The accommodations weren't great and they were made even worse by the bugs that kept bitting all night long, but we were tired so sleeping came easy...well, until Joost woke up freaked out by a cat that had jumped on him through the window lol! A little later that night, well maybe I should say early that morning, Michiel woke everyone by frantically searching through all our gear for some aspirin to lower his fever. Poor guy :/ Anyhow, the guys were feeling sick and nobody really felt like moving in the morning so we took the day off.

The place was peaceful, which probably aided us in sleeping in the next morning. We only got up to eat and then right back to bed...what a lazy day! I guess I should probably mention that both Joost and Michiel are still fighting off being sick. These guys are animals!!! Towing huge bob-trailers, sick as dogs, snot running down their face, coughing, sneezing, up these huge mountains, and never complaining once!!! I'm impressed for sure. Siska and I are doing our best to stay away from the germs but my throat is starting to feel scratchy...where's the vitamin C?!

The next morning we got up early anticipating the difficult ride to Periera ahead of us. 50 miles of thigh busting hills totaling over six and a half thousand feet of climbing and horrible weather to boot! It poured hippopotamuses and giraffes which only made the huge river we had been following even bigger!

Crazy things happen with crazy weather down here! Michiel saw a dead guy under a semi truck who was hit during the downpour...as if traffic isn't bad enough down here when the weather is gracious, all hell breaks loose when the weather turns for the worse. I was again reminded of just how fragile life is. Just another reason to make the one we have count for something worth while!

Being that I have half as much gear as the other three, I made it to Periera first. I waited for awhile for the others to catch up, but not knowing if they were going to hide from the weather in a previous town; I decided to try and find a place to stay for the night.

I happened to run into a gentleman and his wife that had spent sometime in the states and after a bit of conversation was graciously invited to dinner that evening! Yes please!!! Yet another generous group of loving people. Drug capital of the world?! No, Columbia is more like the hospitality capital of the world! Rene and Diana, you and your family are awesome!

I met back up with the group in the morning; just in time to catch the bus to the wild life preserve. We spent a little time walking around the jungle before getting soaked by the afternoon drizle and headed back to town for food and sleep. There really wasnt much to speak of there. We saw a bird and heard some monkeys...nothing out of the usual for a typical day on the bike.

Tomorrow should be comparatively flat as we head to Tulua, but now it's time for bed so I'm ending this post here. Please consider donating to givecleanwater.org when you can. You are saving lives!

Passing the torch...Section 3: South America!!!

Crickets... Yep, its been awhile since the last post and some of you
have long been wondering what's been going on with those crazy cats
cycling the world in the name of clean water.

Since Ryan's last update and return to the states, I have been giving
a lot of thought about what was going to happen to ride4water. I knew
I didn't want to travel alone and certainly didn't want to see the
ride come to an end, but I wasnt exactly sure how things would
proceed. I decided the best option was to wait for three other
cyclists (Joost Notenboom, Siska Kockelbergh, and Michiel Roodenburg)
and continue the ride south with them. I plan on keeping everyone
up-to-date with the blog, images, videos, etc once I start riding
again...which should be tomorrow if everything goes to plan!

As I waited for their arrival in Medellian, Columbia, I thought I
would be a great idea to take advantage of my situation by stowing my
bicycle at a hostel and backpacking around Columbia! Things have been
quite different toting my gear on my back instead of the bike. I keep
saying to myself, "are you sure you don't want to leave some of this
behind?" But, when it comes down to it, there really isn't much else
to leave... I could list the few essentials and the luxury item or two
but I'll cut it short and say its been a transition to say the least.

My first tangent destination was Cartagena, Columbia. My new friend
Pablo and I hopped on an overnight bus and arrived a little more tired
than we thought we would be. We met up with two other friends from the
boat ride I took from Panama to Columbia and hit the town. The city
was a piece of history forsure! This is basically where good ol'
Captain Jack Sparrow got his start. Pirates, cannons, sunken ships,
gold, not to mention music, art, food, architecture, and so much
more...this place rocks! We spent a few days chillin out there before
heading to Barranquilla for carnival. There were people dancing for
days ... shoulder to shoulder, shouting, laughing, having what seemed
like endless fun. Honestly I don't know how they keep going...I was
pooped after 6 hours of that nonsense!!!

Just as I started to get used to my tangent adventure, a long time
friend suggested that a true traveler would jump on a plane and meet
him in Istanbul for a week. So, naturally I complied because I
couldn't bare to live down a dare and enjoyed every minute of it. I
guess you could say it was a tangent of the tangent lol.

Istanbul is amazing! There is endless history there and I can't wait
to go back! I've walked through the same corridors and sauntered down
the same streets as those famous biblical characters: Paul, Peter,
John, Mary, and so many others. The amphitheatres, walls and statutes
of marble... I even snuck into a private unveiling of recently
excavated palace formally covered by centuries of dirt. I've seen an
obelisk that Moses looked at every day of his life in Egypt and
writings dating back to 3000 BC. I walked by the same mosaic lions
Daniel walked by before being thrown in the lion's den. I've seen
beautiful Muslim mosques, enjoyed the country side, bays, rivers,
mountains, castles, pools, springs, architecture, and more! Its an
amazing place!!!!

Soon after my return to South America I found myself on a bus to
Quito, Ecuador. Quito is another beautiful city filled with generous,
hospitable, loving people. After steping off the bus I ran into a
pastor of a local church who felt obligated to show me to one of the
cheapest and nicest hostels in town. Six dollars a night for a private
room with a bathroom and hot water, what a steal!!!! What a great
place to visit...full of culture and architecture!

After hiking a local volcano (Pichincha 4700 meters) in Quito, I made
my way to Banos to do some whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, off
roading, and I even got to crawl into a cave that opened up behind an
enormous waterfall called the Devil's Porch! I met so many wonderful
people. I was again humbled by everyone's generosity and kindness.

At this point time was now growing short as I knew the other cyclist
would be arriving in Columbia shortly. I had time for just one more
short adventure before getting back on the bike so I headed to Machu
Pichu in Peru. Due to time constraints, I decided to do the six hour
hike from Santa Theresa to Aguas Calientes. I was blown away but the
beauty there! Huge trees, animals, mountains, and rivers. I crossed a
rope bridge (very scketchy) that looked as if it was a thousand years
old, followed train tracks like the guys in the movie "Stand By Me,"
and walked into Aguas Calientes with the same amazment as Bilbo
Baggins walking into Rivendell. Machu Pichu was breathtaking! To think
of such a large group of people living on top of a huge and incredibly
steep mountain...the same engineering standards used to accomplish
such a feat are still practiced today which is incredible considering
how long ago the city was built!

As I left the amazing historical city and returned to Columbia, I was
overwhelmed with how blessed I was to be able to go on this trip.
Immediately following that thought, my mind fell on those less
fortunate. I thought of the families torn apart from the recent events
in Japan, the families struggling in central and south America, the
poverty I saw in the slums of Turkey and Central America, and of
course the thousands of people in Fiji dying to get clean water. The
world is a hurting place and having so much I can't help but to want
to give more, but how?

For now I think it best to focus on the task at hand...clean water.
Fijians need it and you can get it to them. Please visit this link and
consider helping a family desperately in need.

So what's next

So whats next?

Ahh decisions decisions. Well the last week or so has been eventful to say the least. For those of you who have been following the trip for some time you know how much my fathers bike meant to me so we don’t need to go over that again.

I would however like to give you a key piece of information that I have not shared thus far. Sort of a backstory to the evolving story of this trip.

Many of you have known me for sometime and you will recall that I did youth work at a few different congregations in my 20´s. I have always enjoyed working at a local congregation. However the past few years as I lived in Ohio i took time off from that and went to grad school. As I finished I felt the desire to be involved with that again. I have always enjoyed working with a good group of people for a common goal.

So I left Ohio with a dream to ride a bike around the world, but underneath was a growing desire to serve with a great group of people at a local congregation. I wouldn’t call them competing passions as much as they existed simultaneously.

In September some 3 weeks after I left Hudson, Ohio I received a phone call in Omaha, Nebraska on a Sunday afternoon from a long time friend who called to ask if I would be interested in being a part of their church staff. This was not a job offer but it was a call to see how much I would be interested. My heart jumped but the timing didn’t feel right. Momentum was gathering for our trip. People were excited about it. I checked with my wolfpack and the conscensus was to keep riding. My friends at the church understood and told me that whenever I was done I should come and be apart of their church family. The seed had been planted. For the last few months that seed has grown and I have felt very peaceful about that being the next step for me. I also laid the groundwork for beginning my Doctorate if and when I made that decision. I have prayed everyday that I could do my best and just keep moving forward in life.

This past week with my bike getting stolen I revisited this idea again. I began to wonder if this might be the appropriate time to make this transition. At first I thought I couldn’t end this trip on such a negative note. But is it really negative? I have had the privilege, NO the blessing to have been able to ride my bicycle 6000 miles across Canada. Another 2400 miles from Ohio to San Diego. And another 2600 miles from San Diego to the Panama Canal. I have seen and experienced so many things that people typically never get a chance to. There is nothing to feel negative about. I have made many friends and have tried to share this experience with as many people as possible through the ride4water blog, twitter, and facebook. I try to be an objective person and the truth is I have a great life and future full of even better possibilities. Sometimes life is messy. Things happen that we don’t want to happen. Our plans don’t workout. The vision we have gets altered. This is the hardest time to figure out what's next.

My next thought was what happens to ride4water? Well the answer is the ride4water will continue. Dane is going to keep riding and is currently looking for a new riding partner. If you are interested at all in riding with Dane in South America for 1 week, 1 month, or 4 months please email him at danehorak@gmail.com. From the beginning ride4waters purpose was to help bring clean water to people in Fiji through raising awareness and funds. This PURPOSE continues. Dane will be blogging, tweeting, and facebooking each day just as I have been. HOPEFULLY some fellow free spirit out there will quit their job and meet up with Dane! Come on live the Dream people! Or if you are interested in riding another section of the trip say Europe or Africa etc. myself and Give Clean Water will do whatever we can to help you with this! I can tell you from experience it has been a blast mixing my love of cycling and adventure with trying to serve and help others. For the next 3-4 weeks Dane will be traveling with our friend Pablo around Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador and plans to continue riding in about 1 month when some friends of our arrive to Columbia, but if you are interested get ahold of Dane. The more the merrier as Dane and I prefer to ride with at least 1 other person.

So I will be moving to San Diego, beginning my Doctorate, and serving in any way I can at a congregation that I think is great. Those are my goals. If these don't pan out for me I can always ride again. Its all good. Thank you for following and commenting and being involved. You don’t know how many times it made my day to hear from people. Dane will continue the daily stories and I'm sure there will be much more adventure ahead.

6 of you have asked if you could help me get a new bike. I worked with my bike shop sponsor La Habra Cyclery to get a new bike. I have it and I'm loving it. I paid fir it with my own money because I didn't feel comfortable soliciting funds for that when I didn't know if I would be continuing the ride. Thank you to those who offered to help. I would ask to consider taking that money and buying a water filter for $100 to help get a family of 4 water for a lifetime in Fiji.

Thanks for your friendship and support,

Ryan Delamater

Ride4water via Iphone4

Today my bicycle got stolen. Im BUMMED

There's just no easy way to say this. My bicycle got stolen today. I'm heartbroken. Only because my father gave me that bicycle and he rode it to work for 30 years. In 2008 when he retired and gave me the bike I rebuilt it with custom made parts and rode the bike from Ohio to the Panama Canal.

Today I went out on a ride around town. I met a guy during the ride who was very friendly and we rode together for about 30 minutes. He told me he needed to stop by his house so we rode there and met his friend. We all chatted for about 10 minutes. His friend asked if he could sit on my bike to see how it felt. We were all cyclists with the gear and shoes and we were all laughing and i wanted to be polite. He sat on my bike and promptly rode off with it. Just like that. GONE. I stood there stunned. In shock really. A local guy came over who saw what was happening and called the police. The police showed up and when they found out that I had ridden that bike here from Ohio and that it was my dads and I was riding to help bring people clean water in Fiji he promised me he would shoot the perpetrator with his gun.

I told him I don't believe in violence and that God keeps track of these things in this world and that He distributes justice when He sees fit. Sometimes He distributes justice in this life and sometimes He distributes justice in the afterlife and that it's not my job to worry about such things because im not God. Besides we usually pray for God to distribute justice to others when we are the victim and pray for Him to give us mercy when we are the offender which seems a little shallow, immature, and self serving. I told Him that God keeps a good score of these things and it's just my job to try and be the best person I can. He looked at me completely cross eyed but I meant every word of it.

Another guy apologized and said it made him and his country look bad. I told him it didn't at all. I told him that good and bad people exist everywhere because we are all human beings. The nation-states we create are man made and just tend to perpetuate stereotypes. I told him that i thought the people in Medellin were wonderful and one guy who steals a bicycle doesn't change that. He to looked at me cross-eyed but I meant every word of that too.

So I spent the morning dealing with the police and philosophizing with the locals and now I'm just bummed. The only material thing is this world I value is gone...

I will try to discern what the next best step is.



Ride4water via Iphone4

The people in Medellin live so high in the mountains they take cable cars to get home

So I'm on my flight from Panama City to Medillin, Columbia. I know NOTHING about Columbia except I'm hoping that Juan Valdez-you know the coffee guy on the side of the jar lives here and I can get some delicious tar like coffee that will make my eyes bug out with a jolt. I love parachuting into a place I know nothing about and soaking it in and trying to figure it out so I should be right at home in South America because this whole continent is a mystery to me but I made it here



I met Diego on the plane and he gave me a ride 40 minutes to the Hostel! STOKED. What a bro!

Today I shopped. They sell motorcycles at the grocery store!


Went and saw where Pablo Escobar died-yes he was in fact a drug lord



And how high is Medellin? Well the people take cable cars to their houses






And to wrap up the day Dane and his Dad met me at the Hostal
Ride4water via Iphone4

Over 5000 miles ridden. Section 2 Central America DONE!

Panama City



That's an old Tree!



A 673 year old church

A torrential downpour yesterday
Ride4water via Iphone4

84 miles from the Panama Canal

Today's ride was a fun one except the 2 flats i got that cost me over an hour of time. I ended up riding for about 15 miles with a Panamanian Cycling Team. They gave me a tube and helped me fix my wheel. What a cool group of guys-and a gal.



Dane and I are planning an 84 mile ride to Panama City that begins tomorrow at 5:30am on the bike. The goal is to be at the Panama Canal by noon. STOKED.

I was thinking the other day about how liberating it is having an iphone4. I just applied for a Doctoral Program in Public Health that is entirely online. Man can life get any better. I get to ride my bike through magical places helping to educate and raise funds to help people get clean water in Fiji, write a book, and study for a Doctorate all with this little super computer I have in my pocket. STOKED.

Oh yeah. I had my first bad meal today. I have tried hard to sample local cuisine and to order and never ask questions about what it is. So far it has worked out fantastically, but today I ordered what amounted to deep fried Columbian fast food. Not good.



I usually go in the restaurant and just pick something, but when the deep fried cardboard showed up I just stared. I ate it and will not use this as a precedent for squelching my adventurous food eating. You can't always bat a thousand people!
Ride4water via Iphone4

3 days until Panama City

3 days left til Panama City! Yes I'm having fun but after 5 weeks of hotness I'm looking forward to it cooling down! We are 146 miles from Panama City and we should be there Wednesday by about noon. I'm stoked because on Wednesdays ride we will actually ride OVER the Panama Canal. I plan on taking pics and celebrating the completion of another section of this ride4water!

Have fun watching the Superbowl everybody


Ride4water via Iphone4

Yesterday was a 7 hour ride with 100 degree heat 3k ft of climbing and we got attacked by KILLER BEES

We got up early yesterday and rode to the Panama Border and it took about an hour to get across.



It was a full circus. 4 different lines to get through and they search your luggage. As soon as we got across the border the road was beautiful, smooth, and the road crew must be from Newport Beach because the landscaping was near perfect. We enjoyed a flat, smooth ride with a tailwind and some cloud cover. Sometimes you get near perfect conditions cycling and it was that way for about 3 hours. We ate at a little. Alot like the 100's of other little places on this trip. It's always delicious and were always stoked. Cycling heightens the taste buds in ways I can't explain. If you ride you get it and if you dont you probably think I'm just some food obsessed exaggerator. Nonetheless it was again the BEST MEAL EEEEEEEVER.



We rode another hour then grabbed a coke and Gatorade. We decided to ride another few hours. I'm definitely feeling 100% again. Dane says he's at like 90-95% so were thankful for that. The last 2 hours I felt great and that's a good thing because in the last 25 miles of today's ride it was 104 degrees and we climbed 3000 ft. So if my blogging seems a little sub par at times it's for good reason. Sometimes you finish a hard day like today where it was nearly 70 miles of riding, 3000ft of climbing, and 104 degrees and you feel great. Other times you look like the village drunk and you haven't had a sip.

About 3 miles from the town we decided to stop at I got attacked while riding by a swarm of killer bees. It was straight out of a horror film and I took off like a bat out of hell riding as fast as I could swinging my arms widely. I lost my cycling glasses trying to kill the one that stung my back. Then I tried to swat the one the stung my left eye. Then I tried to kill the 2 that stung both my arms. The clincher was the one that went inside my cycling bib and stung my neck.

Nothing on this trip has fazed me including multiple choatic border crossings, sleeping in every conceivable place, learning Spanish, and eating all sorts if weird stuff-but this episode FREAKED ME OUT!

Dane rolled in later and showed me the 6 stings he got. He was pissed and said it ruined his day. I told him to grab a beer and listen to a Chuck Smith sermon-one of them was bound to help get him in a good mood!

Currently my left eye is swollen as well as my arms. It hurts to close my eye but im sure it will pass. It sort of looks like someone punched me in the face. So if you've ever secretly wanted to punch me in the face you can thank Mr.Bee and his gang of insano wingmen. They did a fine job on me.

On the positive side it might be the finest sprint I have ever put down on my bike. Hopefully next time I ride that hard it won't be Bee induced.

So I asked around and found out from the locals that there is a abeja tienda which means bee farm. We happened to ride by it and there you go.

What are the odds I would ride by a bee farm in Panama?

Ride4water via Iphone4

Cold weather and LOTS of climbing in Costa Rica

So after spending the night in San Jose we got up and rode for 4 hours into the mountains and it got cold! It rained on us and after our ride I end up wearing my smartwool base layers, pants, jacket, beanie, wool socks-the works. We pulled off at a convenience store some 3500ft up into the mountains and a guy made us coffee and told us we could stay in his guest house.
STOKED. Then he invited us in to have dinner with his family. We had rice, beans, tortillas, and some jamon. It was amazing. We told him about our ride4water and we became friends with Oscar and his familia. We slept well after another 3500 ft of climbing.

We arose today and it was cold with fog everywhere. We got going and we rode an epic climb today. 12 miles with 3000ft of climbing. That ranks up there with one if the toughest of this entire trip. Think Colorado Rockies but with lush tropical landscape. It was epic.




Some goats

Epic waterfall



Pineapple fields
Ride4water via Iphone4

Rode yesterday and today. Heading into Costa Rica now!

Rolling into Costa Rica now!

La Playa


Ive seen cows in the road on during my rides for weeks now. Here they are just a few feet from me.


When your hungry it's always the Best Breakfast EVER


A sign your getting ready to get a GREAT cup of coffee


Ride4water via Iphone4

If you've ever been discouraged

Sometimes we have set backs in life. Sometimes we do things we regret. Sometimes we have things in our past we wish we could change. We can't change the past but what we can do moving forward is live DIFFERENTLY than we ever have before. It seems hard, different, and even weird to learn a new way to live life. But after learning a new way to live- life begins to unfold in a more beautiful way than you ever thought possible. New horizons emerge. New goals develop. What was once a life full of dead ends begins to unveil limitless possibilities again. SO hold on to the hope you have of living a different life. It's worth it...

I had these thoughts this evening and I thought perhaps they might comfort someone else. If they didn't comfort you it's all good just ignore it! Hopefully it helped someone.

Tomorrow we start our final 9 day trek to Panama City to complete Section 2! I will pass the 5000 mile mark in the next 10 days as well as go through Costa Rica and Panama! I would also love to pass the $25,000 mark for money we have raised to help people get clean water. COME ON LET'S DO IT! We have raise over $22,000 so far. Go to www.givecleanwater.org and give $1, $5, $100 or whatever.

Hope your good tonight.









Ride4water via Iphone4

A Cathedral and La Playa

Had a great time this morning. I read. Went over my goals for 2011. Prayed a bunch. Then breakfast and off to the beach.

Dane ain't feeling well today so I'm rolling solo. We didn't ride today. Its hard to believe we have been on the road for 2 months already. The United States feels like years ago. I've been busy riding, learning Spanish, and life is so vastly different here I wonder how I will adapt when I get back to the states. The people, the culture, the pace of things is just so different that it's hard to explain. No ones in a hurry. Everybody here smiles. This dude next to me right now has his ghetto blaster blaring Latin love music, he has his eyes closed, he is singing out loud, and he looks like he is contemplating his girlfriend or something. CLASSIC.

I'm feeling almost back to normal so hopefully you won't be reading a half baked blog. Sometimes I try to write and it's just one big typo. I got nothin. Other days it rolls out lika red carpet.

Leon is another place like Rio Nexpa, Puerto Escondido and La Libertad where you could wake up one day and just realize that 10 years of your life went by. These places are so easy, so fun, so simple.

The bus ride back from the beach was interesting. I met two nice Spanish gals who taught me some words and we laughed about being crammed like sardines inside. I do however get to hang completely outside the back off the bus today on the luggage rack with my feet on the bumper because there were SO many people. IT. WAS. AWESOME. I felt like a real Nicaraguan fir the first time.

Here are a few pics of the town of Leon and the beach I visited today called Las Penitas.



The Cathedral



The beach



Ride4water via Iphone4

The beautiful colonial town of Leon Nicaragua

Today we rode to the beautiful Colonial town of Leon, Nicaragua. It's one of the Oldest cities in Latin America. The architecture surrounded by bright flowers and palm trees is just breathtaking. The city is spotless clean and the people here take great pride in their town. We found a fantastic hostel in a gorgeous old colonial building for $5 a night. I'm sitting down in El Desayuna Cafe having the first real cup of coffee I've had in what feels like months.






I ran into some people from Vancouver Island in Canada where I rode my bicycle in 2009 and they were with a couple from England who are tattoo artists.






Ride4water via Iphone4

Hello Nicaragua and an active Volcano!

We got riding at 5:56am today. I saw my first bike lane since we left San Diego.



Man it is so hot I can't describe it. Now for those of you who think you have ridden in hot weather let me explain. I have been riding in 90+ degree weather for over a month now. It is incessant and everytime I think it can't possibly get any hotter well it actually gets hotter. By noon time I drink 1 gallon of
water, 3 gatorades, coffee, and a coke and I'm still thirsty. It's just nuts.


The rhythm in Southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and now Nicaragua seems to be-get up and be on the bike at sunrise and ride until it hits 100 at around 11am. Then it's game over. We have ridden again in the afternoon around 4pm til dark a few times but now it's so hot we find ourselves running for the nearest $18 hotel with air conditioning.

Every part of this trip has been different and I find myself constantly having to adapt to the weather, the terrain, the wind, the distance, and recently being totally sick for 6 days. It is accurate to say that no 2 days have really been the same. These factors converge and diverge daily and always make for an interesting recipe for the day. A few things has stood steadfast. The adventure. The riding. The people. The food. The overall sense of gratitude I have had to be able to do this.

Well we made it into Nicaragua today.



We are in Chinadega. We should spend about 4 days riding along the coast of Nicaragua before we get into Costa Rica.

Today we saw an active Volcano to. Pretty cool. It had smoke and everything.






Ride4water via Iphone4

Goodbye Scott and Levi hello Honduras

Ohh is that my health coming back

I have prayed incessantly to the porcelain god. I have worshipped at the shrine of puke and water poo etc. for 6 days of dizzy headed I'm gonna make it somehow self talk and it appears I have emerged on the other side if this thing. Courtesy of a $5 antibiotic at a walk up pharmacy. I heart Central America. You see the Doctor for free. Prescriptions are free or you can go directly to the pharmacy and tell them what you want and it's $5. Perfect!

The future of Ryan Delamaters health care is flying to El Salvador, going surfing, getting medical treatment, and flying home.



We said goodbye to Levi and Scott yesterday. Our lives intertwined for 2 weeks. Those guys felt like brothers. I laughed. I was stoked. It was a seamlessly fun stretch of riding and I can't think of 2 other dudes I would rather come close to death by puking with than them. Those guys are the types that can do anything they want with their lives and they will be completely successful at whatever they end up doing in this world. That i know. I just completely wish them the best and I'm stoked to call them "friend."

Life is cheap these days. You can get an air conditioned hotel room w bathroom and cable for $17. Splitting it you can eat like a king and sleep fantastic for less than $20 a day no prob. Its nice in these parts because although technically it's winter here it hit 106 degrees yesterday at 11:13am. We have been getting on the bike at 6am and ridin as far as we can before we melt. We got into Honduras this morning and crossed into our 5th country on this section.



Tomorrow we will be in Nicaragua. Today I feel my ability to write coming back. I was so sick for 6 days all I was trying to do was survive. I slept 15 hours a day and walked around like a zombie mumbling to
myself.

So we are about 40 miles from Nicaragua and we will be there tomorrow.

I received a fantastic facebook message today from a friend who said she was super stoked about our ride and had gone to the Give Clean Water website and donated there to help bring clean water to people!! And she is goin to tell all her friends about it. AWESOME. I get stoked everytime this happens and it means so much to see so many great things happening thus far as a result of our ride. If you haven't checked out www.givecleanwater.org yet please do. Go there and make a donation, change a life, then tell a friend about it. Life is so good and I feels great to help others.

Hope your all doing well.

P.S. Oh yeah random Bruce Willis poster


Ride4water via Iphone4

Clean Water Update

Thanks you to those of you who have given to Give Clean Water to help bring clean water to people in Fiji. As you may know the need is tremendous. Why I share with you all the ups, downs, and turns of my big adventure takes it does have a clear purpose. Our goal is to help bring clean water to people in Fiji. Since I left San Diego I have been personally using the filter that Sawyer makes for people in Fiji and I can say after using it on the road in rivers, streams, and every kind of faucet that it WORKS FANTASTIC. It is a tremendous blessing to have access to this technology and after field testing it myself I'm more excited about making this available to people than ever before. It's simple, effective, and actually fun to use. PLEASE consider making a $100 donation to Give Clean Water as they work extremely hard to make this technology available to those who need it the most. Primarily those who do not have the infrastructure in place by their own government to provide them with water. This seems like a foreign concept to those of us in The 1st world but many people the world over have no infrastructure at all for clean water. People in Fiji need your help and I hope you will consider helping bring a wonderful piece of equipment to them through your personal giving. Again a $100 can provide clean water for a family of 4 for a lifetime...you can give at www.givecleanwater.org

Thanks,
Ryan Delamater


Ride4water via Iphone4

La Libertad, El Salvador

So after feeling teeeeeerrible for a few days I'm emerging from my funk. I couldn't eat. I couldn't ride. I couldn't I couldn't I couldn't I couldn't. Dane and I hopped a bus 100 miles yesterday and got to La Libertad, El Salvador which BTW is the 3rd tremendously terrific world class wave I've been to this trip. But I gotta say that this place I'm in IS the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and I will CERTAINLY be coming here again. This place we are at has live music every night, an international scene, a coffee house, a bar, a pool, a pool table, great internet, 3 perfect waves, great food, cool people, and its a whopping $25 a room for a double so for you math wizards it's $12.50 each per night. Umm can someone say sign me up! I reserve one word for this place SUPERCALIFRAGILISTIEXPEALIDOCIOUS. That is the first time I have used this word in my blog as to underscore said influence upon me.

Levi and Scott decided to ride and should be here tonight. Dane and I were still sick so here we are feeling a bit better today.

I will take a full set of pictures of this place and let you see them.

Dane and I are gonna be here in La Libertad surfing until the 26th. The 26th we will get up and begin our roughly 1000 mile trek to Panama City. For my Ohio friends I am coming there February 10-18 for my daughters 7th Birthday! Yeah Quinn!! Perhaps we can meet up one night and catch up over a cold pint somewhere.

Hope your all well.


Ride4water via Iphone4

We are almost in El Salvador

It's a new day and man am I feeling better. Amazing. I don't need alot in this life but if you take my health it just crushes me. Its so nice to be on the mend. The whole crew is feeling better today. We are going to do laundry, get caught up with all things internet, and EAT!

We rode about 20 miles and git some fruit



and then we slept in the dirtiest place known to man. Dust everywhere. Mosquitoes, Nats, and Ants from Hell. They were everywhere. I went into war mode. Multiple layers. I was sweating insanely but I refused to be bitten. We ate and Dane and I slept on top of some cut down brush because there were no trees. Natures little bed.


It was just disgusting. Amazingly I slept great.

We ride about 20 miles and are in Escuintla, Guatemala and plan on being in El Salvador tonight.



Ride4water via Iphone4

Blog from 1-19-11 Man are we sick

Man are we sick

Today Scott Levi Dane Chevy Chase and I rode about 50 miles. During the ride Dane and I stopped at a convenience store and got some hamburgers. Bad move. 3 hours later I was sunburned, dehydrated, throwing up and going diareahha at the same time. Thrown up 3x and gone to the bathroom maybe 12x so far. I can't hd anything down not even water.

I got no blogability tonight. I just wanted to make note of the complete suffering I am now experiencing. I would do anything for my mommy to be rubbing my forehead and bringing me an Ice cold seven up to help settle my stomach like she did when I was little. Ryan Delamater is in the hurt locker BIG time.

So it's 2:07am in the morning an fit appears thus thing has finally broken. I threw up 6x and just dripped sweat as it poured out of me. I'm terribly dehydrated. I have held no water down since 3pm and that was after a 50 mile ride in 95 degree heat. I'm in my hammock now just sipping water.

I have never had this kind of nausea before. Each time I threw up my abs hurt so hard from flexing it felt like a had a stomach ache. I would throw up and just be so out of it I was laying in the dirt. A lady came and tried to give Dane and I some tea but we were just completely out of it. I was actually thinking how much it sucked to be this sick laying in the dirt with my head spinning. This is for sure the lowpoint of the trip. I actually began to worry which will tell you how sorry i was feeling. I typically never worry about anything but I knew that if I didn't get some water in me soon I was gonna have a real problem.

Scott is up now as well and it appears he is going to the bathroom every 5 minutes as well.

Levi remains strong and healthy and his positive fun self. That guy is such a bro.

So we woke up this morning and Levi was vomiting as well. We are all in a world of hurt. Half coherent. Vomiting. Vomiting so hard hurts your throat. Barely able to walk. Headaches. As Levi said " this is what it must feel like to die."

Not to mention all this is happening against a backdrop of roosters crowing, music blaring, fires burning trash that somehow seems to find your nostrils, and trucks rumbling by blowing their horns. Just total misery.

So we asked a guy with a small toyota truck to take us to the nearest hotel. He told us it would be about $6. So we loaded up 4 bikes, all our gear, and 6 people and took off. It was so crowded I was forced to stand in the back of the truck like a wild bandit. I felt like I was going to faint with the wind flipping through my hair at 50mph. We got to the hotel. Levi jumped out and sat in the curb. He looked terrible. Dane sat in the ground. He looked Terrible. Scott and I looked terrible but we had enough energy to get a room and put our stuff in it. We all immediately fell asleep for 5 hours.

We think we got sick from some sugarcane we chopped down and ate or perhaps some cheese. Hard to tell.

Im feeling a little better. I drank some juice. Danes looking better. Scott and Levi are still hurting. Their asleep already and it's 7:30pm.

I wanted to give the bet account of our total misery as possible. I left Ohio on September 1st and most days have been so delightful it gies without saying. But this has been the lowpoint for sure. Just a complete physical meltdown.

We threw up a combined 51 times between the four o us when it was all said and done


Ride4water via Iphone4

Blog from 1-18-11 Biggest Downhill ever

So today we rode from the border town of Talisman about 65 miles on the CA2 towards the capital Cuidad Guatemala. Today's ride was the easiest 65 miles if riding on the trip. We literally went 1-2% downhill grade for 35 miles. Had lunch. Went in the internet. Did some shopping. Then we climbed up a hill for 30 minutes and then It happened.

Perhaps the greatest experience of my life on a bike. A giant sweeping downhill through rainforest that lasted 30 minutes. We went down and down and down and were flying at 35mph racing eachother, laughing, and just grinning like school kids. The wind in our hair.

It leaves you with this giant perspective. World peace can happen. Everyone will begin Riding bicycles to work even on the freeway. Television sets will simultaneously blow up all across the world. All those things you secretly hope for can happen when you charging down a hill at 35mph with your friends. But then the next hill happens. You forget about those high hopes. You curse the day you were born. Your legs hurt. Your back hurts.

So are the ups and downs of a day cycling to the end of the world with new found friends who are out riding and chasing their dreams just like you are.

Today's we took 2 swims in rivers. The first at lunch. The second where we camped. We are making dinner now. Pasta, beans, hot dogs, tortillas. I just got a speaker hook up for my iPhone4 so I put on some NPR concerts and we cook and swim and eat and pinch ourselves that we get to wake up everyday and ride and ride and ride.


Ride4water via Iphone4

Blog from 1-17-11 crossing into Guatemala

It is Sunday night and Dane, Scott, Levi, and I made it into Guatemala. We crossed at the town of Talisman. The ride to the border was easy. Maybe 15 miles. We planned an easy ride after everybody got cleaned up, cut their hair, did laundry, went shopping, and went online. The border crossing was a hoot.

At the Bodega(Walmart in Latin America) a guy rode up next to us and said hi. This guy was right out of a Saturday Night Live skit. Super old white reeboks. Docker pants rolled up to his shins with white socks. An old Nike hat with the front folded like a taco. His bike was an old 1980 something. He has an accent and looked stoked to be talking to us. We all chatted and he said he was going to Guatemala on his bicicleta so our wolf pack has again increased by 1. Making our wolf pack run 5 deep. His name is Alex and we immediately hit it off because he is from Romania and I have been to Romania 3x. I have done construction projects and served in orphanages there. I have a place in mi corazon for those Romanians even if they look like a Chevy Chase National Lampoon character on a bicycle.

So we get to the Guatemala border and Chevy Chase decides to just ride on through without paying. I was like sweet- we have a fugitive in our wolfpack.

The rest of us did it the legit way. We stopped. Got everything stamped. These things usually take about an hour and there usually is a little bit of a run around but you get it done rather quickly in my opinion. So i figured we lost Chevy Chase but we began to ride up a big hill and there he was. He immediately said "what's a matter did they want some if your money back there." HILARIOUS. The guy just barrel asses through an international border crossing on his bike. Doesn't get his passport stamped and makes jokes about it. It did t surprise me later on when he started talking about authority issues etc. Don't get me wrong I'm definitely not a fan of governments, but when I travel internationally I DO get my passport stamped , obey traffic laws, and be polite. One-I think it's applying the golden rule pragmatically and two-I think it's bad karma to travel and spread bad vibes around.

So Chevy Chase it definitely a wild card, but he's rad, and his accent is great.

Oh yeah my helmet got stolen today. Oh darn. I rode across all of Canada in 2009 and didnt wear one. I ONLY wore one this time because my room mate and bro Davin decided to wear one when we left Ohio. Man I hate those things! They just make you sweat and they make you look like an alien from a Star Trek movie. So no i won't be missing it.

So in a showing of solidarity Scott threw away his helmet when he found out mine got stolen . See the wolf pack is bonding and remains strong.

Tonights meal was again just delicious. Scott and Levi cooked up pasta, chorizo, beans, onions, and salsa with tortillas around a nice fire from wood they collected. We camped in a field and Dane met some local kids and invited them to dinner. Man Dane meets new people everyday, befriends them, and just speeds the love man. He's a good dude. So we ended up with 7 people around a campfire. Myself, Levi, Scott, Dane, Chevy Chase, and these two local kids. GOOD TIMES. I'm gonna watch The Endless Summer now on my IPhone.

Hope you all had a great day


Ride4water via Iphone4

Filtering water from a river and eating sugar cane

Guatemala sunrise and swimming in a river