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.









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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



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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.






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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.






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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


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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


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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.


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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.



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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


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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.


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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


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Filtering water from a river and eating sugar cane

Guatemala sunrise and swimming in a river

Recent Pics

A pineapple snack

A guy traveling home from Cycling for 2 weeks that we met

Camping pics of the wolfpack

Recent Pics

The long of the short of it is that my fine running machine of blogging, picture and video taking, tweeting, and facebooking with one punch of a button has been wrecked because I cant find wifi access anywhere in Guatemala. So I can tweet when i find an internet cafe and upload pics from my iphone from time to time. Im doing the best I can and I hope your all doing great

Out of Mexico into Guatemala!!!

Saturday 1-15
Last night we slept in a very nice gated soccer field that had the police patrolling it. The cops were super cool and let us camp for free and let us take showers and were just extremely hospitable. The US police should take notes! Can you imagine Mexican police letting US cyclists camp for free and take showers and US police letting Mexican cyclists camp for free?! I doubt it. In the US a Mexican cyclist would be arrested, deported, and mocked on the nightly news!

We had another epic dinner last night thanks to Scott and Levi. These guys are just fantastic people. Fun, smart, care free, and amazing athletes. My cycling buddies take note. These guys were doing back to back centuries through the Colorado Rockies in 20 degree weather with no cycling gear. Very gritty. Very impressive. They would make a mockery of many a gear whore because what they lack in attire they more than make up for with cardio prowess and alot of grit. Imagine being right out of college running a 4:01 mile and going on a bike ride. These guys are monsters and if they ever get into cycling competitively alot of people are going to get they cans handed to them by these two cats. Time will tell.

The 4 of us are having an absolute blast traveling together and we are planning on traveling to El Salvador together at least and HOPEFULLY beyond.

We shared a pineapple today that I bought off a vendor



We are about 50 miles from Guatemala at the moment. We are all having visions of celebrating with beers there tonight. Hopefully we can make it. We shall see.

So we made it to Tapachula about 12 miles from the Guatemala border around dark. We rested from 12pm-3pm today during the stifling heat. It's like an oven outside each day during those hours so we have been riding from 7am-12pm then again from 3pm to around dark. We rode about 90 miles today. Great ride. Nice and easy. The 4 of us got into several long discussions about God, religion, cultures, and each of those conversations seemed to spiral into something else. The whole day was pleasant.

Sunday 1-16
Well we all slept in this morning. We are riding to Guatemala now and we are going to be having a we finished Mexico and welcome to Guatemala Feast tonight.


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We met 2 guys from Maine

So today we left Jesus' house and rolled out. I slept great as I normally do in my hammock. We began our death march in to the headwind. I had no idea how hard it was blowing but it was the worst of my life. We finally cane to a fork in the road where we thought the wind my turn a bit and I saw for the first time since Baja 2 other cyclists coming towards me. I was stoked. I introduced myself and immediately felt a kindred spirit with these two guys named Levi and Scott. They started riding their bikes from Maine. They both just finished graduating from Georgetown and they ran track there. Levi ran the mile in 4:01, the 5k
in 13:55 and the 10k in 29:00. For those of you who dont know that is fast!!! Like try out for the Olympics fast.

They were coming toward me on the road because they said the wind had blown them off the road so they turned around. We all decided to stop and have breakfast and figure out a gameplan. The wind was blowing so hard it defied description.

Apparently according to the locals all the wind from the gulf of Mexico funnels down this alley we are in that is about 100 miles wide. At points they said it gusts to 250 kilometers and hour. For those of you who don't know the metric system that's 130mph. They said that January and February were the worst months. Perfect. Today was exceptionally bad they sad. They said it was over 100mph winds today. I'm from California and the wind always seems to die down at some point but today it was just full on relentless. I woke up and thought I would get an early start but it didn't help. The only comfort I found was in knowing the government knows it is windy so they built a windfarm here which I took a picture of.

We all decided to try and get a ride through this windy section of death. The locals said people die here in auto accidents and turn over cars all the time so we thought it would be safe to get a ride. One guy agreed to give us a ride but his manager called and told him not to take the route today because the gusts were hitting 250km an hour. UNBELIEVABLE. Amazingly the buses were still running so the 4 of us decided to take it. A huge bus full of 50 people was getting blown all over the road and I saw another bus in a ditch off the road being helped by a tow truck and another car blown off and people were helping it. It seemed like complete chaos. Like out of a movie. I was a little concerned but told myself that the bus driver must know what he's doing and that was that.

Well we did make it to Arriaga on the bus. We got off and the wind seemed just as bad. It was terrible. By this time it was 7pm, dark, and we had no where to stay. Dane and I stopped by a bar and asked if there was a place to camp and a guy said to go next store. Well it turns out the joke was on us as the local dude sent the 4 of us into a brothel. I sort of laughed but it made me sad to see women doing that with their life. I mean that's somebodies daughter. I have a daughter. I'm a happy go lucky guy but I found the episode to be just pretty sad.

Well we got directions to the town center and were looking around for a place to stay and for the second day in a row a guy in a bicycle rode up next to us and offered to let us stay at his house. Talk about random. His name was Ricardo. There must be a bond that well traveled cyclists have that makes us want to help each other. I just don't get it. A complete stranger comes up to us, says hi, and within 45 minutes has given us his entire home and left us the keys. We had clean water to drink, places to hang our hammocks, and Levi and Scott made a meal with their cookware to fill us all to the gils. We laughed and talked about how fortunate we were...AGAIN.

There have been so many times on this trip where I could swear that the Universe was conspiring on our behalf. Friendly faces, open homes, boat rides, car rides, free meals, and thumbs up as we ride. Call it karma. Call it being in the flow. Call it God's favor. Call it whatever you want it doesn't matter to me. I would describe it as just a fountain of grace coming my way. I accept it. I appreciate it. I am thankful for it. I am humbled by it. Who am I to receive so much? It's a good question that I'm not sure there is an answer for but I do know that I'm thankful for all the kindness people have shown us on this journey thus far. In Spanish you say " gracias pod tu amabeliedad con migo" which means thank you so much for the kindness you have shown me. I have said this at least once a day for a month...

So we rode 65 miles today. We are 105 from entering Guatemala. Don't have much time to blog now. Will catch up later


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Lord is that you...

Lord is that you...

So today the headwind is just ridiculous. I shot video so you could get an idea. It's no matter to me. One of the things you do on a trip like this is stay flexible. I have a plan to be in Guatemala on Sunday night and I will be there. Sunday I had planned a short 25 mile ride but with the wind today I think that 25 will be today. We are always juggling our schedule because of the amount of climbing, wind conditions, outside temperature, and proximity to world class surf spots! In a perfect world you ride 60 miles everyday on a flat road with the wind at your back and it's 70 degrees. I left Ohio on September 1st and that's happened maybe 2x! Today we will ride 25 miles and then I spend the afternoon writing my book "How to ride your bicycle through North, Central, and South America" which I will be available as an E-book July 1st,2011. I'm excited about this and I'm working on it everyday. My hope is that it will encourage people to go on their own adventures and that the proceeds from the book will help raise money for Give Clean Water.

Well we finished our 25 miles and we are in a town called Juchitlan.

I did find a turtle in the middle of the road and removed it so it didn't die!



As we were riding into town a guy named Jesus came up next to us riding a bicycle and he offered to take us around town, to the bike shop, and he invited us into to stay at his house with his mom. He was single and lived in a room where he painted beautiful pictures. I was like "Lord is that you?!" I mean he fits the profile. Smily, single, rides a bike, helps strangers, lives with his mom in a town no ones heard of, and he paints. I mean it could happen. I've met so many people on this trip so far that have just exceeded all my expectations that perhaps Jesus DID ride up next to me on a bike. Well jesus did, but maybe it wasnt THEE Jesus. You know what- I'm gonna ask him straight up. I'm gonna say " umm are you THEE Jesus." If he gives me some obscure answer meant to confuse me or answers in a riddle then im gonna tweet that THEE Jesus lives in Mexico with his Mom and rides a bike.

Or what if He told me to sell all I have and just follow him on my bike. I would be like-EXACTLY! I'm game. I think I did that already bro. Well probably wouldn't call Jesus bro, but whatever.

I would have no problem at all with a Mexican Bike Riding Jesus. He is much better than the Sean Penn Spicoli Jesus with blond hair who wears sandals. That Jesus is played out anyways.

Well here is Dane talking to (J)jesus.


Update- umm it's definitely THEE Jesus as evidenced by him going into his room and blaring Stevie Ray Vaughn loud and proud. You know it


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How about I go ride 80 miles and climb 5000ft in 100degree weather with a headwind

Well it's 10:30am and I've already been riding since 7am. Dane broke another spoke yesterday so he is fixing it today and is going to meet me in Salina Cruz.

Today has just been hot and nasty and just full on mountain climbing all morning. I stopped at this little place to get some breakfast now. My coffee, bananas, greensfirst, and panaderia only last me 3 hours. I'm already famished. It is so hot and humid it is just nuts. I have been dripping since i started this morning. I've drank 4 bottles already and when I pee it's bright yellow. That's not a good sign. My life at this point has been reduced to my cycling bib, shoes, and socks when I ride and boardshorts and my flip flops when I'm done. It's to hot to wear a shirt on or off the bike.

I simply can't drink enough water. I'm drinking and drinking and drinking and I'm still thirsty.

This breakfast tastes delicious.



I'm still totally shocked at how loud the people here blare there sounds systems. I mean this one guy right now has music so loud there is no way the whole village can't hear it. It's like the dude assumes he is the village DJ and he just has it cranked up.



The kid behind me is watching TV on his cell phone and everybody here has television to watch their telenovas at night. We truly live in a small world now where technology seems to keep us all connected and aware. I've been surprised to see how the remotest places here have access and use the same technology.

So I'm riding 92 miles today. I have 58 left and this local kid told me it's flat to Salina Cruz now. I can only hope because the first parting this ride was a cruciried. That's when you get crucified during a part or the whole ride.

I just rode another hour. I'm 76 kilometers away now. It is Africa hot dude. And the headwind is just ridiculous. I drank 2 bottles of water and I just downed a cold powerade and I'm still way thirsty.

It's 3:19pm. I've ridden 80 grueling miles. It's been close to 100 degrees today. Almost 5000ft of climbing. I am just totally trashed. The last 35 miles have had the worst headwind since I left San Diego. Just terrible. I mean BAAD! I'm pulling the plug here. A local told me about an Internet place so I can get ahold of Dane.

Update-well the Internet place didn't have wi-fi so I got a ride with a guy the last 12 miles to Salina Cruz. The headwind was a real JOKE. I mean just insane. I already fir totally destroyed from today's ride. By that I mean I can't string together a sentence. I'm stumbling around and every part of my body is barking at me.

So this guy dropped me off at a $20 hotel. I got cleaned up. I walked to the bank. Then to this GREAT little italian coffee company. I'm drinking an amazing caramel coffee something or another.



The longer and more grueling your bike ride is the better everything taste and feels later on. Your clothes never felt so good. A shower never felt so good. And food never tasted so good. Life gets reduced to enjoying the heck out of the simplest things. This perhaps is one of the greatest things cycling does for me. It reminds me over and over again that it's the little things in life that bring so much joy.

I have also been reminded lately of the dramatic economic disparity that exists in our world. Most of the world lives off maybe a few hundred dollars a month. So many people are fiscally poor here yet give me a smile and a wave as I ride by. Many even give me a thumbs up. I'm humbled by this and it often keeps me going for miles and it makes me wonder who the rich people really are. The guy who grows his own food, rides a horse, and smiles at strangers or all those other people I know back home chasing their tails.

Less is more. Sadly everyone I know seems to be running the other direction. In fact sprinting towards accumulating things. Material things continue to be the dominate way people define themselves in the culture I grew up in. Rare is the person who finds a way to exist beyond this myopic way of going through life. Such a person to me is the enlightened one. The one who sees not with the eyes but with faith.


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Hualtulco Oaxaca Mexico 65 miles, 4581ft climbing, 91 degrees today

We left Puerto Esondido this morning. Another hard place to leave. Elena, Esmeralda, and Ella were super cool to us. They were trying to cajole us into staying another night and tried their darndest to keep us out late by putting mojitos in front of us but I told them I had a schedule to keep.



Well I kept it and I don't think they were stoked. They treated us so well and the 5 of us have had a blast watching last nights sunset.



They also took us to the market yesterday

We said our goodbyes which I'm terrible at. I usually just say bye for now and that's it.


So we rolled out about 7:30am. It's getting light at about 6:30am now so hopefully we can ride earlier because today's ride was just insanely hot. It was 91 degrees at mile 40. We rode 65 miles today. 4581 ft if vertical climbing. Man the numbers never lie. Today was a tough one. We finished and we got a hotel in Huatulco, Oaxaca Mexico. The awesome thing is that the hotels are getting super cheap now. The hostel in Puerto was $10 a night per person and it was first class. Tonights hotel is great at it's $15 total for 2 people with the Internet out the door. Plus it has a pool that i already jumped straight into in my cycling kit. But the clincher is that the people here are happy to have us and thank makes all the difference after a long day of riding. It is so much easier just ridin and checking into a hotel especially when its 91 degrees out. Riding your bike over 4000 miles from Hudson Ohio starts to have it's privileges and I'm able to spend about $8-$10 a night now on lodging and $10 a day for food. AWESOME. $20 a day to do this. AMAZING. The terrain keeps getting cleaner and more tropical with each passing day.

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Today I surfed Puerto Escondido

Today I fulfilled a boy hood fantasy of surfin the Mexican pipeline AKA Puerto Escondido. This wave is not for the faint of heart. It is a HEAVY wave, so heavy in fact that the guy at the surf shop wouldn't let me rent a board with a leash cuz he said I had a better chance of breaking the board wearing one. Perfect. I'll surf 6-10ft thumping Puerto with no leash on a '7"4 gun I've never ridden before. I managed to get a few waves. Once I get the pics uploaded I'll put them on the blog. I didn't get the memorable deep tube I really wanted. In fact my wave in I got a serious drubbing. Lost my board and took a couple 10 rooters in the head swimming in. FUN! I was in no mans land and a boogie boarder let me tread water and hold on to his board for a few waves until I got in.

I spent the day relaxing and taking care o basic thing lime laundry, cleaning my bike, calling family and friends, reading, and taking a nap. The owner on the hostel is agal named Ella. She invited us to see the sunset with her and her friends. We went to La Punta which is a left hand point break in Puerto Escondido. It was beautiful and they all wanted to go out AGAIN. Man I can't keep up with these people. Once a week is fine but every night is to
much. I ride tomorrow. We should be in Guatemala January 17th. I'm looking forward to it.


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Lancy like to Dancy

So Dane and I made it into Puerto Escondido. We checked into this dope hostel right across from the beach called the Luna hostel. The locals were super cool. So cool in fact that two girls running the place invited Dane and I to a party.

So they drove and the next thing you know we are at a ranch about 20 miles south and this place had like a 100 cool cats at it. I thought I was back partying with Justin and his ball player buddies. Except their was enough weed in the air to get everyone stoned 7x to Sunday. And the alcohol and the DJ and the pool. There was this guy who just walked around making sure everyone had a joint, a beer, and food. Anything you wanted. BBQ carne, pollo, pescado, guacamole.

I gotta tell you that the Argentina ladies who were crooning about our bike ride were VERY beautiful. A stare from them would melt the paint off a Ferrari.

I'm actually blogging from this party right now. This party is out of my league at the moment. Everybody is stoned, drunk, and very- well I guess you could say friendly. So I decided to geek out right in the middle if this full on gong show. I'm blogging and enjoying the music and thankful that I ate so much food tonight. Hopefully these local gals wanna roll soon. I'm tired.

Im finishing last nights blog now. Lastnight was weed, beer, food, and Muchos international chicas. I partook of the beer and food but passed on the weed and ladies. I don't feel comfortable smoking weed nor having intoxicated relations with strangers even if it is a smokin hot 22 year old Argentinian who kept calling me Lancy AKA Lance Armstrong. She kept saying "Lancy like to dancy?!"

We found someone to take us home about 11pm. I was exhausted from getting virtually no sleep the night before so gong show avoided.

We ended up getting a ride home from this hilarious guy who broke EVERY traffic law known to man which is saying alot because I'm in mainland Mexico and the only traffic law appears to be not crashing into anyone. Which I guess is the point of all laws but still I had a stomach ache from laughing so hard. This dude was WAY freaking drunk, WAY stoned, and WAY funny. At one point he stopped the car on the freeway and waved the bus traveling behind us to pass us and he shouted as it passed " I'm Sooooooooooo sorry mi girlfriend is on her el period and I have to stop and let the cramp pass." Dane and I roared with laughter.


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We are off...

Very hard to leave this morning. We were treated like family. We camped at our friends Katrina and Albertos for free. Rio Nexpa was wonderful to us. We ride today then catch a bus to Puerto Escondido for more surf!!!


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Winner winner chicken dinner

So yesterday was another hard day of climbing. 4500 ft total. We slept on the beach last night after a VERY hard ride yesterday. After riding roughly 60 miles today I was waiting for Dane in a little town and a white guy with 3 surfboards pulls up next to me in his truck. His name was Mike. I asked him where he was heading and he told me Rio Nexpa. I thought to myself "it can't be THEE Rio Nexpa." for those of you who surf think Reverse Rincon with 80 degree water. I told him man I would love to go surf there. He was like hop in my truck it's right down the road. So Dane rolls in and I'm screaming DUUUUUDE we are going surfing!!! So this guy treats us like we are his kids. We get aquainted and start exchanging stories of adventure. We pull up to Rio Nexpa and the lefts coming off the point are 6-8ft perfectly glassy and just going completely nuts. I'm freaking out. I'm just like man I need to find a board. Now keep in mind that I already rode 60 hard miles with 4500ft of climbing so I'm tired but I was thinking I was gonna surf even if I passed out in the water.

For those of you who don't know I have surfed since I was 12. I have traveled the world surfing and it will always be my first love. I took up cycling in 2007 when I moved to Ohio to help me deal with the lack of waves there. After riding across Canada, across the US, and through Baja it just stokes me to be this close to world class surfing.

Rio Nexpa is like a little village. Palapas everywhere. A surf shop. Hammocks EVERYWHERE. I met these Danish women and she told me I could borrow her board. I was thinking it was gonna be a clunker but whatever. She pulls out a brand new '6"6 Al Merrick pin tail with the old Tom Curren paint job. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I have just won the Lottery. I have hit the Grandslam with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. I have just won the Superbowl the NBA championship, and the FIFA World Cup in one fell swoop. How the heck have I landed at a Perfect point break with an Al Merrick and it's 6-8ft and going supersilly with 6 guys out. I throw my boardshorts on. I keep my La Habra cycling jersey on and fill it with powergels and power bars to eat in the water.

No I'm not posting pics or video of this surf spot. You can google it I you want. I'm old school when it comes to telling other surfers where good waves are. If you ride your bike down here though I will tell you where it's at. I operate by the old school broseph code. You need to go on your own adventures and stumble into places to surf just like I did. Suffice to say there are a few guys here today who are checking it, but so far I've met a wanna be with a Quebec license plate. A guy from Texas and a couple of burned out beer belly surfers talking alot of story at the store. When there is MORE checking people out going on than there is surfing THEN you can be sure the surf level is not that high. I was spot on. There is one guy named Jorge who was killing it. The rest of the surfers were mere human bouys soaking up the sun and chasing their salt water dreams.

So I paddled out. I owned it. I'm killing it. I'm walking on water. I'm high fiving the locals. People are throwing roses at me. I'm huggin babies. I surfed until I dropped in, did a bottom turn and my legs cramped so bad I could barely move them. I was totally spent. An epic day is riding and an epic day of surfing.

Dane broke a spoke so he spent a few hours fixing his rim and he did a great job.

What a day. I seriously could not make this stuff up if I tried. I got a blast in the face today with the old goodness of life fire hose. Just full on. Right in the face. Seems to be a pattern lately.

It is getting harder and harder to leave each day. The scenery is other Worldly. The riding is superb. The people are tranquilo. The weather is a perfect 80. The water is like 80. And now the waves are added in to boot.

This is the kind of place I could never come back from.

The Internet is bad here so I can't upload pictures. Dane and I are surfing today. We are gonna ride like a 100 miles tomorrow then take a bus from Acapulco to Puerto Escondido to surf some more.

For all you cycling purists who think I'm cheating by getting a ride to go surfing it's real simple. I WANT IT ALL! I want to cycle! I want to surf World Class Waves!! BUT I'm on a timeline to. I have my daughters birthday party to be at on February 12th so I'm doing the best I can at the moment juggling my seemingly competing passions of cycling and surfing.

Today my legs hurt, my arms hurt, my back hurts but I have got a smile permanently tatooed on my face from all the adrenaline that's been pumpin through my veins from the epic climbing and 200 meter long lefts I found surfing.

Hope your all great today. Life is good.



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Was i dreaming yesterday or did Dane win a dance contest on a boat with 150 Mexicans cheering him on

Was i dreaming yesterday or did Dane win a dance contest on a boat with 150 Mexicans cheering him on

So to celebrate 2011 we decided to go on a boat today. For $30 we got to go out, go snorkeling, dance, and it was all you can drink open bar so myself, Dane and Danes parents all went btje crew was awesome. Danes dad caught a macarole fish and we caught a another one. The view fromthe land was fantastic. I got some pics here

So as we were waiting to board I did a little shopping for Quinn an found her some sea shells I have been looking at getting her for a while. I also got her some costum made ear rings and matching bracelets.

As we boarded we quickly realized that like 150 people were getting on. The music was blaring. The people were lining up to drink. Umm so yeah this is a full on party boat. HILARIOUS. So after snorkeling Dane and I are having a drink when the real dancin starts. The guy with the microphone thought it would be funny to go round up some chicas then call us out and make us dance with them in front of 150 jeering Mexicans. Well Dane was called out first and he was dancing with this girl. I was next. I was low key. I told the girl my name. I asked what she did. She said she was a doctor. I said cool. Blah blah blah. I sat down. WELL Dane kept right on truckin on the dance floor and the announcer decided to have a dance contest with the dozen couples out there dancing. The winner would be determined by the audience in the form of rooting the loudest.


Round 1 Dane still on the dance floor
Round 2 "
Round 3 "
Round 4 "

So it's the finals and the boat is going crazy. It's Dane and his chica VS. The old couple. The announcer decides that the final will involve a poll. So Dane has to poll dance in front of 150 Mexicans and his parents. I want you to know that I got the whole thing on video but Dane has asked me NOT to put it on my blog. Dane is a strong guy and he threw himself at the top of the poll sideways and spun around like 3 times fully extended dismounted perfectly and took his shirt off and threw it into the crowd. The boat went completely nuts. I was laughing so hard I had a stomach ache. the absurdity and insanity of this whole boat ride however was only getting started. Dane won the contest with the girl. Was given a bottle of tequila by the captain. We turned into rock stars. I'm not sure what I did except video the whole thing. A few girls came a talked to me. Girl number 2 was a doctor. Girl number 3 was a doctor. Girl number 4 was a doctor. I'm not making this up. I was like man was this like a pharmaceutical executive party ship or what. Then as we are Gettin ready to get off the boat another girl came and asked me where I was from and she to was a doctor. How the heck to you meet 5 doctors in one boat ride and they all approach you! WEIRD.

So we had a blast.

We rode 50 miles today. Shootin for 112 mañana.

Here are some pics from the boat.














And today's sunrise



Coconut and coconut in the water for lunch today



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