Donald Miller and the Ride:Well Team Bike America

Last night I went out in the rain and had a great ride. It was probably the best training ride so far, not because it was long, because it wasn’t that long, but because for the last two nights it’s been rainy and cold and for some reason that just makes the ride feel more outside and cold and not indoors and wet and all of that. I took the Springwater Corridor out toward Gresham. You can ride fifteen miles without ever hitting a street and so it was a good, steady ride. It was also the first time I’ve come back to the house and not really wanted to get off the bike. Next week when I get back to Portland I will have to pick up the pace and distance. Aaron Smith at Venture wants us to get a 75-miler in before we leave. I will have to come back and do a quick 40 and then spend a day doing that 75 just before I leave. Hopefully it will be raining again.

Heading to Los Angeles this morning to speak at a retreat. Might not be able to update from up in the mountains, but I will try. I hope everybody is well.

As we get closer to taking this ride across America, and as i’m getting more apprehensive about leaving the comfort of a bed, a car, a shower, a toilet and for that matter personal freedom for seven weeks, I only have to go back to some photos I took on a recent trip to Uganda to remember why all of this is worth it, and is hardly much to sacrifice considering the need for wells in Africa.

The biggest complaint I have lately is that it costs so much to fill up my car with gas. The idea of not having something as simple and readily available as fresh water is an entirely foreign concept.

But the truth is there are currently over one billion people in the world lacking safe water and over two billion without adequate sanitation. When I think about that, I get excited about what we are going to be doing on our ride. I saw firsthand in an internally displaced people camp outside Gulu how impacting a well can be in a small village. My friend Bob Goff had gone into this IDP camp and fixed several broken pumps, and the entire community, hundreds of people, greeted us when we arrived to thank us.

I will be remembering that moment as we pull into various churches we will be presenting at along the way. I wish I could bring those hundreds with me so they could thank the people who are giving firsthand.

I want to thank those of you who have already donated to Blood:Water through this site. Your donations will go directly toward providing clean water to those who are currently eating, drinking and bathing in unsanitary conditions. Every dollar makes a difference.

If you haven’t donated yet, please consider giving something using the link to the right. Thanks so much for continuing to follow this journey. I’ll be reporting from the road soon!

Aaron Smith at Venture Expeditions sent me a mock-up of our team van this afternoon. I think it looks pretty sweet. The Van will go before us and behind us as we cross the country. It will hold most of our gear, though the team will take turns pulling a bike trailer that will hold stuff we might need if the van gets too far away. Stuff like board games and licorice I would imagine. The folks at Venture Expeditions have done a terrific job preparing us for the trip. I have a feeling these guys are going to become good friends. Venture Expeditions is an outfit that creates adventure-sport trips revolving around raising funds for not-for profits like BloodWater. I’m stoked to be able to do the trip with a team of people who have experience riding across the country, that way when I ask "Are we there yet?" they will know the answer.

Thanks to those of you who have donated through this site. We will be interacting with thousands of people on our trip, and without your support, we wouldn’t be able to get the word out about the need for wells in Africa. Your kindness is much appreciated! Now, if you see this van on the road somewhere, make sure to stop and say hello! About two weeks to go!!

I took the day off from both writing and riding yesterday and attended the Obama Rally in Portland. It was a good day to be in the city. Perfect weather and an inspiring candidate brought an estimated 70,000 people out to the waterfront to hear Obama. I showed early and still thought I got bad seats until I realized that the much smaller stage right in front of me would be where the candidate would make his speech. I was weary about reporting much of this on the blog because I realize that different parts of the country and different political leanings would make this entry controversial, but I’ll do it anyway, not to shock but just to report accurately about what I’m doing in the days before the ride.

Obama should win Oregon pretty easily, and the win will most likely put him out of reach in terms of the delegate count, so I think Obama will be running against McCain. John McCain is not a bad candidate, I don’t think. I think people will be surprised at how good and different his foreign policy will be, and I think this election is primarily about foreign policy. At least that is what is most important to me. There are key issues that I do not agree with Obama on, but for the most part, I think he would go a long way in healing some of the tension that exists between the west and the rest of the world.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t deeply moved by his speech, and moved also by the great citizens of Portland who showed to hear him. My neighbor is Barbara Roberts, the former Governor of Oregon, and she has endorsed Obama and was mentioned at the rally. Barbara is a liberal, and I consider myself more of a moderate, but I know her heart and she has a great heart that loves people, understands hardship and believes in the political process. She has helped me believe, too. I’ll be doing more careful research as the regular election grows closer, but in these primaries Barack has been my guy from the beginning.

As for those issues I don’t agree, I think there is some hope there too. I like Jim Wallis’ approach to some of these issues, hoping to affect the Democratic Party to create a broader tent. Anyway, that’s the news from Portland today. This week I am in need of a massive amount of words before I head to Los Angeles this weekend to speak at a retreat. I’ll keep you posted on that too. Thanks, as always, for following along….