The Last Hill Before Home: A ride in the park

Friday, May 22, 2009

A ride in the park

My buddy Blake and I decided to do a little ride in the city the other day. Blake lives in San Francisco, in the sunset, and we decided to meet at his place on a perfectly beautiful Saturday. The idea was to bike around Golden Gate park head out to the presidio, ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and dip into Sausilito for lunch and then head back. Blake got a bike a few months ago and so we were both excited to get some biking in on this perfect day.

Blake first came to The Last Hill Project a few months ago when I was cruising up the Mexican coast. He mentioned that he wanted to get a bike and ride with me part of the way. I told him that would be cool but I was doing about 80 miles a day in some tuff terrain. Blake wasn't quite up to that pace but he told me that we would ride when I got back to SF.

So here we are...crusing through Golden Gate park.

I told my buddy that we are about 4 or 5 thousand bucks short of hitting the $15,000 goal. As we were riding we were passing around ideas on how to reach our goal. One idea was to do a one day bike ride event where the participants pay a registration fee. The money of course would go through Plan USA and then go towards building the school in Guatemala. My intial though was to do a bike ride that started at the Golden Gate bridge and rode for about 7 miles in Sausilito and back. The terrain isn't to hard BUT it might scare some people off.

So Balke and I decided to change it up a bit. We came to the conclusion that we need to make this thing a total joy ride. We want to do a 10 mile ride around Golden Gate park and then ending at one of the popular picnic areas, Speedway Meadow. That way even people who haven't been on 2 wheels in years wouldn't be scarewd to come.

So were cruising along Golden Gate park and we stumble upon a huge festival, at Speedway Meadow, geard for kids. Wew stumbled upon a couple of really choice things. One, we noticed amongst the mahem of kids running around crazy, that the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition was sponsoring a bike barn. So I rolled up to the guy and got a ton of info on the SFBC and some valuable contact info. Two, Cliff Bar was sponsoring the event and again Blake and I made an intro and got The Northern California Marketing Doirectors info. Shell also be a great contact if we decided to get some corpoprate spopnsors. And three, I was even able to reserve a spot for the picnic at San Francisco's Park and permit department which is located right indside the park. I guess you could saw were starting to make some moves for the event.

The ride with Blake was super cool. We hit up a cool cafe in Sauslitio. Grabbed a beer and talked about the usual. Blakes a super cool and chill guy. Blake and his lovely irlfriend Krystal are moving to a new apartment near the feerry building. It was great to see his eyes light up when he was talking about getting his own place with his girlfriend. We also talked about South America and travelling. He's always toying with the idea of taking his business and moving to Santiago de Chile.

Overall...it was a great day. Its great to be back!

Peace, Power and Pedal

Aaron

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Plan USA

¨Plan is a global partnership of caring people founded in 1937 to bring hope and help to the world’s poorest children.

Plan began as a child sponsorship organization. Today, we are one of the oldest and largest organizations of our kind—our grassroots, self-help programs assist more than 10 million children and their families in poor communities around the world.

We are proudly private, not for profit, and respectful of local religions and cultures—we have no agenda other than helping kids. Plan USA is one of more than 60 national organizations bearing the renowned Plan logo. ¨

Right about the time that I was identifying non profit organizations to work with I received an email from my cousin Joshua. Josh, a meteorologist for the United States Air Force who is living in Germany and currently stationed in Iraq, mentioned that he was now sponsoring a child through Plan USA. He said that it was a small step but a small step in the right direction. He also mentioned that Plan USA was backed by the Better Business Bureau, a point that we both respect. Through various research of my own I found that Plan USA is a prominent NGO and has a great marks from InterAction and the Charities Review Council. Most importantly I found that Plan USA´s mission of ¨striving to achieve lasting improvement in the quality of life of deprived children in developing countries¨ linked exactly to my own mission for this fundraising event. Needless to say, it was a great fit.

The Inspiration

¨You must be the change you want to see in the world¨

- Mahatma Gandhi

I love to travel.

I have been lucky enough to throw on a backpack and visit 5 continents. I have been fortunate enough to see some amazing sights. It´s hard not to be inspired when your standing under the rotunda at the Taj Mahal or approaching the Pyramids of Egypt or wandering through the waterfalls at Iguazu in Argentina. These have all been inspiring times.

I also cherish the fact that I have met people from all over the world and been able to learn and share in the differences in cultures. You can learn so much when you share a spicy vietnamese sandwich with a local in Hoi An, when you take a stroll with a friend in a park in Santiago de Chile or gather with pilgrims over a pitcher of sangria at Santiago de Compostella in Spain. I´ve learned a lot and I´m incredibly grateful for all the opportunities.

With all the ups there´s also the downs. Theres another side you see when travelling. This side isn´t shared as much and it can also be quite difficult to talk about. Many countries, especially in the developing worlds, face many problems. HIV/AIDS, pollution, over population, lack of clean drinking water, dangerous living conditions and of course people living under $1 a day are just a few of the issues to mention.

I have wandered through the ghetto´s of Bangkok, I played stick games with the kids in the slums of Mumbai and seen the horrible living conditions of the street beggars in La Paz. While these encounters were only brief they still had a profound affect on me. Somehow, I draw inspiration from these encounters and connections. In so many situations these people who seemed to have nothing, were still smiling, still playing and still trying with all their means to get by. If only I had that much courage!

It was culture shock and it hurt.

I feel that now is the time to give back.

I encourage you to leave comments on this blog. Every word of positivity will help me along my journey. I encourage you to pass the message forward. Together we can help make a change for the kids that need it most. Finally, I encourage you to donate. There´s an icon on the top right hand corner of this blog that will direct you to a third party site that facilitates the donations. Its totally secure and safe. I appreciate all the love and positivity that I´m already recieving, of course this is not possible without people who want to help make a difference.

I don´t think that I´ll necessarily change the world, after all I´m just a 28 year old guy from San Francisco. But, I do want to give back. I do want to help. I have the opportunity so why not use it to help the children in the world who don´t have the same chances.

Now is the time to ¨be the change¨.

The Goal

In riding my bike from Panama City to San Francisco, I am initiating a grassroots fundraising effort to help raise money to feed starving children in Central and South America. All proceeds will go to PLAN USA. My goal is to raise a minimum of 15,000 dollars. In doing so I also hope to bring the plight and struggle of these children into the concious of the public, as well as their profound sense of life, courage, hope and faith. Their undeniable love for life, and ability to continue to dream.

Donate today http://www.firstgiving.com/lasthillbeforehome

I Believe

When taking on a mission like this it´s important to create a set of ideals, principles or beliefs. The task at hand is by no means going to be easy. These 7 beliefs are truly the fundamentals that will help me along my journey.

I Believe...

- In Plan USA. Plan´s clearly defined mission of ¨striving to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of deprived children in developing countries¨, is possible with the support from us if we are willing to make a difference today.

- In grassroots charitable efforts. Dedicated individual leaders and community outreach groups are fighting the growing problems of poverty.

- In the power of communication and information. Plan´s key programs of ¨growing up healthy, learning, habitat, livelihood and building relationships¨, are possible by making a donation and passing the message forward.

- Riding a bike from Panama City to San Francisco will raise awareness to the fight against poverty.

- In outdoor adventure travel. Riding is one of the positive and healthy activities that plants confidence into any individual.

- In the power of synergy. A group with a common mission driven by creativity and passion can accomplish any set of goals.

- A dream, a bike and a regular guy from San Francisco can help make a change in the lives of children whom need it most.

The Last Hill Before Home

Friday, May 22, 2009

A ride in the park

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