Day 18: Globe, AZ

“The Gauntlet” has started.

For the next ten days we will be cycling non-stop, accumulating almost 900 miles into Lubbock, Texas.  Today was arguably one of the hardest rides on South route, but almost the entire team made it to Globe, Arizona.  The day tested our determination to finish the 85 miles.  Tomorrow will test our will even more, as we are cycling the Salt River Canyon; the climb is estimated at 95 miles with 12,000 feet of climbing.  We’ll have a very early bedtime tonight before waking up extra early to cycle.

Since we’ll be staying in smaller towns in Arizona and New Mexico this stretch, we won’t have as many friendship visits along the way.  If we can survive The Gauntlet, we will certainly make it the rest of the way Washington, DC.

“Don’t count the miles, make the miles count.”

Halfway up the climb to Globe, AZ

Day 15: Wickenburg, AZ

First and foremost, if anyone has been keeping up with my blog lately, I apologize for not writing more often. I’ve been so busy lately with cycling and programming.

To recap on the past couple weeks: the trip has been amazing thus far. The team is beginning to mesh very well already. Our biggest stop of the trip has definitely been in Las Vegas. We were hooked up with some excellent lodging and hospitality from The Mirage and Russ Faulkner. We’ve also been to so many amazing friendship visits along the way.

Today, we arrived in Wickenburg, AZ after a 108 mile day on the bike. It was the first day we completed over 100 miles because of previous inclement weather conditions. I could not have been more proud of my pace line today because we worked as one cohesive unit. We have sponsored dinner tonight, and if it’s anywhere as good as last year’s, it should be delicious (as all of our meals have been). We’ll be in Phoenix for two days tomorrow, so I’m definitely off to bed early tonight.

First century ride complete: 108.1 miles in 6:19:14

Me and Greye at a friendship visit in Las Vegas

Days 2/3: Victorville, CA to Barstow, CA

Day 2: At the top of the climb

Yesterday, we had a 65 mile ride into Victorville, CA. Because of safety reasons, we had to rack in the middle of the ride for about five miles. I swept along with Shad and Trey from UNC-Chapel Hill. The 4000 foot climb was both physically and mentally challenging throughout the day, especially with the multiple stops due to sweeping.

Once we arrived into Victorville, we stayed at a community center (where our friendship visit also was). The night can be summed up in three words: lots of dancing. The hits of the night were a photo booth and a talent show dance performance by a few girls in the area. They rocked the stage, and invited us to join them in dancing. That will be a night that I’ll never forget; the entire place was electrifying up until the time the friendship visit was over. Seeing the smiles on the girls’ faces made us forget how tired or sore we were from the long day of cycling. Needless to say, all of the team fell asleep quickly.

“The A-team” – JP, Dan, and me

Today, we had a quick 60 mile ride into Barstow, CA. I rode with JP and Dan (“A-team”) through some Breaking Bad-like scenery in the desert. The heat was ridiculous by the time we finished (100 degrees)! Luckily, we finished quickly enough to avoid anything hotter.

Solar-thermal panels

SEGS I & II

There wasn’t a friendship visit today, but we toured the Solar Energy Generating Systems I & II (SEGS) nearby. Luckily for me, this was right down my alley as an electrical engineer. We’re staying in the local community college tonight before we head off to Pahrump, NV bright and early!

Day 1: Ontario, CA

Journey of Hope – South Route 2014

Today is the day; we finally made our way towards Washington, DC.  After approximately 57 miles, we arrived in Ontario, California from Long Beach.  The ride itself wasn’t terrible, besides a few miles of mountains.  I think that the entire team used this day to figure out what works best for them on the bike, as well working together in pacelines.  We’re fortunate enough to stay in the Embassy Suites of Ontario tonight before a 70 mile ride to Victorville, CA tomorrow.

Tonight, we are headed to the Garcia’s house for a sponsored meal.  We won’t have a friendship visit today, so we will have plenty of time to rest up for tomorrow!

Paul Swenson, Kevin Cowan, and me after Day 1

“Together we shall grow, appreciate, support, and live as a family.  Never settling for the status quo, constantly pushing to be the best.  We will spread our message and confidently say that we left it all on the road–no regrets.”

– Journey of Hope, South Route 2014

First friendship visit

Banner made for us by AbilityFirst

Today marked the first day that I’ve been on the bike for Journey of Hope. We were fortunate with a late wakeup at 7:30 this morning. Once again, we practice packed as if it was our last morning on the Queen Mary. The morning started with a crew chief breakfast, followed by a bicycle skills assessment session. Nothing was too difficult compared to what we will experience in just a few days. We then took a quick stroll to the Long Beach Lighthouse and took our official team photo. It was a surreal feeling knowing that we will begin cycling towards Washington, DC on Friday.

At Long Beach Lighthouse with Kevin Cowan (Florida State)

We also had our first friendship visit of the trip at AbilityFirst. All the guys had a blast hanging out at the friendship visit; I was in charge of making snow-cones for a carnival. The kids we hung out with were really receptive to us hanging out with them. The friendship visit ended with an excellent sponsored meal.

Serving Snow Cones with Josh Stroud (California – Berkeley)

Our next training ride will be bright and early tomorrow morning. With a wakeup time of 5:30, we’ll be in bed extra early tonight. Kickoff is just right around the corner!

Finally arrived!

After seven hours of flying, I’ve safely arrived to California. I’m very anxious to see what orientation week has in store for us, but I’m sure that it’ll be a blast until we kick-off on Friday. Now that I am finally here, the idea of cycling across the country is becoming more daunting. I know that my training will pay off when we begin riding (even though I haven’t been able to ride since my bike got boxed).

The first day of orientation was great; we did a few ice-breakers and team building activities to get to know our teammates a little better. After a quick night out, I immediately fell asleep before lights-out. I am still adjusting to the time change, so hopefully I’ll be ready to go by the time we kick off.

This morning (Tuesday) we had a very nice sponsored meal from Whole Foods. I think it’s safe to say that the whole team was stuffed and satisfied by the end of the meal. We were also able to make a Target run to pick up a few personal items. The rest of the day will consist of safety and risk procedure programming with the highlight of the night being a sponsored meal at In-N-Out Burger!

Mail Drops

It’s pretty late, and in just a few hours I’ll board my plane to Los Angeles. Throughout the summer, I’ll have a few opportunities to receive mail. If you’d like to send me anything, please be sure to include: “Attn: Journey of Hope – Kevin Quan”. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me!

Throwback Thursday – Good luck, Matt!

Judd’s wedding, 2012

As many of you may know, my brother/best friend/roommate/teammate, Matthew Menard, is also participating in the Journey of Hope this summer. We’re currently roommates at Clemson in a pretty cool housing complex called Aspen Heights. Although he’s taking the North route, I’ll still give him a shoutout for cycling and helping people with disabilities along the way!

Index Journal article, Fall 2008

Matt has been one of my best friends since eighth grade; we ran cross country and track together throughout high school. We also ran against each other in college (even though I was the slower one by far) when he attended Wofford College and when I was at Presbyterian College. While we were in college, I persuaded Matt to join Pi Kappa Phi and participate in the Journey of Hope. The rest is history…

Matt decided to join Pi Kapp as a senior at Wofford. As a promise to each other, we both are riding across the country for people with disabilities this summer. This wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t convince Matt to become a Pi Kapp at Wofford. Luckily, Matt decided to pledge and we kept our pact of participating in the Journey of Hope together. So far, we have raised over $14,500 for Push America together in support of people with disabilities!

Team XC Practice, Fall 2007

The North route just began orientation yesterday (May 28th) in San Francisco. They depart a few days before South route on June 1st. My route (South) starts orientation June 2nd and kicks off riding on June 5th. All three routes (including Transamerica, which kicked off yesterday) will eventually join each other before our grand arrival at our Nation’s Capitol in Washington, DC on August 2nd.

Even though we aren’t riding on the same route this summer, we will bring back two completely different experiences on the Journey of Hope by the time we finish. I cannot be more proud of what we have accomplished so far and what we will accomplish by August 2nd! Best wishes to Matt and North route this summer!

RTT Friendship Visit at Holy Angels

You can follow Matt on his Journey of Hope experience through his Twitter/Instagram feed here: @menardmh / @JOHnorth

The bike is packed!

Well, my bike is all packed up and ready to fly out with me to Los Angeles next Monday. I just wanted to take the time to thank a few special people who’ve made this trip possible for me.

Me, Derek, and the packed bike

First, I’d like to thank Emerald City Bikes and staff (Derek, Joanna, and Sam) for supporting me along the way. They’re the BEST bike shop in Greenwood and have the best service available. Derek packed my bike and has given me cycling advice since the first day I started cycling. Be sure to check them out on Facebook and like their page! They’ll hook you up with the best deals and advice anyone could ever ask for!

Andrew’s wedding

Second, I would like to thank Andrew Wilson for assisting me in creating/tweaking this WordPress blog. Andrew was a teammate of mine in high school and has been supportive in my endeavors on the Journey of Hope. He was a founding father of the Epsilon Eta chapter of Pi Kappa Phi at Winthrop University. Andrew is currently a middle school teacher in Lexington, SC teaching Spanish. One of his current projects is WordPress Ministries, which can be found here. If your church is looking for a website makeover or a website in general, Andrew is the first person you need to speak to! Thank you, Andrew, for making this blog the best it can be!

Next, I’d like to thank everyone who has financially supported me thus far throughout this process. Without donors and sponsors, my cross-country cycling trip would really not be possible. There have been so many supporters that I cannot even begin to name everyone individually. Fundraising for the Journey of Hope has not been an easy task, but with supporters like you, it has certainly eased this burden tremendously!

Bid Day 2012

Finally: all my brothers of the Beta chapter of Pi Kapp at Presbyterian College. These guys have supported me since I began fundraising for the trip. I couldn’t have asked for a better undergraduate experience with Pi Kapp at PC. Also, I can’t leave out the Pi Kapps at Clemson. As a rechartering chapter, the future is bright for Zeta Alpha!

If you’re still reading by now, I’d like to thank you as well! Be sure to continuously check out this blog throughout the summer, as I’ll try to update it daily with my experiences. As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me or leave any comments you have below. You can always follow me through the Twitter feeds found on my ‘About’ section. Also, check out our itinerary for the trip through the menu link! From there you’ll be able to see our activities for every day throughout the summer.

Kevin

Day 0 – Pre-trip

Hello all, and welcome to my new blog for the Journey of Hope this summer!  I will periodically update my blog throughout the summer, documenting my experiences on the Journey of Hope.  

The Journey of Hope is a 4000 mile, cross-country bicycle trek made by Pi Kappa Phis through Push America.  There are three different routes: Transamerica route, North route, and South route.  I am flying out of Charlotte to Los Angeles on Monday, June 2nd for our team orientation.  I have decided to take the South route, which kicks off on Friday, June 6th from Long Beach, California.  From there, we will cycle towards our nation’s capitol in Washington, DC (with arrival on August 2nd).  Along the way, we will be raising awareness for people with disabilities by participating in friendship visits and through other activities.  

I have been fortunate enough over the past year to fundraise enough support to send me across the country; without all the help, this trip would be impossible.  To learn more about the Journey of Hope, feel free to visit my personal fundraising website.  From there, you can browse around Push America’s website to learn more about this great organization and other endeavors we are involved in.  Also, be sure to check back often to learn about my experiences throughout the trip!