2021 Century Ride Fundraiser
Transcript:
Greg: Hello! Wow. We made it here. Pah! This was a 20hr ride from Chicago to here, near South Bend. We have a lot of stories to share!
Z: Wow, this was a long ride. I can't believe everything that happened yesterday. And technically today! Our first real issue: we became lost around the Indiana border. We pulled over to analyze the map and this guy pulled up next to us on his bike and asked if we were okay. He offered help and we accepted––he kindly guided us through Indiana for about 10 miles. Afterwards, he gave us a donation for DPS and his number in case we needed more help.
Greg: People in Indiana were really friendly and always offering help. They really seem to respect cyclists here and it inspired me. It made me feel so welcome and warm! It was great motivation to keep going. Such an awesome feeling.
Z: Right! So we kept going and maybe like 5 hours later, I fell.
Greg: A BAD fall.
Z: Yes, bad! My knee was bleeding badly and was bruised up and everything. Right away, someone pulled over and asked if we needed help or a ride. We didn't accept because of stranger danger haha but it was nice to feel that support.
Greg: Really, from my perspective, people who live in rural areas are just so friendly, supportive and helpful. Like when they see cyclists, they support and offer help, like with the tools.
Z: Yes! That was our third issue. I guess when I fell, I damaged my bike's back rack, which had all our stuff. While we were biking, hours later, the rack disconnected and we just didn't know what to do. We pulled over and tried to fix it but didn't have tools so we were trying to use string from a mask. This guy called over, "Hey! Do you need some tools? Are you okay? Do you need coffee?" He was so sweet. A complete stranger!
Greg: Wow. I loved that feeling. Riding through this rural area, it made our trip more worth it.
Z: Yes and this Airbnb is in a farm too and the owners are so flexible and sweet. We canceled the first day because of the rain and they gave us a refund. We told them how late we were going to be and they were so supportive, asking if we needed any help or anything. Everyone here is so nice!
Greg: There were good and bad experiences both and at the end, really, it's a win. I feel great. One story I want to share about us biking. My bike doesn't have gears; it's fixed gear, straight. This means that uphill is almost impossible. I prefer to get up and walk the hills. I got off at every uphill then back on my bike to go downhill. Z? She just kept going because her bike has gears, so she was ready and could go forever. But not me. My legs were crashing, I was using too much muscle.
It got very, very dark at night and Z became really scared. It was dark, totally black. She got a little paranoid but I felt okay because I have a lot of camping experience.
Z: I've lived in Chicago all my life. 29 years of street lights. I'm not used to total darkness and WOW it was dark. It really scared me pretty badly.
Greg: We decided to walk together up the hills and Z started feeling really dizzy and nauseous. She tried forcing herself to bike up the hills but I told her to save her energy and walk up. She got off the bike and suddenly got very nauseous and ready to vomit. That was the moment she passed out. Z, how were you feeling?
Z: I felt like it was a total crash. I was on the ground curled into myself. I felt like...I don't know. Like I lost myself. I don't really remember passing out well but Greg was really supportive and helped me get back up.
Greg: Her last words were "just give me 30sec". I said okay and waited while she recharged. I gave her 3min, then told her we can't stop yet, we needed to keep going. Don't give up now.
---
More in Part 2 below!
Greg: Hello! Wow. We made it here. Pah! This was a 20hr ride from Chicago to here, near South Bend. We have a lot of stories to share!
Z: Wow, this was a long ride. I can't believe everything that happened yesterday. And technically today! Our first real issue: we became lost around the Indiana border. We pulled over to analyze the map and this guy pulled up next to us on his bike and asked if we were okay. He offered help and we accepted––he kindly guided us through Indiana for about 10 miles. Afterwards, he gave us a donation for DPS and his number in case we needed more help.
Greg: People in Indiana were really friendly and always offering help. They really seem to respect cyclists here and it inspired me. It made me feel so welcome and warm! It was great motivation to keep going. Such an awesome feeling.
Z: Right! So we kept going and maybe like 5 hours later, I fell.
Greg: A BAD fall.
Z: Yes, bad! My knee was bleeding badly and was bruised up and everything. Right away, someone pulled over and asked if we needed help or a ride. We didn't accept because of stranger danger haha but it was nice to feel that support.
Greg: Really, from my perspective, people who live in rural areas are just so friendly, supportive and helpful. Like when they see cyclists, they support and offer help, like with the tools.
Z: Yes! That was our third issue. I guess when I fell, I damaged my bike's back rack, which had all our stuff. While we were biking, hours later, the rack disconnected and we just didn't know what to do. We pulled over and tried to fix it but didn't have tools so we were trying to use string from a mask. This guy called over, "Hey! Do you need some tools? Are you okay? Do you need coffee?" He was so sweet. A complete stranger!
Greg: Wow. I loved that feeling. Riding through this rural area, it made our trip more worth it.
Z: Yes and this Airbnb is in a farm too and the owners are so flexible and sweet. We canceled the first day because of the rain and they gave us a refund. We told them how late we were going to be and they were so supportive, asking if we needed any help or anything. Everyone here is so nice!
Greg: There were good and bad experiences both and at the end, really, it's a win. I feel great. One story I want to share about us biking. My bike doesn't have gears; it's fixed gear, straight. This means that uphill is almost impossible. I prefer to get up and walk the hills. I got off at every uphill then back on my bike to go downhill. Z? She just kept going because her bike has gears, so she was ready and could go forever. But not me. My legs were crashing, I was using too much muscle.
It got very, very dark at night and Z became really scared. It was dark, totally black. She got a little paranoid but I felt okay because I have a lot of camping experience.
Z: I've lived in Chicago all my life. 29 years of street lights. I'm not used to total darkness and WOW it was dark. It really scared me pretty badly.
Greg: We decided to walk together up the hills and Z started feeling really dizzy and nauseous. She tried forcing herself to bike up the hills but I told her to save her energy and walk up. She got off the bike and suddenly got very nauseous and ready to vomit. That was the moment she passed out. Z, how were you feeling?
Z: I felt like it was a total crash. I was on the ground curled into myself. I felt like...I don't know. Like I lost myself. I don't really remember passing out well but Greg was really supportive and helped me get back up.
Greg: Her last words were "just give me 30sec". I said okay and waited while she recharged. I gave her 3min, then told her we can't stop yet, we needed to keep going. Don't give up now.
---
More in Part 2 below!
I told Z: “Don’t stop. It’s fine, I don’t care if we have to walk a full mile, it’s better than stopping. Let’s just keep going.”
I told her that it would help speed us up if we walk up each hill and then every time we saw a downhill, hop on that bike and go as fast as you can down that hill so that you can use the momentum to go up the next time more easily. It’s just easier that way when it’s smooth and you don’t need to struggle quite as much. Most of the time, it was just too high though. My legs were just cramping my muscles felt it’s just not worth it so I’d hop off my bike, Z hopped off and we would walk.
After a while, we got to flat land but it was a dirt road. My bike can’t handle that. My bike does smooth streets only. We struggled and persevered by walking.
Last night, around 2am, I told Z, “Hey hold on. I’m ready to collapse. I’m ready to crash.” I had my backpack on for almost 10hrs and the disc in my neck felt off. It hurt so badly I tried to endure it but it was so bad. I tried figuring out what to do so I got off the bike and decided to walk but I had enough. I needed to get off my legs not standing or biking, just nothing. Z will show you guys a picture. I collapsed on the ground and looked at the beautiful stars. I was thinking and I just suddenly fell asleep.
Z: Listen. This isn’t Chicago. There was no Uber, no Lyft, no friends to pick us up. Just us. I thought I would need to drag his dead body. I didn’t know what to do.
I waited a few minutes and then I tried tapping on him, “Greg,” “Greg”. Nothing. He was still on the ground. I said “Greg, Greg, Greg!” I was tapping him so hard and then I pushed my bike on him. Suddenly, he woke up like he was really dizzy and he said okay and tried to stand up.
Greg: my legs were just ready to be off. I couldn’t stand again I kept crashing. I enjoyed and stood up. Z told me we only had a mile left. I didn’t know it was only 1 mile! I said, “Really? Really? Let’s go!”
Zee kept saying, “Come on, let’s go, let’s go, just get on the bike!” I said “fine” and I tried. I gave Z my book bag so I could stretch out my neck. I got on the bike at wow I was mad. 1 mile left! Let’s do it! Let’s go!
We sped so fast, we were racing like crazy. We finally arrived and I got off my bike to stretch my legs but then we couldn’t find the Airbnb! The Airbnb itself is a barn. We were looking around because they were many different barns and we were lost. We found one barn and opened the door to see a goat! That wasn’t right because we weren’t sleeping with a goat haha. Wrong barn! We didn’t know what to do.
Z: I guess we accidentally broke into the wrong place it was so dark with only the light from my phone. We finally found the right place, went in and it was really beautiful. It’s nice and cozy. We honestly slept like we were dead.
Greg: I fell asleep first, I was exhausted.
Z: and when I saw you, you were asleep with the phone still in your hand!
Greg: okay, so here are the tips:
#1: Bring water bottles. We each brought two. Two is not enough. It’s not enough. We were really thirsty.
#2: We did this one: stop at a gas station for water and snacks to replenish energy.
#3: Yesterday was very windy and that was pushing us back and giving us more work. The wind was not behind us saving our time. So that gave us a lot of extra work and was extra exhausting.
#4: Make sure you bring something like icy hot. I haven’t applied it yet but I was just thinking back that I should’ve use that.
#5: Tools. Really important in case you get a flat or need to make repairs.
Z: and the best tool: a first aid kit.
Greg: Oh right, because she fell. We didn’t have anything. Well, luckily we had some medicated wipes.
Z: Yeah honestly after what happened yesterday, I’m still scared to look at my knee. A first aid kit was a bad thing to miss!
But listen, we did this for what?
Both: DPS
Z: We showed our
Both: Dedication
Z: I would do anything for DPS, it’s like my baby. We did this fundraiser to show that we’re still alive. Despite COVID and whatever else, we’re still alive. We appreciate all of your donations so far (Greg: yes, thank you!) and we’re really close to our goal. Please, if you feel inspired by our stories if you enjoyed all of our posts yesterday, donate and show that support too. Join our team in trying to make a difference for the global Deaf community.
Greg: The last thing I want to say is this: Next year, if you’re interested in joining the challenge, adventure, fun and excitement, you all are welcome to join us! Let us know. We’ll advertise it next year. This will be from Chicago to Milwaukee and why Milwaukee? Because it’s a really friendly, bikeable area and very popular for cyclists. So we’ll be going there next year. Thank you and have a wonderful day
Both: Love you all!
I told her that it would help speed us up if we walk up each hill and then every time we saw a downhill, hop on that bike and go as fast as you can down that hill so that you can use the momentum to go up the next time more easily. It’s just easier that way when it’s smooth and you don’t need to struggle quite as much. Most of the time, it was just too high though. My legs were just cramping my muscles felt it’s just not worth it so I’d hop off my bike, Z hopped off and we would walk.
After a while, we got to flat land but it was a dirt road. My bike can’t handle that. My bike does smooth streets only. We struggled and persevered by walking.
Last night, around 2am, I told Z, “Hey hold on. I’m ready to collapse. I’m ready to crash.” I had my backpack on for almost 10hrs and the disc in my neck felt off. It hurt so badly I tried to endure it but it was so bad. I tried figuring out what to do so I got off the bike and decided to walk but I had enough. I needed to get off my legs not standing or biking, just nothing. Z will show you guys a picture. I collapsed on the ground and looked at the beautiful stars. I was thinking and I just suddenly fell asleep.
Z: Listen. This isn’t Chicago. There was no Uber, no Lyft, no friends to pick us up. Just us. I thought I would need to drag his dead body. I didn’t know what to do.
I waited a few minutes and then I tried tapping on him, “Greg,” “Greg”. Nothing. He was still on the ground. I said “Greg, Greg, Greg!” I was tapping him so hard and then I pushed my bike on him. Suddenly, he woke up like he was really dizzy and he said okay and tried to stand up.
Greg: my legs were just ready to be off. I couldn’t stand again I kept crashing. I enjoyed and stood up. Z told me we only had a mile left. I didn’t know it was only 1 mile! I said, “Really? Really? Let’s go!”
Zee kept saying, “Come on, let’s go, let’s go, just get on the bike!” I said “fine” and I tried. I gave Z my book bag so I could stretch out my neck. I got on the bike at wow I was mad. 1 mile left! Let’s do it! Let’s go!
We sped so fast, we were racing like crazy. We finally arrived and I got off my bike to stretch my legs but then we couldn’t find the Airbnb! The Airbnb itself is a barn. We were looking around because they were many different barns and we were lost. We found one barn and opened the door to see a goat! That wasn’t right because we weren’t sleeping with a goat haha. Wrong barn! We didn’t know what to do.
Z: I guess we accidentally broke into the wrong place it was so dark with only the light from my phone. We finally found the right place, went in and it was really beautiful. It’s nice and cozy. We honestly slept like we were dead.
Greg: I fell asleep first, I was exhausted.
Z: and when I saw you, you were asleep with the phone still in your hand!
Greg: okay, so here are the tips:
#1: Bring water bottles. We each brought two. Two is not enough. It’s not enough. We were really thirsty.
#2: We did this one: stop at a gas station for water and snacks to replenish energy.
#3: Yesterday was very windy and that was pushing us back and giving us more work. The wind was not behind us saving our time. So that gave us a lot of extra work and was extra exhausting.
#4: Make sure you bring something like icy hot. I haven’t applied it yet but I was just thinking back that I should’ve use that.
#5: Tools. Really important in case you get a flat or need to make repairs.
Z: and the best tool: a first aid kit.
Greg: Oh right, because she fell. We didn’t have anything. Well, luckily we had some medicated wipes.
Z: Yeah honestly after what happened yesterday, I’m still scared to look at my knee. A first aid kit was a bad thing to miss!
But listen, we did this for what?
Both: DPS
Z: We showed our
Both: Dedication
Z: I would do anything for DPS, it’s like my baby. We did this fundraiser to show that we’re still alive. Despite COVID and whatever else, we’re still alive. We appreciate all of your donations so far (Greg: yes, thank you!) and we’re really close to our goal. Please, if you feel inspired by our stories if you enjoyed all of our posts yesterday, donate and show that support too. Join our team in trying to make a difference for the global Deaf community.
Greg: The last thing I want to say is this: Next year, if you’re interested in joining the challenge, adventure, fun and excitement, you all are welcome to join us! Let us know. We’ll advertise it next year. This will be from Chicago to Milwaukee and why Milwaukee? Because it’s a really friendly, bikeable area and very popular for cyclists. So we’ll be going there next year. Thank you and have a wonderful day
Both: Love you all!
