Benefit Dinner recap

The benefit dinner was a great success! Thank you to all those who came out to Sabor. We reached full capacity at the restaurant and raised an additional $1800 ! Thank you to Sabor for hosting us and to all the participating sponsors who donated towards our raffle (Cordua restaurants, Taco Milagro, Starbucks, Sabor and E.J. Szozda). Yianna Samartzis was the big winner of the night and took home the free Continental flight. Also, thank you to our entertainers James Grogan, Karen Yates and Kasia Szozda for their fantastic musical performances. Below are some pics from the event.

Benefit Dinner for Bikes without Boundaries

Please join us on Sunday, December 13th or Thursday, December 17th as we will be hosting a benefit dinner for Bikes without Boundaries. The dinner will take place at Sabor, Houston's most authentic and delicious Salvadorian restaurant. Dinner tickets will be $35/person and will include a three course meal, live music, and a presentation of BWB's cause. If you're interested in trying some good Salvadorian food for a good cause in a fun, casual atmosphere please RSVP your attendance by mailing a check for $35/person to:

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Alex Szozda

1212 Fairview St. #L

Houston, TX 77006

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Please send checks by Thursday, December 10th for Sunday's dinner and by Monday, December 14th for Thursday's dinner.

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Thank you and hope to see you there!

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Click on the images above for an enlarged version.

Home stretch

Baton Rouge to Opelousas, LA – 65 miles, sunny, motel
Opelousas, LA to Kinder, LA – 45 miles, cloudy, motel
Kinder, LA to Beaumont, TX – 100 miles, sunny, motel
Beaumont to Houston, TX – 90 miles, sunny, home

Louisiana - Texas

Pensacola, FL to Dauphin Island, AL – 62 miles, sunny, camped
Dauphin Island to Biloxi, MS – 65 miles, cloudy and drizzly, motel
Biloxi to Slidell, LA – 70 miles, cloudy, motel
Slidell to Baton Rouge, LA – 90 miles, rainy, hitched-hike, motel

Georgia

Hinesville, GA to Homerville, GA – 92 miles, sunny and hot, motel
Homerville to Thomasville, GA – 78 miles, sunny, camped
Thomasville to Chatahoochee, FL – 60 miles, cloudy and rainy, picked up by my dad

Meeting Neil

Meeting Neil
What was a chance encounter with another biker on the road became a great friendship.

While in Fredricksburg, Virginia, I had stopped to consult my map when another biker approached me to chat. He saw my bike and my gear and inquired what kind of ride I was doing. I told him of my cross country itinerary and he nonchalantly responded that he was doing the same ride. I was a little reluctant at first because Neil was an older man (in his late 60s). He was clean shaven, looked very spry, and didn’t have any kind of saddlebags on his bike. (whereas I was not clean shaven, looked tired, and had a dirty beat down fully-loaded bike). I thought how could this older man be doing a cross country bike ride and look so much more energetic than me? Well it turns out this wasn’t Neil’s first rodeo; in fact this was Neil’s third cross country bike ride. He was also an avid outdoorsman who had hiked Mount Kilimanjaro and the Pacific Crest Trail. A recently retired pediatrician from Georgia, Neil told me that his goal was to bike the four corners of the country, of which he only had the northern US/Canadian route left to do. It turned out that on this particular trip, Neil was following the same exact route as myself biking from Maine to his home in Savannah, GA. He also revealed that his wife, Vivian, was taking the same ride with him, but in their SUV carrying all his food, gear, etc. We had a nice talk, exchanged contact information, and thought that would probably be the last time we’d run into each other.

5 days and 350 miles later, I was biking in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and who approaches me, but Neil. Chatty and energetic as usual, Neil was riding at about an 18-19 mph pace (Granted we had a good tailwind). Neil was motivated to get me going faster that day and with him riding in front of me he “pulled me” for about 70 miles that day. Time really flew with the company and the conversation of another person. In the afternoon, we went our separate ways, as I got off to a late start and he stopped for a little afternoon sightseeing. However, we ran into each other again the next day and decided to ride together for the next two days. Neil invited me to his beach home in Tybee Island, GA (near Savannah, GA) and spent the day showing me around Savannah and Tybee. I enjoyed the comfort of some good home cooking and good company.

Coinjock to Rodanthe, NC – 65 miles, beautiful and sunny, camped
Rodanthe to Cedar Island Bay, NC -78 miles, cloudy to rainy, very windy, motel
Cedar Island Bay to Onslow Bay, NC –74 miles, sunny, invited to stay at someone’s home
Wilmington, Nc to North Myrtle Beach, SC – 87 miles, cloudy and rainy, hotel
Charleston, Sc to Savannah, GA – 90 miles, sunny, invited to stay at someone’s home

Virginia

Well, I think I will break down my blog by interesting stories. There’s not much use in describing my ride as its pretty much 8 hours of just riding. Pretty uneventful, until something eventful happens.

Random comment 1: I’m getting sick and tired of my Ipod. I’ve gotten so accustomed to working out with my ipod that I always bike with it on. Now all I hear is noise, as the same songs are being repeated over and over. For the next few days, I’m biking music-free. Let the daydreaming begin.

Cross country biker hospitalized for 6 weeks
Leaving Richmond, I met an older man who was just completing a cross country bike ride from Oregon to Virginia. He looked pretty dejected and looked like he was ready to be home. He told me that he had left Oregon in May (it was mid October when I met him) and that while riding through Tenessee was attacked by a dog who knocked him off his bike, and caused him to break a few of his ribs. He spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. I had really had any dog problems in the north, but as I biked further south I encountered more un-fenced dogs. After shitting myself the first few times, I realized that most dogs just like the chase and don’t really want to bite you. Then I realized if a dog is getting to aggressive to yell at him sternly and if that doesn’t work spray him with your water bottle. If that doesn’t work, then you’re screwed.

I biked 105 miles from Richmond to Suffolk, which is my daily record so far.

I’m starting to become indifferent, if not slightly annoyed by random people asking me about my bike ride. Don’t take me wrong, I like people who take an interest and want to have a friendly conversation with me. But sometimes I get a lot of dumb questions and stares (and no offense, it’s happened with A LOT more frequency in the South):
“What cha got all them bags for?” I’m doing a cross country bike ride. “You going all that way on a bike?!” No I’m actually walking, and just pushing this thing in front of me. Pause. Blank stare.
The other funny conversation is this one.
I’ll be talking to a guy about my bike ride and then ask him, Well how do I get to town X and how far is it? “Well, you take a right here and get on I-10. Take exit 15. It should take you about 15 minutes”. Thanks, that helps a lot.

Today was the first time I had ever seen tobacco and cotton fields, and I biked through them almost all day going through the Virginia country. It’s a pretty neat site to see fields of what look like little cotton balls. Such a weird thing to see growing out of the ground.

Richmond to Suffolk, VA – 105 miles, sunny, motel
Suffolk to Coinjock, VA -65 miles, cloudy to rainy, motel