Very Late Blog, Tired Legs, Troubles and Triumphs :: Our Ride to Nashville So Far...
The Ride for Music team is currently over 1200 miles and 1 month in to our 1,500 mile/6 week journey from Tampa to Nashville... This blog was supposed to be far more frequent, for the lack of that frequency I apologize...
This ride hasn't been easy... It hasn't been like a midday or morning ride in Tampa where you go home after or head to work to continue your day. Our days in their entirety have been consumed with cycling, self care, packing and unpacking the RV so we have a place to sleep and preparing for the next days journey. On top of that, each day brings its own unknown struggles we have no choice but to manage in the moment. In addition.... write a blog...
You name it, we've had it... One night during the first week, the generator quit working (which means no AC) in the middle of the night (which created a scramble to look for some oil and some part along with lack of vital sleep... thank you Truck stops). I personally suffered 3 flat tires in one day in rural South Carolina (that was the most miserable day of the ride so far as it sidelined us for a day and a half), we were also chased by three packs of vicious dogs (let's just say South Carolina is the absolute worst state to ride a bike in okay? From the road conditions and the rural "folks" who refuse to chain up their animals, I will say it now, the state, nor the residents care about cyclists outside of Charleston). We also learned that it is not wise to go hiking on your day off in Chimney Rock NC as the muscle strain from that hike took us off the road for two days with inoperable calf muscles.
Aside from the troubles, the trip has been 95% amazing and something we will do again for this charity... Seeing the country by bicycle and meeting people from all over the Southeast has been truly unforgettable. The support we have garnered from complete strangers has restored my belief that good people want to help and support the efforts of people they don't know and a charity they have never heard of. We have had friends travel and come visit us on the road, we've reconnected with people we haven't seen in decades and we have experienced the joy of living each day with purpose... I wont trade that for anything...
Truth be told, this trip was an experiment... Don't get me wrong, it was organized, it has a purpose and were fulfilling it... But the "unknowns" of the trip (both physically and logistically) needed explored and we had to accomplish a cycling trip such as this in order to prepare for our big endeavor next year in 2022 when we ride from LA to New York City.
Ride For Music is not just about this trip... What we learned on this journey has completely educated us on what to expect when we take on the longer journey next year.
I don't want to make this a super long post... I have so many details I could write but it would fill an 8 page blog. You can see a lot of our pictures, aerial videos of our daily routes and some further information from each day on our Instagram account @RideForMusic
In closing, i want to thank every single person who has supported us... From the one penny donor to the $10,000 donor, it all means the world to us and the people we are riding to raise money for. Please stay tuned to our travels on Instagram and to our event calendar for the completion of this ride to Nashville and for our continued local Tampa rides and our upcoming nationwide journeys and events.
On the fundraising front, we are about $25,000 in to our $50,000 goal... Please consider pledging to our cause on the donate page of our website...
We hope that you will continue to support us in the years to come... In the meantime, Nashville is a mere two weeks, 500 miles, and 25,000 feet of elevation away! Tomorrow we head to Bryson City, NC then across the Smokies in to Gatlinburg, TN... Please keep us in your thoughts...
Ride For Music Team...
Kevin Lilly, Duke Myers and Kelly Flynn.