Scott H

In December, 2006 I'm embarking on a cross country ride to raise awareness and nonpartisan support for our troops involved in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm calling the ride Trek 4 the Troops, and I welcome you to read more about it at www.trek4thetroops.com.

Since I've posted this info on other forums and gotten some rather nasty responses, let me please emphasize I'm NOT riding in support of the war, or the current administration's policies. It's all about supporting those folks who're doing the hard work and sacrificing so much. They need our support.

What makes this ride different from other cross-continental awareness/fund raising rides?

The ride will be done solo, without a support vehicle, on a fixed-gear. That’s right, FIXED GEAR! To the best of my knowledge only a select few have ever traversed the continent on a fixed-gear, and some might say that the attempt is crazy. I've seen a few websites where it appears that two groups did a fixed gear crossing this summer, but they weren't solo and weren't unsupported, so I guess there's still a bit of uniqueness to my trek.

I’ll be following a fairly southerly route from San Diego to Savannah, and I welcome anyone/everyone to ride along should I pass through your area. Fixed gear bikes not required! I’ll be updating the ride website every day, and who knows, maybe your picture will show up there.

In the meantime, please visit www.americasupportsyou.mil and see how you can help in the effort to support our service men and women serving our country in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I’m not soliciting funds or donations directly. I have no way (or desire) to handle donations of cash. I'm just trying to raise awareness and support for the many fine organizations that are doing a wonderful job supporting the troops. Please take a look at all the ways you can help, and help however you can.

If you want to help out my effort, I'd welcome a note of encouragement. You can email me at scott@trek4thetroops.com or send me a message from the ride website.

thanks!

Scott

Dersu Burrows

Wow! That is quite a serious undertaking, I applaud you sir. What kind of Trek bike will you be riding? Will you carry everything you need? What gearing will you use?

Scott H

I'm not riding a Trek. The term "trek" in Trek 4 the Troops refers to the original, more common usage, as in a journey or trip. The ride has nothing to do with Trek bicycles.

I'm riding a Surly Cross Check, with Mavic rims laced to Formula flip/flop hubs. I'm also using a regular road crankset with double chainrings, so I've got 3, may four effective gear combos to choose from.

I've got a couple of the older Surly cogs, the narrower ones, a 19 and a 17. They'll both fit on the "freewheel" side of the hub. I'm putting a 14 on the "fixed" side. With a 39/44 chainring combo, I can use the 39/19, 39/17, 44/17, and 44/14, all with the same chain length.

Hopefully that'll be a low enough low and high enough high gear to get me over and back down any of the climbs I'll encounter. I'm doing the ride as a 'credit card' tour, so I won't be carrying THAT much weight.

Scott

Dersu Burrows

That is really, really cool man. Nice gearing selection. Cheers

Aeroplane

Does that mean hotels? Or just buying all your food? Either way, sounds awesome. Good luck!

Scott H

Mostly hotels, although I will likely be staying with friends along the way in some towns. No camping. I won't carry food for breakfast or dinner, but will carry quite a bit of various energy bars/gels/powders with me to consume during the ride itself. Probably start with about 5 days worth, replenish it in Tucson, again in Dallas, and start the last 7 days with enough on-the-bike food to last till the end.

I'll have room in my panniers for the entire ride's worth of food, but don't want to haul that much weight! Besides, I'll probably decide after a few days that I'm sick of whatever I'm currently using and will want to try something new for a few days. While training for the ride I've been experimenting with a number of different gels and powders, and have narrowed things down to 2 or 3 good choices. I've found that some things that work well for 3 or 4 hours don't work worth a damn for 6 or 7 hours, and some things that work okay for a day or so don't work after 3 or 4 days. If it were only as simple as stopping at the 7-11 for Gatorade!

jyossarian

+1 Awesome indeed! Good Luck Scott!

moki

What do you mean by "supporting the troops"?

Scott H

I'm not trying to be smart here, but... check out the ride website and www.americasupportsyou.mil

You'll find links to info on hundreds of organizations that are working to support the troops. You'd be surprised how simple and easy it can be.

It's all about trying to alleviate the stress, make things a bit easier on them and their families, let 'em know we appreciate their sacrifice. What it's not about is supporting the war.

jmgorman

When their "sacrifice" is a voluntary participation in a war, isn't supporting them supporting the war?

zelah

*drives to work*

Aeroplane

I can't think of a more ignorant or offensive statement to make. For starters, for many soldiers, their participation is no longer voluntary.

zelah

right, they were drafted

braingel

F**k The Troops

Scott H

"When their "sacrifice" is a voluntary participation in a war, isn't supporting them supporting the war?"


No.

Think of it like this... we all know there will be fires, and we applaud the fireman for volunteering to fight them. We all know there will be crime, and we applaud the policeman for volunteering to fight it. Does that mean we support crime, or that we support fires? No, of course not.

We know there is the possibility of war. There have been stretches in our nation's history where we've been at war, periods of peace, and periods that look like peace but are just war played out politically, like the Cold War. All right-minded people (I don't mean conservatives here, I'm mean 'not crazy') hate war. But, it's a reality, and we as a nation have to be prepared for it. Applauding the efforts of those who volunteer in that arena is no more a show of support for war than to mourn the death of a fireman is to support fires. It's not like there would be no more wars if people just stopped volunteering.

There's a passage in the old testament, "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." That's nice, but it's not realistic.

There's another old saying that takes it a step further, "those who beat their swords into ploughshares, will plow for those who don't" There IS evil in this world and volunteering to combat it is a noble endeavor.

Showing our thanks and support for those willing to sacrifice for us is the least we could do.

zelah

No

No You ****

There Will Always Be Fires

Our Own ****ing Fires

We Dont Go To ****ing Other Countries And **** With Their Fires Thats Their Business

**** You

**** The Troops

**** The Bible

Scott H

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

pitboss

I know this has something to do with fixed in the sense that you are riding a fixed gear bike for this endeavor, but if it continues on the political downward spiral, it will be placed in a more appropriate forum for discussion of whether or not the troops should or should not be supported.

Aeroplane

The draft isn't in effect (yet), but thousands of soldiers are being held in active duty past their contracted commitment. Imagine taking an awesome job, the job turns ****ty, and you can't quit.

zelah

**** the troops and **** you

edit: this is my roomate

barba

There is nothing even remotely non-partisan about the phrase "support the troops". I have spent the last several years watching that phrase be used as a club to make people that think this is a stupid and immoral war feel un-American and silenced. Funny thing is we still treat the troops like crap (a la Aeroplane's point) despite all of the boosterism.

I am sure that the OP has the best of intentions, but I will not support "support the troops" branded events. If you want to ride to bring them home I am with you 100%. Sorry, but this threaded is headed for P&R anyway so I figured I better say bit.

Aeroplane

I can see what you're saying barba, but I'm not going to pull support for some kid in the desert because jerkholes in the US are using his image for political and commercial gain.

barba

Nor would I, but I will find other ways to support them.

Scott H

What are you so angry about?

Scott H

I understand your point about the use of the phrase, but I can assure you I'm not trying to shame anyone OR garner some sort of political gain. I just think they need our help, and as the war has gone on so long (far too long) I feel that the sacrifices are in some part being overlooked. I'm just hoping I can re-invigorate people's concerns and desire to help out.

FWIW, the most liberal person I know (my ex-wife) is sooo very proud of her commitment to supporting the troops and bragged of how much she and her liberal friends have done in the name of "supporting the troops".

Having said that, I'd like to re-focus the discussion back to the reason I posted the notice in this forum in the first place, that being that I'm doing a XC ride on a fixed gear. Thought you guys would find that interesting, and I thought I might get some helpful hints or words of encouragement re: fixie.

I'm not that concerned or hurt over some folks desire to take the discussion to a political level. We all have our beliefs.