Prolific Pedaling
By Thomas Gallant
Have you ever been in a situation and thought that if you could get through it, you could accomplish just about anything? That it was the single most difficult thing you have ever done, something that you’d be impressed by seeing repeated by one of your friends? Moments like these are different for everybody as they can either lead to inspiration or pure exhaustion. Kayak for a Cause is kind of like that, two guys got challenged to do something, did it, and it turned in to a big annual charity event where thousands of people have since followed suit.
As a rower, I’ve come across plenty of determined people willing to do something that most people wouldn’t consider. Whether it be the 25k bridge to bridge race on the Hudson River, where the challenge is more related to keeping your boat afloat than rowing the actual distance, to my friend Paul Ridley that rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. Up until yesterday, Paul may have been the single most insane endurance athlete I’d met.
While visiting friends in San Diego, I had the somewhat unique pleasure of being allowed to linger around the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista and more specifically, the US Rowing Men’s Team practices. Aside from being freakishly tall, and unless your last name is Winklevoss, the guys on the team are fairly unassuming and spend most days just rowing, eating, and sleeping without many distractions. Yesterday though, I wasn’t the only visitor at practice. Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Seth and he has done something that I can’t possibly conceive doing myself.
An 18,000 mile bike ride from Alaska to Argentina.
You read that right. Seth and his brother decided it would be a viable challenge to hop on their bikes and ride top to bottom along the Americas. You can click on the above link to read more, but the long and the short of it is that they did it not just to say they did but also to raise awareness to stop the Pebble Mine. If you haven’t heard about the Pebble project, take a look. Proponents see the economic benefits while those fighting it, including my favorite TV captains from Deadliest Catch, argue that the environmental and ecological effects will be adverse and irreversible.
Whether you like your green on a tree or in a wallet, Seth’s adventure deserves your attention. If nothing else, you’ll learn a little bit more about what we are all capable of and maybe we’ll stop bitching about the weather on Facebook so much.
