Congrats on your awesome project! We love it. BIKE LOVE

Congrats on reaching your goal!

Janeen,
Thank you so much for backing my project. Today was the deadline, and I'm thrilled to say that it was successfully funded. I'd love to stay posted on your whereabouts during your bike trip (congrats, by the way, on a very early success story). Maybe we can meet up and I can snap some photos of you with the camera I'm about to buy! I'll even let you crash on my couch if you're not creepy.
And if you haven't read it already, I have a feeling David Byrne's "The Bicycle Diaries" would be right up your alley, either as inspiration for your own writing or for entertainment.
Best of luck!
Rachel

Hi Janeen,
Seeing the post by Al, below, made me remember meeting some crazy German guy in China. Crazy in a cool way. A friend and I were cycling - or actually just beginning to cycle - across China when we ran across him. We first saw his bicycle which was some old kind of contraption with gears, but it looked like it would weigh a ton. There was a big milk crate on the front handlebars. In the middle section, there was a sheet of thin metal upon which was drawn the map of the world. There were numerous lines all across the map with the year that he apparently made that trip. Some of the "lines" were insane, such as from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Anchorage. Or, from Cairo to straight south into Central Africa. He had already been to China when we were there (1989). I remember the saying on the map. It was something like "26 years, 142 countries, and still going strong."

We met him later that day and had a bowl of noodles with him before he was taking off to head up the China coast from Guangzhou. He was a very normal looking guy - probably in his 50s with gray hair and a bit of a pot belly. After the noodles, he said something like, "Well, I better get going. He jumped on the bike and just took off." Weird.

Anyway, thought I would share that little piece of info. When you know precisely your route, please let me know. You mentioned before that you may be coming through the Southwest Corner of Montana. If so, that's where the Madison Marathon is and where I live. Feel free to contact me for anything.

Good luck getting your 2K. You've plenty of time.

Have a good winter.

Sam

I added my little bit to help. Fingers crossed! I spent 4 years cycling round the world so let me know if I can help in any way? www.alastairhumphreys.com
Al

Janeen, good luck on your adventure! If you still have some energy left at the end, you should ride to Brazil to visit me. I promise I will have some fresh cold coconut water waiting for you :)
Take care my friend!

If I could !!!This sounds like a fantastic project.... awesome
Good luck and have fun

This is on my program...http://www.mb-race.com/

Good Luck Janeen you're almost there!

If I could get enough leave... I would love to join you... :( Maybe we can ride together just for a little bit near the end or something.

Hi Janeen,

This sounds like a fantastic project. I cycled across southern China and some in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand as well as Taiwan. Now, I live in Montana and I love to ride my bicycle here. Please consider cycling through Montana on your cross country trip. It's beautiful!!

Also, thanks for backing the Madison Marathon. Maybe you can coordinate your pass through Montana with the marathon???

Good luck and have fun

Sam