Day 1-4

Day one was amazing, all the anticipation was over and I finally got to meet all the teammates that I will be biking with all summer. We arrived and checked in at the hotel where there was a mess of bikes being reassembled. We spent the rest of the day getting to know everyone and the most interesting part for me was listening to why people decided to participate in the Journey of Hope. It was inspiring and will be very exciting to see how those stories will help drive everyone to finish each ride and put their all into every friendship visit. Also I got to write the first team journal for day 1 Seattle that you can read here and all summer long. http://www.pushamerica.org/johtajournal.aspx

Day two was long with a lot of policies and procedures but we also spent time doing some leadership development which was a great experience and helped me realize the kinds of leaders that I am around and also the type of leader I am and areas that I can improve myself. I can't wait to continue to develop this skill over the summer. It was also my birthday and I had the evening to go out to get a drink with my friends and family. Most of my friends are gone for the long weekend but everyone that is still here came out which was so fun and a couple Pi Kapp brothers and childhood friends stuck around late with me at the brewery. It meant so much to me to have them there right before I begin this journey. I also came back to the hotel to see a birthday surprise on my bike, spoke decorations and horn with a funny card from Dean and Evan.

Day three we finally got on the bike for a skills assessment but hardly got to ride. We have a phenomenal volunteer cycling coach who is an incredible athlete and has so many tips and knowledge to share with us to keep us safe and successful on the bike. It was good to clip in again and role around and test my skills. We got to spend a lot of time in Seattle as well and I got the chance to share my love for this city with everyone. We went to Pike Place, and Folk Life at Seattle Center which was a blast to walk around at with the team, we all stand out in a crowd with our "team tux", khaki shorts and blue team shirt.

Day four, today, we got out on the road for the first time with the whole team and crew for a practice ride. Only 37 miles but it included some good climbs. It was great conditioning and good practice getting used to riding in pace lines and following turns marked by crew. Following that we had our first friendship visit with my mom's organization, The Arc of King County and then a friends and family kick off dinner at Buca Di Bepo. I also got to do a live radio interview with Komo news radio which was really fun. Sharing the mission we have set out to accomplish is one of my favorite things to do and I hope that message reached a lot of radio listeners. I don't know if it is available online but it was at 3:40 today if you want to search for it.

Tomorrow is the first real day of riding, we are off to Enumclaw with a 40 mile ride up and out of Seattle. We are all unbelievably excited to get this Journey started tomorrow.