Preparation.Fundraising and other fun stuff.

My planned Saturday departure from Penticton was delayed by a couple of days due to some admin work that had to be done.I had to be sure that all my bank accounts were linked to my new PayPal account and that my Canadian bank card would work in the States.This trip is being done on the most meager of budgets and it wouldn't do to be stuck in the States without access to any funds.As it was ,what money I do have came in the form of a cheque which covered the last five weeks or so of work in Penticton.That cheque would not be cleared for another few days leaving me with $15US in total to present the U.S immigration if asked to show funds.That was not a prospect I was looking forward to.


The budget for the ride was set at about $10US a day with an inevitable mini crisis along the way expected to drain all the reserves that I had($500US).The entry fee for the Deca is $1500US which was reduced for me by the race director to $1000US,so with my cheque clearing(hopefully) I would have enough for the entry and the trip itself.I had struck an agreement with Lorie Muller, the director of my chosen charity for this adventure(Athletes in Kind), that the first $1000US would go toward the entry fee as well as some expences.The remainder of funds raised for the rest of the year would go to A.I.K.That eased my worries a bit and I started the fundraising drive a week before my departure.



I launched my funraising on a couple of triathlon websites which have huge followings as well as spreading the word around Penticton and around the world via email to all my triathlon connections and friends.Donations were pretty quick to roll in via the Slowtwitch community but that was short-lived with only a half dozen or so people jumping on the bandwagon.By the time I left Penticton after my week of pushing the A.I.K cause the donation total was at a paltry $273US.I had,of course a lot of promises of cash to be sent at a later date and I was hopefull that a soon as I was underway the interest would grow.



I had received support from a few people in the triathlon community in the States and was very humbled to find the race director of the Rockman Half Ironman offering to send a sizeable donation to a friends bike store in Austin as well as giving a free entry into his 2008 Half Iron Triathlon for anyone who donated $200US or more.A triathlete from Albequerque also offered assistance in the form of a place to stay and a base where I could ship all my A.I.K gear which I would pick up along the way.It was great to be getting some support from the triathletes in the States and I thank Chip, a.k.a Record10Carbon and Adam, a.k.a IronLobo(both from Slowtwitch.com)for their interest and help.



So now it was time to ride.I packed my trailer with just the bare essentials as far as clothing and luxuries went and loaded it up with food.I have a nutrition sponsor for my races and I had a whole bunch of their product(IronFuel) left over from the summer.That IronFuel load amounted to just over 4kilos(9lbs) of powdered energy which I would mix at every day-time meal with ten grain porridge mix as well as trail mix and dried fruit.Dinner was to be pasta flavoured with different varieties of cup-of-soup.I had about 150 electrolyte tabs left over from summer so they would be a great help in keeping me going on my long trip south.Muslie bars would be treats along the way.I figured I had enough nutrition to get me about eight to ten days down the road where I would stock up again.This was certainly easier to plan for than the nutrition on my trip through St America the previous year.



With one last huge meal with my dear friends Steve and Maria Brown I loaded up my already growing belly and was set to ride out mid morning on Monday the 1st October.