Hello. my name is Owen Lee and I'm a high school junior(Centennial High) in howard county, Ellcitt City, MD
Before I begin, I'd like to let you know that I'm a passionate bike rider. I've been riding since I was in elementary school. Back then, the youth group I was in rode every morning from 6:00 to 7:30 in the morning, and a few hundred mile trips every summer. And so I'm pretty used to riding long distance
I'm trying to organize a long distance bike riding for this summer, either across America or along the East Coast.
I've been doing some research for the past few months and I've decided to:
(1) find a few companion riders
(2)contact newspapers to advertise my plan and find more resources for sponsors, in addition to my current possible ones including my school, local bike shopes, neighbors and teachers.
(3) Use Google Maps to draw a bike route to our destination
(4) find universities along the way and contact them to deal with lodging
(5) Contact a hospital, probably St.Jude's hospital for children, and let them know about our plan/goal
I'm probably able to leave either at the end of June or very early July, because of school and a leadership program at Duke. But if everything can be prepared ONLY if we leave early like at the end of June, I am willing to sacrifice the leadership program for the bike journey.
I love to travel. I saw a movie called Motorcycle Diaries, which is about Che Guevara riding a motorcycle with his friend around South America back in the 1950s. The passion for seeing the world aroun us and giving hope to people by accomplishing something big on behalf of them inspired me greatly and I've been trying to do a similar thing. I couldn't find an organization that was open to high school students or had a reasonable amount of fee. So i'm planning a trip on my own to prove myself and people that I can pusue and accomplish my dream..
The biggest problem at the moment is that I need companions. My parents and teachers believe that it'd be too dangerous to follow through just by myself as a high school student.
So, I'm trying to find some members who would like to help me and participate in this journey.
that would be incredible!
Thank you for reading my message and let me know if you have any questions!
-Owen