Matt Hobby

Matt's Friends at Outback

Matt Hobby passed away last Tuesday. We were riding in his honor in Atlanta. He had become extremely weak from his cancer. We had hoped that his strength would last, and it's been hard for us because Matt has been on our minds for some time now.

Tom and I never got to meet Matt, but several of his friends came to our Outback fundraiser. Meeting them made me realize what a tremendous cause we have undertaken. I can't imagine losing such a close friend to such a horrible disease. There won't be a single day this summer that I don't think of Matt Hobby.

~ Austin

58.12 Miles down...

...4,941.88 to go.

Today marks the first day of the tour itself, and we began by biking to Athens. We started off at a race organized by Cathy Frazier to raise money for Parkinon's. After a quick interview, we rode a quick loop around the race course with the Frazier Cycling Kids (we went farther with them two days ago, but they didn't seem to mind the shorter distance) and we were off. We had a little trouble with directions at the beginning and the end, leading to a lot of turning around and an extra eight miles, but when we reached our destination, Austin's brother, in vet school here in Athens, had dinner ready for us. We feel pretty good. Next stop: Warrenton

~ Tom

Kick Off

Yesterday we kicked everything off with a 20 mile ride with Roswell Bicycles and the Frazier Cycling Kids. The kids set their own fundraising goal a few weeks ago so that they could ride with us, and they have already raised over $1,500.

After the ride, we grabbed a few more necessities for the road from Roswell Bicycles, and we headed to H. Stockton for another promo visit for Vineyard Vines. Me and Tom really got a kick out of being able to bring our bicycles into such a nice clothing store, and the guys at the store really got a kick out of us too. Following that visit, we went to a friend's house to rest and get ready for the next days events.

Today we got up, put on our uniforms, and headed toward Scottish Rite Children's Hospital. We met some really cool kids, and a few said they would email us from the road, so it will be good to hear from them as the tour progresses.

Next we went to Outback for our fundraiser. We had a great group of people, and they all gave us encouragement. In all, people gave over $5,000 at the lunch - it was truly amazing!!

Now we are spending the night with the Bachman family in Atlanta, who have been gracious enough to host us for the night. They ordered us warm pizza and offered to do our laundry - it's awesome. If our other hosts are anything like the Bachmans, this should be a great summer :)

~ Austin

New jerseys

The good news: The first Rally Across America jerseys came today.
The not-so-good news: The sizing samples ran a little large, and the outfits were a little small.

Not to worry. We can still fit in the jerseys, and they look great. Plus, when the final order comes, we will get some larger garments, so no harm done.

Today (yesterday?) has been busy, as we have been packing frantically, double- and triple-checking to make sure we have everything we will need. We can now say with near certainty that we do. We'll be in Atlanta tomorrow, picking up the Veritaz crew and preparing for our ride Thursday. We're excited and ready to go.

~ Tom

Last Minute Gear

In our frenzy to become prepared at the last minute, my father took us to Wal-Mart today to pick up a few essentials. We had three goals:

Goal 1: find the cheapest tent made by man

Goal 2: prepare for medical disaster by acquiring
tylenol and a first-aid kit

Goal 3: meet up with Rand McNally, the third
member of our support crew

After about 20 minutes, we had accomplished all three goals, and we were out the door - one step closer to our terrific journey!

~ Austin

The Big Week

This is it! We have reached the big week. Everyone we know has been drilling us with last minute questions . . . "Are you training?", "Do you have sunscreen?", "Do you know how to set up a tent?", "What if you can't find any food?" . . . etc.

As a rule, Tom and I answer all of these with complete confidence . . . "Yes, yes! Of course! We're ready for that. It's on the list!" Then we look at each other, both knowing full well that the road that lays ahead is something for which neither one of us is fully prepared - we aren't exactly seasoned veterans of edurance sport or eco-survivalists.

Difficult days are ahead, but we're gonna make it. Even if we have to pull each other the entire way, we're both going to cross the finish line! 5,000 miles . . . bring it on!

~ Austin

NOTE: After such a motivational entry, I must let you all know that we will be resting for the next few days in anticipation of June 3, our first official day of riding.