Santa Delivered Bikes!

What a nice surprise it was to see a brand new, pretty, white bike under the Christmas tree! Adam struck a deal with Cannondale and they offered to give us two new Cannondale Touring 1 bikes and a box full of clothing in exchange for the rights to a few pictures along the way. I have an awesome husband! Take a look at some pics of the new bikes!







We were very excited about the deal, but a little worried at the timing. Times are getting tight and we have been waiting and waiting and waiting for Cannondale to send everything to us! It's probably pretty important to test out the gear at least once before you pack it up for a year-long journey. But it doesn't look like it'll get any real testing. After we got the bikes, we were tortured to sit on them in the basement and pretend to ride as the blizzard made it's way through CT. Roads finally cleared up and we were able to take the bikes for a little spin. We have a little adjusting to do as the trip was only 3 miles and my butt was a little sore by the end of it!!

As for the apparel, it finally arrived and we found some time one night this week at 10:00 to open it up and see our goodies. I have to admit, Cannondale has some good quality clothing. We just hope it works as well as it looks. What a bummer it would be to find out the rain gear isn't 100% waterproof while in the middle of one of those rain storms in California! Oh well, at least we'll look good!


On the other side of the world, someone else got a bike for Christmas. The 50 kids at Hope Destitute Children's Center in Uganda received four bikes for Christmas thanks to our fundraiser at Ballou's in Guilford, CT. It wasn't an easy task for our brother, Kimuli (Dave) Paradis to ride into Kampala, buy the bikes and bring them back.

Here was one of the stops along the way, where Dave's Brother-in-law works on the truck to keep it running.


Here is what Dave wrote about his trip. "Almost in Kampala and the clutch is lost, nothing. Get the truck to a petrol station where Gertrude's brothers come to fix it. They drop it off the next day at YWCA, but there were new problems: a hole in the water pump, and the front wheels, which were welded on to the axel, were coming off and all pigeon toed. We went for it yesterday, the two hour trip back home through Kampala road worrying about not being able to turn the wheels too hard or run the engine too hot. Things went well until half way home and the electric blows up. No lights, small fire in the radio, etc. Thankfully we were in a town and had Gertrude's bro with us."

TIA, huh? Thankfully, they made it back to Lukaya and the kids enjoyed a fun-filled Christmas day with their new bikes! (Thank you Gertrude for reminding Dave to bring the camera!!)


So these past weeks have been a little trying on Adam and I with all we have to get done, but taking a minute to read about Dave's adventure in Uganda and seeing the smiles on those kids faces makes it all worth while. We were interviewed the other day for the New Haven Register (we'll be in the paper next week) and she asked us a really cool question. Alex, the reporter, asked us how we were going to keep each other motivated during this trip. There are so so so many ways to stay motivated, and this is one of them. Smiles.

It's been crazy, but I'm sure everything will get done. Somewhere in between the wedding Adam is photographing today, the 40 hours of editing he'll have afterwards, the family reunion this weekend, the packing, the shopping, the boxing and shipping bikes, the storing of all of our stuff that we're not taking, and the last visits to family and friends... it will all get done. Less than one week until we get to ride! Just gotta remember to smile!