Push America | ABILITIES :: EMPATHY :: TEAMWORK

In preparation for a cross country trip the skills assessment took place underneath the Space Needle bright and early. Aside from the basics of changing a tire under 5 minutes our crew instructed us on the safe way to cycle in a large paceline. There is a lot of communication necessary on the road. We use hand gestures in addition to our regular verbal commands for the reason that when on the bike the wind blowing in your ears can distort the message. Our Coach is the man! Dean Peterson later led a discussion on safety and cycling technique at our hotel. We also went over Kids on the Block, a puppet show that we put on for school-aged children that teaches them about the abilities of people with disabilities. I played Ronaldo, an athlete with the swagger of a major league player. He is also blind and explains how he is capable of playing baseball with a beeping baseball. After that we were all hungry so luckily Jonathan Micheal Carignan,
Alpha Delta - University of Washington was there to provide use with a great lunch

The University of Washington chapter sponsored dinner and we made Drew Buck, the president of this chapter an honorary member of the 2009 TransAmerica team. Drew and I cycled together last year on the North team and its good to have him on the Hope again. Drew will lead the Hope out of Seattle as we kick off!!! We are all stoked!