Grad School, Green Light

Finally, it has happened. I have spent more than two academic calendars applying getting accepted, deciding the program wasn't exactly what I wanted, re-applying, getting rejected, giving up hope and then finally when I thought all of my options were exhausted I receive a letter from Ohio Dominican University saying they have accepted me into their Masters of Business Administration program with a concentration on Public Administration. (Longest name for a degree ever, I know.) This is great news, a little late, but great news nonetheless. The first day of class is in mid-October, so this gives me the green light for my bike trip that I had been planning throughout the past year. I had thought the dream had been crushed and that there was no way it was going to happen, because the original plan was to ride my bike all summer and then to go to grad school in the fall. This letter basically resurrected the plan, which I had presumed dead up until receiving this letter. The planned departure is June 8th and will last as long as early September. The good thing is that even though I was in serious doubts about the status of the trip I still kept planning, building my bike, testing it and acquiring the gear necessary to complete the trip. I completed building the bike in March it is sort of a "Frankenstein" of a bike built from new and old components and completely equipped to carry everything I will need for a self-supported tour of America.

The bike is capable of hauling a tent, sleeping bag, pads, food, clothes, camping supplies, food, water for almost 4 days and is capable of handling nearly 180 lbs of gear plus a heavy rider. I think this bike was built for far more rugged use than I will ever need. I have also planned out every worse-case scenario and have planned for almost everything that you can possibly control. A year of planning will lead to these type of obsessive over-planning, which I have done. An example of such over-planning is the used of a solar panel that can charge my Droid from a dead battery to fully operational in two hours of direct sunlight. Its main purpose will be to power my GPS, which I will attempt to use via google maps.

So as you can see the technical aspects of the trip has been thoroughly planned out, but so has the testing of the gear when a group of friends and I rode to Yellow-Springs at the end of the winter to bike camp, which turned out to be one of the coldest camping experiences to date, but a very practical and fun experience.

I just recently turned on my Google Latitude on this blog, so those who wish can follow my progress as I ride back towards Ohio from San Fransisco. SANDLOT SUMMER HERE I COME!