We made it out on the road by 8:30 am and had a really smooth day. No flat tires and nice road until we hit a huge mountain just outside of Yuma. It dropped us down to our slowest speed of 7 mph.  Our descent however brought us up to a whopping 35 mph.

Our final finish time was about 2:15 pm.

At the boarder we were meet by two news stations and a newspaper journalist from Yuma. The entire experience was incredible; the thing I really appreciated about this ride was the time I had in my own head. Self analyzation really helps you clarify what the important things in life are; for me first and foremost comes my family. I would never be able to experience these types of adventures without my families support.

I want to give a serious thank you to my team Scot “Scoob” Schmidt (El Capitan), Benjamin Cane (Logistical Engineer), & Gene Longwell (Support Rider/Traffic Cop). These guys were awesome; their positive and comical approach to life made the ride a blast.

Also a special thank you to the Foundation for Blind Children for changing my perspective on blindness and enriching the lives of so many visually impaired and blind in Arizona. Tobin Ernst was like a 5th member of the team, and I’ve got to give him a thumbs up for all his hard work.

I received incredible support from the following hotels and bike shops.

• Best Western in Yuma, Tuscon, & Benson
• Comfort Inn in Lordsburg, NM
• America’s Choice Inn in Gila Bend
• Sunday Cycles in Phoenix
• Bicycles of Phoenix

An extra special thanks goes out to Doug Bowden; Doug was supposed to be part of our team but due to an unfortunate injury while participating in a charity ride with Tour de France he was unable to join us. Doug was an incredible supporter and I truly appreciate his gift of the Cannondale Tandem that we used on the ride. Even through you weren’t able to enjoy the heat with us; you were with us in spirit.

On our ride we were able to pound out 99.6 miles on day 1, 98.5 miles on day 2, 103 miles on day 3 and 76 miles on the final day. During our ride our average speeds ranged from a low of 17 mph to a high of 23 mph with a total average of 20 mph. It was a great experience and I highly recommend it to anybody, regardless of what your passion is I highly recommend of stepping out and making it happen.

Ride on!

I-8 was far smoother than I-10 however this did not stop us from getting a leak in the Van’s tire and a total blow out on the tandem’s back tire. This delayed us another 2 hours.

In spite of these challenges we were able to finish our day at 103 miles at 6:30 pm. Although we are all pretty sore except for  our support driver Ben (who keeps complaining about his right calf) we are looking forward to finishing up The Blind Ride tomorrow afternoon.

Special thanks to America’s Choice Inn in Gila Bend for hooking us up with 3 rooms for the night.

Apparently we have been picking up left over tire pieces from other vehicles in the form of steal threads from blown out truck tires. Fortunately we had already planned to go to The Ordinary Bike Shop where they fixed my tire and Gene’s cable for his front derailer.

Then Steve from Channel 13 in Tucson interviewed Scoob and I about our ride for the news tonight. We worked our way through Tucson on several bike routes which worked out to be pretty fast since Steve from Channel 13 couldn’t keep up with us due to Tucson traffic and construction.

We ended up connecting up with a Frontage road next to I-10 at Ina and were able to take the it through the rest of town. After about 30 miles on the Frontage road we connected up with Highway 84, then about 6 miles short of Casa Grande we ended up getting another flat on that same tire (a tire that is guaranteed not to go flat).

We finished our day in Casa Grande with a total of 98.57 total miles, with an average of about 20 miles per hour. This puts us approximately 40 miles ahead of schedule. We hope to finish on Friday night.

We finished off our night with Dinner at La Parrillas with Gene’s uncle Dan. Dan’s wife Beverly was a student at the Foundation for Blind Children, this is how Gene first heard of the Blind Ride and became part of the team. Dan treated us to an awesome meal and regaled us with some awesome stories.

This finished off an awesome day, and it looks like I may have a new sailing buddy.

Blind Man Hikes Across Arizona: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

An Arizona man has just completed an 800 mile hike across the state, and what makes this story so inspirational is that he did it without the benefit of sight.

FOX 10’s Kristin Anderson talks to the hiker, who is blind.

Parker Canyon Lake from the crest trail on Miller Peak

It’s amazing out there, I don’t know how to describe it, It is incredible feeling the amount of raw wilderness surrounding us. It’s strange yet appealing to travel 20 miles and not hear planes flying overhead, No sounds of traffic, …or signs of today’s technology.

As I look back at the 116 miles we’ve travelled, it leaves me in awe of the beauty and majesty of the country that we have already experienced. One does not have to see to appreciate this treasure.

Life is going to be a serious trip for the next 5 weeks.

God Bless
Sensei Mike

No, this is not an April’s Fools Joke. April 2nd is our first day on the trail. This is going to be an amazing experience! We have trained hard and I believe we are ready.

I would like to put out a huge thank you to our sponsors! Steve and Brad with Peace Surplus were incredible. Steve went out of his way to help me and my team out. If you are ever near Flagstaff Peace Surplus is the place to go.

I would also like to thank Merrell for hooking the team up with our hiking boots.

Evidently Wal-Mart took me serious when I said “Will hike for food!” Thanks.

We have KAVU to thank for our awesome hats (Chilba).

In case you have not heard about this adventure, Ben Cane, Yancey Herriage and I are going to hike 807 miles from Mexico to Utah on the AZT for the Foundation for Blind Children a Phoenix based 501c3.

You can follow our journey here on blindmotivation.com or seeitourway.org. We are hoping to raise enough money to put 43 kids through a summer program for the blind. If you would like to help a child go to http://blindmotivation.com/donations/

Keep an eye out for updates from the Crazy Blind Sensei Mike Armstrong.

While many will be sleeping in this weekend Mike Armstrong will be out walking a 5k in the Arizona Walk to Silence Tinnitus. Feel free to get out, stretch and join us for a walk through DC Ranch.

More information: http://walk.ata.org/