Blog of Bermanism

Out of the many types of people in this world, there are three that fascinate me. There are people that have a streak of adventurousness to them, people who like to push themselves to the limits because they enjoy the personal challenge, and people who do things because those things are helpful to others and make a difference in the world. My good friend Chris is one of those rare people that maintains all three qualities in equal doses, and in a manner that doesn’t (always) lead to self-destruction (not to mention he’s just a downright fantastic guy). Chris’s mission this year? Nothing much, just a mild-mannered, easy-paced bike ride from AUSTIN, TX to ANCHORAGE, AK!!! You heard me right, this nutjob rode his bicycle from Austin to Anchorage, just over 4500 miles, in 70 days and he arrives there today!!

Chris joined up with a group called the Texas 4000 for Cancer, a non-profit organization who’s entire goal is to raise money for the American Cancer Society and the MD Andersen Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Their goal this year was to raise $350,000, which would bring their four-year total to $1 million. In order to raise this kind of money, 40 people from the University of Texas at Austin area joined the Texas 4000 team in the ride of their lives. Two teams were formed, one that headed straight out to the west coast, then followed the coastline up into Canada, and finally into Alaska, and the other group that went through the Rocky Mountains, into Canada, and then cut over across the Yukon and British Columbia and into Alaska. Chris was on the Rockies team, which was great for him, but sad for me since the Coastal team made a two day stop in San Francisco, for which I was the host (it was awesome to meet everyone). But, that aside, Chris has been the only biker on either team to blog with such regularity that people were checking his blog to make sure that their loved ones were still alive and making it. Chris is definitely the blog winner this year. He’s made 62 entries so far, with none of them being from the final five days in Alaska (I’m sure he’s written them but needs the Intertubes to be able to post them. If you have an extra five days or so, you should really go read his blog entries from beginning to end (bottom to top). He chronicles his journey from the get go to the end and all of the nuances in between. I’ve been an avid reader of his blog since he left on this trip, not only because he’s among my best friends, but because the stories have been riveting. I could almost be on the trip with him, without all the hard work of course. He says that he plans on transcribing his blog into a multimedia book and publishing it online for all to read. I look forward to that day.

Anyway, the main point of this post is to congratulate Chris, and all of the people who completed the arduous journey from Texas to Alaska. Here’s to fighting the important fight, for pulling through when you wanted nothing more than to give up, and to doing it all for a very important cause. My hat is off to all of you, but you especially Chris. After this, you have no excuses for not skiing a double-black diamond run with me this year! Congratulations Texas 4000!!

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