Pat’s Ride Across America

My name is Pat Rolstad. I raised nearly $9,000 for Whatcom Hospice Foundation’s Hospice House Capital Campaign by riding my bicycle across the US this summer.

I completed my cross country ride in Portsmouth New Hampshire on August 10, 2009.  I loved it and would do it again.  It was not as hard as I expected.  America by Bike is a great organization and I recommend them to anyone who wants to do a bicycle tour. We had a great group.  There were 51 riders and we all finished.  Our youngest rider was an 18 year old woman and our oldest was an 80 year old man.  The average age was 58. 

We were blessed with good weather most of the ride.  We had only one full day of rain and just a few other short periods of light rain.  The last week or two we had a tailwind.  I had only one flat and which was caused by a faulty stem.  I finished the ride with the same road tires I started with.  My only mechanical problem was my shifter that broke 2 days before the end of the ride.  The mechanic was able to install a bar end shifter which worked great.  I rode in the van on day 13 due to a painful hip ligament.  It continued to bother me for weeks and at times I wasn’t sure if I would finish.  I took it one day at a time and slowly it got better.  

No one is able to do this kind of trip without a lot of support.  I want to thank my husband, Dave, for encouraging me and believing that I could do it.  He spent more time than I did getting me ready to go.  

 I want to thank Shari for accompanying me on this adventure.

I want to thank my manager at Whatcom Hospice, Richard, for giving me the time off.

I want to thank all my friends and family who have given me support and encouragement.  I want to thank those that visited us along the way.  The emails and replies to the blog really helped.

Many thanks to the dedicated people at the Whatcom Hospice Foundation for all your support and assistance.

Finally and most of all I would like to give a big “THANK YOU” to all those people who made donations to the Hospice House project.  Your contributions are greatly appreciated!!!