For four North Tahoe residents; Duncan Sisson, Jake Spero, John Witherspoon and Sam Skrocke, life probably will never be the same again after their nine month journey last year. All three, athletic in their own way to start, decided to take the chance and bike more than 15,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina.
While a trip like this is a monumental undertaking for any strong willed individual, they wanted to ride for a cause. They decided that raising more than $18,000 to fund the building of a school in La Bonansa, Nicaragua would be a greater reward for an already arduous journey.
On June 12, 2007 the men set off from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to “Bike for a Better World,” (the name of their nonprofit organization). The men averaged about 84 miles a day, more than 500 miles a week and 2,000 miles a month, traveling through 15 countries and two continents.
On February 10, 2008 the three members arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina and finished their trek. While some have returned to their hometowns to save money and figure out what to do next in their lives, team member Duncan Sisson is now living back in North Lake Tahoe and met with Morgan Kriz of the Tahoe World to talk about the journey.
This trip is too big to compile in one article, so this will be a featured series in the Tahoe World for the next couple of weeks. You will hear stories, read journal entries, get tips about road biking and be able to view the beautiful landscapes they encountered from Alaska to Argentina.
Although the Alaska to Argentina trip has come to an end, it represents the beginning of their organization. They are currently trying to promote new ideas and are in the process of reworking their Web site www.bikingforabetterworld.org. If you have questions for the members you are more than welcome to get in touch with them, and be sure to stay updated on upcoming adventures and tours that the members have planned. A slide show to promote Biking For A Better World, will take place at the end of May in Spero’s hometown. They hope to bring the slide show to Tahoe in August.
In celebration of Earth Day last week, team member Jake Spero got in touch with the Tahoe World to answer some questions via e-mail.
Tahoe World: Biking for a Better World was to benefit underdeveloped communities BUT did you ever consider Biking for a Better World, as being an environmentally friendly adventure as well?
Jake Spero: We set up Biking for a Better World to be just what it says. The four of us who started the charity, we love to ride bikes, and we figured that a ride from Alaska to Argentina was a good opportunity to do something good for the world, to give back. It was also a good way for us to start our organization. We decided to work with Building with Books, an organization that builds schools all over the world. The school in Nicaragua was funded and built. The ride was completed. Now we have that project as a foundation for our future, and we now want to show that BFABW is an organization that is open to any project that will better the world. We are open to working for causes to help the environment as well.
We never really promoted our trip as anything environmental, but in the end, it could definitely be construed as an environmentally-friendly adventure. For one, the members of the team used no gasoline for nine months. Sam and Spoon carried solar chargers which they laid out on their trailers to collect a charge on sunny days. We used them to charge our iPods and cameras and batteries when we could. We also worked hard to leave no trace for the entire journey.
When we camped out, we made sure we left the area clean, and very often we toted out some extra garbage we’d find nearby. It always felt good to take out a little more than we came with. Alaska and Canada were fairly pristine, but through the US and south of the border, things changed. Many areas of Central and South America were plagued by tons of litter, and it was difficult for us, as Americans who understand and respect the “Green” movement and appreciate and respect nature’s beauty, to understand how the people could let it get so bad. We had to realize that times and perspective are different than what we're used to, and of course do the little we could to help.
TW: What efforts (if any) have you taken to reduce your dependence on motorized transportation?
JS: Now that I have returned, I have been driving only small distances to work in New York. I do not own a car and plan to use my bicycle as much as possible this summer to save money on the ridiculously over-priced gasoline (a sort of rebellion against the evil petroleum corporations) and to do my part to protect the atmosphere. I encourage anyone to try and work close to home and pedal whenever possible. Biking a small distance many times a week will keep anyone in great shape.
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On February 10, 2008 the three members arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina and finished their trek. While some have returned to their hometowns to save money and figure out what to do next in their lives, team member Duncan Sisson is now living back in North Lake Tahoe and met with Morgan Kriz of the Tahoe World to talk about the journey.
When we camped out, we made sure we left the area clean, and very often we toted out some extra garbage we’d find nearby. It always felt good to take out a little more than we came with. Alaska and Canada were fairly pristine, but through the US and south of the border, things changed. Many areas of Central and South America were plagued by tons of litter, and it was difficult for us, as Americans who understand and respect the “Green” movement and appreciate and respect nature’s beauty, to understand how the people could let it get so bad. We had to realize that times and perspective are different than what we're used to, and of course do the little we could to help. 