On June 29th 2010 after working my month's notice I set off cycling from Washington DC on roads I didn’t know, and with a destination I had not yet decided upon. A pilgrimage, as it became known, is described as a long journey of great significance to explore a person's beliefs. Spending two months on the roads is an experience I will never forget, and though I won’t be able to share the full story of my 'pedal pilgrimage' here I do hope the following few lines give you an insight to my experiences and perhaps inspire you, if you aren't already, to get active with your dreams because dreams are not just for dreamers, they're for life. 

A shaky start 

I didn’t know how far I'd get, or if I'd even get out of DC, especially after I found myself on the Mount Vernon turnpike minutes into my first day. I set off from the White House and as I was crossing Arlington Bridge after a stuttering start with my bike panniers I took the wrong turn rounding a corner and finding myself caged into a five lane turnpike where America's iron jungle was bearing down on me.

I had no alternative but to pedal as fast as I could, hoping for a quick escape at the next exit. The bike was steady, I pedaled, we moved, the wind swept by, I pedaled fast but without noise and I could not put into words appropriate for this article an expression of my feelings during those minutes on the Mount Vernon Turnpike.

In the end I kept my cool and pedaled hard for the next mile before thankfully reaching the exit for the Pentagon. If nothing else at this point at least I was getting to see the sights. From that moment on I took extra care with my maps and though I found myself in a variety of compromising situations from Canada to Key West, the experience by the Pentagon gave me confidence to overcome difficult situations in the months ahead. 

A rule from the road: When in 'the zone', don’t stop for beaches!

On my first night I camped out at Prince Edwards campsite. I set my tent up, got some dinner, locked up all my gear by a picnic table and in I went to my one man bivvi bag which was sandwiched between two giant campervans. When I woke the next day my body felt good but it appeared my tent had been sabotaged either by poor construction or by animals in the night (tbc).

I had completed my first full day on the bike without any repercussions, so aspired to go further and faster from that day on. I continued through Fredericksburg and Richmond and all the way out east to the Outerbanks of North Carolina. When I reached the Atlantic Ocean I camped in the back garden of a lifeguard’s house and cycled myself a few hundred mile long days along the beach always heading south.

I had three incredible days cycling through swamp land to reach the banks, and then down the beach toward Cedar Island. After rubbing shoulders with snakes and cycling past a chipmunk, I knew more than ever that I wanted to make my journey tangible, I wanted to give it a distance, to go as far as I could possibly go in the two months I had; I decided I wanted to cycle all the way down the East Coast manually, under my own steam, on my own bike. It inspired me to think about it, to visit all those places and meet all those people to share stories about Tobias and Kelvin, Toxi and Jack, Friend of EduSport,

'Time and Tide wait for no man'

I wanted to travel all the way south as far as I could go before returning north to Canada and back to Washington. At this point my journey to raise awareness became a race and the battle to reach Washington versus the time I had left began.

Racing the thunder on my way to Charleston I had to chase the horizon all day long just to stay in front of the clouds to avoid the problems that a storm would bring. The rain and lightening caught me up a couple times as it sometimes does in life but with a bike that ironically became known as ‘Iron Horse Betsy’ I pedalled my belongings and me 642 Miles down to Miami then another 150miles to Key West in just 15 days with a couple days off for rest and recovery.

I wanted that feeling of purpose day and night, to be committed to something positive, inspired, active, making a difference in my life but at the very same time helping others. This is what I wanted from my life and it stresses me that standing here today one in eight people from our planet don’t have access to clean water. This coupled with a lack of safe sanitation results in over two million people dying from water related diseases every year.

The Zambian Connection 

Cycling down the east coast raised funds and vital awareness that will help our education projects support locally driven projects to enhance education and sport standards in Zambia and part of this is health education. Most recent stats in Zambia suggest that 82% of Zambians live on less than $2 per day.

It would be easy to lose heart and to think that impossible thought especially when the cost of education is increasing to almost 20% of that annual income, but I am heartened by our efforts to overcome these challenges. We deliver a sponsorship programme that currently supports 37 young people in Zambia and is now working towards providing means tested contributions promoting accountability and equality based on the support available to the individual peer leader; our team work tirelessly in Zambia and in the UK to engage more people in our work and this is where I believe the solution lies.

There is a struggle in the world and i wanted to cycle a long way to make a part of my contribution. We all have big obstacles to overcome on a daily basis but perhaps one of the biggest challenges we face as human beings is poverty. It impacts each and every one of us, whether we are aware of it or not, and whether we want it to or not.  It is an area that is specific to its own country across the world and it demands from each of us compassion, understanding and a choice. It’s not an easy choice but it is one that could fill your life with colour and inspiration.

I took a photo that read “Dare to Dream the impossible Dream” at the southern most point of my journey and it speaks to me like I’m sure it speaks to many others.

Nobody can end poverty or inequality on their own. But I will dream about working with friends and colleagues to inspire everyone we can to recognise that they can make a difference in at least one person's life, and that if we do this together we can all reflect upon a time that it seemed impossible, about the challenge that appeared too big because it once seemed like it would go on forever.

But it's not impossible, and its not too big, because if we work together one day we will reflect upon that challenge and realise that it wasn’t infinity at all.

Written by Derek Keir

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Pedal Pilgrimage from Canada to Key West
Total Distance: 2573 miles
Total Number of Days Cycling: 45
Arrival in Washington: 18:04:45  30th August 2010 (36 hours before my departure)