So...
Long time no blog.
I haven't exactly been good with this whole blogging thing. I think that when my life gets busy I just forget to do a lot of stuff. Like my laundry. Does anyone else have this problem too?
I'm supposed to be blogging about my cycling team, the EPIC Riders, and my progress with training. Well, if you don't know, I'm biking across Canada this summer. My team's name is the EPIC Riders and we're raising support for this organization called Ratanak International. They help oppressed people in Cambodia.
Cambodia is a country near Thailand in Asia. Let's just say that it's been through some rough times. There was a civil war, and the living conditions are really bad there. What's even worse is the fact that children and young girls are kidnapped by slavers who turn them into prostitutes in brothels. Whether they have no parents, or even if they do, no one has the power to stop these men, because the government is corrupt and weak.
I'm going onto Google right now and I type in "Phnom Penh sex trade". Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia. The first article is from the University of Rhode Island. that's a trustworthy source. The article is basically a collection of other quotes about Cambodian sex trafficking. If you look inside the article, which is a little outdated, you can read that approximately 15 000 women are sex slaves in Phnom Penh alone.
15 000?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
I thought slavery was abolished like a billion years ago! I can't even justify having one slave! A slave isn't just a slave. A slave is a REAL person. Like you. Or me. Apparently these slaves are usually around 15 to 18 years old! These are highschool-age girls!
Let's take a step back for a moment. The average highschool population around my area is 1500. The Cambridge schools average about 1000, and the K-W schools have double. There are 17 public highschools and 5 Catholic highschools in Waterloo Region. There's also a French highschool that might have 200 students in it, and a Christian highschool with even less students. If you don't like math, don't worry. I'm doing it for you :) So that's 22 secondary schools (not counting the French or Christian) with about 1500 students each.
22 X 1500 = 33 000
Half of the students are girls.
33 000 / 2 = 16 500
Round down to eliminate overcalculation. 15 000
Now, imagine all of the highschool girls in Waterloo Region, and there's about 15 000. Could you believe it if they were all enslaved in brothels around Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge? That's INSANE. Why should we have a place on Earth like that?
I don't know if you believe in God, or Jesus Christ. If you do and you're ignoring this, YOU'RE INSANE. If you don't, you have to believe in some sort of moral system. Let's look at an example. All of us have the capacity to do good things and the capacity to do bad things. Our world is somewhere in between being totally good and totally evil. We can't bow down to our evil desires, becaus then I'm asking the question: Where is the line? Where do we stop? can you imagine a world that is totally evil? I don't want to. Somehow we've come to the conclusion that the line where we stop is somewhere after enslaving 15 000 girls in a single city.
You might say, "Why should I care? Those people are on the other side of the globe. They don't affect me." Don't you care about anyone? Do you have children? Siblings? Parents? Close friends? You don't even want to think about a situation where one of them is enslaved and raped countless times. I know you would do everything in your power and maybe even outside that to stop said situation. The people who are being oppressed are just like your loved ones. Equally human. And human life is valuable. We can't overlook a situation like this.
Are we robots?
Now we come to you as the EPIC Riders and ask, "Can you give anything to stop the inhumanity? Can you even give $5? The price of one trip to Starbucks?" We're giving our talents as cyclists, and the funds that we can, to encourage other people such as yourself to give as well.
I would be surprised if more than one person got to the end of this blog. My brother just walked in and said that I'm guilt-tripping. Whatever, he's argumentative by nature and I don't mind doing a little guilt-tripping. Maybe someone will listen. Oh well, it was worth it anyways ;) I hope you had a great Christmas! Keep going with those New Year's resolutions!
So if you're interested in Ratanak International or EPIC Riders, go to:
epicriders.org
ratanak.org
We're both on the Facebook and Tweeter.
Maybe I am too long-winded
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Monday, January 9, 2012
Update after 6 months :P
Hey Everyone!
I figured I should post on the blog again since I haven't posted for 6 months!! I wouldn't have been surprised to see dust and cobwebs when I logged on ;)
Anyways, it's been a rather slow six months for me in terms of training for EPIC. I didn't get much training done in the summer due to a couple of courses I had, some daycamps I volunteered at, and most importantly, a missions trip I went on to Honduras. Between those things I got some training, but not a lot. The lack of training in the summer, and the fact that I had no time to do anything last spring, because of swimming, I ended up quitting competitive swimming in late August. It took up too much time for me, and some of my friends considered me "inhuman" for doing everything that I did ;) It certainly was hectic!
The new school year led to more training compared to the amount of available time I had, which is somewhat surprising. I occasionally biked to and from school, and other facilities, and also did some weekend training as well, until it became too cold to bike with the gear available to me. I don't have any biking clothes of any sort, so it's kind of hard to ride in cold weather without gloves :) I also participated in the Ride for Refuge 2011, at the beginning of October, and that was definitely an interesting experience ;) With a lot of wind blowing about, I tired myself out relatively quickly, and even managed to get blown off my bike at one point when my forearms gave out! However, through the pain and cold, we managed to finish triumphant, only an hour and a half slower than Dave biked, up in Ottawa ;)
So this year I plan on biking to school a lot more, and also doing a bit of training outside of that, increasingly so as the weather warms up. I managed to get a spare first thing in the morning next semester, even though I'm in Grade 11, to cope with my ever-increasing workload. That will definitely help with morning workouts and bike rides! I will also continue my workouts at home, which will keep up my fitness. I don't really know what else to say, except that I hope everyone had a Happy New Year!
I figured I should post on the blog again since I haven't posted for 6 months!! I wouldn't have been surprised to see dust and cobwebs when I logged on ;)
Anyways, it's been a rather slow six months for me in terms of training for EPIC. I didn't get much training done in the summer due to a couple of courses I had, some daycamps I volunteered at, and most importantly, a missions trip I went on to Honduras. Between those things I got some training, but not a lot. The lack of training in the summer, and the fact that I had no time to do anything last spring, because of swimming, I ended up quitting competitive swimming in late August. It took up too much time for me, and some of my friends considered me "inhuman" for doing everything that I did ;) It certainly was hectic!
The new school year led to more training compared to the amount of available time I had, which is somewhat surprising. I occasionally biked to and from school, and other facilities, and also did some weekend training as well, until it became too cold to bike with the gear available to me. I don't have any biking clothes of any sort, so it's kind of hard to ride in cold weather without gloves :) I also participated in the Ride for Refuge 2011, at the beginning of October, and that was definitely an interesting experience ;) With a lot of wind blowing about, I tired myself out relatively quickly, and even managed to get blown off my bike at one point when my forearms gave out! However, through the pain and cold, we managed to finish triumphant, only an hour and a half slower than Dave biked, up in Ottawa ;)
So this year I plan on biking to school a lot more, and also doing a bit of training outside of that, increasingly so as the weather warms up. I managed to get a spare first thing in the morning next semester, even though I'm in Grade 11, to cope with my ever-increasing workload. That will definitely help with morning workouts and bike rides! I will also continue my workouts at home, which will keep up my fitness. I don't really know what else to say, except that I hope everyone had a Happy New Year!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Summer :)
Hey everyone,
I've finally started to bike regularly. I have swimming practice from Monday to Friday every week so I'll be riding to and from that which is 22km round trip everyday. In the past week I've done approximately 150 kilometres, and I'm slowly building up my training mileage. By the end of the summer I hope to be doing 100 kilometres or more 3-4 times a week. I'm halfway there!
So... I don't really talk that much, since I don't have a lot to say. So goodbye :)
I've finally started to bike regularly. I have swimming practice from Monday to Friday every week so I'll be riding to and from that which is 22km round trip everyday. In the past week I've done approximately 150 kilometres, and I'm slowly building up my training mileage. By the end of the summer I hope to be doing 100 kilometres or more 3-4 times a week. I'm halfway there!
So... I don't really talk that much, since I don't have a lot to say. So goodbye :)
Friday, June 17, 2011
Training :)
Hey everyone,
I've been training a lot in the past month and I'm definitely making some progress. Since May 15th I've ridden about 320km, and this week I've ridden around 50km, going another 50 tomorrow. Exciting stuff! In the summer I'll probably ride 20-80km per day, because I don't really have anything else to do.
I'm also involved in a missions trip, a daycamp, and a couple of weekend courses during the summer, so I'm away a lot. The team is looking at getting a couple of rides in together during the summer to get used to group cycling, and maybe a tiny road trip at the end of summer.
Exams are next week for highschool! I'm not really worried, but it opens up training opportunities since I won't be in school all day. Also, swimming training is going well, and that's great cross-training for cycling.
Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement that you've given me. :) It really helps when you're down in the dumps and don't want to keep going.
Anyways, it looks like next school year I am still going to be able to train a couple times per week, so that's good, but I'm taking up a lot more responsibility in every aspect of my life, so it will be hard to keep up the training, especially as winter settles in.
Thanks for reading,
have a great day :)
I've been training a lot in the past month and I'm definitely making some progress. Since May 15th I've ridden about 320km, and this week I've ridden around 50km, going another 50 tomorrow. Exciting stuff! In the summer I'll probably ride 20-80km per day, because I don't really have anything else to do.
I'm also involved in a missions trip, a daycamp, and a couple of weekend courses during the summer, so I'm away a lot. The team is looking at getting a couple of rides in together during the summer to get used to group cycling, and maybe a tiny road trip at the end of summer.
Exams are next week for highschool! I'm not really worried, but it opens up training opportunities since I won't be in school all day. Also, swimming training is going well, and that's great cross-training for cycling.
Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement that you've given me. :) It really helps when you're down in the dumps and don't want to keep going.
Anyways, it looks like next school year I am still going to be able to train a couple times per week, so that's good, but I'm taking up a lot more responsibility in every aspect of my life, so it will be hard to keep up the training, especially as winter settles in.
Thanks for reading,
have a great day :)
Monday, May 2, 2011
More Training :D
Hey everyone :)
So, the 25 event went pretty well, even though I broke my silence accidentally at least ten times. I'm pretty sure the other EPIC team members did quite well, though, and even after 25 was done I found myself trying to keep quiet even though I didn't have to. Over the Easter weekend I went out, bought a bike computer and looked at some racing bikes, since I desperately need a new one. I saw some pretty good bikes for really cheap.
I actually have got some biking in since I last posted. I biked about 17km on Saturday, and biked a bit in the past couple weeks, but nothing too spectacular. Thankfully, the weather is clearing up quite a bit and I will be out and about in the near future. I also just got a job three weeks ago, at John Dolson Pool. I work as an Assistant Water Safety Instructor, basically helping to teach swimming lessons with special needs children and big classes. However, this takes up a lot of my spare time and I now have no time to ride during the week, besides to and from school. I will be biking a lot more in the summer, hopefully.
I am also into triathlons, given my swimming and biking tendencies, so I will be competing in a couple of those during the summer, and I'm trying to see if I can get into the regional highschool triathlon, although I don't think our school is doing it this year.
Another thing I'm doing this summer is a missions trip in Honduras. I'll be teaching the Bible at a VBS, working in construction projects, evangelizing in the city, and visiting orphanages. It is going to be really fun, but it means missing two weeks of training. I'll probably end up running and working out there to keep up with training.
One more comment. The EPIC team has another new rider that we are excited to introduce, and that is Kelsey Garcia. Welcome to the team! Kelsey lives in BC and is a good friend of Abi's. There is more info on the Facebook page and our website, which is http://www.epicriders.org/, about each of the team members and updates on what's happening with the team.
Anyways, thanks for reading :D
Luke
So, the 25 event went pretty well, even though I broke my silence accidentally at least ten times. I'm pretty sure the other EPIC team members did quite well, though, and even after 25 was done I found myself trying to keep quiet even though I didn't have to. Over the Easter weekend I went out, bought a bike computer and looked at some racing bikes, since I desperately need a new one. I saw some pretty good bikes for really cheap.
I actually have got some biking in since I last posted. I biked about 17km on Saturday, and biked a bit in the past couple weeks, but nothing too spectacular. Thankfully, the weather is clearing up quite a bit and I will be out and about in the near future. I also just got a job three weeks ago, at John Dolson Pool. I work as an Assistant Water Safety Instructor, basically helping to teach swimming lessons with special needs children and big classes. However, this takes up a lot of my spare time and I now have no time to ride during the week, besides to and from school. I will be biking a lot more in the summer, hopefully.
I am also into triathlons, given my swimming and biking tendencies, so I will be competing in a couple of those during the summer, and I'm trying to see if I can get into the regional highschool triathlon, although I don't think our school is doing it this year.
Another thing I'm doing this summer is a missions trip in Honduras. I'll be teaching the Bible at a VBS, working in construction projects, evangelizing in the city, and visiting orphanages. It is going to be really fun, but it means missing two weeks of training. I'll probably end up running and working out there to keep up with training.
One more comment. The EPIC team has another new rider that we are excited to introduce, and that is Kelsey Garcia. Welcome to the team! Kelsey lives in BC and is a good friend of Abi's. There is more info on the Facebook page and our website, which is http://www.epicriders.org/, about each of the team members and updates on what's happening with the team.
Anyways, thanks for reading :D
Luke
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)