Two University of B.C. exchange students are about to ride 5,000 kilometres on their bicycles from Vancouver to Washington, D.C, to help raise funds for the poor in Uganda.
Australian Nicholas McCarthy, 20, who is from the University of Queensland, and Briton Marcus Farnfield, 22, who is a University of Bristol student are to begin their 50-day bike ride on Tuesday.
McCarthy is on an exchange program in Vancouver with the UQ Abroad program, and he is teaming up with fellow bike enthusiast Farnfield after they met at UBC and started going out on long-distance bike rides together.
The two have been training hard since the fall for the epic ride, which will cover more than 5,000 kilometres and cross three mountain ranges to raise money and awareness for the Haileybury Youth Trust.
The two are carrying their own clothes, bedding, supplies and spare bike parts, and will not have a support vehicle with them on the ride.
And depending on the weather and conditions, the two have calculated they will have to spend at least four hours a day riding to reach Washington, D.C.
"If we did it in the 50 days, it would mean cycling for about four hours a day," said Farnfield.
Part of the excitement is going on a ride they have never done before. "We want to see America," adds McCarthy of their upcoming adventure.
The Haileybury Youth Trust supports impoverished communities in Uganda by helping them build schools and infrastructure.
McCarthy has maps of the route, but pointed out that once they get into the U.S. it is a steady ride east. "We go down to Bellingham and turn left," he said.
If rain and bad weather set in during the ride, the two said it won't matter. "Training in Vancouver, you get used to the rain," said McCarthy.
Given the daunting distance they have to overcome, Farnfield said they will take the ride one day at a time. "Washington, D.C. is a long way away, we just have to focus on each day," he said of the strategy for finishing the ride.
If all goes as planned, the two hope to raise at least $7,500 with the ride. Both have had financial help with the ride from their respective universities.
They ride out of UBC at 9 a.m. Tuesday, leaving from the Canadian flag site at the rose garden, and are inviting other cyclists to join them on their first day down to Bellingham.
The web address for McCarthy and Farnfield's blog is BCtoDC.tumblr.com and they can be found on twitter@BCtoDC.
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