FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS
How I made my decision to bicycle around the world
This story actually begins with my father. When I was a child and my father was in his 40s, he began running. After a few years, he was running marathons. I remember him returning home from jogging sometimes with icicles in his beard. He was an inspiration to many people, including me. He is an amazing man. Years before the demolition of the twin towers on 9/11, he was the only person who was allowed to have full access to the stairways in the entire South Building of the World Trade Center. He walked the stairs from the sixth basement level up to the height of the observation deck, floor 107. He walked up and down the 113 stories for years.
As I was growing up, I enjoyed doing many things that boys do in USA. For example, I played baseball in Little League and became the top player in my league in the small town of Glen Ridge, NJ. I also enjoyed running competitively. I started seriously at 10 years old, but there were not sufficient competitive opportunities there for kids my age. One day, I decided that it would be a nice way for me to honor my father if I put some focus onto being a runner.
My dedication to running got me varsity letters starting from my freshman year, when I was the top freshman in Essex County for the mile run. After years of running and numerous chronic overuse injuries, I decided that I wanted to pursue a sport with less impact and less prone to injury. That is when I began my bicycling career.