Purpose Beyond The Grind

Ron 0:11

Every once in a while you meet people who inspire you. People who understand that life holds a deeper purpose than merely just passing time. People who recognize something in themselves and in the world, and then decide to do something about it. Listen.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

I had uh started a business with a couple of partners, and the uh the growth of that kind of took its toll on me, working really long days to a point where I was really struggling with why am I working 70, 80 hours a week? Um we were we were we were doing we were successful in our business, and I thought, you know, there's just there's got to be something else to life than just grinding it out and making a profit in the business.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

It was just so amazing to be reminded that you don't need a lot to to give, to share, to take care of people. And then obviously, when we get to ride up to these schools and they've got kids lined up for a hundred meters with chanting your name, and you get a chance for me. I have a real passion for speaking to young girls, so to be able to speak to them. But but just that, and it, you know, there's there's a parable about it. The widow who does, you know, she gives more than the rich people because she gave everything. And so we're just constantly reminded when we leave our own little happy comfort zone that uh you don't need a lot to show love and care for people.

Ron 1:43

On the Peace Love Moto podcast, we discuss peace of mind, how it often results from two-wheel travel. Yeah, we know too that journeys also reveal the world's beauty and the fact that the vast majority of the world's people are good people, just like you. So I'm thrilled today to introduce you to a couple who know these facts firsthand. The fact that travel on two wheels is good for you, and that there are wonderful people throughout the world because they've seen them and they've met them. They too see the world from a saddle. The saddle of a bicycle.

unknown 2:20

P.

Meet Cycle Five To Survive

Ron 2:20

L. and Kristen Meindertzpa are the founders of the Canada-based Cycle 5 to Survive, and they embody this podcast's heart for travel to raise funds and awareness for very meaningful causes. This fundraising initiative to cycle through five continents over five years to raise$2.5 million for charity. They've already covered 20,000 kilometers, that's about 12,500 miles for us here in the U.S., across three continents already, and they've reached about half of their goals so far. Yes, that's a long way. Are they athletes? Yes, they are. They met doing triathlons. So this June, next month, is the big ride through Africa. It's a 6,000 kilometer trek from Nairobi to Cape Town. What's amazing too is they are completely self-funded and as you will hear, completely determined. PL and Kristen are real-time storytellers. I follow them on Instagram, for example, and they inspire mindfulness through service and movement. All this being said, their mission, their heart, their love for two-wheel travel, I think aligns perfectly with you and I on Peace Love Moto. So I feel very fortunate to have met them, and I feel very, very fortunate to share this interview with you, my friends. So, without further ado, here is my interview with PL and Kristen. So welcome to the podcast. So glad to have you. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yep, nice to meet you, Ron.

Ron 3:57

We talked already before we started recording. And I mentioned that, yes, peace, love, moto, peace of mind. That's what the peace stands for. The love, love your love yourself, love other people. And then the moto thing is motorcycles, right? But here's the honest truth, too, and I share this with my listeners all the time. The moto thing is just a thread, it could be sailing for a fact. It's kind of this moving through moving through the world type of thing. But I do have a close kinship with bicyclists, and that's that's what you are. So before we get into your mission and what you ultimately do, I'm really curious to find out how you two came together and how you came up with such a uh huge mission. And you both agreed to that.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

So yeah, um, well, we met uh in 1998 uh doing trathlons. So um I had been racing some short course, I was living in the Kootenies at that time in Nelson, and I had come to do a race in Kelowna, and uh Piel was doing a race, and we met through mutual friend. Um, and so yeah, so we were dating long distance for a year, then I moved out to Abbotsford, which is where we live now. Uh we're engaged, and then we got married in 2000, and we did Iron Man Canada for our honeymoon. So my goodness. Say that the romance has been uh cultivated on bikes, and then uh yeah, fast forward we're in our 26th year of marriage, and uh yeah, and then I guess the whole thing with Cycle Five started in 22, 2022, but it started a little bit before that.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

I um I had uh started a business with a couple of partners, and the uh the growth of that kind of took its toll on me, working really long days to a point where I was really struggling with why am I working 70, 80 hours a week? Um, we were we were we were doing we were successful in our business, and I thought, you know, this is there's gotta be something else to life than just grinding it out and making a profit in the business. And uh I had done a few rides to raise money. We together have done rides to raise money for other charities, a local charity up here called Terry Fox. He's a quite a legend in terms of he had cancer and ran marathons on one leg and et cetera. And that kind of sparked a bit of a an idea that I really liked the idea of kind of doing this bikepacking, raising awareness. And then fast forward a few more years. I turned 50, my wife turned 55, and I'm like, I gotta do something. And the number five just stuck. I have a bit of a marketing background. I thought, you know, let's do five of these bikepacking rides, and then you know, you start dreaming a little bit more and you start making these smart goals, right? They got to be measurable, so continents, and then well, I don't just want to ride for nothing. Let's uh let's raise some money. So came up with$500,000. So five rides, five years, five charities, five hundred thousand dollars per charity. So that that's kind of how it started. My my wife jokes it's it was my midlife crisis, and um I mean it's probably being as expensive as a midlife crisis. We've we underwrite all of our own expenses and everything else, but I'm sure you can we'll chat about that more later.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Yeah, yeah.

Ron 7:36

Um, the t-shirt that I'm wearing says Go Fast Don't Die. And um the the founder of the company that started this is which is called Go Fast, Don't Die. His name is Brady McClain. I've I've interviewed him, he's up in Wyoming. He's one of the coolest guys ever. That's just how I describe Brady. But I ask him where this came from, and this this motto came from, I believe it was his aunt, who would just instill in the boys, in the cousins, and the girls too, to go out there, live a full life. Live a full life, and that's kind of where that comes from. But the back of this shirt, which I won't be able to turn around and show you, but it actually says, good things come to those who ride. And you ride, you both ride. So this is a big, big fat, broad question here, but have good things come to you through cycling and this this whole just immense project that you have been uh working on, attaining, and still working on.

How They Met Through Triathlon

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah, I think you know, early on, I mean, uh it brought us together. So that's been a really, really good thing. Um, you know, to to meet on bikes. Um, if you're a cyclist or even you would understand as a moto guy, you know, when you when you're a runner, you could go for a half-hour run, that's your workout for the day, you're good an hour. Well, when you're on a bike, you know, very rarely do you go out for an hour. Like you're out for multiple hours, you're cruising, you're spending a lot of time. And so for us, we've always said, we're just really good on the bike together. Um, because as we were training or just as it became our fitness over, you know, we used to run and stuff, but as you get older, um, it's multiple hours. And so to be able to do that with your spouse has been a gift. Um, and we often uh we don't listen to music uh like the bike packing, we've started to do more of that, but in the first years, earlier, we just don't listen to anything. So there's a lot of silence on the bike, or we're chit-chatting, or you know, you're just solving the world's problems, whatever. It's just been, I think for us at the heart of who we are, it it's really been the best thing. So for us, being on a bike has been the best thing for us. And then I guess if you fast forward to these charity rides, then I mean, gosh, we could talk about so many good things.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

I mean, that's kind of what we're here. The the bike, in a way, uh for cycle five, the riding is really the the marketing hook for people to say, What are you doing? And then we tell them, and they go, You're doing what? Why? And then we have a chance to get into the story of the charities and the fundraising and the whole other part of it. So the bikes have become our vehicle to to have people go, Oh, that's crazy. And then having people look at what we're doing and getting inspired and following us and supporting us, it's it's been a very powerful vehicle for us to create awareness, not just for the charities, but for other people who are watching us as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Yeah. And I would just add to that personally for us too, as we and you would understand that too, like when you are on a bike or in the saddle, if we want to be incorporating that, going through communities or the wilderness, you just see it so differently. And you know, on a bike we're slower. And so you get a chance to look around and you you get to smell the things and hear the things and see the things and feel the things. And um, and then as we've been able to go to three different continents just to experience cultures on a bike. Like you roll in on a bike somewhere, people are like, whoa, like what are you doing? It's it's it's completely different than when you roll in in a car or in a big truck. So um I think you know, the benefits for us of of really gaining a perspective of a greater area other than our own communities or Canada or North America, um, and appreciation for different cultures and people, and people are just incredible. So there's been just so many positives that come out of um yeah, rolling through the world.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

Go ahead. Just as she was talking about rolling, like when we were riding through South America, I'm 6'7. So wherever we would stop in a community and on a bike, people would naturally come and want to know what we're doing. And the amount of pictures that people want to take, and this is not I'm not saying this to try and brag, but people all want to take pictures with me because I am at least like a foot and a half taller than all of them, and and they just love it.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

It's a celebrity.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

Yeah, it's hilarious, it's so fun.

Ron 12:24

Yeah, you know, you mentioned about community and writing for a purpose, certainly, too. Uh, there is a what do we call it? I guess it's a documentary series that was done by you and the actor Ewan McGregor, Charlie Borman, the Long Way series, long ways up, long way down, long way around, all that good stuff. And loved it, absolutely. I bought when they first came out, I bought the DVD, so that's been a while.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Yeah.

Ron 12:51

But one of the cool, cool, cool tie-ins that that I think was so oh, I brought in humanity into their trips was their tie-in to UNICEF. They were stopping at these various places that were supported by UNICEF and seeing the children and uh coming away with a tear, you know, and just knowing that this is important. This is the real world out here, and this is really, really important. And uh any number of times, and I've read the book too, a couple of books that they had, uh, but they talk just like what you're describing, it's community, it's meeting strangers and having we shouldn't have the aha moment that the vast majority of the world are wonderful people, yeah. And yeah, because TV and and the news cycle doesn't tell us that. No. But would you mind sharing like an experience maybe or two that you've had where it's just like wow, these people are wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah, yeah, we've we've said the same thing that we're way more united than we are divided around the world. But like you said, you know, depending on what you're watching or listening to, it's just really easy to think about how we're different, but um, and the same thing that there are way more people that are good um than are not, and so um yeah.

Burnout Sparks A Five-Continent Plan

SPEAKER_03 14:16

I would say my faith in humanity has increased as we've done these rides. And some of the preconceived notions of you know, you think of Bogota, Colombia, you think cartel, cocaine, and when you're there, they are the warmest people and they are so excited and they understand the value of community and tourism and like you know, your your peace and love. Like it's it's unfortunate that we like the stuff that is dramatic, and the stuff that just does so much good. I mean, we joke that we are fighting for attention to battle all of the negativity in this world, like people like yourself putting on these podcasts, like it it's an incredible outlet for people like you to share all of the great things happening in this world because more people need to hear the good things that are happening because they're all bombarded and stuck flipping through these 30-second wars and tariffs and all the negative in the world.

Ron 15:18

So yeah, so destructive to people too. Anxiety, depression, all of that, from what I understand, is just off the charts.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah, your algorithm you feed your algorithm with a few of those and you're inundated before you know it, you don't even know what's truth anymore, right? So, so yeah, for us, it's been um a real push to try to get our message out just in terms of yeah, the unity, the community, all of that stuff. Um, examples, oh there are many. I I always go back, um like we've been able to visit the charities in each of the continents so far. So that's been wonderful. Uh, one of the rides, it was after our first year, after we did our North American ride. Um, we had a chance to go to Nepal to ride with our charity partner there. Um, he was going to the five locations of schools that he has built and set up. And so he said, Hey, do you guys want to come? Uh it'll be fully supported. It'll be a two-week trip, and we're gonna be in the right around the Annapurnas. Like it was just kind of, and there's five locations. So Piel was, well, it's a number five. I guess we're going.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Right? Get in there. And I would say that it was nice to do it early on because it had a huge impact for us to see the difference that we're making personally. Uh, well, the charity is, but us as well, with how we're providing for that particular charity. Um, and when you are, you know, we are in in the matter of the greater world, we're white rich people that pretty much have a decent life, an easy life. And here we are in these high altitude villages where people do not have much, and they are welcoming us in, they're feeding us, they are giving us a place to sleep for the night. Um, and they're, you know, they don't have a lot, but they are just here. We are, you are part of us. Just come in and spend time with us. And it was just so amazing to be reminded that you don't need a lot to give, to share, to take care of people. And then obviously, when we get to ride up to these schools and they've got kids lined up for a hundred meters with chanting your name, and you get a chance for me. I have a real passion for speaking to young girls, so to be able to speak to them. But but just that, and it, you know, there's there's a parable about it. The widow who, you know, she gives her more than the rich people because she gave everything. And so we're just constantly reminded when we leave our own little happy comfort zone that uh you don't need a lot to show love and care for people. And and so we've that's I think for me, Nepal was a really great early ride to remind us of what we're doing and why.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Yeah. The um the hospitality of people, regardless of where you are and how they want to help you on the rides, has been great. But again, to echo Kristen, uh, we've had a chance to to visit all but one of the charities. We're visiting the our last charity here in Africa in about a month or so. Um, just being able to see what it is you're impacting and seeing the people that are benefiting from that. Because um there there are some negative connotations associated with charities, and some people are a bit skeptical. So we vet what we do. We have specific um initiatives within each charity where our funds are going, and we get impact reports from our charities every year so they can show us exactly how our funds are getting multiplied, and then we are there physically as well, seeing what's going on. Because we're self-funding everything, our incentives to ensure our money goes where it's supposed to go is completely aligned with the people who support and donate us because out of all the donors, we are the largest one. We we are providing our time, our talent, and our treasures. Yeah, three of them, right? So yeah, but it's it's really it's really the the the the feeling you get when you see the work that's being done within the organizations and the charities we support. Yeah.

Ron 19:42

You know what I'm hearing you say, tell me if I'm wrong, and and we can edit this out too. But I just want to ask you, are you driven by your faith to do this?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah, so um it that is a big part of how this has all started. So um, yeah, we both have a faith background. Um I'm a re I was a recovering Catholic. So um when we met, neither one of us was practicing any faith. I'd walked away from the from the church, and then um I had the benefit or the privilege, I would say, of coming to faith as we were dating and then had the opportunity to work at a Christian school. So I've been teaching uh girls' PE in a Christian school for the last 26 years at the high school level. And so for me, my faith has um been uh nourished by young people and I love it. Like it's just been so rewarding and challenging, and also, you know, the need to be authentic in who I am, what I'm thinking, how my faith is working for me, and and separating my faith from the institution just for me as a Catholic was a big deal. So, so yeah, I'm I'm strongly driven um by my faith. And and I would say that, and Piel could probably talk a little bit more about this, but that is a real big part of why this all started as well. Um this whole personal journey to see that there's gotta be more than than just what we're doing.

Travel Restores Faith In Humanity

SPEAKER_03 21:16

So yeah. I I mean I was born and raised in a Christian home. Um my parents and my sister have a very strong heartfelt faith, and I'm more of a head faith, and I don't get the same feelings that people who have a strong faith get. So I'm constantly struggling with how much of this is me and how much of this is God or my faith. And so I put myself in a situation with cycle five to really try and change my mental state to see if somehow I can get my heart and my head to connect a little bit more um maybe seamlessly with. People talk about the feeling of the Holy Spirit. I don't feel it. And so people who are of faith they look at what initiatives I kind of planted with cycle five, and they say, you know, you have more faith than probably people who say they're Christian. And yet you struggle with saying you have a faith. So I'm still working through that. I have a real difficult time um acknowledging who actually gave me my gifts because I feel like I have worked my ass off to get to where I am. And people are like, Mabel, you have no idea why you've been able to do that. Like, where did that come from? So that is really a big part of where this whole cycle five started. Just I had to do something different, and I didn't know what I needed to do different, other than get on a bike and try and find that feeling I had when I did my first bikepacking ride to raise money for a charity, thinking that if I do this bigger, maybe the impact and the feeling will change. It has completely turned my life. Uh I wouldn't say upside down, but the changes and the sacrifices that we've made to do what we're doing are way beyond what I ever would have imagined. And um and and the and the sacrifice and struggles aren't always things I enjoy. But every time I feel that and I feel sorry for myself, I remind myself, if I wasn't feeling this uncomfortable and this frustrated, I probably wouldn't be growing. So I think at some point it it will click where I will look back and go, I holy cow, that's crazy. But in the moment, I I struggle all the time with why am I why am I even doing this? Like, why am I putting myself out there? Why am I on a sabbatical? You know, you're retired, I'm on a sabbatical, and we're funding these rides, and we're raising money, like, and we're taking time away from our kids, and and and right. So, yeah, anyways, that's a little bit the other side of the faith journey.

Ron 24:02

It reminds me a little bit. Uh, I mentioned again before we started recording, I think, um, that my wife and I have been involved in this thing called the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride, which raises money for the Movember Foundation, the No Shave November thing, specifically targeting uh men's health, uh mental health and uh prostate cancer research. So I interviewed the founder of that. His name is Mark Hawa, and he's in Australia. And my question to him was because he's he's the same thing. I mean, just a huge investment of time and funds and efforts and worries and all this stuff to get this thing going, which has turned into a massive thing. 120 something thousand writers around the world. This coming Sunday, a week from tomorrow, we'll be participating. Anyway, I I asked Mark, where did this drive come from? Where you know, people have a good heart, a lot of people have a good heart, and and and people some people choose to do good things and some people don't. But where did this whole drive come from for you? And you know what he told me? He said it came from my parents. He said he had an older brother that was disabled, is disabled, and his parents always taught he and his brother that you've got to do good things for other people. That's what you do. That's what you do. And so I'm just curious for both of you guys, you you must have had that commonality of well, I was just raised that way, you know, to to have the desire to put forth and put this risk of your livelihood and your life out there for somebody else. So, where did that come from for you?

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Well, we've been told, and I and I believe this, that people tend to give because they were either taught or because something drastic happens to them. Those are two typical precursors to someone's generosity. And I would say, you know, I would I grew up in the church and I saw my dad, mom and dad put the check in the envelope and et cetera, et cetera. I would say that I'm quite different from my parents and my sister, um, where I was very driven, very, and I'm doing things that no one in my family has done before. But I just think that giving back is just the right thing to do. And it that is that instilled from an early childhood, uh, probably is that instilled from just a desire of me being so hyper-focused for so many years and so driven to feeling that okay, I am being very selfish here because I'm doing all of this for my own success. Now, you can say the people we employ, the communities, like there's there's yeah, it's not a quite accurate. I'm I'm being a bit hard on myself when I say this, but I think it's a little bit of both. I think the moral compass that I have, that I was raised with, I think is a huge part of it. We we talk about our kids all the time. Like, you make choices in life, but at some point you got to take a deep breath and say, like, what is your moral compass? Like, what do you have to do to hit the reset button when you've gone a little too far off track? You've done a few things that are a little bit gray. How do you reset that? And I I think it's taught, but I also think part of that, I don't know. Yeah, I I don't, that's a great question. I I'm babbling here, so I'll let Kristen take a turn.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Yeah, I think it's it's nature nurture, it's a little bit of both. I think some of us are just more outgoing and it's nice to to help. I think, depending on your love language, if it's words of affirmation, then you know, you you want to do things for people because then you you're feeling love when they say, Oh, that's so awesome. You know, so I think there's a little bit of that natural part. Um and then I mean, for me, obviously, with a big part of my uh work being in a a school environment, then you're, you know, we do missions trips or we're constantly talking about that. So there's a lot of those opportunities. Um, but if you were even just to take faith out of it, I think, yeah, you if your eyes are open, it you're going to see a need. And I think it doesn't have to be something big. It's like even just entering your ride, you're paying an entry fee. Like that is giving of your of your time because you're going to show up and be in community, your treasure because you're paying your entry fee. And then and your talent, you know, like it's it's time, treasure, or talents. Like you don't have to do it all. You could, and it's sometimes it's just entering a fun run that that's raising money for something. So I just think having your eyes open um is just an easy one, like you know, inviting somebody over for dinner, just going for a walk with somebody, like there's just so many ways to give. And the more that we give, the more that we receive, like you feel better. And I there's we listened to Simon Sinek quite a bit. He does so, and I remember this one about mental health specifically, and it was so great because he said, if I am vulnerable and I share my life with somebody, if they're in a bit of a funk, they can get pulled out of it by just listening to me and helping me out, and it makes their struggle maybe not feel so bad. Oh, somebody else is struggling. So I just think walking alongside people and just being authentic, uh, there's just so many ways to feel, I don't know, feel good.

unknown 29:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

By giving and receiving. Like it's just it's it is, it's it's so intertwined. I don't know.

Nepal Schools And Radical Hospitality

SPEAKER_03 29:45

The way the way my wife and I are wired, we're wired quite differently. And in my mind, most things that I do are quite intentional. There's thought that goes into why I do what I do. My wife is very much hard-led. Like when she feels it and she's moved by it, she she executes it. So when we talk about giving, the cycle five was a very intentional initiative to break a cycle that I wasn't happy being in. So I think it's different for everybody, depending on how they're hardwired and what their natural tendencies are, and being open to understanding how I am different than my wife, where my wife will give right away before I will say, Well, wait a minute, if I give, help me understand why and where is this gonna go? And then I'm like, Oh, you know what? I think we should give even more because this is really good. And she's like, Okay. Expect nothing in return. But it doesn't quite work for this Dutch brain, right?

Ron 30:52

Yeah, yeah, understand. You know, uh, when I was traveling quite a lot for business, I'd primarily go to Dallas, fly here from the Denver area out to Dallas. Uh, any number of times I would take an Uber from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to the office, at least initially, or somewhere else. And over and over again, we go the same route. And that route included going under bridges and seeing people living there. And clearly, folks with drug problems or schizophrenia or a combination of all of that. And I remember having one particular Uber driver just saying that aren't we lucky? He just as we're driving by, he knew I was looking out the window from the back seat and he said, Aren't we lucky? Oh my goodness, isn't that true? Isn't that true? It just takes you know, one decision, yeah, yeah. Just drunk driver kill somebody, or you know, that's one thing, or just happen to have uh uh uh mental issue or whatever and have no family support. But you know, I the way I put it is a lot of people use the expression there, but by the grace of God goes me all be that, so you know, we kind of feel the same sense that you do. It's like, gosh, I've got I've got my health mental, pretty good, physical good, and I've got a motorcycle in the garage for me too. Like, how could life be any better? And I have a wife who loves me, amazing, despite all that next month it'll be 40 years together, it's amazing, and about to have the fourth, fourth grandchild is coming along. So, yeah, I mean, I am really good at finding things to complain about, really good, but uh oh my goodness, when a step back, and just like what you've experienced seeing going into these villages and seeing the poorest of the poor who greets you with a smile, yeah. Wow, how is that? You know, I and I I want to be sure and turn back into this because I think it's so important that the listeners of this podcast understand if they get it and they buy in, what can we what can they do? What can I do? So what I know Africa is coming up for you, but and I will put links and and uh all the information that you'd like in the show notes and stuff too. But if if someone is listening to this episode and they say, I get it, I like these people, I want to end to what could they do next?

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Yeah, so I'll start on the this the simplest, easiest thing, and then you can go to the next part for us. Um the biggest thing right now is we're really trying to grow our reach. So social media is the platform of our current generation. Uh, so we have an Instagram page, a Facebook page, um, YouTube, TikTok, and a website. So the ease, well, the first thing, the easiest thing would be to follow us um on our platforms um because that again helps us with our reach, because we um backend everything. If we, you know, we do have some really great sponsors. So that helps us out uh in that area. Um, and then it also helps you see us more kind of day-to-day, like it's a little bit easier with the stuff that we we post. Um, and then our website is a great place to go because then you've got everything there. You've got the history, the story, you do get the updates. Um, if you subscribe to our newsletter, then uh today. Yeah, oh, excellent. Yeah, because we do have a team here. So what as we send our footage back or video, our GoPro, whatever, then we make films and we, you know, you'll end up with a 15 to 20 minute film every couple of weeks on our ride. And so you, you know, you can do that. You can actually see our live tracking while we're actually riding. Um, so that, you know, just even being there and following us is really huge. Um, and then I would say if you are the praying kind, we, you know, pray, pray for all of that stuff because uh we, you know, we experience every time right before the lead up to a trip, you know, things start to happen. Because, you know, the enemy likes to to stop people who are doing great things. So, you know, we both had an injury this last week where we've been off the bike. And uh, so there's things like that that start to happen. So praying for us is really helpful. Um, and then I would say further to your point, uh if you are generous, share with people why you are generous. Like there's a there's a we also want to inspire people to do that as well, to go out and give. And so, but sometimes people don't like if you don't grow up in the church, you don't really know why you should be generous. Like you don't understand all that stuff. So just say, you know, I give because when I come back from cleaning up garbage on that trail, like I just feel so good or whatever. So even just sharing why you're generous and why you're interested in what we're doing uh is really helpful for us. So at the very least, you know, just clicking like or follow is super helpful. And then if you really like what we're doing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

I I think the the idea of supporting us financially, we understand that unless you know who we are and where our hearts are at, it's easy just to skip over it. And we understand that we know that most of the people that support us are people that know us personally. So to follow along and to get an understanding of who we are as human beings will likely increase the odds of someone hitting the donate button. And whether it's$20 or$50,$100, you know, we have raised in the last three years, we've raised$1.25 million of our$2.5 million goal. So wow, wonderful. So we're 60% through our journey with two continents left to ride, and we're at 50% of our targets. Um, some people love coming in at the very end and kind of wanting to be the hero that helps us get to our two and a half million dollar target. So, but it's stressful for us, right? Because yeah, I am very goal-driven, and my hope is we will hit that$2.5 million number. So check check us out. And again, like to your point, if if your heart moves you, um, hit the donate button.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

And it doesn't have to be a lot, but um but the newsletter is a great way to. I mean, that's the fun stuff. Like when you get our videos from us on the road, like that's where the good, the bad, the ugly, uh, you know, all that stuff happens. So, I mean, that's an easy way to get connected.

Faith, Doubt, And Inner Growth

SPEAKER_03 37:40

Um I would like to share just one little nugget outside of the charities, and we haven't shared this part with you yet, is there have been moments where other people have reached out to us because they've seen what it is we're doing and they want to do something similar. So we just uh were on a Zoom call with a gentleman called Axel. He had autoimmune disease and got his colon removed and has an oscilly bag now. Ostemy. He wanted to be the youngest and fastest person to do a route that we did called the European Divide Trail. It's uh it's an 8,700 kilometer trail from the top of Norway to the southern tip of Portugal, which which we achieved. Um, we were the 44th person to ever complete that route, by the way. Um anyways, he now wants to do it and create awareness for people who have these autoimmune diseases. So he reached out to us and he was inspired by our journey. And we've been going back and forth and helping him on how to set up his reach so he can do this route, but a completely different way and to create awareness for it doesn't stop you from doing what you love, it just looks a little bit different. So those are the ripple effects that we are now starting to feel, which which originally, when we when you watch the video, the last thing we said, someone asked that how will you know this is a success. And we said, if more people can just do a little bit, then we're just average people doing average things with just a lot of support. And if more average people can just do a few average things and people come along and support them, that's really what at the end of the day, that that would be just incredible, right? To know that we've inspired it, influenced people, not just sit there and go, wow, this is great, but to take action, that would be that would be huge.

Ron 39:37

Oh, I I just love everything that you're saying, you know, on this call to action, at least what I've experienced too. And I think what drives me to keep going with this podcast, even when I come up the day before I need to publish it and I don't have a clue about what to say or or anything. We I just feel like I, I think a lot of us just have an obligation. We are just so blessed in so many ways. And like I said, you know, seeing the the the people living under a bridge or passing someone who's just screaming at the sky who's just so troubled. Oh my goodness, that could be me so easily. And I know that I'm not out there to earn my way to heaven, if you want to put it that way. But I just feel like, just like what you're saying, it just takes everybody, as many as we can, just to do a little bit. Yeah. Next thing you know, you've got such a more loving world.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Yeah.

Ron 40:31

Not so focused on the Dow Jones or the light, you know, and all of that. Just not so focused on putting our name on the next building, which won't even go that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Um I think it's important to because it can be scary, like when you know, it's gonna you're gonna have to be feel pretty good and be pretty confident to go walk under that bridge and maybe feed somebody who is screaming at the rim. But there are so many people that are quietly suffering in your own neighborhood. Maybe they've lost a child, or maybe um somebody, you know, has gone off to war and has come back and has PTSD. Uh, like there's just so many things that I think you can do that aren't the crazy out there in the street kind of thing. Like, um, you know, how many uh shelters need clothing sorted or clothing donated, or you can, you know, how many seniors need somebody to take them shopping because they've lost their driver's license? Like there's just so many ways to help. And how, you know, I would hope that if I was in a situation like that, somebody would want to help me. Like when I'm 90 and I can't drive anymore, you know, I hope somebody says, hey, let me take you to get groceries. Like I would, I would hope that for me. And I'm constantly, I mean, that that would be a thing. If you're ever in a grocery store, you could just look around. Somebody needs your help to get something off a high shelf, to carry their basket. Uh, the the baby's screaming, and you just, you know, like it's just so many opportunities to things that aren't out there that are scary. Find something that is within your wheelhouse, and then you know what?

SPEAKER_03 42:16

At six seven, I get asked at least once every time I go grocery shop or someone say, Can can you grab that? And I just kind of yeah. So my height's been a blessing. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Well, you know, it is scary to go feed people under the bridge. I've been there, like I've done it, and it's stinky, and it's like probably not even safe half the time. So there are just certain things that I think there's a lot more of those little things that mean so much to somebody. Yeah. Um, that's what I think about building community and loving your neighbor as yourself, if you want to.

How To Support And Show Up

Ron 42:52

And in this lifetime, we may we never we may never know what kind of impact we've had, which reminds me, I know we're gonna maybe wrap up here, but I'd I'd like to share a little story with you, just real quick. Um, because I've shared this fairly recently in another event. Uh, are you familiar with the movie? It's old one called Goodbye Mr. Chips. No. So here's the brief, very brief story. So it's in uh it's in Britain somewhere. Uh there's a young man who uh it's kind of awkward with life, but he becomes a professor or becomes the teacher at an all-boys school there in there in England. And he just cannot get through to these boys. He's just not a very good communicator, although he's a very good educator. You know, he's very smart, but he just can't get through to these boys. Well, eventually he meets the love of his life. So he falls his his first love. He falls in love with this lady, they get married, and she teaches him how to you how to love other people. And so he becomes, within just a very short time, he becomes a wonderful teacher because he's learned to educate. Again, it's all boys school, but he's learned to get through to these boys by letting them know that he. He cares. No, he loves them, he cares about them. You should learn this because of that. Well, anyway, in the the way the movie goes is that uh his wife dies. They never had children, but his wife dies at a very early age. But he continues to teach with the same spirit that he learned from his wife. So the movie advances along and he's getting older and older and older until the last scene of the movie, he's on his deathbed. And he's laying there in the bed, the doctor's by himself by his side, and he's got his eyes closed, and his colleagues are there around the bed. And one of the colleagues says, you know, isn't it a shame that Mr. Chips never had children of his own?

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Well, Mr.

Ron 44:44

Chips heard that, and he opened his eyes and he said, Oh, but sir, you're wrong. I had thousands of children, and they were all boys. And at that moment, here's the part in the movie that's just beautiful. He closes his eyes and he opens his eyes again, and there in front of him is a line of young boys and men and grown men and grandfathers, all of whom he touched. He touched my life. Those were his children. And so maybe that I guess that's what I was relaying uh in an event at the carousel of happiness. I was talking to those who um who are participate in running the carousel, that you may never know who you touch, but someday you might. And that'll be the important thing. That'll be the really important thing. So that's that's my hope for all of us, really.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

Yeah, for sure.

Ron 45:35

Um well, I is there anything else you'd like to say before we close? Again, I'll have all your contact info. And I just on behalf of myself and all the listeners, thank you. You you're making the world a better place. And I know it's hard sometimes and it's easy to get discouraged, but thank you for what you do.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

Well, I I would say the same thing to you that you're providing a platform for people like us, and there's a reason why we try to reach out to people with people like you who have these podcasts, who have a reach, who do great work and who can share our story. Like without people like you, um, we wouldn't have this opportunity. So thank you as well.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

Glad to yeah, I would just say, you know, we one of the things that we instilled in our we just repeated over is just show up and make people feel special for our kids. Just show up. And I would say just start showing up to things. Yeah. That would be my encouragement. And then open your eyes. There'll be some opportunity.

Ron 46:36

Yeah, that's it. Get away from the TV. Get away from the computer. So your eyes can be, oh yeah, get outside.

SPEAKER_00 46:43

Definitely get outside.

Ron 46:46

Oh my goodness. Maybe we can visit again sometime about the whole outdoors thing. I am yeah, I love the outdoors.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Yeah, and it'd be great to touch base, you know, at the end of this journey for us. There's a a sixth ride that'll happen, which is across Canada, which will be more focused on raising something for local because our charities are around the world. But um, and yeah, I mean, we loved riding through Colorado, so you never know. We might end up back down there again.

Ron 47:13

Oh, our home is your home too. And I know the national park backwards and forwards.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

So perfect. Yeah. Well, and uh come up to visit. We have room up here too.

Ron 47:22

So I so appreciate that. Again, uh thank you so much for your time and uh bless you and and uh pray that you'll just be be uh safe and happy and just do continue to do wonderful things. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Nice to meet you, Ron.

Ron 47:43

PL and Kristen and Cycle Five to Survive prove that acts of kindness, both small and large, and the human connections, well, those matter. Their journey is a great example of the power of human connection and the difference an intentional and focused act of kindness can make in the world. To follow their adventures and to support their mission, I have their contact information in the show notes and visit their website and follow them on social media like I do. I'm Ron Francis in lovely Colorado, and I thank you for listening to the Peace Love Moto Podcast. So until next time, keep writing and keep sharing the love. Take care, my friends.