Ty Miller’s Blogs
Posted on July 26, 2011
Ty Miller is one of our (LITs) or Leaders in Training. He is a great asset to the JettRide team and throughout his journey has been keeping his own blog of his adventures! We would like to share a few of his blog posts here but to follow his blog just click on the link below!
Day 3- The First 50
Today we officially started our JettRide. We left from the Mall of America near Minneapolis, MN and biked to Hudson, WI. After getting lost (only 7 times..) we clocked in just under 50 miles for today. Lots of hills. LOTS of hills.
At our launch site, a bunch of families affected by DMD came out to see us off. They were all so great to talk to, but there was one mother and son in particular who clicked with me above the rest. Her name was Sherry Fox and her son’s name was Jacob. Another mom who I talked to yesterday pulled me over and wanted me to talk with the Fox family, thanking me and saying very wonderful and nice things about the ride and myself as well. As I started talking with Sherry, she became very emotional and had to pause a few times to prevent herself from crying. She is so thankful for MDA and The Jett Foundation and what they do for families, including her own. I could tell that this was one parent who was still looking for support and still struggling with her son’s disease. we toyed with some ideas about me traveling up to Minnesota for their MDA camp next year, and I have to say that I’m giving some serious consideration. (Hey, maybe two camps next year!!) After talking with Jake a little bit, I saw what an awesome little boy he is. (I’ll post a picture of the two of us). I really, really enjoyed talking with both of them today. Great, great people. Now, here’s a message to Sherry:
Sherry, if you are reading this right now, I want you to know how strong i think you really are. This isn’t an easy lifestyle to adapt to, but I promise that there are people out here to help you all through it. You are a part of a community who can honestly say that they love you when they don’t even know you. I personally want to thank you for taking the time to tell me your story. I thank you because I know how hard it is to tell it. Remember, you are loved and we are doing this ride for you and Jake. I can’t wait to talk more when I get back home, and who knows? Maybe Jake will see me at camp next year. 
So, after lunch and goodbyes fromthe families, the mayor of Bloomington, Minnesota saw us off, providing us with a police escort to the edge of town. A great way to begin our miles.
The ride was peaceful and very beautiful, but my favorite part of today was in Hudson, WI; our destination point. Our host family made a delicious dinner for us and then took us to by-far the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. A hidden waterfall. We took a path from this state park and went to this giant waterfall surrounded trees and tucked away in this rock valley. It was amazing. We climbed up stream and went behind the waterfall where we washed away the sweat and grime of the day. I can’t quite tell you what an amazing site it was.
Welp, I’m exhausted and have another 50 miles to ride tomorrow, so, I’m off to bed!! Keep reading and stay tuned!
Day 5
Again I have to apologize for a late post. There’s a lot going on here!
Today we biked out to Eau Claire, WI, where a smaller campus of the University of Wisconsin calls home. It sorta had a Lawrence feel to it, only not as cool. ;]
We had a pretty easy day of biking today. We rode the rail trails (bike paths that were once railroad tracks, but smoothed over) the whole way. Because the tracks have to be perfectly flat, we didn’t have any hills! Which was so nice. As we were about 3/4 of the way through our journey, Sara and I (one of the adult leaders) stayed in the back of the pack, allowing the kids to ride at whatever speed they chose. we were waiting on the trail for one of the other leaders when two women came over to us and started asking us questions about our ride and everything. They were older, both grandmothers, biking also, so they had a lot of respect for a group of individuals who are riding cross-country. They were so much fun to listen to because they were from so far North in Wisconsin that they had they awesome accents; a mixture of Canadian and Minnesotan. They were so sweet and loved our organization so much that they pooled together $13 (which was all that they had) and gave it to us as a donation. It was a really cool moment to share with a stranger.
We stayed at this beautiful church with an amazing organ in the sanctuary and elaborate stained glass windows throughout the building. Lots of room, too. Which was nice, for a change.
After biking all day, we spent a few hours in the river to cool off. There was a nearby rope swing that we swam over to and had a great time swinging off into the cool water. A few church members came by afterwards with supper for us, and we talked and got to know each other as we indulged in some of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. We were all very, very thankful for the free food and the hospitality.
The group finished off the night with a rap battle performed by the guys, which was cool until we started. Everyone kinda sucks at freestyle rap. But we have fun. 
Day 6
We made it to Black River Falls, WI and had quite an adventurous day.
We made it into town and went straight to a nearby water park where we played around and cooled off from the ride. We took advantage of their showers and took off to the local county beef fair. Fresh ribeye streak sandwiches, sweet corn, and ice cream. It was deliciouuusssss. They also had cows and horses and pigs out to pet and play with. Aaaaand a mechanical bull. We done had ourselves a good ‘ol fashioned hoe-down. Yee-haw.
So, one thing that most of you don’t know is that I got a mohawk before leaving for this trip. It’s a tradition at MDA camp between counselors and campers, so I thought, why not? So I headed off to the 2011 JettRide with my first mohawk. Okay, so that was the first part of the story. The second part is that I gave two of the boys some mohawks tonight. And they look LEGIT. So now almost my whole riding team has mohawks. I’ll post the pictures now.
But things are going well and we’re having a lot of fun!! 82 miles tomorrow!!!
Day 7
Okay, so, again I’m sorry for not keeping up on my blogging. I’ve been keeping notes and things from the past few days to help me remember what we did. Here goes.
We left Black River Falls, WI and 86 miles later, found ourselves in the Wisconsin Dells. Thunder showers and torrential downpours accompanied our first 45 minutes on the road, and followed us for about two hours. The remainder of the trip was long, but really not too bad. My group busted out the last 28 miles with an average speed of 20-25 mph with no breaks. Is it obvious that we just wanted to be there already?
Jackson and I finally found the church that we were going to stay for the next two nights. It had an awesome youth group room that held about 8 couches (which was much more comfortable than the floor that we are used to) and lots of space for the boys to lay out on. This would be the room where I would give a third member of my riding group a mohawk. Alec has now joined the club and is rockin’ the hawk just like the rest of the green team.
Everyone got to stay up a little later than usual, as we will be taking the day off tomorrow to go to one of the water parks in the Dells. Bedtime finally came, but not before we pulled a nice little prank on Colby. I’m debating as to whether I should post the video…
On a side note:
Apparently I’m not operating my bike correctly. During the long ride today, I noticed some weird things going on with my left hand. Sara, a leader and nurse for the ride, tells me that I’m holding my handle bars too tightly, and possibly in a bad position because I have pinched my radial nerve in my wrist, with is paralyzing my left hand. I can’t really move my index finger, and have little movement in the rest of fingers (my thumb is fine). I am also having a tough time gripping things, as I have almost no strength in my hand whatsoever. But Sara says that I caught it soon enough and it should only take a few days, maybe a week or two, for it to heal entirely; which I can’t wait for-it’s such a weird sensation.
Day 10
It’s our longest day yet; 110 miles. We wont be going all 110 miles on bike (mainly because there just isn’t enough hours in the day to do both that and the activity that we had planned. But still, 110 miles traveled today in all, and that would wear anyone out.
At about 80 miles we were shuttled to the Trek plant to see the history of Trek bikes and the manufacturing process. The facility was very nice and really interesting to walk through. They had a whole exhibit on the history of their bikes, and then another on Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France bikes that he rode in the tours (that part of the day was really, really interesting for me). We toured the entire plant, including: the photography and video stations, development, engineering, assembly, painting, decal; you name it. The coolest part of the Trek facility for me were its advances and leaps towards sustainability and renewable energy. Trek replaced its use of coal, and switched entirely to wind and solar power. They also replaced all of their urinals with “waterless urinals”, which saves them over 40,000 gallons of water a year. I was so impressed with the facility that I asked our tour leader if Trek gave internships (for those of you that don’t know, I’m majoring in Mechanical Engineering) and he said that they do! He gave me his card and told me to keep in touch with him, so, we’ll see!!
We continued out east on the Hank Aaron Trail until we arrived in Rockford, WI just in time for dinner provided by the church we stayed with. The dinner was delicious and the people were very nice. There was actually a man who sat at my table with me (who looked no more than 70) that told me he just celebrated his 100th birthday the other day! Sid was pretty awesome and told me all about his days working for GE and kids and retirement. When I asked him what his secret for longevity was, he replied with a smile; “Air and positive thinking!!”
Done and done, Sid.
Day 11
Welp, goodbye Wisconsin!!
It’s our last morning here in Wisconsin! We woke up at 4:15 am and rode our bike a couple miles out to Lake Michigan to the high speed ferry that will transport us over the lake to the cherry state.
The high speed ferry was pretty awesome. I couldn’t believe how fast the ferry was and how large Lake Michigan really is. The sunrise mixed with the strong wind and water thrown at your face as we traveled over the lake was absolutely breathtaking.
As for the riding, it was a fairly short day. Only 50 miles. We got into Grand Rapids, MI at about 4 and got a chance to shower at the fitness club before dinner. The church has a separate building for the youth group that was amazing. It was humongous and had couches, a super nice kitchen, a ping-pong table, a mini basketball hoop, and a lot of rooms so everyone could spread out. It was a pretty cool building. It was especially awesome to play a game I made up called “Zombie Monster” with the kids of the families who joined us for dinner. Object? Have an infected zombie (me) try to chase and attempt to break into the rooms where there are innocent and healthy children that are trying to stay away. Oh, and you have to throw anything and everything at the zombie to keep him away. Whatever part of him you hit, he loses that area of his body.
I was headless for a good portion of the game.
After dinner, Colby, Justin, Arlen and I dyed our hair different colors because….well, why not? Arlen and Justin went blue, Colby dyed his Bieber hair purple, and I did blue and red on both sides of my head and then made the mohawk part purple; AKA- the JettRiders are lookin’ perty goooood.