One of a series of posts featuring someone on the outside looking in. Special thanks to 5-year-old Max for sharing your take on Arvid’s adventures.

If you were going to tell people about Arvid, what would you say?

Arvid is helping poor people and I think that’s good. I have saved 22$ for poor people, I’m saving up money. And you should like Arvid. He’s raising money for kids who don’t have mothers and fathers. I really want to raise money

for them. I want to do what Arvid’s doing and ride my bike. I will ride it to the orphanage and I will collect bandages in case they have a hurt knee and I’ll cure them. And I will risk my life!!!!!

Tell us about the challenging parts of Arvid’s ride. Do you think he faces any dangers?

It’s raining, and he might get struck by lightning. And there was some big storms, so I felt bad because I didn’t get to ride my bike in the storm—actually I changed my mind about that. It’s not very safe. It’s windy, and there could be tornadoes, or cars at night that are not paying attention, and he could get hit by a car, or a truck, and then I would be sad. And then I would take his place!

Why do you think Arvid is doing this?

To break his world record, and help the orphanage.

Can you tell us about the embarrassing incident that happened to you when we went to cheer for Arvid?

No, I can’t.

Okay, I can. Well, I was accidentally cheering, but it wasn’t really Arvid, and I yelled “GO ARVID!” and he looked over, but it wasn’t Arvid, and I was bursting with laughter. Then we saw the real Arvid. So we cheered again.

It is great when other like-minded people (in this case cyclists) encourage Arvid to keep on keeping on.

Thank you Sam and Team CMU for your encouragement yesterday evening.

Arvid slept 3 hours at night, plus a 1+ hour nap yesterday. After breakfast today he took a second nap. He’s been riding hard and the weather is cold.

Day 9 KM: 411
Total KM: 4026
Average KM: 447
Buffer: 48 KM

Arvid has completed two laps this AM. He is has taken two naps so far. He wants to be alert when riding. A good call given the morning traffic.

A young ultra bike marathoner dropped by last night. He stated, “Arvid is a local legend among bikers…” He went on to say, “successful completion of a task like this is primarily emotional toughness”

Arvid had another good three hour sleep. All wheels turning in the same direction by 4:25 AM.
Breakfast will be served in an hour.

Arvid was prepped for night-riding. A good following of friends and family came to encourage Arvid.

Arvid threw out the challenge, and someone responded! I had been out to visit Arvid and do a few tweaks on the phone/iPod setup, and was driving back. I had my window open and was chatting with a rather cheery Arvid (since taking a long nap in the afternoon he’s been moving a bit faster – his last lap was 1:02). Up ahead of us were two people on the side of the road.

“Are they your fans?” I asked.

“Nope,” he responded.

As we drew closer the two of them started to clap. When Arvid cycled past one of them held out a distinctly brown bill. Arvid was able to grab it and yell “Thank you!” as he cycled away, stuffing the $100 donation in his back pocket.

Whoever you are – THANK YOU!

Normal people don’t do crazy things for no reason. And though Arvid has been known to push himself to extreme lengths to test the limits of human endurance, he is still an ordinary normal individual, albeit a normal individual with passion for an incredible cause.

Since 2005, Arvid has raised more than $3 million for Mully Children’s Family. He has done so by cycling across the US, across Canada, and in circles (like this ride). He quit a good job to volunteer full-time, sacrificing his retirement and future investments to pour his efforts and energy into MCF.

WHY?

Mully Children’s Family is an incredible organization. Since 1989, Charles Mulli has rescued over 10,000 street children from Kenya, Africa, and rehabilitated them, reintegrating them into society. Kids that were hopeless and lost have become doctors, scientists, engineers. Kids that would have died have been given a new chance at life.

This ride is called 10,000 KM // 10,000 Reasons. By cycling 10,000 KM in the fastest time ever, Arvid is celebrating those lives and asking you to join in helping the world’s largest family grow even larger. MCF is more than 40% self-sufficient, exporting beans and other produce to Europe to raise their own funds. They currently have over 2,300 kids in their care, all of whom call Charles and Esther Mulli their Mom and Dad.

They need your help.

To donate, visit: http://grandpascan.com/donate/
To buy the book and read more of Arvid’s incredible story and how he got here, go to: http://grandpascan.com/store/. The book is $20, including shipping.

To do both, be awesome.

Because we don’t all love numbers. Because some of us love graphs. Here’s the journey as represented in a two-part graph. First, the blue line is Arvid’s total distance. The green line is the record’s total distance, averaged out over its entire length. Both of these lines have their value represented by the left y-axis (Total Distance). The yellow is the buffer, essentially a magnification of the gap between the blue and yellow lines. Its value is represented by the right y-axis (Distance Ahead). The value is also just on the bar itself.

Hopefully it makes sense to you. If it doesn’t, ignore it. Or go back to your high school math textbook.

The second of our posts featuring someone on the outside looking in.  Special thanks to Sylvia for sharing your take on Arvid’s adventures.

After reading “When Quitting is Not an Option”, both my husband and I were left challenged and encouraged.  We were encouraged to give the desires God has placed on our hearts back to Him in whichever way we can, and allow God to make much of them.  Arvid’s perseverance, dedication, and passion, with God’s touch, became something extraordinary on behalf of those less fortunate.  His story is superbly told, vulnerably revealing the ups and downs of the moments along the way as Arvid came to the place where he is now – ultra-marathon biking.  Thank you, Arvid, for sharing your life’s journey in such a relatable and honest way.

Arvid took 3 hours sleep last night, and the weather wasn’t great. Keep praying for less wind, more warmth, and less rain.

Day 8 KM: 411
Total KM: 3614
Average KM: 451
Buffer: 78 KM