We did it! We completed the ride from San Francisco to San Diego: over 500 miles, 10 days, awesome purpose, and an incredible experience! We just want to say again how grateful we are for the support and the donations. All of the money raised from this project is going to the Prison Seminars and the Fresh Start Program, and it’s going to impact thousands of people’s lives: the inmates and the people they interact with as a result of making different choices, not to mention the finances saved with fewer people in prison.

We’d like to thank a handful of people specifically for the extraordinary measures they took to support this project: Brian Klemmer and Klemmer and Associates for backing us completely, Nancy Ferguson for her incredible dedication to the Fresh Start Program, Barbara Salerno for being our forever patient support driver, Brett Lumpkin and his family for sharing their home and their time with us, John and Corinne Handy for also sharing their home, their resort, and their time with us, Gus and Raeanna Thomasson for allowing us to stay in their wonderful house, Lisa Annecone and Rick Chaffin for putting up with us for 3 days, all the people in K&A who supported us by promoting the ride, Kathy Fairbanks for her eloquent work with press releases, Cambria Bikes for sponsoring us, and Paradise Point Resort. And finally we’d like to send a HUGE thanks to everyone who has donated financially to the Prison Project, as it’s clear that you operate with extraordinary compassion. Scott would like to say too how grateful he is to his wife, Shelly, who even though 8 months pregnant still supported him and empowered him to follow his purpose with this ride.

We will have some final videos uploaded, however Youtube is experiencing some difficulties, so those will be up at the first opportunity.

Love and thanks to everyone!

Scott and Brian

It’s amazing our trip is rapidly coming to an end here – only 2 days of cycling left! Instead of writing more tonight, look at the videos below; one is a video message to everyone who has supported this project. So, check it out as well as the others. We’re going to have some special uploads on Monday in celebration of the completion of the journey, so stay tuned! Enjoy!

Love and thanks,

Scott and Brian

Well, we’re half way through our day, riding from San Luis Obispo to the Gaviota area. The riding today has been mountainous with quite a bit of traffic, however beautiful in places. We wanted to say thanks to everyone who has donated – your love and contributions are going to create huge ripples, so THANK YOU! We’re actually talking about making this an annual event and including graduates of the prison seminars as well as contributers on the ride. If we decide to go that route, we’ll make it shorter (probably 3 days) and it will be awesome! We’ll keep everyone posted as that possibility develops.

Scott’s right knee began hurting seriously two days ago, and this morning it was getting worse. We think he may have torn his tendon, but we’re hoping it eases up by tomorrow.

We’ve uploaded a new video and will be uploading some more videos later today, so enjoy, and if you’d like to donate, or donate more, you can go to http://www.klemmer.com/bike.asp and click on “donate now”.

Thanks again!
Scott and Brian

After 5 days of heavy riding we realized our bodies needed a reprieve. So we’re taking a rest day in San Luis Obispo. So not much to report today. Keep checking in. We have the crux of the trip coming tomorrow with a 60 mile day and 2 major climbs of 1,000 feet each. For novice bikers, that’s a huge day. We’ve uploaded a couple videos from earlier in the ride, so check out the scenery and enjoy. One of them is Brian Miller showing extraordinary tenacity on a hill in Big Sur. We also want to say how grateful we are for the help of our support driver, Barbara Salerno, who has taken 10 days out of her life to come and support this fundraiser. Talk about contribution….Well, thanks everybody, and keep the donations coming!

Brian and Scott

Thanks for checking in on us – your support is huge. Don’t forget to donate to the prison project if you haven’t already – http://www.klemmer.com/bike.asp and click on “donate now”. We had another very exciting, very productive day today. We left Treebones – the resort owned by Heart graduates John and Corinne Handy – this morning and set off for the remaining portion of the Big Sur highway. Steep cliffs, little to no shoulders to ride on, and fast traffic characterize this 3-day portion of the trip. The mountains and the ocean are breathtaking, and the ride itself is harrowing, but we survived. We were talking with a very experienced road biker today and asked him if this area is known for being dangerous. He responded with “YEAH – this is known as one of the most dangerous rides in the US.” He then asked us how much riding we’d done, and we responded with “this is our first.” His mouth literally fell open and he looked at us like he was staring at two aliens, and he blurted out “so you thought you’d just come out and ride Big Sur!!!” We said “yep!”

Once out of the mountains, we enjoyed 50ish more miles of rolling hills along the coast. We’re now with Brett Lumpkin (K&A’s Client Services Director) and his family near San Luis Obispo. This trip has been tough and scary at times, but we know it’s worth it to build momentum and excitement around the prison project. It’s easy to see what’s wrong with the prison system and the people who end up there – we believe what the world needs is people who will step up to the plate and do something to fix it. So thanks for supporting us with this mission to make a difference. We believe it’s a critical one.

See our latest videos below and enjoy. All our best to you!

Scott and Brian

It’s Tuesday night and we’re sitting in the home of John and Corinne Handy, owners of Tree Bones Resort and Heart graduates. Their resort here is unbelievable, and they have blessed us with a night of comfort on our long journey – we’re soaking it up!

We have completed 4 days and are on schedule to complete our ride from San Francisco to San Diego. Our goal with the fundraising is progressing by the day, but we still have a ways to go – if you haven’t already, please take the time to donate and make a difference with someone you’ve never met and who needs your help! To donate, you can go to http://www.klemmer.com/bike.asp and click on “donate now”. Remember, the people who are the hardest to love are often the ones who need it the most.

Here are some fun stories from our ride thus far:

We were looking for restaurants in Santa Cruz and Scott, who had never ridden a road bike before and had never used clip pedals, saw two women who looked local. He road up to them and asked them if they lived in Santa Cruz. They said “no” and he proceeded to try and stop but his right foot didn’t come out of the clip and he fell over onto the sidewalk directly in front of them. From the ground, and ambarassed, he looked up and asked “well, do you know where any restaurants are?” Good stuff…

Aside from that incident, we have been harassed by skunks, nearly hit by RVs, almost run off the road by convertible sports cars, plagued by lack of cell phone service, run low on equipment because of things being left on top of the car, whipped by 1,000 foot uphill slogs… mesmerized by priceless views, treated like kings and queens by people like John, Corinne, and Gus, and generally treated with interest and curiosity by passersby. We joke that if we were on a reality TV show, we would have already voted each other “off the raft” about 50 times! Just joking of course.

So, we are working hard to make this happen. Will you take the time to make a donation? We hope so. Stay tuned as the updates will keep coming, and check out our first video download!

With commitment and gratitude,

Brian and Scott

FYI: THE SIGN IN THE VIDEO SAYS “WILL RIDE FOR DONATIONS!!!”

P.S. We picked up the carboard sign!!!

Welcome to the Compassionate Samurai Prison Ride fundraising blog! Brian Miller and Scott Cundy embarked on their fund raising bicycle journey on Saturday, September 5th from Half Moon Bay.

Their goal is to raise $100,000 for the Prison Project and show that big dreams are possible for anyone: for two non- bicycle-riders to ride from San Francisco to San Diego in 10 days AND for inmates to turn their lives around with some help. It is possible.

Stay tuned here for updated videos, pictures, and stories about their ride!

To donate to the ride and the Prison Project, go to http://www.klemmer.com/bike.asp and hit “donate now”.

Making a difference together!

Brian and Scott

Before the Journey!