While in Belize, my belief in the extreme value and necessity of drinking water was activated to a higher level.  I’ve always been a promoter of getting enough water into your body each day (especially if you’re a cyclist) and all the goodness that this natural beauty brings.  But I feel even stronger about it now…and I didn’t think that was possible.

In honor of this, I wanted to tell you all about Katie Spotz and Sam Williams.  Last Saturday (June 18th) they took off on the Ride4Water race….a non-stop, cross country bike race from California to Maryland to help raise money for Blue Planet (a non-profit organization dedicated to brining safe drinking water to those without).

Their aim will be to bike these 3000 miles in less than eight days…..Amazing.  Do you realize that this distance is 1.3 times as long as the Tour de France and they’re doing it in one-sixth the time.  I can only imagine how gruelling this race has got to be.  To make things even tougher, Katie recently fractured her pelvis but is still attempting this ride with a hand peddled bike.

Extreme challenges like this one are nothing new to Katie and Sam…both of these athletes have completed record-breaking solo rows across the Atlantic Ocean.  Between the two of them, they’ve spent nearly 5 months alone in a 20-foot boat traveling over 6,000 miles….and often under insane conditions.

Even though they’ve done some incredible things on the water, they are definitely not newcomers to cycling.  Combined, they have cycled more than 10,000 miles across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

With all these accomplishments, they are relative un-knowns to most of us….but definitely champions.  With their battle to raise awareness for safe drinking water, I would consider them to be in the “Hero” category.  Well done, Katie and Sam.

Have a look at how things started for them last week and check out, http://bit.ly/Ride4Water, to track them as they finish up the Ride4Water.

And if you’re looking for an easy way to help the cause, Levi’s will donate an additional $1 for each tweet including the #Ride4Water hashtag for up to $5,000.