The Platinum-selling artist just finished his Across America bike tour – starting in Newport Beach, Calif., and ending in Portsmouth, N.H. – on which he raised $250,000 for disadvantaged orphans and widows. The trip took exactly two months, and raised proceeds for the event’s sponsor, the James Fund – a non-profit organization founded by Family Christian Stores to meet the needs of orphans and widows in distress.
After taking a week of rest after his long haul, the singer finally felt energized enough to tackle an interview with The Christian Post. In it, he reflected on what the tour meant to him and difficulties that arose on the path.
CP: First off, you have just finished your Across America bike tour to raise funds for in need widows and orphans on July 6. Specifically, how was the physical aspect of the ride? You covered some 3,500 miles, so were there specific points that were extremely difficult?
Schultz: Yeah, I think the first week I would say. Your body has to get used to riding everyday, you know, 80-100 miles a day, and it was just something I wasn’t used to with my body. At some point in time, it finally clicks in your head that, ’All right, we’re really doing this,’ and your body goes, ’OK.’ But it sure doesn’t want to make that switch.
You know, another tough time was going across Missouri. Nobody told me that going across Missouri … is really like a roller coaster. There’s not a flat road in Missouri. So that was a little bit tough. And I think the mountains and things in Arizona and in New Mexico [was difficult too].
It seems like the farther east we got, the better I felt. As a matter of fact, I had a day where I did 170 miles across Kansas, and I think it was 200 miles across the state of New York at one time.
CP: Looking back at the struggle to finish the tour, what was it that helped you overcome that, and are you glad that you attempted the feat that you did?
Schultz: Yeah, you know what? I think one of the biggest things was to have my crew with me. It felt so good not to be out there by myself, and on the day that I did 170 miles, every time I passed my crew, they were doing something stupid on the side of the road. At one point in time, the guy driving the bus was actually on top of the bus with his shirt off swinging and cheering me on as I was going across the hundred mile mark. And I just think you need to surround yourself with great people. It’s just so important, so I think that was the biggest factor.
And then the James Fund, which I was riding for, helped out with some folks that work in orphanages in Mexico that I had met before on a missions trip. And they would set up encouragement videos that we would watch. On the days that were tough to ride, I’d get back on the bus, and would turn on the video player and watch a DVD of them saying, ‘Hey, thank you for riding for us, and this is what you’re doing for us by riding.’
