 Hello, my friends, Ryan Van Duzer here. I know that all of us, pretty much all of us, all over the world are locked in our homes right now. Well, you can go outside a little bit, but for the most part, we are grounded. And I'm grounded too, which means that I can't travel. I had a lot of projects lined up, but they've all been canceled, and that's just how it is. So I thought that I would go into my old hard drives and build some fun stories and videos for you to watch while all this is happening. And I thought I would make a video today about some of the most amazing strangers I've met while traveling. And I love riding my bike to far off places. I love seeing sunsets and sunrises and the landscapes and the stars. But my favorite thing about traveling really is meeting people. And I've been fortunate to have met wonderful people all over the world who have invited me into their homes and fed me meals and have wonderful conversations with. And I thought I would start with number one right here, my buddy Danny in West Virginia. And this is the story about how I got this necklace. And so it was in 2009, I was riding a three-speed cruiser bike across the country. I was in West Virginia, so I was almost all the way to the East Coast. I had ridden probably 2,700 miles at this point. And West Virginia is very hilly. There's lots of up and down and up and down. This is the hardest mountain I've gone up. It's an 8% climb, three miles, switchbacks, hairpins, brutal. So I'm riding up a mountain and a guy in a red truck drives up beside me at a slow pace. And he rolls down the window and he yells at me and he goes, hey man, where are you going? And I'm on my bike and I'm like, I'm going to Washington DC. And he goes, no way, man, where are you going to stay tonight? And this is all happening while I'm riding my bike and he's driving the car. And I said to him, well, I don't know where I'm going to stay tonight. And he's like, well, why don't you follow me? So he got in front of me and he led me down this road and we took a right down a little dirt road and we stopped in front of this small house and he got out of his truck and he said, hey man, my name's Danny. I know what it's like to travel and be on the road. And I love to help you out in any way that I can. And he said, I could stay the night at his house. I could do laundry and he would feed me food. And he said specifically, I got some macaroni and I got some crystal light. And crystal light for those of you who don't know, it's like a powder drink mix, kind of like Kool-Aid. And I was like, that sounds amazing. And he was just one of those people that had just a smiley face and sparkly eyes and he had a big barrel chest and he looked, if he had a big beard and long hair, he would look like Santa Claus. And he had that spirit about him and I trusted him right away. And I was like, okay, my day is done. I'm gonna stay here and hang out with this guy named Danny. So what are you doing here? I'm feeding. That's West Virginia people. You know we gotta feed every once in a while. And who are we feeding tonight? Besides me. Deer. All right. And all of a sudden all these deer came from the hills. And it was one of those magical life moments that I'll never forget. It was this beautiful golden evening sunlight and he had a yard full of deer. There she goes, eating the corn. Danny is way into Native American culture and he has dream catchers all over his house and pictures of eagles and lots of Native American art. And he started playing the flute for me, which was really cool. I don't know exactly how old Danny was at this point in life. I'm guessing 50-ish, but he had been a coal miner for his entire life since he was like 18 or 19 years old. He had been working in the coal mines. And I think this is why he was such a big, robust man. Give me a high five. Thank you. Yeah. So do you usually do this? I do it quite often. If I see people, I try to help them out a little bit. Cool. I see people in West Virginia are pretty friendly, right? Oh, yeah. You'll find them kind of people just about anywhere you go most of the time. All right, so what am I looking at today? A lot of hills, brother. A lot of hills. He'll be person. And this is how I got this necklace. He looked me straight in the eyes. He took this necklace off of his neck and put it on my head and said, Ryan, I want you to have this. And it stands for courage, wisdom, and strength. And remember those three things. They will get you through anything in life. Well, thanks for everything, man. I'll never forget you. You're welcome. God bless you. Take care. And it was one of those moments where I almost had tears in my eyes. It was such a beautiful exchange. And then I got on my bike and rode off and waved to Danny with my new necklace. And I have not taken off this necklace since. And that was in 2009. This is like my good luck power necklace. If you're wondering if I've ever seen Danny again, I have. I've been back to his house on two different occasions. He's become a dear friend. I call him on all the holidays and his birthday. And I really, really love that the universe put us together on that day, on that random road in West Virginia. Wisdom, courage, and strength, this thing stands for. The guy was the nicest guy in the world. And he gave me this, and it's gonna get me up and over these West Virginia hills. So the next time you flick a light switch and it turns on, you can thank a West Virginia coal miner like Danny. This next story is a fairly recent one. It happened last May when I was with Dana and we were riding our bikes from Colorado to Utah. We stopped on the side of this really scenic, beautiful byway at a spring. A water spring, we wanted to fill up our water bottles. We're not the only ones at this spring. We got our new buddy, Sam, right here. How long have you been getting water at this spring? Since 1949. Wow, what a beautiful life. That's awesome. What a beautiful life right here. Yeah. What do you love most about this area? You. Thank you. And her. The people, huh? That's what's the most beautiful thing in any life. I mean, it's the most awesome place in the world. But what makes it the most awesome is the people that I get to meet. I'm glad we met you. Yeah. I'm glad I met you. Can I give you a hug, Sam? I would love a hug. Let's do it. I would love a hug. Let's do it. Do you have any like advice for how you have like a full life? Yep. Enjoy it. Show the complications if you make it. Pressure time, it's a good life. Now we're gonna go back to 2010 when I was riding my bicycle from Vancouver to Cabo San Lucas. And when we were in Oregon, I was actually with my brother at the time. We met this wonderful family at a campsite and what caught our attention were these little girls running around and they're like, hey, can we help put up your tent? And I was like, yeah, totally help me put up my tent. Can you show me your bike? Wanna get down and show me your bike? All right, let's see it. This is my pouch. I keep all my stuff in it. And I just got a new helmet. This is my treasure. That is my sister's. We hope that seeing us do it with no previous experience or training or exceptional physical fitness will let other people realize how easy it is. And yeah, it's the most fun we've ever had in our lives as a family, for sure. What do you do, Ellie? What do you do with that? Yeah. All right, give me a high five. Boom, nice job. Now we're gonna go back to my cruiser bike ride across America in 2009. I was in Missouri and I met a really wonderful family who invited me to their home and let me camp in their backyard. There we go. I'm standing here with some very special people. They've been my host family for the night here in Clinton, Missouri. Hello. And so you thought it was a good idea to invite a random guy to your house. We did, and you're still random, but we still have you anyway. Nice. We're missing a few things, but I think we'll leave. You're missing some eggs and rolls and food, I think. A whole list, but you are worth every bit of it. Yeah, so these are the wonderful kind of people you meet on the road, totally random occurrence. And here we are, smiling and having a great time. And now I have friends in Clinton, Missouri, right? It's an awesome day in Clinton, Missouri. And now we want to come to Boulder to see you. We might show up in our bicycles. Well, good, good. I want you to. And guess what? They made good on their promise and they made it to Boulder. Gas stations are actually a really great place to meet people besides getting ice cream and other goodies. And this past summer, when I was riding my bike to Rag Brie, I met this really interesting dude at a small town gas station in Nebraska. I call him the Gas Station Guru. This is a 1981 Schwinn sports tour. Note down here at the bottom, extra light. Yeah, it is, it's the extra light model. In 1981. I'm literally hugging my way across America. That's what's going on. What do you love most about riding the bike, man? I'm just telling you, it's the 10 hour a day meditation. It's the meditation, it's the self reflection. And also your leg muscles get bigger. People think I'm certifiably crazy and I tell them, no, I gotta do this so that I can still do it. The day I quit doing this, I won't be able to do it anymore and I'm not looking forward to that. So this is actually an elixir of life. Here we go. All right, me and Brian. There we are, my man right here, David. It was so good to meet you, my friend. Oh man, I can't believe I saw you. I'm like, are you kidding me? About a week after meeting this guy, I met a gentleman named Joel on Rag Brie. And Rag Brie is a great place to meet people from all over the world. I've had some wonderful encounters there, but I thought I would share his story with you because it's just plain powerful. I'm Joel Snore, and I live in North Carolina with part Parkinson's. Bouncing one of my issues, walking or riding. And how do you feel doing this? You know, you're four days into this. How do you feel? It's a rush for me. And the benefits of cycling are becoming pretty well documented for Parkinson's. And the repetition of the pedaling and intense cardio is great. It doesn't cure the disease, but it slows down the progression. And there's kind of a feeling of euphoria. I thank you. Meet me in the wake of each morning and seize the day. Give the most of it you can. And love, love, love everybody. And to keep going with this theme of powerful interactions, let's talk about Luke. You all know Luke. He's the guy that I gave my Trek 922. And the way I met him was really interesting. It was on Raghbri the year before. And it was early in the morning. I was just getting on my bike. You know, I'm kind of groggy. And I hear this guy with a loud voice going, Ryan, dozer, oh my god, Ryan. And I was like, ah, what? God, it was like my jolt of caffeine for the morning. And so I went over to this very excited human and met him. And he began to tell me his story of weight loss and how cycling has completely changed his life. January 15th, 2017, I was in the doctor's office. Something was going out of my heart. And the doctor told me, it was like, listen, if you're done. And I was like, what do you mean I'm done? And he said, you've got two choices. You're either gonna change your ways or you're gonna die very young. I was 544 pounds and I developed AFib. That's an arrhythmia in my heartbeat. And I left there that day and I started a diet and I set goals for myself. And I lost 44 pounds in the first month and 74 pounds by the end of the second month. So combined with a very strict diet and a whole lot of bike riding, I rode everywhere from that point forward. I never drove a car unless I was taking my wife somewhere or taking something bigger than I could take on a bike, which was very seldom because I had bikes with big racks and everything. So I was 245 pounds in 16 months. I've been in a process across the last year training to be here at Rag Bride. And so I did the first day yesterday. I'm doing pretty good. Taking off today. Everything seems to be going great. And I'm just trying to take it one day at a time, man. Luke and I are still friends. We're in touch all the time. We text and call. And someday we're gonna plan a little adventure together. I'm gonna finish this off with the story of how I met Ulessie, the guy in Cuba. The first time I went to Cuba when I rode my bike all the way across the island. I met him at a running race the day before the Cuba Havana Marathon. And I was looking for somebody to give my bike to. And I didn't know who it was gonna be or how I was gonna encounter this person. But I was just standing and watching this race. And this guy was standing next to me. And I began talking to him. And I asked him if he had a bike. And he said, no. And I said, today is your lucky day. Amigo, ¿qué tal? La nueva visituya. He's a gym teacher, a runner and although I only talked to him for a few minutes, I know that he'll put this bike to good use. ¿Para qué vas a usar la bici? Para trabajar. Así es. Para ir de mi casa al trabajo. Excelente. I'm still in touch with Ulessie to this day. We chat on WhatsApp all the time. And he actually came to Boulder two years ago to run in the big race here, the Boulder Boulder. And so I got to show him my town, took him on a bike ride. He came up here into my apartment and got to see how I live. And it was really wonderful to share that with him. I feel incredibly fortunate that I've met wonderful people all over the planet. And I know that I'll keep on meeting more people as I continue traveling whenever that day comes. And I just wanted to share these stories with you because I know there's a lot of just scary stuff going on in the news right now. So I thought I'd share some stories of good-hearted humans. And I'm in touch with almost everybody in this video. They are part of my life now. And that's really the goal. When I meet somebody, I don't want it just to be a five minute encounter. I want to be friends with you for a long time. And that's why I'm so active with my YouTube channel and responding to comments and building relationships. I love making friends. There's a lot of good people on this planet. And the more we can all come together with a common goal and vision, I think the better for the planet. Say that one more time. I said, native people do not have a word for goodbye. So we always just tell our new friends, we just will see you down the road or see you later or we'll say keelah. What does keelah mean? Later. Okay. Or donadagahi, which means till we meet again. So thank you so much for watching this video and all my videos and being a part of Team Duzer. Please subscribe and share. And if you have the ability, support me on Patreon. That's how I keep this channel chugging along and putting out videos for you to watch. I wish I could give you all a big hug, but since I can't, I'll give you one like this, a little long distance hug. And I will see you down the road. Ole.