4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2008
ROAD TRIPPIN'
Grant Willie, Lawrence senior in Spanish and political science, and Andrew Schmidt, Lawrence senior in history and business, portray themselves as two men trying to right way down an unmarked road. Willie and Schmidt will begin an adventure from Spain to Mongolia, crossing up to 25 countries during a three-to-five week road trip to raise money for charities. “It’s cool — we’re not taking highways, it’s just going to the back road,” Schmidt said. For more information visit www.grantwillifelawrence.com.
Navigating the trip of a lifetime
KU seniors to embark on month-long trip across up to 25 Eurasian countries
BY MICHAEL HOLTZ
mholtz@kansan.com
Grant Willie and Andrew Schmidt are seasoned travelers, to say the least. These Lawrence seniors' combined log — including a 1,700-mile motorcycle trip to Durango, Colo., a 500-mile pilgrimage on foot across Spain and a summer spent couch-surfing in Russia — attests to their immense
love of adventure.
"It's not a vacation unless something really fucking happens." Schmidt said, proclaiming a kind of self-guiding motto.
Schmidt and Willie's fervent desire for adventure, curiosity for new cultural experiences and determination to one-up themselves has led them to their next challenge — the Mongol Rally.
The Mongol Rally is a road trip starting in Madrid on July 18, last three to five weeks and stretching across up to 25 countries. Schmidt and Willie will be among the rally's participants. If they make it to the finish line, they will have crossed one-third of the globe.
"This is the kind of thing we do."
Willie said. "Were adventurers, or misadventurers"
Along the way they'll drive through multiple mountain ranges, the Gobi desert and Georgia, a region of recent military conflict en route to their final destination; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Grant Slater, a journalist from Norman, Okla., will join Schmidt and Willie for the rally. Schmidt befriended Slater while couch-surfing across Russia last summer. Together they form Team Flat Landers.
Schmidt said Slater was an excellent linguist and was familiar with a variety of customs.
"He'll have a better idea of those sorts of things once we get further
Photo Illustration by Julianne Kueffer/KANSAN
Grant Willie and Andrew Schmidt will add the Mongol Rally to their long list of world-traveling adventures. They plan to buy an off-road Russian vehicle to complete the trip. Each team in the rally must design its own route to Mongolia, where the trip's finish line is located.
Photo Illustration by Juliana Kueffer/KANSAN
east," Schmidt said.
As a rule, each team is responsible for mapping its own route. Because support vehicles are not allowed, no team is guaranteed to
finish — let alone survive — the arduous journey. But Schmidt and Willie seem determined.
"Let's put it this way," Schmidt said. "If I have to ride a bicycle all the
"As long as we don't get shot, or kidnapped, or thrown in jail we should be fine."
way to the Ulaanbaatar, I'm going to do it."
ciated with the rally. They have designed a team Web site to help their fundraising efforts.
Schmidt and Willie are looking for donations and sponsorships to help cover the various costs asso-
"We've set our cash goal at $20,000 through sponsorships to
In order to qualify for the rally, participants' cars must have an engine displacement no greater than 1.2 liters.
Teams must donate 1,000 euros, or $1,275, to one of Mongol Rally's affiliated charities as a required fee. If the Flat Landers are among the teams lucky enough to cross the finish line, their car will be donated to a charity in Mongolia as well.
Schmidt and Willie recognize the high probability of their car breaking down. Having rebuilt a totaled '93 Honda Accord in high school, Schmidt feels prepared to tackle any engine problems the Flat Landers might encounter.
"When we're in Eastern Europe, we need a car we'll be able to find parts for," Willie said. "We're thinking about getting a Lada Niva, an off-road Russian vehicle. It's supposed to be as comfortable as sitting on cinder blocks."
"I've got a good background being an amateur mechanic," Schmidt said.
ANDREW SCHMIDT Lawrence senior
help pay for
expenses and
$20,000 for
charity," Willi
said.
such as supplies, visas, plane tickets, a car and even bribes for local police.
The money they collect, aside from charity donations, will be spent on various expenses.
"They'll sit out in local towns and flag you over. They'll shake you down if they want." Willie said.
"Or you give them five bucks and they'll let you go." Schmidt added.
Although no participants have died in the rally's 4-year history, participants have been robbed, hospitalized, incarcerated and put in many other detrimental if not life-threatening situations, Grant and Willie said.
Guns are not allowed in the rally. Luckily for the Flat Landers, Willie, a muscular 22-year-old, is an active member of the Haskell University Boxing Club. They hope Willie's size will intimidate whomever may attempt to impede their journey.
"As long as we don't get shot, or kidnapped, or thrown in jail we should be fine." Willie said.
For Schmidt and Willie, the Mongol Rally is the pinnacle of all adventures. It is, in a sense, the ultimate challenge for these two battle-tested adventurers — one that will push their physical endurance, mental wits and all-around courage to the limit.
"I did a lot of couch-surfing in Russia and found it to be not as hard as I had imagined," Schmidt said. "The Mongol rally is the next step. I need to find something that could plausibly defeat me."
And defeat them it may. One engine malfunction, slight misjudgment or unforeseen misfortune may jeopardize and ultimately thwart Schmidt and Willie's hopes of crossing the finish line.
Though Schmidt and Willie are confident and determined, they admitted that finishing the race wasn't the only measurement of a successful trip.
"The point of this race is not the finish line," Willie said. "It's the experiences you have in between."
Regardless of how prepared they are come July 18, Schmidt and Willie are willing to accept and anticipate a certain degree of error. In fact, unexpected challenges are the part of the Mongol Rally they're most looking forward to.
If Schmidt and Willie successfully arrive in Ulaanbaatar, what's next? Unlike competitive racing rallies, there is no such thing as winning the Mongol Rally. A grand prize or trophy is simply not the point, and Schmidt and Willie couldn't agree more.
"The goal is to be unprepared to a certain extent," Schmidt said. "We'll be as prepared as we need to be to plausibly make it to the finish line."
"It's about understanding the world that I'm interconnected with better," Willie said. "These are countries I'll hear about for the rest of my life. It'll be nice to have actually been there."
"Let's put it this way," Schmidt said. "I'm fulfilling a bucket list before I even should be."
HEALTH
Study reports exercise ineffective against heart failure
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE
NEW ORLEANS — Exercise can do a lot of good for most people, but it apparently isn't much help to those with heart failure, the fastest-growing heart problem in the United States.
The study — the largest ever of exercise in patients whose hearts don't pump enough blood — left many doctors disappointed. Results were reported Tuesday at
Although there were some encouraging trends and clear benefits for certain people, exercise failed to deliver on the main goal—keeping people out of the hospital and improving their survival rates.
an American Heart Association conference.
"It's a shame," said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a quality-of-care researcher at Yale University who had no role in the study, "Exercise is not that magic elixir that we had hoped," at least for these patients.
About 5 million Americans have heart failure. It kills more than 300,000 of them and accounts for a million hospitalizations each year. Those numbers are expected to grow as the nation's population gets older.
The condition occurs when the heart muscle weakens over time and can no longer pump effectively. Fluid can back up into the lungs, leaving people gurgling and gasping for breath as they struggle to climb stairs or walk around the block.
Exercise has long been known to prevent heart disease and help heart attack patients recover, but smaller, previous studies have made conflicting findings about whether it helps heart failure patients or even is safe for them.
Doctors had hoped that exercise would prove as effective as drugs for these patients, sparing them the cost and potential side effects.
The study involved 2,231 people with moderate heart failure in the United States, Canada and Europe.
They were randomly placed in two groups - one given usual care and the other usual care plus an exercise training program. Exercisers were given 36 supervised training sessions lasting half
All of the patients were getting optimal medical care, with more than 90 percent on an ideal mix of medicines. Those who needed them also had implanted heart devices to maintain rhythm.
It was led by Dr. Christopher O'Connor at Duke University.
an hour three times a week. After 18 such sessions, they were given a treadmill or an exercise bike to use at home, for five 40-minute sessions each week.
Three months into the study, only half were exercising at least three times a week for 40 minutes. After one year, only one-fourth were exercising five times a week
The fact so few stuck with the exercise program made it difficult to show a positive result, O'Connor said.