About Us
Hello to whomever is reading this!
We are Charlie Bagin and Maddie Plank, two Princeton basketball players taking a year off from school to pursue our passions and escape a year of virtual schooling. Way back in August, amidst our exhausting quarantine, we were discussing how we might spend our year off. One of us “joked” about wanting to bike across the country, and the other agreed with the sentiment. Over many months that “joke” has turned into a reality. In April 2021, we will begin a cross-country bike trip, starting along the Jersey Shore and finishing on the Pacific Coast in the small oceanside town of La Push, WA.
There are a number of reasons we are excited to embark on this adventure. For one, it is a challenge! We are excited to push our bodies and minds to their limits as we navigate tremendous mileage, finding campsites and food, and dealing with whatever Mother Nature throws our way. It will also be a great, covid-safe way of traveling our country. We are looking forward to learning about the small towns we pass through along the way, and hopefully making some friends while we’re at it. On that note, please check out our route, and if you or anyone you know lives near our path, please feel free to get in touch, we’d love to hear about what your area of the country has to offer. We know about the big monuments like Mount Rushmore or Devil’s Tower, but we also know we will probably miss a lot of hidden gems along the way without some extra wisdom. Further, we’d like to call attention to biking as a fantastic mode of transportation. It is not only better for the environment than driving, but a low-impact form exercise that enables us to take in our surroundings. Also, nothing compares to the feeling of speeding down a hill with the wind in your face.
We have also decided that we will be riding in support of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and mental health awareness. The covid pandemic has only exacerbated the growing mental health pandemic that plagues hundreds of millions of people worldwide. A commonly quoted fact from 2019 states that about 1 in every 5 adults in the US had some sort of mental health illness, and about 1 in every 10 struggled with anxiety or depression specifically. Surveys taken in January 2021 show that about 4 in every 10 adults now struggle with anxiety or depression. SAMSHA, a mental health national hotline, saw their call volume surge almost 900% over the summer of 2020. 90% of suicides are due to mental illness.
The stats go on...
I, Maddie, having struggled with eating disorder symptoms over the past few years, used the free time provided by quarantine to focus on resolving my body dysmorphia, excessive stress surrounding food, and unhealthy eating habits. I am eternally grateful to my family and friends, who gave me the confidence, love, patience, and support as I worked on my mental health. I relied heavily on the help of a dietician (who served more as a psychologist and friend) and sports psychologist to manage my symptoms and improve my quality of life.
I, Charlie, was not even aware of the concept of “mental health” until I got to college. Over the last four years I’ve learned a lot on the subject. I’ve read articles, watched videos, and attended lectures that addressed the topic. Most importantly, and most impactfully, I’ve listened to close friends and family describe their various battles with mental health. This is an issue that I hope can be discussed more openly in everyday discourse so that we can break down the borders of stigma and help people work through their struggles.
We believe it is important to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health illnesses. As Student Athlete Wellness Leaders on campus, we both have been educated on how to identify mental health issues that plague our friends, teammates, and classmates. We support our fellow students in seeking help when they need it as we have both experienced the positive effects of reaching out to a psychologist, family member, or friend if need be.
For that, among many other reasons, we have taken the NAMI StigmaFree Pledge, which you can find here. Moving forward, we would like to see mental health aligned with physical health when it comes to early education and health care packages. Everyone learns as a kid how important physical fitness is, and what a healthy diet looks like. We would like to see elementary and middle school health classes address mental health struggles and how kids can deal with them if they ever face difficulties of their own. Mental health struggles are not something to be ashamed of. Most people will deal with them at some point in their lives. Stop the stigma, let’s learn how to deal with these issues together.
We truly cannot wait to hit the road and support mental health. If you would like to support NAMI alongside us, follow this link to a donation page. 100% of your donations will go directly to NAMI!
Please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, concerns, ideas, advice, or whatever else your heart desires. Our email addresses are cbagin@princeton.edu and mrplank@princeton.edu.
We are looking forward to keeping you updated here and on our Instagram page @namicoast2coast