Hello friends! My name is Zhiguang, or Z for those who have difficulty saying Zhiguang. I hail from the sunny island of Singapore and have spent most of the past 22 years of my life there. I am a sophomore studying in Stern School of Business in New York University doing a finance as well as a math major. Before coming to college, I had to serve my country for 2 years doing National Service in the army, which is why I am slightly older than most sophomores. I really enjoy cycling, and have been ever since my parents bought me my first set of training wheels many many years ago. However my passion for the sport only started when a friend first introduced me to triathlons 2 years ago, and while training for my first triathlon I realized how much I love cycling. This led me to join both the cycling club and the triathlon club in NYU. Another interest I have is in music; I play the piano, guitar and cello, but the thing I like the most is playing the cello as part of a quartet or an orchestra.
I first heard about Bike & Build from a friend, Matthew Sack who led one of the routes a year before, and considered signing up for it the previous summer but registration was full by the time I decided to. Thus I was determined to be ready for registration this time. I also heard about Bike & Build from one of the members of the triathlon club, who was a participant this past summer and she was telling me about how awesome her tour was. I knew I had to do this.
Although I have no prior experience in working with an organization for the Affordable Housing cause, I have witnessed firsthand the need for affordable housing when the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004 and hundreds of thousands were left stranded without a roof over their heads. Even prior to that, many people still live in shabby zinc roofed huts in crowded conditions. I chose to raise money for this cause as this is a real problem that the poor and needy face and I want to do my part to help them out.
As I mentioned earlier cycling is one of my passions and one of the things that I want to accomplish while studying here is to bike across the country. I am extremely excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to catch the breath-taking scenery of the Grand Canyon, climb the many hills, clock some mileage on the bike and at the same time bless others as well.
