Dohiyi Mir

Biking Portland

NTodd's Pa, E and I are heading back to Portland for EschaConNW the first week of September, and probably are going to do some biking while we're there.  ErinPDX asked me to post some info on that over at the nascent blog about the gathering, so go read if you're coming or thinking about visiting the city some other time!

And yes, the Tour de NTodd will be starting up again now that the Great Relocation has been successfully pulled off...

ntodd

Bikes Passing In The Night

Okay, so I really haven't been biking since our waterfront tour of Portland (the Pink Rickshaw of Death notwithstanding), but now that I've got a couple weeks at home I do intended to get back in the saddle and complete the rest of my virtual trip to DC.  Even though the Bikeathon is technically over, I'm still getting donations, which is just amazingly awesome, gratifying and humbling.

But right now let's focus on Michelle Lopez, whom we met last month.  Just got a note in Facebook from her as she departs with her team for their amazing trek across the country with Habitat for Humanity:

Before I left, I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who helped me raise the $4000 for Habitat for Humanity. Whether you went biking with me once, sat with me at the boardwalk to sell cupcakes, donated/forced your parents to donate to me (to which I give you mad props), or just sat and listened to me bitch about how sore and crazy I am for doing this and how I'm never going to raise $4000 (ha!) -- the trip wouldn't have happened without you guys. Seriously.

We might be in her general vicinity in mid-July as E and I drive from the Left Coast eastward:

07/6 Ashtabula - OH
07/7 Avon Lake - OH
07/8 BUILD DAY
07/9 Bowling Green - OH
07/10 Camden - MI
07/11 Edwardsburg - MI
07/12 Chicago - IL

Of course I just want to check to make sure she's not a poser and wasting the money we gave her...

ntodd

The Finish Line

I haven't biked since using the rickshaw to go haunt Rove on Sunday, but thanks to more generous supporters we've reached the goal of 560 dollars in fundraising.  Not only does that represent one dollar per mile between Fletcher and DC, it also pays for the entire estimated costs of my trip!

Once more with feeling: thank you all so very, very much for your support.  Your generosity of spirit and donations are tremendous help to me personally, and more importantly I think are part and parcel of our collective resistance.

ntodd

Well, It Counts For Something

Driving this rickshaw almost killed me.

Between going downhill with bad brakes on Constitution Ave and having to constantly correct my course because of wicked screwy wheels, I think I should get double mileage credit!  Okay, okay, I'll just take the 3.2 miles from the Pink House to the Newseum and back, plus the 0.2 miles I stupidly added when I spaced out and headed east instead of west. 

Speed?  I estimate about 10.2 mph.  ZOOOOOOOOM!

Actually, it was a pretty decent workout because there was only one gear, small radius tires, a seat way too low so I couldn't fully extend my legs, and extra work keeping the damned thing going straight.  Oh, and for a little while I had the Pink House Intern as a passenger, but I needed her to get out when I hit a significant uphill slope I just couldn't manage.

ntodd

Whew!

Barely made it: 37.4 miles at 15.1 mph, breaking the 280 mile goal by almost 5 miles.  Had to take a double loop through Fairfax to get an additional 6 miles or so to make it up, which was a bit much.  But the weather was actually pretty decent, and I knew it would be over soon. 

So the first stage of our Bikeathon is complete!  Once again thanks to everybody for their wonderful support--it really means a lot to me.

While I was out I kept thinking about this funny passage that He Who Never Links To Me Even When I Post Stuff About The Decemberists pointed out just before I left:

Worst of all from this point of view are those more uncivilized forms of eating, like licking an ice cream cone--a catlike activity that has been made acceptable in informal America but that still offends those who know eating in public is offensive. ... Eating on the street--even when undertaken, say, because one is between appointments and has no other time to eat--displays [a] lack of self-control: It beckons enslavement to the belly. ... Lacking utensils for cutting and lifting to mouth, he will often be seen using his teeth for tearing off chewable portions, just like any animal. ... This doglike feeding, if one must engage in it, ought to be kept from public view, where, even if we feel no shame, others are compelled to witness our shameful behavior.

For some reason that made me giggle and immediately brought to mind this and this.  Shameful, I know.

And now I have to dash out again: gotta drop the Dogz back off at The Resort, then get down to NTodd's Pa's so as to go see the new Indy movie!  Good thing I'll be sitting most of the time...

ntodd

Mostly Cloudy With Scattered Biking

Variable weather on the ride today, including sun showers.  Legs still wicked heavy and recalcitrant, but if I can just muster one more decent day I'll hit the 280 mile goal before I head to DC.  Today, 40.6 miles on my way out to Johnson (this time going to the Firehouse which burned down a few years back) at 14.9 mph.

Tomorrow's weather is going to be similar and I wonder if my legs will hold up.  Very rubbery right now.  Guess I should've gotten at least one more ride under my belt while I was in PDX so I didn't have my back up against the wall.

Regardless, I'd like to thank all you wonderful folks once again for the moral and monetary support.  I have to admit that I didn't really think much about your generosity on the road today, though: I still had that goddamned Valerie Plame song by the Decemberists running through my head!

ntodd

Double Century

Well, I broke 200 miles, but I'm afeared I might miss the 280 mile goal by Thursday: 24 miles at 14.8 mph.  Just a dreary ride, with no joy and my body's still tired and sore from all the activity this weekend.  Meh.

ntodd

Another Silly Bikeathon Ride

We hung out with Vera Katz on the Eastbank Esplanade today. 

Today's numbers: 33.4 miles, 12.5 mph.  Very leisurely ride to downtown and then zigzagging around the waterfront.  Rather different kind of biking for me given that we rented 3-speeds, the urban environment has a lot more obstacles and traffic, and there were so very many people on the multi-use paths.  But it was wicked fun in the sun and reminiscent of the family rides I used to take with NTodd's Pa and NTodd's Pa's Wife as a kid.

Along the way we met Michelle Lopez, who is doing something really, really silly:

I guess the first thing that I should do is be honest with everybody, so here it goes: Whenever I tell people, especially my closest friends and family, that I’m going to be biking 4000 miles across the country with Bike & Build, I get a lot of skeptical looks and expressions of disbelief.
...
Here’s my chance to raise awareness for the cause in a fairly exciting and eye-catching way. Not only that – I feel like serious problems like housing shortages need extreme measures and drastic initiatives in order to even begin to create a change. Well, biking 4000 miles from New Hampshire to British Columbia is a pretty extreme measure, if you ask me. And if somebody as sluggish and couch-potatoey as I am can do something as amazing as raising $4000 / biking 4000 miles for a good cause, I hope that I’ll be able to inspire others to do the same and prove that they can do it too. If nothing else, I’ll be able to raise awareness for the problem by sharing stories of my experiences with Bike and Build.

What a poseur!

Anyway, she doesn't appear to have a blog, but many of this summer's riders do so if anybody is from your area you might consider following their progress.  Also be on the lookout for them in public places selling cupcakes, as Michelle was, or doing other fundraising for their trip!

ntodd

PS--Special shoutout to the dudes at Waterfront Bicycle--from whom we did NOT rent our rides--for helping out with the flat I got 5 miles in.

Bikeathon: No, Really!

E and I are going to ride together downtown today.  It's cooler than it has been the last couple days, and quite frankly, I wasn't all that motivated to ride solo in unfamiliar climes even with ride guides and a pretty good mental map of the area.  This will be way more fun.

I've updated the $$$ side of the progress bar to reflect new donations--one dollar for every Representative in Congress, though I ain't meeting with all of them--for which I am extremely grateful.  And I'll get back in the saddle and update that stalled distance indicator later today, I totally swear!

ntodd

More Silly Biker Tricks

LAAAAAAME!

Brian LaFave couldn't care less how high gasoline prices climb these days — he's parked his pickup truck and is refusing to buy gas for a month, possibly longer.

"The goal is to not use one drop of gas for 31 days," LaFave said, calling it his personal stand against the oil companies.

Now LaFave, 31, is riding his bicycle or walking everywhere he goes. He won't even let friends pick him up unless they already planned on being in the neighborhood.

"If they're not going out of their way, I can take the ride," he said. "But if they're going out of their way, then ... I'm still consuming gasoline so it kind of defeats the purpose."

LaFave started the effort May 11. He bikes to his third-shift job at Aldrich Chemical in Sheboygan Falls, a 9-mile commute.

"I did like a practice run ... two days in a row to make sure I could do it," he said. "I'm not in the greatest shape. The mornings are the worst. It feels like it takes forever. I get like a mile down the road and I want to die."

It's a big change for someone who put 300 miles on his truck the week before he stopped driving it.

LaFave fills out a chart each day listing how many miles he bikes, the destination and the gas price that day, among other things. He plans to compute his savings and donate that amount to a charity that provides food to children in Africa.

First the cancer people, now this guy.  The worst part is that these people are all, like, telling people what they're doing.  Pretty fucking self-righteous if you ask me...

ntodd