OK, I'm sick

Seems that riding 30 miles in the cold yesterday wasn't such a good idea.

After 10 hours of sleep last night, I woke up foggy and exhausted. And I'm coughing up brown stuff. And my throat hurts and my eyes are itchy.

So no riding for me today. I find it interesting that it will take discipline to stay *off* the bike today. Yesterday and today is our only window for dry weather - tomorrow the rain starts again.

a funny example of sharing the road

So funny!

Florida police were making a training video on how to take the lane when there is no bicycle lane. A motorist behind the photographer obviously couldn't see that there was a cop on the bike in front. Have a look at what happens when the motorist lays on the horn to get the bikes to move over.

FYI - you'll see some text that describes the Florida law on sharing the lane. I researched the California law for sharing the lane and found that California is vague on it. It reads "...ride on the right, but not so far that you might hit the curb. You could lose your balance and fall into traffic. Do not ride too far to the right when a traffic lane is too narrow for a bicycle and vehicle to travel safely side by side."

discipline vs. regret

I stumbled upon this quote two weeks ago, and it's my new favorite:

We must all suffer from two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is that discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.

Since finding this quote, I've realized that this is exactly how I look at bicycle commuting. There are those days where I want to take the easy way out and *not* support myself on my bike. For example, some mornings (especially in the winter), I find it real, real hard to get out of bed. The mornings in Felton are dark. And cold. And wet. Getting out of a warm, fluffy bed and climbing onto a cold, steel bike before 6am takes a lot of discipline. But that discipline, as tough as it is, really does weigh less than the regret I feel when I *don't* support myself on my bike. For example, on the days that I should have ridden my bike to work but chose to drive, I find myself looking out my office window at my truck...and I regret having driven.

On Tuesday of this week, this realization paid off for me on my commute home. As of Tuesday, it had been raining in Santa Cruz non-stop for 48 hours. I was tired of riding in the rain. I was tired of being cold. I just wanted to be home. I came very close to steering my bike to the nearest bus stop and taking the bus home (we can put bikes on buses here).

Then I thought about this quote and I considered how I would feel after arriving home, stepping off the bus. I knew I would regret taking the bus home more than riding in the rain! So I took my normal route up Hwy 9.

The payoff was that a couple of miles up Hwy 9 I passed a guy on a mountain bike. He was riding pretty slowly because he had something large and bulky swinging from his neck, bouncing off of his chest. It was getting dark, so he had strapped a flashlight to his helmet, facing backwards so oncoming traffic would see him. Interested in his story, but also leery of the characters one can meet on this stretch of road, I passed him and said "Hi." He said hi back and commented that my headlights were bright enough to make him think I was a car.

Convinced that he wasn't one of our local wierdos, I slowed down and we started talking. Turns out he's a kayaker who was riding back up to his truck. He had put into the San Lorenzo river, which was running very strong due to the rains, and paddled down the river. He stashed his boat after the river run, then jumped on his bike to ride up to get his truck. I was super-impressed by that!

As we rode, he pointed out a section of the river that, during heavy rains like the ones we've had lately, turns into a Class III rapid. The section of river is one that I look down at, through a split in the redwoods, nearly every time I ride home. I've always known that the river was down there, but I never thought much about it because it just looks like a lazy, slow moving river snaking through the woods. I was so grateful to him for pointing that out - in all my days of riding along this river, I've never seen it under the circumstances that transform it into something so powerful.

Had I chosen to take the bus, I would have missed out on meeting this guy and learning this.

Discipline.

green

It's been raining non-stop in Santa Cruz since Monday.

A parade of storms has been rolling by, dropping the temperatures and dumping lots of much needed rain.

I heard about the first storm and was excited to ride to work in it the following morning, on Monday. I rode Monday and Tuesday, through the first storm, and had stay off the bike Wednesday through Friday for two reasons: first, it really wasn't safe to be riding a bike down Hwy 9 in the dark when the stronger storms hit (heavy winds were downing big trees left and right, and since I ride through a forest for much of my commute, I figured that riding wasn't safe); second, I got sick. Maybe from riding in the cold and rain on Monday and Tuesday, I don't know. I've just been very low-energy with itchy eyes, cough, and sore throat since Tuesday night.

Taking three days off the bike did me some good, so I got on this morning and rode about 30 miles. Everything is so lush and green after the rains - beautiful!

It takes two to tandem

Pictures from our first tandem ride.

Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay for an overnight camping trip.

At the beginning of the ride, on West Cliff:

Stop #1 was the Davenport Bakery, about 12 miles north of Santa Cruz:

We cruised through Wilder Ranch:

Adria stretches out:

Adria rolling out our modified sleeping bag. She took one sleeping bag, opened it up, and sewed a sheet onto the bottom. It allows us to sleep together in one bag, and even in cold conditions we stayed very warm.

Our campsite in the hiker/biker section of the campsite:

Sunset on the beach:

The stoker documenting the trip:

That's a lot of bike:

Round Two has started!

After a four week break, I'm nearly a month into days Round Two of Commute for a Cause.

Round Two will last for four months, and all the money that I raise is being donated to LIVESTRONG foundation. LIVESTRONG is a cancer research and support foundation, popularized by bicyclist (and Texan) Lance Armstrong.

The funds that I raise will be donated under Greg A's name, in honor of Greg beating cancer and in memory of his sister Vicki who passed away from cancer a couple of years ago.

Greg is my father-in-law-to-be, and the idea for donating Round Two to him came to me around the holidays. Adria's family draws names for their holiday gift exchange and I drew Greg's name. This year, instead of buying a gift, the family agreed to make a donation to a charity in that person's name.

LIVESTRONG seemed like a perfect fit, considering that since his sister passed away two years ago, Greg hasn't removed the bright yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet from his right wrist.

end of the first round of Commute for a Cause

My first round of Commute for a Cause ended last week.

One of the first things I did when it ended was look through my Bike Log to gather some data about my mileage:

• The Cause ran for 196 days.
• I rode 1,383 miles.
• I was on the bike 72/196 days.
• 71% of my mileage was on my touring bike.
• 25% was on my single-speed mountain bike.
• 2% was on my fixed-gear bike, and 2% was on my single-speed 'cross bike.

Here's my mileage by week:

I also saved 82 gallons of gasoline and prevented 1,640 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

I have to admit that I am surprised by some of these numbers - mostly that I was on the bike "only" 72 of 196 days. I guess I had this vision of myself putting up some crazy number, definitely over 100 days. But that thinking didn't last long when I remembered why I started Commute for a Cause. I started it as a way to combine my love for biking and living a more sustainable life, and also to give back to my community.

Looking back, the seed for the idea was planted on my birthday in April - in a pub in New Zealand. Adria and I were recapping my 36th year and talking about goals for my 37th year. One of the things I told her was "I want to take my biking to the next level this year." At the time I thought the "next level" was competing in endurance single-speed mountain bike races or training for and competing in the upcoming cyclocross season.

When we returned from vacation the idea simmered, and I returned to my daily routine. Part of my routine at that point consisted of volunteering for a local non-profit organization. Around the same time some great life events happened and I needed more time to support myself, so I had to stop volunteering. But the desire to give back to my community was still strong. Around the same time, Adria's sister was running a half-marathon to raise money for cancer awareness through Team In Training, and that's when it hit me! Why not use my bike to raise money for a local non-profit? It was a perfect way to combine my love for biking, sustainability, and community.


Choosing the Homeless Garden Project was an easy choice and a perfect fit for my first Cause. HGP was created nearly 20 years ago as a way to "...provide job-training and meaningful work in a therapeutic environment" (from their website). I earn my paycheck by working in the organic produce business, so there's an obvious connection to sustainability with HGP. And by teaching homeless people important transferable job skills, HGP is helping strengthen our community.

If you take a few minutes to click through some of my previous posts, you'll get a little more insight into the great things that HGP is doing and why donating any amount of money would be greatly appreciated. There are two ways to donate. The easiest way is to click here and download the pledge form. If you do this, have a look at their "Wish List" - these are the tools that are needed to keep the HGP going. When you donate through their website the money goes directly to them. The other way to donate, and just as safe, is to get the money to me and I'll present all donations to HGP at once. Obviously, you'll probably only do that if you know me and know how to get hold of me.

You can also support them by visiting their retail store (perfect for holiday gifts) located in Santa Cruz at 30 West Cliff Drive @ Depot Park or online. To all the men out there...their store has lots of good stuff for the women in your life - homemade beeswax candles, wreaths and lots of soft, knitted things. Remember, all the goods here are produced locally, stay in the community, and go towards a wonderful cause.

And stay tuned for round two of Commute for a Cause. I'm researching the next non-profit to ride for, and also working on moving this blog onto its own webpage. I'm taking a break from updating this blog until the next round starts on January 1st.