Bike and Build and Beyond

A Virtual Space for Place

2009-10-16T14:25:00.000-05:00

Check out my new blog, focused on issues and projects related to transportation planning.

http://terra-curtis.tumblr.com/

Echoes snippet

2009-08-14T16:47:00.001-05:00

Just saw that Echoes posted a portion of my article online! Check it out here. At some point I'll post a scanned version of the article.

The next tour!

2009-07-24T13:33:00.003-05:00

Hi all,

I know, it's been a while. I'm getting ready for an upcoming tour. Don't get too excited; it's only about a week long. But, it's in New England and it starts in my "second home" town of Boston, and ends in my "first home" town of Bangor, ME.

Tommy (of Bike and Build) and I are getting back on the road, and here's a preliminary route of where the road will take us:

View Larger Map

Other fun facts: I was chosen to ride on this summer's 42Ride. At first, it seemed not only like a fun adventure, but also a great way to promote bicycle travel (something I'm getting more and more involved with, with a hope of aligning myself with this type of work long term -- that's another long story). But, once I was chosen, I investigated a bit more and decided this ride was more about promoting its sponsor, 42Below Vodka (now owned by Bacardi), than it was about promoting precious two wheel travel. I told them that wasn't for me. There are things on my to-do list this summer; promoting bikes would have fulfilled some of them, but pushing 42Below schwag on unexpecting imbibers after days of long, hot riding wasn't exactly where I wanted to be this summer.

I will say, though, that if I hadn't been so self-growth focused right now, I probably would have jumped on the band wagon. Two B&B buddies, Brianne and Lauren, were in a better position to drop it all and take off for an adventure. They're both on the southern route and already in TX.

Two last plugs: after B&B, I had the opportunity to write two articles about my experiences. One can be found in the most recent edition of Echoes Magazine (please support! I used to help my grandmother stuff envelopes in a little hut in rural Aroostook County, ME when she worked for them!). The second article will appear in a new humanitarian travel magazine called Worldsurf. I'm really excited about this magazine. It was started by a friend of mine in Cambridge, MA. Again, please support!

-Terra

Why I am here, now

2008-11-10T17:46:00.002-05:00

I have been fortunate to travel to many places. But still, there are many places I haven't been.

Friday night, Chris and I feasted on Middle Eastern food from Jerusalem Cafe. I've never been to the Middle East before.

Saturday I explored new territory south of San Francisco as we biked from Palo Alto, up across the Santa Cruz mountains, down into San Gregorio for lunch where we saw both a Nobama sign as well as a woman sporting her own homemade tie-dyed Obama t-shirt; we stopped by the recently created Bike Hut on our way back up to the mountains and ascended for another 30-45 minutes until taking cautious (due to the rain) descent back into Palo Alto. I'd never biked there before.

On Sunday, we spent a lot of time at Philz Coffee where I had my usual Peruvian roast. I've never been to Peru before.

After a day of working on personal projects at the cafe, we walked over to La Taqueria where we got veggie burritos. Quite possibly my favorite spot for (San Franciscanized) Mexican food in the city. I've never even been to Mexico.

After dinner we had a couple hours to kill before going to a show, so we parked ourselves at Mission Pie whose pie ingredients are grown at the Pie Ranch just south of San Francisco in Pescadero. I have actually been to the Pie Ranch before; the walnut pie is excellent.

Then we headed over to Revolution Cafe where we first heard a local girl play a Chopin piece (Chopin is from Poland; I've never been to Poland). We then heard a Russian girl play the harp - have you ever seen someone play the harp, live, one foot away from you? I hadn't. There there was a sextet of strings playing Brahams - from Germany. I have been there before, but he spent most of his life in Austria - where I have not been. We did all this while drinking beers new to the both of us: Affligem and Erdinger (Belgian and German). Never been to Belgium.

So, why am I here, now? Because being here I can be all these other places, too. The world is here in my world, and that's a big part of what makes me love this place. For the number of places represented within its many spaces.

More bomber footage

2008-10-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

Here.

Not all travel has to be done on two wheels

2008-10-23T12:14:00.004-05:00

And not all travel has to traverse 4,000 - 5,000 miles. Some travel can take place over the course of two steep downhill blocks. The vessel? A homemade taco truck (roach coach, box truck, whatever you want to call it).

Last Saturday, 5 of my coworkers and I from PowerReviews (and Buzzillions) spent the day psyching ourselves up for the 38 second trip down Dolores St. in the first ever Red Bull Soapbox race in San Francisco.

We spent probably 2 months prior to that brainstorming, designing, and constructing our craft, which looked pretty spiffy to us in the end, but didn't hold a candle to some of the other cars out there.

We had a couple of media crews following us, as well as one of our coworkers who put together a nice video. Also, keep on the lookout at www.missionlocal.org for an upcoming story highlighting our adventure.

What I Do at Work (sometimes)

2008-08-19T19:21:00.002-05:00

GPS and Televisions and Condoms, Oh My!

Briefly

2008-06-26T23:35:00.004-05:00

From SF Spring 2008

A quick update from this end...

I've been spending a bit more time on the bike lately. I took that promise to myself seriously when I got back from Europe. Being over there and riding quite a bit, I realized I needed biking to be more of a frequent thing for me in my everyday life. I mean, outside of the commuting.

So, once or twice a week I've been going on longer rides. A nice one I did recently was the Paradise Loop, out from SF, across the GG Bridge, down into Sausalito and northeast to Tiburon. The Paradise Loop brings you out to the tip of the Tiburon Peninsula and around its perimeter. It's about a 40 mile ride round trip, quite scenic, and pretty low car traffic. I also go on rides out to the Marin Headlands some mornings before work. In fact, tomorrow might be one of those mornings. It's a great way to start the day.

Last weekend, my spinning instructor Michael invited me to ride with him. At first, we were thinking of going up Diablo in the East Bay but it just so happened that there was a race up the mountain that day. So, we opted for Marin instead (pretty much a crowd favorite). He took Chris and I on a ride neither of us had ever done, climbing up and down several "hills", across Alpine Dam, and up onto the ridge overlooking Stinson Beach (also know as the Seven Sisters - seven mini-peaks up on the ridge). All in all, I think we rode 50-55 miles, but we took most of the morning and the early afternoon and enjoyed the amazing scenery. At the top of the ridge you could actually see, on top of the normal haze of sea air, a layer of brown smoke coming from the many forest fires that seem to have developed recently. It's been incredibly dry; the hills were browner than they should be this early in the summer. It's my understanding that June is typically much damper than it has been, and this year we find ourselves in a drought and with air quality issues.

Nonetheless, the ride was still really enjoyable. As you can tell:

Here's a bonus photo from a month or so ago when we went camping mid-week in Tennessee Valley (also in Marin).

I thought San Francisco was a bike-friendly city...

2008-04-16T11:46:00.014-05:00

Then I visited Barcelona. As I cruised seamlessly from site to site, modern city into the old, from wide Passeig d'Gracia to Placa de Espana to cobblestone narrow age-old streets, from "home" to wherever my wheels would take me that day, I thought "Now this is a city with biking done right." Imagine my surprise then, to arrive in Berlin, and to discover the most bike-friendly city I've ever experienced. Bike lanes are abound, paved in red, separated from traffic, from parked cars, from pedestrians, yet also interwoven with all three seamlessly. They cover east and west Berlin, through beautiful Tiergarten, and all the way out to Potsdam (and beyond?) where we discovered an amazing walking/hiking/biking sanctuary near the lake Wannsee. Bicycles even have their own dedicated traffic lights there (and some where artfully decorated by passers-by; the red light shone in the shape of a heart, the green as a star).

I'm getting ahead of myself. This trip wasn't all about biking (though I think every vacation I take from here on out will have to have a bike involved somehow). I left San Francisco at 4am on March 29th headed to NYC. That afternoon, I arrived at JFK and made my way to downtown Manhattan, met up with my friend Kate (who I've known since my New Zealand days) and walked south to lower Manhattan, through the financial district (where I walked right by Jon Stewart who was playfully chasing his daughter (?) on the sidewalk), through Chinatown (as crowded with people and interesting smells as any other), and eventually ended up at the Bourgeois Pig, a tiny, tucked-away fondue and wine bar where Kate and her sisters all work. After a bottle of red wine and a serving of fondue fit for a king, we sat digesting for a while before heading back out into the brisk late-March NYC air.

From there, we made our way to Brooklyn to where my friend Win (from Bike and Build) recently moved. Inside, I met Katie, Jackie (both from B&B), Bridget's roommates (who ironically was in SF while I was NYC), and a bunch of Win's other friends from NC. Win was hosting a housewarming party. Not that I had any doubts, but Win's hosting/party-throwing skills are top-notch. (Thanks for the pigs-in-a-blanket).

From Vacaciones Ma...

The next morning, Win and I went for a nice walk in the park near his house where cyclists, walkers, runners, and even horses were abound. We made the small climb up the only hill in sight and got a nice view of the city around us. I had forgotten how nice slow morning walks (or bike rides!) can be. Later, I met Jackie, Katie, and Kate again for brunch at the Popover Cafe (long wait, but well worth it!) where I learned exactly what a popover is. Yummyness. That's what it is. We spent the rest of the day wandering through Central Park, through Strawberry Fields and up to Belvedere Castle.

That night, I met up with my cousin Cassidy who I hadn't seen in years. It was great to see him, even if for just a few hours. I met him at an apartment in Brooklyn. I couldn't help but feel like I'd walked right into a scene from a movie, or a scene from the past, or something special. It was dimly lit, there were high ceilings and a myriad of people (most of which were musicians or dancers) ranging in age from probably 7 or 8 to ... 50s? There were food and drinks and conversation and everyone as an audience for the little jam sessions happening in two big rooms. I think it was a party the way a party's meant to be.

The next was spent entirely in transport. Actually, the next two days really. I woke up and left Win's and headed to LaGuardia where I had an afternoon flight to Philly to connect to a flight to Paris. LaGuardia is kind of on the outskirts in terms of public transport, so a rainy day combined with two trains and a busride made for a long trip to the airport. I got there in plenty of time though and decided to have something to eat and relax while waiting for my plane. Well, bad weather in the area started causing delay announcements, and eventually it got to the point where I was going to miss my connection in Philadelphia. So, as it turned out, I had only one option if I wanted to fly that day - go back cross-town to JFK and catch a flight on a different airline. I had one hour and 15 minutes before DEPARTURE. Can I make it? The United guy told me I could. Told me it would be 15 minutes cab ride too. Twenty bucks. Forty five minutes and almost as many dollars later, I ran into JFK and approached the Delta attendant with a look of desperation only to be shot down. "You can't get on that flight. International flights strictly close 1 hour prior to takeoff." After trying (politely?) to plead with her, she told me, "This is not a Delta problem, ma'am, it's a United problem. You'll have to go back to LaGuardia and get them to reimburse you for the cab and deal with them." "??!?!?!!??" might approximate the look on my face. Ugh. Though as she walked away she said, "Hold on." There was still hope. And, long story short, a miracle happened (or at least something happened and she made me feel like she made a miracle happen). Either way, I was rushed to the front of the security line, swabbed and patted down, and let to run through the halls towards this escaping flight as if I knew exactly where I was going. Well, I made it, and didn't have to wait at all to get on the plane. After sitting down, we took off almost immediately.

Six hours later, after a bit of sleep and brief conversation with the guy next to me about deli scales, we arrived just after 6 a.m. in Paris. Following instructions from my brother's printed email, I made my way from Charles DeGaulle to Gare de Lyon where I bought an expensive train ticket headed for Dijon. With the time I had to spare, I walked around the blocks surrounding the trainstation admiring the many different sizes, shapes, and colors of bikes locked up outside.

On the train, I was confronted with my first memorable language-barrier experience (of which there would be many). A man stopped by my seat with a sheet of paper with signatures on it. It looked to me like a sheet everyone had to sign to acknowledge being on the train or something, so I took it and signed. After I handed it back to him, he said something as if he were asking for something more. He then pointed to the column labeled with a Euro sign and said something to me in French. "Ten more euros," I thought? This train already cost three quarters as much as my flight from SF to NYC. I started reaching for it and then had the "Wait a minute, moment..." After trying to discuss/argue/understand him for almost 10 minutes, he finally walked off in disgust. From what I gather, he was collecting money from people for some cause (disabled veterans?). No one else in front of me seemed to donate so I didn't feel as bad. Once I got to Garrett he told me that was very typical - the pushiness and the possibly fake cause facade. But anyway, I moved on, and after all that travel had made it to my brother in Dijon!

Where we had lots of fun:

Dijon was fun. It was great to hang with Garrett again. I hadn't seen him since last May or June. So we had a fair amount of catching up to do. I met his new friends. He showed off his not-so-new-found French skills. We ate baguettes and cheese and wine. The mustard was good. The beer wasn't. His apartment had a cool balcony overlooking a plaza. The same plaza where we watched a "parade" of protesters pass through the next day. I guess it's a pretty common thing to do in France - go on strike and walk through the streets chanting. I would guess by it's frequency that it's not the most effective way of bringing about change...but...I guess we haven't fully learned that in the U.S. yet either.

Next stop: Paris.
Garrett and I left Dijon on a Thursday morning headed for Paris. We spent the day walking rather briskly along the Seine to get in as many of the "must-sees" as possible. The three big ones were the Notre Dame Cathedral,

the Louvre,

and the Eiffel Tower.

I guess I should give Paris another chance, seeing as though I was only there a matter of hours, but I think the most fun part of the day involved finding a place to pee (the details of which I will save for a personal conversation).

That night, we stayed at Garrett's friend Nathalie's apartment in Paris since we flew out early the next morning to Barcelona (well, actually to Girona). After a nice homemade dinner, we slept a few hours, woke up at 4 a.m., took the first train to the city center, came above ground while Paris was still dark, RAN across some parking lots, grass, streets (I don't quite remember because we were in such a rush) to make it to the bus station where we boarded a bus that would take us to Beauvais, an hour outside of Paris, where we would catch our 9 a.m. flight to Spain.

Once in Girona, we met Garrett's girlfriend Marianna who had flown in from Bremen that morning as well. We took a bus from there to Santa Susanna where he and Marianna had booked a hotel for the week. Santa Susanna is a northeastern Spanish coastal town on the Mediterranean, unfortunately loaded down with hotels and tourist traps, but, we made the best of it. I walked along the beach and also took a long hike away from the water and more into the residential area to explore what the place was "really" like. Most of the houses were situated on a big hill (which reminded me a lot of San Francisco). The higher I climbed on the hill, the bigger and nicer the houses were. Their view was pretty great, but the beach was totally blocked by these big hotels. Some shots from that day:

That night, after a walk along the beach, we attended a unique pub quiz at the hotel bar. Mind you, this place wasn't too different from Florida in mid-winter. We were in the minority being less than retirement age. Nonetheless, it was really fun to watch all the older couples having fun dancing and shouting out answers in various languages. The quiz was delivered in 4? maybe 5? languages.

That was my last night staying with Garrett and Marianna, and the next day I took a 45 minute train ride into Barcelona where I met Adela (who, if you don't know, is a good friend of mine from Boston, now living in Barcelona). The first night, we went to a rather interesting party in an old warehouse, somewhere on the outskirts of town. Saw some stuff there that I'd never seen before, which is always a good thing.

Most of the rest of my time in Barcelona was spent exploring by bike, which was such a joy.

The bike lanes there were aplenty and lights seemed to be timed for bikers' speed. It was so easy (and fun!) to bike from the newer parts of the city into the older, narrower streets of the old city center. I did and saw so much there that it's hard to summarize. Overall, I liked the friendliness of the Spanish people, the colorfulness of the city, the ease of biking, the weather, and having a great tour guide! She showed me the must see spots but also places that go overlooked by most tourists, like a locals' rock climbing paradise heading up to Montjuic. This is us heading down...

A second memorable spot was Montserrat (west of Barcelona). Adela and I braved the cold and rain (which we would encounter again in Berlin) to tour this monastery set in the mountainside. It's famous for a few things, one of which being the setting it's in which was unfortunately covered in fog while we were there. It's also got a statue of a black Madonna and is home to a world-renowned boys' choir which performs daily at 1pm. We were lucky enough to catch a performance and surprised to find that most of the boys looked to be under 10 years old. It made me wonder what their life was like - a 10 year old boy living and studying at a monastery. How different from most other 10 year old boys. What would his life become? Things I pondered while their youthful and high-pitched voices filled the otherwise silent cathedral.

Also memorable in Barcelona is Parc Guell, previous home to famous Spanish architect/artist Gaudi. The park is filled with colorful tile, Gaudi's signature curved lines and contours, fantastic buildings, and strangely natural looking designs. One of Gaudi's philosophies was that straight lines do not exist in nature, and therefore he never incorporated them into his work.

Other places of interest included La Sagrada Familia (another Guadi) looming behind me,

the Cathedral, inside which I took this shot looking down into the crypt,

the statue of Cristobal Colon,

and of course, my brother on the Mediterranean.

Not long after this, Adela and I left Barcelona for Berlin. We arrived on a cold, rainy morning and made our way to Patryk's house in the southeast part of Berlin. Before getting there, though, our first Berlin stop was in search of Döner Kebab! The first place we found to get one of these tasty treats was unfortunately inside the train station where we felt ourselves somewhat torn. Do we go for the döner here, where its quality is probably compromised (but do we even know the difference yet)? Well, hungry we were, and try it we did. As we walked up to the counter to order, the man behind motioned for us to "come in." "Come in?", we shrugged? Yes. Come in. Behind the counter and through the door, lo' and behold, was a full bar, a few gaming machines, and a room full of smokiness but empty except for a couple of really serious looking German men and one old woman eating meat, something fried, and drinking a beer. Alone. It was a strange situation to walk in on, especially as our first real contact wit ze deutsche. But ultimately our goal was reached, and surpassed. Döner in belly. And yummy döner it was.

Next up, we met our host Patryk who lives in a colorful neighborhood. All the apartment buildings looked exactly the same but apparently with renovations a few years ago they painted all of them a different bright color -red, yellow, blue, green...you get the picture. It was bright even in the dreary rain. So Patryk took us in and welcomed us with warm tea. Not long after that, we hopped on the bus, got off a few stops later, picked up a couple beater bikes Patryk had stashed at the train station, and took them to a little bike workshop in Prenzlauerberg. Adela and I felt a lot like the outsiders we really were there (in a bike shop among comrades speaking in tongues we didn't understand). But, we managed to get our bikes up and running and off we went in the dark and cold to Velomat, a vegetarian co-op in Friedrichshain where we paid 1 or 2 Euros and got a three course meal. It was very welcomed after the cold bike ride.

The next couple of days were spent in a minor state of hypothermia as we pedaled around Berlin exploring. Luckily just about every time we stopped we were able to fill up on warm döner kebabs. So those first few days, we saw the Brandenburg gate (which separates East/West Berlin),

the Wall,

the Holocaust Memorial,

the Lego Museum,

the facade of an old train station,

and many, many bullet holes.

Luckily, not long after this, the rain stopped, and we jumped for joy.

Next came Oliver. Oliver is a friend of mine who I met in Boston when he stayed with me on his first trip (from Copenhagen) to the U.S. We've kept in touch and on word that I'd be in Berlin, he booked a flight to meet me there. The three of us spent some fun time together, from currywurst the first night,

to laying on the map,

to breakdancing in front of this kick-ass graffiti (which we later found out was not graffiti at all, but cute mice painted on the side of a preschool - oops),

to biking to Wanssee,

(and eating more kebabs),

to playing frisbee

and badminton in Tiergarten,

to piggyback rides,

and everything that came in between.

I spent one of the days in the midst of this whirlwind tour mostly alone, exploring as much as I could by foot.

View Larger Map

It was then that I saw Tacheles, a huge open gallery inside an old warehouse. Berlin itself was pretty covered in graffiti, and Tacheles was no exception. There were 5 or 6 floors of galleries/studios, and every space in between was filled with tags or notes or paintings of some sort.

That same day I also wandered into another live/work space type of building. Being in a foreign place sometime makes me a little more exploratory. Once I stopped inside, it seemed like you either belonged there or you didn't. But, I was curious so I poked around and took a few pictures. If I could read German I could tell you exactly what it was...interesting graffiti, nonetheless.

In the midst of Tiergarten there is a 100m (?) tall tower with a golden angel statue on top. I've heard there's a nice view from up there, but that day I was just enjoying moving through the city, and decided to forgo the climb but felt fortunate to catch a sight as the sun passed down and clearly delineated east and west.

(Looking west)

(Looking east)

The next thing I headed for was actually a very anticipated sight, but I found myself rather disappointed upon arrival. Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche was a church bombed during WW2 yet left to stand as a kind of memorial.

What I was disappointed about were two things. First and foremost, the entire area surrounding the church has become incredibly commercialized. It stands at one end of the major shopping strip in Berlin, Kurfurstendamm. At the base of the church were vendors selling everything from bratwurst to trinkets that just seemed to cheapen the experience for me. Also, the bombed portion of the church seemed to have been partially mended, to the point at which it didn't really look like it had been bombed but rather had been constructed to look as if it had been bombed. Maybe it was just the end of a long day, but I wasn't as impressed to see the church as I had hoped to be. What I did find impressive and memorable, though, were close-up looks at all the buildings left with bullet holes in them. Seeing that really helped me imagine the terror of war, which, if you can imagine, is something I really do want to try to understand.

So, I guess that about covers the bulk of the European festivities. Overall, I had a great time seeing my friends/family and enjoyed and learned a lot from being in a place where I didn't understand the language. It was good, too, to be exposed to all that history. It's something I've never been able to grasp, but I hope in touring such historical sights, the history that has only even been a story to me will become real.

Since being back, I've taken a slightly new approach to things. After all the biking I did over there, I decided I needed to get back to having it as a bigger part of my life. I've missed being outdoors and in the saddle. So, instead of working away within the walls of a sweaty gym, I've been focusing on more mid-distance rides. Once or twice a week I'll try to get out before work and ride north across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Funny story actually...

"There's no such thing as Good and Evil in this world. There's only Love and Apathy; you either care or you don't." --Jackson from Sebastopol. I encountered him on an early morning ride around the Marin Headlands. I was on the returning end of the loop when I saw a cyclist up in front carrying a guitar on his bike. He was riding a tandem; he was riding alone. I took out one of my earphones to say, "Good morning, how are you?" and he replied, "Good morning. Can I ask your opinion on something?" And so started a 10 minute exchange where we rode at the pace of snails while Jackson informed me that he was on his way home to Sebastopol after being on tour in Santa Cruz. "This is so Nor-Cal," I thought. He had the voice of a story teller, and a demeanor that suggested he lived his life as if it were one long story. He was concerned about the moral obligations of elders to youth. He asked my opinion and after a quick response he said, "Women are smarter than men." "Well, that depends on how you define smart," I said. "Sure, but in general, when given a big set of parameters, women are able to come up with a quick solution. They are able to digest a lot of information and offer a solution very quickly. Men, they just...you know, it's like a woman will say, "I like this car except for the color" while the man will say, "What does color have to do with it? It's a good car no matter what color it is!" I started to get a bit impatient at this point, because I could see he was digressing quite a bit. But, I couldn't help but ride next to him and listen, if for no other reason than remembering what it's like to go hours, days without conversation with anyone but yourself. Ride safe, Jackson.

And in addition to those early morning rides: by the suggestion of Chris (another XC biker who I've been hanging with lately), we took off from work on bikes on Tuesday night of this week (don't worry - back for work in the morning!) and headed for Tennessee Valley carrying camping gear and a thermos full of warm beef stew. We arrived to find no one else there except a bobcat that scurried off on sight of us. We also witnessed the most curious clan of pheasants, one of which walked (didn't fly at all) along the top of a zigzagging fence. I decided I wanted to be more like that pheasant; I think he would be of the sort of stop and smell the roses.

What I did on Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T12:27:00.003-05:00

The Urban girls won their first playoff game by 23:
SF Examiner

After that, I raced down to the Embarcadero to cover myself in feathers:
SF Chronicle

More Life in SF!

2008-02-12T23:24:00.010-05:00

It's been almost 4 months since I've written last, and the other day I realized it's been almost 6 since I arrived here in San Francisco. It definitely doesn't seem like it's been that long, but when I think back to the day I arrived, and to approaching the Golden Gate bridge that first time, it really does seem like lifetimes ago.

Since I last wrote, I've moved to a new apartment in the Mission where I now live with two other girls and a dog, Max.

One of my roommates works for the SF Bay Guardian, a free weekly newspaper analogous to my beloved Boston's Weekly Dig. She's a movie critic there so our house has an amazing library of old, new, and future (pre-released!) movies. My other roommate is gearing up for a bike ride of her own. She's riding in this years AIDS Lifecycle from SF to LA in June. For those of you who find joy in donating money to people who ride their bikes crazy distances for big causes, first of all, thank you again, and secondo of all, I'll give you the opportunity to find joy yet again by donating to my roommate Lynn. Here is her fundraising page. PS - she's been training on a mountain bike - she's going to leave the peloton in her dust (not that it's a race...)! Needless to say, I've really been enjoying the company of my new roommates and I'm excited to be acquiring a fair bit of furniture now and really settling in here. These are a couple views from our roof and the new home for Bruiser and Naranja:

In other news, the Urban Girl's Basketball team, who I've been assistant coaching since October, is now entering the playoffs. We finished our regular season 11-1 in our league, sadly losing our last game to Convent of the Sacred Heart. This week we'll play on Thursday, and with a win we'll play in the league championship on Saturday. Depending on how all that goes, we've got potential Thursday and Saturday games next week as well - playoffs to determine the North Coast Section champion, who then goes into the state-wide tournament. I've really enjoyed my time with this team, and will sorely miss spending afternoons with them once the season is over. And, speaking of the season being over, though I do not like to mention it before the time comes, I have officially signed an offer letter from PowerReviews, Inc. to start working full time as of March 1. I'll mostly be working with data pertaining to their product reviews website, www.Buzzillions.com.

Upcoming news: in April, I am planning a trip to Europe to visit my brother who is now studying abroad in France. If all goes as planned, I'll make stops in Dijon, France (to see Garrett), Barcelona, Spain (to see Adela and Carrie from Bike and Build), Copenhagen, Denmark (to see the Danish Couchsurfer Oliver), and Bremen, Germany (to see where Marianna, Garrett's gf, lives). It's a lot to cover, but I'm going to do my best to do it all. And then, in July, I've got a wedding to go to in Boston (congrats Fay and Robyn!) on the 18th. From there, I'll fly to Iowa to ride in this year's RAGBRAI with a bunch of my Bike and Build buddies July 20-26!

That's a lot of news for you. I'll leave you with a couple photos from a 6-hour hike I went on this weekend from Muir Woods to the top of Mt. Tamalpais with my new friends Maya and Jesse.

(click on this picture to see some annotations)

Life in SF

2007-10-21T19:30:00.000-05:00

So, it's been about a month and a half now since I rolled into San Francisco. After about two weeks, I had found an apartment and moved in, was potentially coaching the Varsity Girls' Basketball Team at the Urban School of San Francisco, and had started tutoring a girl in pre-calculus. Life has continued down a similar path, but with added attractions.

A couple weeks ago, I met up with Amelia (of B&B fame) for the SF Lovefest. Here's a snippet:

We got to talking about our job situation (or lack thereof) and she tipped me in on a possible job opportunity. Work from home, flexible hours, as much or as little as you wanted. Turns out, her sister works for a start-up company based in Millbrae, CA. The company is called Power Reviews, Inc. They started a couple years ago designing and installing consumer review software on company's websites (like REI.com, for example). Within the last couple of months, they have rolled out their own website, called BUZZillions, which is essentially one central location where all of their clients' reviews can be viewed by consumers. It's similar to Epinions or Bazaarvoice. Anyway, I sent in my resume, applying for this work from home position where I'd be a moderator for reviews coming in to the site. Essentially, a quality control person - is the review relevant? does it contain profanity? Is it substantive? I got a call back and had an interview. They didn't need moderators, but they thought I had some skills that could be useful. So, I took a job in their office (which is a 1/2 hour train ride away, but they're looking to move into the city soon). I started this week and have really liked the company atmosphere. It's almost entirely populated with employees under 35. Being a start-up, they're really eager to hear/share/explain ideas from/with/to everyone. So for now, I'm working on a few different things. It works really well, too, since I can leave in the afternoon and make it back to the city in time to coach. I've since dropped the pre-calc student (rather, she dropped the class and hence, me) so having full weeks but generally free weekends will be nice.

Aside from work, life has been good and fairly busy. I've been going to a yoga/meditation class that I love. I'm in a co-ed basketball league with my friends Laura and Gabe. And today, I attending a Couchsurfing picnic at Crissy Field where I met a bunch of new people (and quite a few with Boston connections/roots, somewhat surprisingly). So, for those of you still reading, life's good here on the west side. Thanks for checking in.

CS picnic:

My room:

The view from the best roof-top room in all of SF:

For all of you who are still following this thing...

2007-09-29T01:34:00.000-05:00

Thank you! This is for you.

As a bit of an update: I have now moved into my own apartment here in San Francisco. I am living in the lower haight with 4 other roommates in a 3-floor house (we have the top floor). My room's fairly small, painted a salmony shade of pink, and has a loft bed. I spent a couple days cleaning and re-arranging and now I'm quite happy with it. The roommates are great, and we have an AMAZING roof-top room looking south over Market St., the Mission, the Castro, Twin Peaks, and beyond. I have started a little tutoring gig with a small company called Connexion Tutoring. Last week I biked out to Tiburon (18 miles, one way) to tutor a sophomore girl in precalculus. I'm hoping to get more gigs in the city, but the long bike ride (relatively speaking of course) actually turned out to be quite nice, despite that damn climb out of Sausolito and onto the GG Bridge. In addition, I'm interviewing for an assistant coaching position for the girls varsity at Urban, a local private high school. Little pieces are coming together.

So, tonight I attended the 15th anniversary ride of Critical Mass here in San Francisco. (Also, see this, this, and this.) There were a bunch of people (thousands I would guess) and lots of funky-ness. I'm gonna upload some photos and video, you can provide the narration. Oh - craziness - I ran into Colin who had just crossed the GG Bridge at 5pm! The "photo" I thought I was taking of him actually turned out to be a video. You'll see. Check it out:

San Francisco Update

2007-09-16T11:46:00.000-05:00

To all those who have left comments, posts on my Facebook wall, emails, voicemails, texts, and all forms of telepathic communication: thank you so much for your thoughts and words of luck and love. I have been/continue to be overwhelmed with the generosity of my family, my friends, and of perfect strangers.

For the past week+, I have been staying with my friend Margot in the Lower Haight, where she is house/dogsitting for 2 weeks. She has been so generous in sharing this space and her time with me, as well as her clothes (walking around in SF in Sugoi spandex isn't exactly the style I'm shooting for) and the company of the 2 dogs, Petey and Matilda.

I've been spending a lot of time searching Craigslist for my own place to live. There is not a lack of places. However, there is a lack of affordable places in places I want to live and an over-abundance of others who share the same situation. I went to one open house yesterday where the housemates had already met 60 people that day alone. It was that house, too, that I felt the most drawn to. But, beggars can't be choosers, and as I ended the day feeling a bit discouraged, a bit anxious to get my own space and free up that of those who've been generous enough to host me, I got a phone call from a house here in the Lower Haight offering me a room in a 3 month sublet. It was the first place I saw yesterday and it had grown on me over the course of the day. I haven't officially accepted it yet, but plan to on Tuesday when I meet the remainder of the roommates. I'll have a small but furnished room for the months of October, November, and December at which point the sublettor returns to reclaim her space...and I start the search again. But that's ok, gives me time to get a more focused search done for something slightly more permanent at the beginning of the new year. I think it's going to be a fun place -- good sign: bumping into one of the housemates last night at a bar on Haight St. One with a great beer selection.

So, today I'm meeting up with my friend Lucas from BU who's here in the East Bay for grad school. I spent last Wednesday night with Gabe, from Boston, catching up and seeing his new place. He's been generous, too, as I've been using his computer daily to spearhead this apt. search effort. I spent Friday with my friend Laura, also from my BU days, who's in town for grad school now, too. There's a little life starting to take shape now, and with a place to live all but secured, I'm getting excited to delve into the job search. Updates on that later.

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR YOU GENEROSITY AND KINDNESS.

Peace,
-t.

Let's get you up to speed

2007-09-10T21:48:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start a few days back, when I entered the 30-ish mile stretch of California Route 254 known as the Avenue of the Giants.

Rightfully so. This road is entirely engulfed by redwoods. I had driven through this area before, and even then it was stunning. But, on a bike, it lasts a lot longer and you get all the scents and can really appreciate the true ginormity of these beasts. I was lucky enough to spend a night amidst these trees at the Burlington Campground, where I met Theo, travelling north, who advised me to make the arduous 76 mile ride the next day to Westport. The ride was arduous because, not only was it 76 miles, but the first 60 or so were entirely uphill, with a nice 3 mile climb coming right before the last few miles. I went to bed that night psyching myself up for the big ride, and in the morning I biked 10 miles to a nice diner in Miranda, got a beast of an omelette, and started the day off right. The day wasn't easy, but it was enjoyable. Here's a picture of me at the top of that massive climb. With no elevation sign for proof, I took a picture of the topographical map for some hope of belief from y'all.

This peak was reached just 5 miles into my ride on California Route 1. All riding previously was on US101 - a nice road until you start to approach the Bay Area where it becomes a freeway. After descending for about 10 miles, one more hill stood in the way of this:

Back to the ocean (ahhhh). And here I where I slept that night:

This place was great, but it didn't have any showers. So, after that long ride, I really wanted to get clean. What else could I do but plop down in a tide pool and wash? So, that's what I did. The next night I spent at Manchester State Park. It was cool and damp and foggy that day, and all I wanted at the end of that ride was a hot shower. No soup for me. No showers there, either. But, being the day after Labor Day, the place what pretty abandoned. So, I resolved to shower here, underneath a 3 foot tall spigot (yes, I showered in my birthday suit):

Things brightened up after the shower, though. I was on a walk down to the beach when an Faith and Roger asked, "Want some hors d'eurvs?" (I know I'm butchering the spelling there). I sat down with them on their picnic table while they fed me really yummy cheese and crackers and two glasses of wine. We chatted about travelling and about their home in Arizona. They welcomed the cool damp weather we were experiencing on the CA coast. After that first brief meeting, I walked down to the beach to witness this:

I'm just going to throw this one in there because silly road signs seem to be the norm out here:

The next day I started tapering back my miles in order to drag out this dream life as long as possible. Around 2pm, I arrived at my night's destination, a County Park in Sonoma County. They had lots of trails to hike around on, though it took me a good hour or so of wandering around on what I now think was not park land to find the actual trails. Fine by me, because the off-the-beaten-path path took me here:

The real trails were pretty cool, too, though. I saw lots of playful free roaming deer, and got inside a big tree.

Just outside of Bodega Bay, along with friends Bob and Sherry, I met Ron, a retired pilot walking home to the South Bay from his high school reunion in Portland, OR. He had quite a neat story - motivated to lose lots of weight by the threat of diabetes (and the looming reunion). Indeed he succeeded, and then took somewhere near 80 days to walk the distance back home. Neat guy.

So, this brings us to about the last two days of the trip. I had been leap frogging with Bob and Sherry pretty much the entire last week, and they so generously invited me to a few of their group dinners and a great breakfast on my last morning, departing from Samuel Thomas State Park just north of SF.

And then...and then...and THEN...after 25 miles and a haircut, THERE I WAS:

Familiar territory

2007-08-31T22:56:00.000-05:00

I'm spending tonight in Arcata, CA at my brother's old apartment. This past March, I flew out to California on a vacation from work to visit him and other friends here. I've now re-entered familiar territory. I've driven the road from here southward to San Francisco before and I must admit, it's a bit strange to be somewhere I've been before after having been in completely UNfamiliar territory for most of the last 3 months. What's also strange - the sound of the TV in the background, a roof over my head, being INdoors, a computer to use for as long as I want, a couch to sleep on, a REFRIGERATOR!

Let me catch you up a bit on where I've been, who I've met, and what I've been seeing.

Just outside Cannon Beach, OR (I don't know what this is or why it was parked in front of the bike shop):

Going through a tunnel on the OR coast:

Paul and Jimmy, from Ohio, biking Victoria, BC -> Mexico in 3 weeks. Yikes:

View from lunch a few days back:

Sunset at the beach at one of my favorite camping spots:

Colin, from Calgary, going to Mexico with his guitar and totally free spirit. We spent an afternoon together and chilled at the Hauser Bar and Grill (Hauser's population is unknown but word on the street is it's about as many people as were in the bar that day - mmm...'bout 10:

A sample population:

Bob and Sherrie, headed to San Diego. It was Sherrie's 46th birthday yesterday and I shared it with these two and her friend Devorah around the campfire with seafood, salad, wine, COLD beer, and chocolate cake. What a treat:

As always, there's lots more but it's past my bedtime now. Hope to catch up with you all soon...looks like I'll be in SF in about a week!

Headin' down the 101, California, here I come...

2007-08-29T18:32:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, this library won't let me plug in my camera to their computers, but I just wanted to give a quick update. I'm just a few miles from the CA border now, and I'm about to cross over and head to the RV park where I'm staying for the night. All goes really well, but the pictures will have to speak for themselves because it's all beyond description. I'm totally bummed about this library! Anyway, I guess when that's the biggest grump I have, I don't have it so bad.

'Til next time -
-Terra

I'm OreGONE Washington!

2007-08-26T15:15:00.000-05:00

Here I am with the spiffed-up Bruiser, ready for takeoff on the morning of August 21 in Seattle, WA. That morning, Bruiser and I cruised over to the ferry terminal at Pier 52 and headed west (further west) to Bremerton, from whence we travelled to the little town of Elma. The trip got off to a great start; at the ferry, I asked a woman taking photographs if she'd take a picture of me and my bike. I got into the story of it all and she was just amazed. We talked for the length of the ferry ride (an hour) while she showed me pictures of her recent trip to Africa and also gave me her phone number and her father's phone number (from Elma) in case "anything should go wrong, God forbid." Susan was a good omen from the start.

The next morning was damp, but brightened by my encounter with Becky and Louie Berry, a couple from Portland, OR who have done many tours and gave me tips about campgrounds along the way.

On day three, I crossed over into Oregon, via ferry. It was a strange ferry. I brought my bike town onto what I thought was the dock and sat waiting for the "ferry" to return to pick us up. Then, the "dock" just started moving, and off across the Columbia River (we meet again) we went. The Oregon welcome sign on the other side was hardly sufficient, so I had to consider myself welcomed by the MOUNTAIN I immediately proceeded to climb, finally having reached US101. It was a new experience to climb such a hill (I really prefer to call it a mountain) with so much extra weight on the bike, but the scenery is payoff enough out here. I'll give you a sample:

It was at this site that I first talked with Jim and Paul, from Ohio. They're trying to make it to Tijuana in 3 weeks. Crazy, if you ask me. But then again, people say the same of me. No shame.

My internet time is running out now, but there is so much more to say. Use your imagination and I'll fill in the gaps later.

Peace,
-t.bone.

Somebody said, "Today's the day."

2007-08-21T09:51:00.000-05:00

Leaving Seattle today, shooting for the 10:15am ferry to Bremerton. Should arrive by 11:15 and then start the 75 mile ride to Elma, where I'll be staying the night at Elma RV park. Tomorrow, shooting for Lewis and Clark State Park.

I'll have my cell phone the entire way. I don't have a mailing address yet, but you can send things to:

General Delivery
ATTN: Terra Curtis
San Francisco, CA 94142
*Make sure you note on the bottom: Please hold for pickup by Sept. 12, 2007

I'll be able to pick up mail once I reach SF. My email will still be out there, too, I just won't have very frequent access. (terra.curtis@gmail.com)

Here goes!

S-E-A-T-T-L-E, we just biked across the country!

2007-08-20T15:49:00.000-05:00

And now I'm about to leave. I'm here in West Seattle, where I've been staying since our group arrival in Seattle one week ago today. The last mile of the ride in was indescribable; we were all chanting and yelling and flying down a huge windy hill to meet the ocean in Golden Gardens park, flanked by our families and friends yelling and chanting and squirting champagne on us, too. After a couple really successful and productive days building on Vashon Island, most of the group dispersed and made their way elsewhere. I've been lucky enough to be hosted by Erin Kinneen, a P2S04 alum who lives here in W. Seattle now. The generosity I continue to experience in this country has been an eye opener, and one that makes me want to find some permanence again soon so I may, too, offer a roof or a meal to those passing through.

As for me, I'm biking out of here tomorrow, taking a ferry to Bremerton and will head south hopefully as far as Elma tomorrow night, where I plan to stay at an RV park there. I just spoke with Frida from the Elma RV park and she seemed really excited and enthusiastic about bikers and biking, so I hope I am able to make it the 70-75 miles from Bremerton by dusk. The next day I'm looking to get to Lewis and Clark state park, where camping is available on a first-come, first-served basis (I'm thinking free as well). From there I'm not too sure, but according to the forecast and a few locals' thoughts, the sun should be coming back out sometime tomorrow. It's been sort of rainy ever since my fellow B&Bers left. Ironic?

Sorry to not post any photos right now. I'm sitting in a cafe and without my camera. I also haven't taken many photos in the last week. After arriving, I think I preferred to just live in every moment rather than through the perspective of a photographer. As soon as I can, I'll get some photos up. You might check the other blogs for photos, too. I'll steal this video from Sam just to give you something:

Godspeed (not sure why I've heard that a lot lately),
-Terra (a.k.a. t.bone)

Will I ever catch up on this blog?

2007-08-07T23:36:00.000-05:00

First of all, let me post this video from our own Gregory Hunter (aka Crocodile Hunter gone cyclist):

So, how can I catch you all up on the goings-on of this crazy group? Last time I blogged, we were in Missoula, Montana. I don't think I mentioned the Big Dipper Ice Cream shop, home of the Supernova (see pictures on Sam's blog). Sam and I polished off 6 scoops of ice cream with 6 toppings AND a brownie on the bottom. It's insane the amount of ice cream that we consume. (Side note: both Nate's and Brianne's parents are in town tonight and what did they BOTH treat us to? Ice cream. So, sitting in the church freezer are TWELVE half gallons of ice cream. 30 people, 12 half gallons. That's almost a quart of ice cream for everyone. Then there's peanut butter and microwavable fudge topping, sprinkles, and choc. chip cookies. Does this sound like an athlete's diet to you?)

On our way out of Missoula, we all had our pictures taken at the Adventure Cycling HQ. From there, we rode on to Superior, MT, after a morning stop at Liquid Planet for some of the rider's caffeine fix. This days ride was especially beautiful as we were able to avoid I-90 most of the way on frontage roads. Unfortunately, Courtney's tire was going flat about once every mile, so the last 10 miles into lunch were quite slow. Lunch was well worth the wait that day, though. This is where we ate (and swam and hung out for no less than 2 and a half hours):

Directly after lunch, there were about 10 of us riding down a back road directly adjacent to a railroad track. I can't give you the details here, but I will say that we had a very memorable mile down this road - I think it was also quite memorable for the girl that drove by and the conductor who, yes, STOPPED his train to watch us pass AND gave us a "toot toot!" and a smile. Ask me about it later.

In Superior, we stayed at the local elementary school directly next to the fairgrounds where, lucky for us, the rodeo was taking place that evening. Most of us bought our $9 tickets, found a seat, and prepared for what turned out to be one of the most "enlightening cultural experiences" (in Derrick's words) of this trip.

The men's events were all violent; the women's were not. Win found a guy wearing a t-shirt that read "Liberalism is a mental disorder." At one point, parents threw all their children 8 and younger into the rodeo pit (for lack of a better term) to chase a calf with a ribbon on its tail. The parent of the child who successfully removed the ribbon from the calf's tail got a handle of whiskey; the child received nothing. Sexual and political jokes were being cracked left and right. It was a trip.

The next day we crossed into Idaho (again) and into the Pacific Time Zone. Our route took us mostly over I-90 the whole way, including multiple sections of road work. Sadly, as I was trying to take a picture of Bronwyn and Marie crossing the "road closed" section of the road, I dropped my camera. This being the second blow in one week to the poor device, I pretty much pronounced it dead then and there. Broke down and got a new one - credit cards can be (temporary) saviors.

From Wallace we rode a beautiful bike path part of the way into Coeur d'Alene. There was also a section on I-90 taking us over 4th of July pass, approximately 1,000 feet of climbing in about 2 or 3 miles. Not too bad. The end of the ride took us up the cliffsides above Coeur d'Alene lake, conjuring up images of the Pacific Coast Highway. Once we were back down at lake-level, Sam, Evan, Eric and I jumped off the bikes and right in. It was perfectly refreshing. Wish I had pictures, but at this point I was still sans-camera. Maybe Sam will post some from there.

Out of Coeur d'Alene, we were blessed with a 42 mile ride entirely via the Centennial Bike Path into Spokane (WASHINGTON!). In order to get pictures at the state sign, we all left the bike path on foot, walked across a grassy separation and climbed up underneath the I-90 overpass. It was worth it, as Washington is our last state line sign together.

So, here we are in Spokane on our second night. We had a build day today at a big site. Habitat seems to have built an entire block. It was neat to work with two other large groups, mostly younger than us. Local media was there throughout the day, so if you feel like googling local Spokane TV channels, you might find some footage.

Tomorrow we're off to Wilbur. It's hard to believe we get to Seattle on Monday. Everyone's got it a bit in sight at this point, and you can tell it's on everyone's mind. No one really knows what to expect.

Miraculously, an oasis of internet!

2007-08-02T16:46:00.000-05:00

Here I am in Missoula, Montana. It must have been a week and a half or two weeks ago that I last wrote. Luckily, there is a very nice public library here in town with enough computers for us and the citizens.

Since I last wrote, we have accomplished some pretty amazing things, if I do say so myself. I can't even remember it all, but in about 5 days we climbed Togwotee Pass (and the continental divide), Teton Pass, the continental divide again (back east) into Montana, and Flesher Pass, crossing back to the west side of the divide. Here we are in Missoula at an elevation of about 3200 ft. I think, in a tea-sup shaped valley unfortunately filled with smoke from the wildfires burning just 50 miles away. According to the locals, this never used to be, but is becoming, a common summertime occurrence.

I've just taken a brief look at all the photos I've taken since I last posted, and I have no idea how to sum it all up nor the time to explain it all in detail. I visited the headquarters of Adventure Cycling here in Missoula and saw a topographical map of the U.S. on the wall. I am amazed at what we've biked through already, and fortunately feel ready for what still lies ahead.

Two interesting tidbits: in Bozeman, I was able to locate and visit the house where my grandparents used to live with my Dad's older siblings. It was literally 5 or 6 blocks from the student center where we stayed. My dad had called my grandmother previously to let her know I was out looking for her old house and, as if it were scripted, my phone rang just as I pulled up out in front. It was my grandmother and she was happy to tears with my being there. I sat in front for a long while trying to imagine life there 60 years ago when they inhabited it. Tried to imagine my uncle Carl riding his tricycle down the street, my grandfather leaving for work in the morning. It was a really neat experience.

Sadly, my internet session is about to expire in 5 minutes, so I'm going to try to put up some photos and trust I'll fill in the gaps of these stories later.

Lander, WY

2007-07-23T14:45:00.000-05:00

So far, approximately 100% of our riders want to move here. Specifically to Lander. It is the international headquarters of NOLS and most people here seem to embody that type of spirit. Most of us atae lunch at the Gannett Grill which is a popular local microbrewery. I had the salad I've been craving basically since Providence (Greek salad with chicken and...this is the important part...AVOCADO. Mmm.)

We've been through a lot of diversity here in Wyoming. First we came into Lusk where I talked to a man in the drugstore about the coal mining industry and the railroad that ran right through town. He said about 30 fully-loaded trains run through there everyday. That has been happening for many many years...imagine how much coal is shipped and has been shipped.

We went from Lusk into Douglas where we were able to explore a (free) Pioneer Museum. It had everything from weapons to covered wagons to furniture from the early 1900's. Also in Douglas, we were served a big dinner at the ranch owned by the Pastor from the Baptist church in Lusk. When we first got there, we got the full tour of the barns and the grounds, and some of us even rode horses around the land.

The ride from Douglas to Casper was one of my favorites thus far. About 10 of us decided to take and alternate route to avoid Highway 25. We climbed an additional 1,000 feet but the little traffic, antelope sightings, and amazing views made it all worth it. We also discovered Wyoming is a major Uranium testing center.

I can't forget about the build site we worked on in Casper. Dean and Bill were good guys to work for. A few of us worked on the same room all day - insulating and putting drywall on the ceiling and walls. It was difficult work - strenuous on the neck and arms and a few annoying angles to cut, but it was rewarding. At the end of the day, our room looked like a real room and we imagined a child laying on his bed staring up at the ceiling, our ceiling. The house next door was the mirror image of ours, so we were able to go over there and see what the finished product would eventually look like. The most rewarding part of the day came at the end (possibly the epitome of what this trip has been about for me), when Bill, a comical and facetious guy said to Jackie and I, "Boy, I will never, ever bad mouth anyone from your generation again. I don't care what they say. You guys have restored my faith in humanity."

From Casper, we rode into Shoshoni. I was up and ready to leave at 6:45am when I realized that it was my day to sweep with Bridget, something I had been looking forward to, but it was difficult to get into the sweeping frame of mind being ready to go so early. After about an hour of letting everyone get ahead, we biked out of town and met up with the coffee drinkers about 5 miles down the road. Since we had about 100 miles to bike that day, we had scheduled 2 lunches. The first was at Hell's Half Acre - a section of the desert overlooking a strange 320 crater.
It was a hot and slightly hilly ride into that point, but we left there with about 1/2 the trip under our belt. Half way to the second lunch, the headwinds picked up and we were treated to a 20 minute thunderstorm with just enough rain to cool us off and just enough thunder to make it thrilling (a thunderstorm in the desert!). My sweeping duty paid off at this point though, because after the storm the winds shifted and provided us with a very strong tailwind. We rode the last 40 miles between 22 and 30 mph with little to no effort. That was something else. The rest of the group unfortunately came in too early and were bucking the storm winds the whole way. It all turned out ok once we were in town though, and everyone treated themselves to a malt or milkshake at the locally famous Yellowstone Drug.

So, after a 50 mile ride today, we're finally here in Lander at the base of the Rockies. For the next few days we're going to be going up and up and up. I'm off to go relax in preparation.

WYOMING!

2007-07-18T20:25:00.000-05:00

P.S. I stopped on the (opposite) side of the road today to talk with Alborz - a guy I spotted walking up ahead. He's walking from Oregon to Boston, MA. Check out his site.

Chadron, Nebraska

2007-07-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

Here we are in Chadron, our last stop in Nebraska. Last time I was able to write we were just about to cross the border out of Iowa. Hard to believe that was only 6 days ago. We've gone over 500 miles in that little time. As you may have heard, quite a few of us have been sick with one thing or another, but (knock on wood) it seems to be dying out. Personally, my sore throat and stuffy nose are much better. The day off today is providing some much needed rest.

Probably the most notable ride of this week was from Valentine to Gordon. That morning, we all woke up at 4:30am so that we could get biking as early as possible and avoid the heat. It was really cool to be up so early we actually had to wait until the sun was high enough to provide light enough to bike. At about 6:15, I headed out with the sunrise at my back. I was heading into terrain almost exactly like that of the day before, a day that I dreaded due to its dry, sandy, hot conditions. But that morning at 6:15, everything was peaceful, cool, and extraordinarily lit. The brown sand dunes of the day before took on a new color. They cast long shadows and deeper oranges and purples appeared. The green underlayer of grass shown through. Before our first lunch, we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, meaning we actually ate *lunch* number one at 7:15 in the morning. Lunch number two came at 9:30am, and by noon we had all biked 93 miles into Gordon. Upon arriving, Amelia, Courtney, Whitney and I headed over to the Antelope Creek Cafe, a little local diner, to get some ice cream. I talked briefly with another touring cyclist heading east to Iowa City. He was headed to Merriman for the day, where we had stopped for lunch number 2. I told him about the Sand Cafe, one of two establishments in the little town ("town") where the woman there doesn't charge for drinks, only sets our a jar for donations. She had covered the walls with Polaroids, and we were happy to find pictures of past B&B trips there as well. Next time you're in Merriman, NE, look for me on the wall of the Sand Cafe.

It's been really interesting watching the terrain change while biking. Just yesterday, on the ride here to Chadron from Gordon, Amelia, Derrick and I were talking about our expectations for Wyoming. We expected to see more evergreens and rocky hills. Not 10 minutes later, we looked up to find we were surrounded by trees and off in the distance we could see rocks sticking out from the hills that 2 miles back were entirely made of sand. The terrain changes so abruptly, and often almost directly on state lines. But when I look back, I forget when exactly things started looking different from home. We're definitely not on the east coast anymore, Toto.

Sioux City, Iowa

2007-07-11T18:35:00.000-05:00

I didn't think I'd ever say this, but, northwestern Iowa is one of the most beautiful parts of this country.

Today, we rode 102 miles from Carroll to Sioux City. We climbed over 7,000 feet. It was our longest mile day and the most feet of climbing we have done so far, and it was all done with a headwind. Coming into Sioux City and seeing the YMCA atop a hill, I wasn't sure I had the energy to make it up. But I looked over at Sam and saw that he was thinking the exact same thing: sprint it. And we did and it was the perfect ending to an amazingly arduous yet beautiful ride. I also don't want to forget to thank Kristina of the Lutheran Church in Carroll for riding with us this morning and showing us the nice (flat) bike path.

I'll try to get some photos up later, but for now, shower time.

Hysterics

2007-07-08T13:36:00.000-05:00

First post from Iowa.

I don't know how or why but at some point between when I was born and the beginning of this summer, I got the image in my head of a flat Iowa. IT IS NOT FLAT. It's also not brown and plain like I imagined. It's beautiful rolling hills of farmland. The sky seems bigger here, the colors richer.

Yesterday, I rode 87 miles. The day before that we rode 100. The day before, 88. That's why yesterday Amelia and I were in hysterics. When it's 95 degrees with a tremendously strong headwind and you get 8 miles out of your way and have to backtrack over a hilly gravel road, there's no better solution than laughter. I thought I was laughing hard the other day when Marie and Derrick and I were riding together and making up new lyrics to "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain." This topped even that. It was different laughter, I suppose. A reaction to that sort of ridiculous humor that these outrageous conditions embody. You can't do anything but laugh, and then suck it up and climb the hill while your back tire spins and your bike threatens to jump right off the road, all the while you're covered in dust because a 2 ton truck just drove by and spit up all the loose gravel. Oh, and you're covered in sweat so it all sticks to you. But it was hilarious. HYSTERICAL. Had we gone crazy? Maybe so. The "shower" we found awaiting us at the church in Marshalltown was probably the best I've ever had in my life -- a hose and an empty bottle of Dasani that we refilled with handsoap from the bathroom. What a day.

PS - We crossed the Mississippi River!

Pontiac, IL

2007-07-03T13:12:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the fourth of July. The only reason I know that is because this morning Pat was giving us our directions for the day and he opened with, "Welcome to the third of July!"

Time has a way of escaping us out here on the road. Speaking of time, we crossed over into the Central time zone yesterday. Despite the extra hour, the day seemed to go by just as fast. We spent last night in Gilman, IL, population 1,800. A small group gave a bike clinic to some of the children in town. This one little boy, Cody, was adorable. He had a mohawk (see my photos). He went around giving us all hugs last night and this morning.

We only had 45 miles to go today so I spent the first 15-20 miles alone at my own pace. Eventually I met up with Lauren and Tommy at the junction of a cornfield and soybean field (big surprise). I think Indiana is the Crossroads State, but as far as I can see out here, there are crossroads everywhere. They're the sort of street corners you see in movies and wonder if they actually do exist. Well, they do. And no, I wouldn't stop at a stop sign if I were driving and could see 20 miles of empty road all around me, either.

It's interesting the think about this setting. First of all, this setting allows for, almost begs of you to ponder it as you pass through. There's not much else to do. What I was thinking today is how we've all come to think of this as the middle of nowhere, so far from civilization. We go so long between sightings of other people that we forget how much people have actually shaped even this "barren" landscape. Really, what we are riding through out here in the middle of nowhere is no different from inner city Manhattan in relation to how much it has been manicured by the human hand. Out here, there are blocks. The whole state of Illinois (and Indiana and I'm guessing Nebraska and Iowa) is covered in a system of grided roads, numbered, running North-South or East-West. Within each block are cornfields, not buildings, but still a sure sign of the human influence on the land. It has made me wonder where exactly I could go if I wanted to see pure nature, untouched by humankind.

Ruminations aside, this afternoon I'm off to the Route 66 Museum here in Pontiac. I'm not sure what to expect but Pat says it's quirky. Tonight, we're giving an affordable housing presentation to the congregation and also another bike clinic. Both dinner and breakfast are provided by our hosts which means I'll be going to bed with an extra full tummy yet again.

All for now.

Lafayette, IN

2007-07-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

It's been 8 days since I last wrote and you've entirely missed the state of Ohio. Both time and internet access seem to be in short supply, which means there's a lot to write about and not much time to do it.

We were so happily surprised to ride into Dover, OH last week to find Derrick there waiting for us. At first, I thought he had just come to visit. But I ran over to give him a hug and he told me he was back for good! Broken pelvis and all, this kid is amazing. My pelvis hurts enough already without a clear break in it.

Other news from Ohio: Logan's mom catered a whole lunch and pool party for us mid-ride into Columbus. The food was tasty and plentiful. I also didn't escape the pool without tearing down the basketball hoop (oops). We all had a fun day that day.

We're now in Indiana near Purdue University and I'm quickly trying to get internet errands done on Logan's computer. The tummy is rumbling (as always), though, so it's time to get some lunch. My photo gallery site seems to be acting up a bit, so I've put a bunch of photos on Snapfish for now. Unfortunately, there's not a link to those, so if oyu want to see them, please email me and I'll send oyu the Snapfish invite.

Peace.

Haiku and some updates

2007-06-23T14:02:00.000-05:00

We spend the morning
Chasing down our shadows.
In the eve, ride away.

The last two nights we spent in Franklin, PA. We arrived on Thursday night and stayed with Pastor Sam at the Presbytarian Church there. He and two buddies came to meet us mid-day to bike in. They were all incredible cyclists; turns out Pastor Gibb has been cycling for 30 some years. He had interesting stories all around and was a perfect fit for our group. Besides being an avid cyclist (and bike mechanic, thank goodness), his church has also invested in a fixer-upper house in town. Instead of biking on to Youngstown, OH on Friday, we decided to stay and trade our day off for a build day with Pastor Sam. It was a relief to all because we hadn't built since Providence, and we have all been excited for that aspect of the trip as well. The enthusiasm was quite visible - Logan and I and others spent a good portion of the day in the attic ripping down walls and ceilings. The soot from the chimney and the dust from the blown-in insulation left us all looking like a crew of coal miners (see the 9th photo in Volume D of the P2S gallery here: http://www.bikeandbuild.org/cms/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,68/), prompting one of the volunteer construction workers to ask me at the end of the day, "You grow up on a farm?" I was flattered.

Right now, Bronwyn and I are taking our time getting to our destination. We have about 2 miles to go and have been at this point for almost 2 hours now. We stopped at Walgreen's to get her photos on a CD, and now we're at a little library so I can try to get my photos uploaded. (See http://rlaskey.org/gallery)

Oh, don't want to forget Les and Elaine, two farmers we met today at our lunch stop about 30 miles into the ride. They were a cute and generous older couple with three daughters who had since moved away. Les and Elaine run a 350 acre farm growing corn, wheat, and soybeans. They let Sarah park the trailer in their yard and talked with us all during lunch. Elaine even brought us out fresh cantaloupe and juice. They were both quick as a whip and had both funny and serious stories. They had once gone to Poland for a year for Les' work. I asked what she thought of the people there, she said, "Same as here. Some nice, some not. You realize that when you get older. People are the same everywhere."

Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance

2007-06-20T14:57:00.001-05:00

I'm writing from the Thad's computer. He's the manager here at the YMCA in Warren, PA. I'm trying to upload photos but unfortunately it just seems to go at a snails pace, so bear with me. You can always view what I have in my gallery here.

Today's ride was about 70 beautiful miles. We seem to have left most of the big mountains behind at this point, but we're still left with some hefty rolling hills and most of all - strong head winds. On PA-6 this morning, Bronwyn and I were flagged down by a woman on the side of the road waving her arms and her camera. She was from the Bradford Era, a local newspaper. She took our picture with Sam who showed up a few minutes later and talked with us for about 20 minutes about the mission and the ride.

It wasn't until a few days ago when I rode with Amelia that I felt like I really understood the overused phrase, "Enjoy the ride." That day, though, I felt like every second was enjoyable, and I learned how to really enjoy it all -- the mountains, the scenery, the strong headwinds and all. I've been conscious of that feeling since, and trying to focus on really enjoying every day's ride. Today was no exception.

Alright, gotta head out. As always, there's so much more I could say. Looking forward to our next build day on Saturday.

Apologies for the delay

2007-06-16T14:56:00.000-05:00

It's strange. The internet was such an intergral part of my life pre-B&B that I never imagined it to be so elusive. I am here for 14 more minutes on this library computer in Clark Summit, PA. I am trying to upload some photos, so as long as that works as I'm writing this, you can check them all in "Terra's Gallery" here.

I have been having a wonderful time and can't even begin to explain the trip in words, much less rushed words. Yesterday I woke up with a song stuck in my head, but the only lyrics I could remember were "sun, sun, sun"...it's a song called Burgundy Shoes by Patty Griffin, if you care to fill in the blanks. I awoke in a cabin in White Lake, NY to a beautiful sunny day and a large brown cow outside my window. It had migrated over through the woods from the farm next door. A bit of a rude awakening as I stumbled out to the bathroom and remembered Pastor Dave's warning about the family of bears nearby. I had a great day biking with Amelia as sweep riders - maybe even the best day I've had so far. We passed over very hilly but less mountainous terrain (two days ago we climbed a 4-mile long hill...followed by an AMAZING 2 or 3 mile decent). Nothing beats hitting nearly 50mph on a bike.

As we came into the Delaware river valley, we stopped to take pictures and were approached by a woman from the Narrowsburg (sp?) River Reporter. She took our names, a photo, and our story and will likely be publishing an article next Thursday or Friday, so be sure to check it out. Amelia and I crossed the river after a while and stopped to take a picture at the Pennsylvania state sign. Luckily, there were a row of cars for sale parked randomly beneath the sign (weird, right?) so we had a perfect prop for the self-timed camera. As soon as we passed into PA, the road size and form changed. It was suddenly made of some red material and there was absolutely no shoulder. The drivers were a little more cranky, too, but overall not too bad. We biked on and on, eventually hitting our lunch stop around 12:30. We left lunch for the remaining 40 miles around 2:15. By the time we had covered the rest of the route it was almost 7pm, but the scenery we passed through was so beautiful I couldn't complain one bit. Also, at the slower pace, my legs felt extremely strong, the strongest they've felt so far. Even still, they're enjoying the day off today.

Today was supposed to be a build day, but instead, we helped out a local high school Habitat Chapter in raising money for their trip to West Virginia to build in the spring. They held a car wash in the parking lot of the church where we're staying - Our Lady of the Snows. So, we all rolled out of bed at approximately 8:45am (I couldn't believe I actually slept that late) and right out to the car wash at 9. It ws the most successful car wash I've ever been a part of - we raised $847!

Tomorrow, we're off to Towanda, PA. We have about 7,000 feet to climb, but over the whole course we'll actually be decending a few hundred feet. Oh, and last night over a few beers, Tommy and I just may have made our Seattle-San Francisco trip approximately 1,200 miles longer...Sante Fe, anyone?

Poughkeepsie, NY

2007-06-13T11:56:00.000-05:00

Hi all - writing from the library at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. We biked into town at about noon today. We only had about 30 miles of riding so we're here early and have a lot of time to hang out. Most of my stuff is still in the van which is en route so I can't upload any new photos just yet. However, yesterday on our longest, hilliest ride yet (from Agawam, MA to Kent, CT) a few of us stopped to get lunch somewhere off the beaten path and ended up talking with a photographer who has some connection to CNN. He took us all outside the sub shop and took some photos -- hopefully hooking us up with a story on CNN. This all ocurred AFTER the sub shop have us 25% off and a woman handed us a $20. All in all, we each paid $2 for lunch and got B&B some good advertising.

So that was the good news for the day. The bad news is that one of our riders, Derrick, took a pretty nasty spill shortly after breaking away from the pack around mile 40. He was going about 30mph when his waterbottle came loose and in an attempt to adjust it he swerved and hit some gravel sending him off the road and hard onto the ground. By the time the rest of us arrived Derrick had already been picked up in the van and driven to the Kent School, cleaned up, and given crutches. He decided he wanted to go to the hospital to get it checked out even though the school trainer thought it was probably only badly bruised. But he really couldn't even walk, and the X-ray ended up showing a broken pelvic bone. Everyone was really sad this morning when the leaders told us -- Derrick's parents were on the way to come and take him home. He won't be riding with us anymore this summer because of a minimum 6 week recovery time, but he's already said he will ride next summer instead. We all really had only started to get to know each other, but because of the tasks we were conquering everyday, we all felt a lot closer than we would have been in any other situation. I will miss Derrick a lot, and hope for his speedy recovery. You can send well wishes to djt8n@virginia.edu.

Despite Derrick's unfortunate fall, the ride yesterday was actually really great and forced me to push my limits even farther. I have never felt burning in my muscles that long or that strong. I was almost reduced to tears mutiple times, but knowing everyone else was feeling the same, I pushed through and was so impressed by everyone. Gotta run now, but more pictures will come later when I get the chance to upload.

Photos for you!

2007-06-09T13:33:00.000-05:00

Last night, we were welcomed into Church Beneficent, a Congregational church here in Providence with a long history with the affordable housing cause. The parish members provided us a meal of pasta and salad, complete with ice cream for dessert. After dinner, Tommy and Emily gave a presentation about bike and build. As I was listening to the speakers, I was trying to imagine how to make this cause mine, how to make it hit home and how to make it real. I want to be able to tell a story when it's my turn to present (Sunday night). I want to speak with as much passion as Tommy, and inspire people as well as people inspire me.

We went to build at a Providence Habitat site this morning led by Herman, a man from the Netherlands working as a Habitat Coordinator here in Providence, but got rained out in the afternoon. So, I found a computer to upload some photos from the trip so far. Might as well take advantage of it when I can. Check 'em out here.

We're a pretty good group, diverse enough to be interesting and similar enough to get along and get things done. It doesn't feel like we've only known each other for about 48 hours.

Later this afternoon and tonight we're going to be painting our trailer and personalizing it for our trip. I'm sure there'll be pictures of that soon.

Tomorrow: first ride day. We take off between 8:30 and 9am en route to Pomfret, CT.

Here in Providence

2007-06-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

A quick thank you to all that have written over the past couple of days. Life has been full here. We got on the bikes today after a bike safety and bike maintenance workshop. A lot of people seemed pretty apprehensive about actually getting on the bikes and the real mechanics of biking across the entire country. Everyone had lots of questions and really bombarded the REI guy with pleas for help. That's why I was pleasantly surprised and impressed to see everyone get on the bikes and speed away for a short afternoon ride. There were big smiles all around and I really can't deny how childish (in a good way) I felt getting on the bike again after a couple days away. Anyway, the thought for the day: I am amazed at how many of our riders have never or very rarely ridden a bike before. It seems, for them, this whole trip absolutely must be much more about the build than the bike, and I am in admiration of that today.

Adieu, Adieu, to you and you and you

2007-06-06T06:25:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to thank everyone who came out to my going away party. I actually got to meet one of my trip leaders, Tommy, that night, too, who happened to be in town en route to Providence.

It was a bittersweet ending to a stressful but much-anticipated three weeks. My friend Pete came with the best gift (sorry, for me, it does top the countless bottles of beer and wine donated to party efforts, though those were still very much appreciated. Just ask Avery about his headache ;)). Anyway, Pete came with a bag and presented it to me as "the gift that gives later." He had pre-printed and stamped envelopes for each mail drop on my trip so my friends could send me letters this summer. He handed them out to everyone and I am so grateful for that. Words from friends will be much-anticipated inspiration.

I am now home in Maine and by tomorrow at this time I'll be headed back south with my dad, my bike, and my bag en route to Providence. Our whole group will be staying there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. On Saturday, we will spend the whole day working at a Habitat site. Sunday morning is the first day of biking, leaving between 8 and 8:30am from the Brown boathouse, where we'll dip out back tires in the Atlantic and leave it at our backs for the remainder of the summer.

As always, the rest of the photos are here.

"If you can't be good, be safe."

2007-05-30T18:12:00.000-05:00

Those are the wise words I received today from an old cigar-touting man in Lynn when I stopped to ask for directions to the elusive Myrtle St.

Points of the day:
-Cambridge to Gloucester and back
-82 miles roundtrip
-6 hrs and 12 mins on the bike, just over 8 with stops
-what do flashing green lights mean?
-for that matter, what does it mean when the red and yellow are lit simultaneously?
-relied heavily on the map on the way up; didn't use it once on the way back!

All in all, a great ride. Beautiful scenery and beautiful weather. Got a lunch and ate in a park I knew in town, overlooking the fishermen's docks and the harbor. After lunch, I took a little loop out to the eastern point and then headed back towards the city around 1pm. I definitely wasn't going for time, but was glad to finish 82 miles feeling tired but not wiped. If you ever drive up to Gloucester, I highly recommend taking the scenic route, specifically Route 127 (vs. I93/128). Great scenery and not much traffic on a Wednesday morning or afternoon.

Check out the pictures.

I'm Learning

2007-05-29T19:32:00.001-05:00

40 more miles today, out through Concord again. I'm starting to get a little sense of direction in that area, though I'm not fully confident I could ride these roads alone - and certainly not at the pace we're keeping.

Today, we were led by Nathan again, but Andrea also joined us (from the Southern US trip). While we were on the Minuteman, an older man latched on to the back of our pack, drafting. He stayed with us all the way out to Bedford where the path ends and the road ride begins. We hadn't realized it, but he had riden with us all the way from Cambridge and decided to keep up the rest of the way. I talked with him briefly as I slowed down and my legs just wouldn't keep up with Nathan's. He (the older man) has riden cross-country twice. Once, the southern route through Texas, Lousiana, Mississippi, etc, and up through to New Hampshire. Another time, he went west-to-east through Canada. The guy was in his 60s and keeping up (and at times pushing me). Impressive.

So over the last two rides, I've noticed little subtleties that accentuate the benefits of getting out on the bike a lot before this trip. I notice where my shorts bunch up, when my muscles start to tense and my right big toe goes numb, I learned to keep my cadence high (90-100 rotations per minute). Another thing I learned yesterday (and forgot today) was to keep my eyes open and my head up. That sounds obvious, but sometimes (like today) I get so focused on Nathan's back wheel that I forget to look up and see what I'm riding through -- yesterday, for example, brought us through amazing old New England farmland. Both yesterday and today I noticed something that I'm coining "the fish-eye effect." I don't know if anyone has called it that before, but when my legs hurt from pushing all I can do to keep the pace up is watch the rear end of the bike in front of me. I become so focused on the spinning spokes, the spinning cassette, or the seat stays that it literally feels like the bike in front is stationary and the ground and my surroundings are whizzing by me. The fish-eye effect is what the whole scene looks like in my tired mind/body, like those photos with a fish-eye lens. Something like this:

I hadn't intended on writing all that, but oh well. Got to go plan tomorrow's ride.

Turkeys and Rabbits and Roadkill, Oh My!

2007-05-28T20:13:00.000-05:00

Went out for a good ride yesterday morning with Nathan and saw all of the above. The weather was pretty perfect for biking - overcast, not too warm, although quite humid. The rain held off as we made our way around the Concord area, looping on a 10-mile time trial course, then back through Weston, Belmont, and Cambridge. All in all, the ride was 58 miles. After biking to and from a BBQ in the afternoon, I put 72 miles on the bike yesterday. Needless to say, last night I was feeling that good kind of exhaustion. In about an hour, Nathan and I and maybe others are going back out for another 30-40 miles. Putting these miles on the legs back-to-back is starting to give me a better perspective on what this summer will be like - challenging - but I love it. Maybe I'll bring the camera out today.

Side note: we will be able to receive mail on the road if you want/need to send anything along. Mail drops are posted here. I've also put a link to the mail drop list on the left side of my blog and list the places and dates here:

Bike & Build
ATTN: Terra Curtis
General Delivery
[City, State Zip]

* June 14 (day 8) — White Lake, NY 12786
* June 21 (day 15) — Franklin, PA 16323
* June 28 (day 22) — Troy, OH 45373
* July 5 (day 29) — Clinton, IA 52732
* July 12 (day 36) — Plainview, NE 68768
* July 19 (day 43) — Douglas, WY 82633
* July 25 (day 49) — Jackson, WY 83002
* August 1 (day 56) — Missoula, MT 59801
* August 9 (day 64) — Omak, WA 98841

A Touch of the Past

2007-05-24T20:12:00.000-05:00

I've spent the past three days packing up my room in Cambridge, renting a U-Haul, packing up the truck, driving it up to Maine, cleaning out my parents' garage (no small task), and then unloading everything into my own little corner of the garage attic. This morning, I returned the truck, rode my fixie home, and I finally feel like "things" are in place and the summer is in sight.

While I was cleaning out the garage, I came upon my old purple Columbia bike:

Think I could make it to Seattle with this beast? After holding on to this trophy ride (I did actually win this with my killer bowling skills) for (how many years?), I have finally decided to pass it on. I have been trying to find a benefactor. If anyone knows of an organization like Bikes Not Bombs based in Maine, please do tell. It's a real gem, despite two flat tires and a really goupy chain.

Lastly, last week before heading up to Maine, I stopped by REI for about the 3,395,987th time and picked up a load of REI water bottles and a handful of 15% off coupons for the group. I'll be bringing them along to Providence on June 7th.

"A girl in Boston" is me!

2007-05-19T17:08:00.001-05:00

Check it out.

A Building- and Biking-Filled Weekend

2007-05-07T10:07:00.000-05:00

Although it was a bit brisk, we had nice sunny weather here in Boston all weekend. I was finally able to take full advantage of it, despite a bout of 24-hour flu that sent me to bed by 7pm on Saturday night.

I spent all day Saturday in Lawrence, MA at the Habitat build site there. We worked on a set of houses that were originally built in the 1880's on Market St. Lawrence used to be a thriving mill town, but has since become a pretty economically-depressed area of Massachusetts. We got a little taste of history itself, though, when a man walking by stopped in to ask if he could look around. Turns out his great-grandparents used to own the property we were working on. He was impressed and happy with the developments. I wasn't really aware that Habitat worked both on new construction and renovation projects, but as property values increase and availability of property decreases, it makes sense in some places to work with what you've already got. Both houses has been fully gutted down to the bare frame. I worked on installing fire-proof foam insulation all day using a pretty cool insulation gun. Everyone envied my job ;)

Saturday night I felt pretty ill for the first time in a very long time, so I laid low and went to bed early in hopes that I'd be able to go on the planned training ride on Sunday morning. After 12 hours of sleep and finally acquiring an appetite for breakfast, I felt up for the 40-60 mile ride a few of the Boston-area Bike and Builders had planned. We met at 10am at MIT and rode out to Weston, Walden Pond, Concord, and back through Cambridge and Memorial Drive (past the Walk for Hunger). The loop ended up around 45 miles and (thankfully) at the end I felt like I could have easily done more.

On the rumination side of things (spending 4 and a 1/2 hours on the bike give you time to think): two thoughts.
One. The human body is a pretty amazing thing. A healthy human body is incredibly amazing. How my body was able to, in a 24 hour period, go from feeling that each step taken was a labor and a decision, to being able to cycle 45 (could have been more!) miles blows my mind.
Two. Waking up early twice this weekend to go straight out to my bike and ride the roads before the masses made me so excited for this summer. I am starting to get glimpses of what it will really be like. Can't wait to make imagination a reality.

Important Dates

2007-05-04T14:26:00.000-05:00

Since I've been asked a lot lately -

May 16th: last day of work at CFP
June 7th: Bike and Builders meet in Providence
June 10th: first biking day out of Providence
August 15th: arrival in Seattle

Also of note, June 2nd is the tentative date for a I'm-leaving-(not)-on-a-jetplane-don't-know-when-I'll-be-back-again party get-together thingy in Cambridge. More on that later.

"Former hoop standout in benefit bike ride"

2007-04-12T11:50:00.000-05:00

That's according to my hometown newspaper, the Bangor Daily News. Andrew Neff, a sports writer there, used to interview me after high school basketball games. He also knows my mom through some connection at work (he brings his mother's cat into the veterinary clinic where she works, or something like that). Anyway, he called and asked me some questions about Bike and Build back in January. Because the high school basketball tournament is such a big deal (for good reason!) up in Maine, my article got pushed back a few months. No complaints from me. Check out the article here.

Point number two of this very important post: results from the Uno's Fundraiser.
Total Sales: $722.16
Total Uno's Donation to Bike and Build: $108.32
Thanks again to everyone who came out to stuff themselves silly with pizza (and wash it down with some tasty cold beverages).

$4,000

2007-04-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

Gracias! Merci! Grazie! Danke! Meitaki ma'ata! Takk! Multumesc!

That's "thank you" in a bunch of different languages. I've said it so much lately I thought I'd try to be creative and say it in a different way. I just can't say it enough...we hit the $4,000 mark this week and donations are still strong (see the Fundraising Progress page). The response has been incredible.

There are still two potential fundraiser events in the works:

(1) A late-April/early-May 3-on-3 basketball tournament held at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, MA. I am in the midst of planning this with Rhiannon Lee of the Women With Game league here in Cambridge.

(2) An art-gallery event potentially held at the Art Interactive Gallery in Central Square in collaboration with Rob Logan of the famous Redbones Art Card Event in Davis Square, Somerville, MA.

Keep checking back for more details on those two events!

Uno's Dos

2007-04-01T16:54:00.000-05:00

A second thank you going out to all who attended my second fundraiser at Uno's on Friday. We had a great turnout, largely due to the incredible support of the Couch Surfing community. Other friends, friends of friends, people off the street (not kidding), and family also made it out -- thank you all! I'll keep you posted when I find out how much was raised in total.

More photos available here.

Fundraiser Numero UNO

2007-03-24T07:43:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to thank all those who came out to the first fundraiser event at Uno's in Kenmore Square (the second one will be next Friday, March 30). We had a good turnout and great conversation. We even did some building! - see photo below ;)

PS - Comments on the new look?

Fundraiser at Kenmore Sq. Uno's Pizzeria

2007-03-17T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hello all - I will be hosting two fundraisers coming up next week and the week after at Pizzeria Uno's in Kenmore Sq. in Boston.

The first one will be held on Friday, March 23rd. The second will be Friday, March 30th. The events last all day, and you can attend the first, the second, or both. All you have to do is bring in a Voucher saying you're there to support me for Bike and Build 2007 and then at the end of the day, Uno's donates 10-20% of your sale to my trip. You can go there for snacks, dinner, drinks, dessert, or all four -- everything counts.

I have the vouchers in PDF format, and will need to email them to you to print out. If you're interested in attending, please send me an email at terra.curtis@gmail.com.

Thanks again for your support!

in memoriam

2007-03-12T16:02:00.001-05:00

Christopher Howland Webber
Christopher Howland Webber, 25, program director for Bike & Build, a national non-profit organization,
died early Saturday morning, March 3, 2007, of injuries sustained in a pedestrian accident in New York City
where he lived.
Webber, 25, combined his love of sport, his interest in people, and his passion for community service by
organizing bicycle tours for college students across the United States to raise funds for affordable housing
projects and to introduce the riders to the housing needs in American communities. Over the past four
seasons Bike & Build has contributed over $750,000 to housing projects around the country. Webber had
held the position since late 2005.
“Chris’s dedication to Bike & Build and his unwavering desire to strengthen the organization constantly
impressed me,” said Bike & Build executive director, Amelia Hanley. “The passion he had for the
organization came largely from his interactions with riders and alumni. He constantly told me that his
favorite part of the job was being on the road, meeting riders and getting to know them.” Before joining the
organization staff, Webber had himself ridden on two east coast to west coast fund-raising trips.
Webber was an adventurer who had traveled widely. In 1999, at the age of 17, he rode a 1200 km bike trip
from Cairns to Cape York, Australia. He was the only American on the tour, and the youngest. During a
college semester abroad at University College, London, he traveled extensively on the European continent.
He spent time in western Canada. He later traveled across Australia a second time by train from Sydney to
Perth.
Webber grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, where he attended the Pike School. When his family spent a
year in Buffalo, NY, he attended eighth grade at the Nichols School in Buffalo. He graduated from
Middlesex School in Concord, MA, in June of 2000. He deferred his college admission to Vassar College to
work for a year in a condominium resort in Snowmass, CO, and to become an expert skier. He graduated
from Vassar in May 2005, with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and psychology. After graduation, he
worked briefly for the Navy Department in Washington, D.C., before moving to New York and joining Bike
& Build.
He is survived by his parents, Joan G. Howland and William J. Webber, of Andover, MA; by a brother,
Nicholas G. Webber, also of Andover; his paternal grandmother, Theresa M. Webber of Quincy, MA; and
aunts, uncles, and cousins. He was pre-deceased by his paternal grandfather, James A. Webber, Sr., of
Dorchester, MA, and his maternal grandparents, Mary G. and Dr. Murray S. Howland of Buffalo, NY.
A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held at 1:00 P.M., on Saturday, March 31, 2007, at the Vassar
College Chapel, Poughkeepsie, NY, with a reception following. The family will also receive friends on
Friday evening, March 9, 2007, between 5 and 8 P.M., at the Dewhirst & Conte Funeral Home, 28 Florence
Street, Andover, MA.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions in Christopher’s memory be made to Bike &
Build/Chris Webber Fund, 190 N. 10th Street, Suite, 308, Brooklyn, NY 11211.

sponsorship

2007-02-23T13:09:00.000-05:00

i am happy to announce that a new magazine called worldsurf will be sponsoring me on my ride from providence to seattle. this magazine is the creation of pete mellor, designed to highlight everyday people in their efforts to do something extraordinary. the first issue is going to be loaded with incredible stories, and is set to be published in late 2007. i'm really excited about this magazine as its central goal is to make people aware of the opportunities that exist to make meaningful changes in our own lives, in our neighbors lives, and in the lives of those the world over. i am excited and honored to have my story published in such a forum. make sure to check it out this fall.

aside from worldsurf, i happened to find myself chatting it up with an older man at EMS last night. he was the second man i had met within an hour who had done the seattle-san francisco ride down highway 1 (which i plan to do post-B&B). anyway, he gave me the name of the main bike guy at EMS and with a wink said, "he might be interested in a corporate relationship." thanks for the tip, buddy. i'm going to give this guy a call this weekend and see about sponsorship. i'm thinking i'll hit up REI with the same request.

south shore habitat for humanity

2007-02-22T11:55:00.000-05:00

last saturday my brother avery and i took the train down to whitman, massachusetts to volunteer for the day at their habitat for humanity construction site. despite the cold, we had a really fun day building walls, sawing wood, and installing insulation (picture me on 30-foot high swaying scaffolding). swinging the hammer made me really excited for building :)

here are some photos (credit for these shots goes to Sue Moss):

South Shore Habitat for Humanity (Whitman)

enterprise or bruiser?

2007-02-16T09:43:00.000-05:00

those are the two names i'm deciding on for the new trek1000. i came home from work on monday night to find the box propped outside my apartment door. in a moment of fury i let myself in, dragging the box behind me, and started ripping into it without even taking my gloves, backpack, helmet, or jacket off...and yet i still managed to get photos! actually, the moment of fury was a bit posed, i suppose. i actually did start ripping into the thing before even coming in and setting my stuff down, but in that moment i realized how ridiculous it was and thought 'i should get some pictures of this.' so here they are:

by wednesday night i had enough time to spend with the new beast to start assembling it and giving it some love. after all, it was valentine's day. here are some shots of the whole process (isn't it puuuurdy?)

Enterprise

then it got personal

2007-02-08T14:22:00.000-05:00

so i have to admit, before now, i've had no real ties to affordable housing. i've never volunteered with habitat before (though i will be on february 17th). i don't have that one story in my back pocket about why this cause is near and dear to my heart. and truthfully, i've felt a little guilty for going all-in (and asking others to do the same) for a cause i know so little about. however, over the past couple of weeks, donations have started to come in. along with these donations have come phone calls, messages, and notes of all kinds. and i'm starting to get a glimpse of how important and how meaningful this really is.

i wanted to share a few of the stories and warm words i've received so far:

"I logged onto the Bike and Build site and learned that they donated to Slidell, LA after Katrina. We have old army friends that we have kept in touch with since 1971 who were forced out of their home there. We just heard that they are back home after quite a long road. I am sure the trip will bring you many stories and moving experiences. Good for you in wanting to do this and give back at such a young age."

"Every act of kindness matters and you will be touching the hearts and lives of many."

"We don't have lots of money but every year we have committed to donating to a few select organizations- usually my college, ProjectBread, Sierra Club and this year we're added YOU to the list!! Best of luck with all your preparations- you are about to embark on a life-changing adventure."

thank you thank you thank you all again, for sharing your stories and inspirational words. it's quite an experience to simultaneously feel the chills of such stories and the warmth of such kind words.

hit the mark

2007-02-05T12:57:00.000-05:00

thank you to all who have donated so far! as of 1pm est today, a total of $1,000 has been raised -- this means bike&build should be in touch with me shortly to take my measurements and start assembling my custom-made bike (:

it'll be the third bike in my apartment -- the old beater peugeot (who i've neglected to name), naranja (the new slick fixie), and this new trek (name suggestions?) -- my roommates should start charging me extra rent.

such hardy souls

2007-01-31T16:00:00.000-05:00

that's what my grandmother says. she also says:

"I wish you Godspeed and good Luck, and pray you will have a safe and a happy trip. You will be in my thoughts always and I will be riding beside you--(on YOUR handlebars)."

it's starting!

2007-01-25T12:04:00.000-05:00

the first donation came in last night! i seriously got chills.

it's slowly becoming real...

update

2007-01-19T11:07:00.001-05:00

the fundraising webpage is now running and current!

bit by bit.

2007-01-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

i've sent out about 15 or 20 letters now. 15 more to go out today.

moss has been great in setting up a webpage to track my fundraising efforts. check it out when you get a chance...it's not fully running yet, but should be soon.

"the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." --gandhi

2007-01-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

__ o
_`\<,_ (_) (_) here we are at january 10, 2007. less than 5 months until trip start. i sent two fundraising letters this week, and i have a stack of 80 or so more waiting to be signed and posted. i've been harassing josh smith at my local gym to try and organize a 3-on-3 tournament fundraiser as well. our new league starts next week so hopefully i'll see him in person then. i've been thinking a lot about next summer, and about what happens after next summer. i'm trying my hardest not to plan that far ahead, because i think it would not only be exciting but also worthwhile to cut myself loose and force myself to live each day one day at a time. me, my bike, hopefully just a little gear, and an open road.

thought for the day: this journey really started 24 years ago.