Stupid is as Stupid Does

Alright I admit it, I meant to leave on my ride up to Lowell about an hour earlier but I got involved in playing some board games and I ended up leaving at 6:30pm from Davis Sq. In this video is a simple tip if you happen to not have a front light for your bike, but get caught by the darkness that comes at night. Because I was trying to beat the setting of the sun my average speed is now 15.4 miles/hr which is sweet because riding up to northern MA is quite a hilly right. Enjoy me biking at night without a light.

I have added the miles that I have done between the last time I posted on this page, but I don't know how much time it took me so I am leaving that blank.

BIKE TRACKS: The creepy sounds of the Lowell cemetery.

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 22.5 miles
TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 2.5 hr

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: ~
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 1020.84Miles

The Holy Arches

No, I am not talking about McDonald's, sorry. What I am talking about is a holy ground for Hawaiians that I was told has a great swimming area. I tried getting to it earlier in my stay with Lara but we had poor directions. When I went with my parents the other day it sure was beautiful (video below).

I have been able to do several rides in Hawaii and have not been able to put up all of them on my blog. soon they will be up.

May 30th is coming up soon, which is my first century ride. For those of you who don't know I am doing a fundraiser for the Best Buddies foundation. This 100 mile ride is to raise money for a great organization that supports accomplishments and independent abilities of intellectually challenged kids and adults. I have raised $850 as of May 24th with your help and have $600 more to raise before June 5th. All that I need from you is to click on the link below and read about Best Buddies International and then click DONATE. This is a charitable donation that you can use on your tax return and every dollar you send gets me closer to my goal.

TO DONATE FOR THE BEST BUDDIES 100 MILE RIDE:
http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=277768&u=277768-249715971&e=2328462426

BIKE TRACKS: Cake (Short skirt and a long Jacket)

AUDI BEST BUDDIES CHALLENGE
$850 of $1450
TO DONATE CLICK HERE

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 10.5 miles
TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 47 min

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 68 hrs 04 min
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 520.34Miles

A Hawaiian Voyage

Day 43 – 5/6/09

It has been a long time since my last post, lots of things have happened. Aside from raising money for the AUDI Best Buddies Challenge (which is coming may 30th (Donate Now)) I moved out of my apartment and have packed for a my trip to visit my parents in Hawaii! Its been crazy. I have left my bike with Jesse to ride and keep company and I have flown out to Hawaii to live with my parents for a month. Lara has come along for the ride (for two weeks). I fixed up a community bike at Pangaia (my parents organic farming community in Hawaii) and set off on my first ride on The Big Island (Hawaii). It was amazing. The jungle and the ocean surrounded me with great visual inspiration. I have some video posted of the ride (it is very bumpy because I have yet to get a mount. But there are some very nice shots of the jungle.) My half way point on my ride was the coast and it was amazing to sit there and breath in the air from the sea. I hope you enjoy the video and expect much more.

The Best Buddies Challenge is rapidly approaching (may 30th) and we can still raise some more money for this amazing cause. So please click on the link and donate any amount it will both help many intellectually disabled people and it will help me progress to my first century ride.

BIKE TRACK: The Jungle and the Ocean

BEST BUDDIES CHALLENGE:
$720.00 of $1450
DONATE HERE

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 9.9 miles
TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 52 min

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 67 hrs 57 min
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 509.84Miles

Riding With Friends

Day 30 – 3/23/09

My play, “Dark Play or Stories for Boys” Ended on a very good note. Through the entire 5-week run the thing that amazed me the most was the different types of people that would come to the shows every week. We had college students, high school students, longtime theatergoers, and first time theatergoers. It was really nice being able to talk to all of them and see all there different responses to the same play. Riding on my bike to the last show I road along the Cambridge side of the Charles River. It was a nice ride. I was able to watch the city of Boston go by as I passed through Charlestown and into Chelsea. It was overall a great ride except for the huge potholes on the back roads once I was in Chelsea. They swallowed my bike, but I survived to tell the story.
After the show I road to the cast party in Watertown. I wont say much but lets just say I am glad I have gotten good at climbing hills.

On Monday I was able to go on a ride with my friend Thomas Patrick Dunn (yes he’s Irish). It was great. I fallowed his lead south of Jamaica Plain. I learned a lot about the area. Such things as…There are so many flipping hills! Something that I did notice was that I was doing pretty well on hills but when it came to flats Tom would kick my ass. I was very interested in why he was going so much faster than me on flats? I had the road bike, I have been training my ass off, Whats Up? I was looking at his gears and he continually stays on the highest set of gears. So I thought maybe because he bikes so much on that high gear it builds up his muscles in such a way that he can go fast on flat ground. I asked him about it and he said that he is always trying to get from one place to another really fast. And most of the places he tries to go are not that far away and not really up a hill. So I think that that is what it was. His muscles have adapted to short sprints where I am training my body to go long distances at a constant speed. (Oh the cool things that our bodies do.)

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 36.62 miles
TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 4hr 15min

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 38 hrs 55 min
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 287.64 Miles

Push Yourself

Day 27 – 3/18/09




Sometime you just have to push your self. On my way back from Lowell I biked down to Bedford then took the minuteman trail all the way into Alewife T-stop. On the minuteman path a biker on a road bike passed me and I tried my best to keep up with him. Each time I found that I was falling behind I was able to keep pushing myself. It was nice to have a person that kept me focused on pushing harder (even if they didn’t know that they were helping me). I was able to keep up with the guy all the way to Lexington then he either pushed way ahead or turned off the path. I was proud.

My experience with my new bike has been fantastic. I have been able to go faster and push harder without getting tired of being on the bike. The ride is so smooth that I just never want to stop (which is good considering I am going to be going across the country).

As far as things I saw on my trip today, I got some help from some very nice women at the “Mobil On the Run” and I road by a pasture with some beautiful horses and I had some time so I stopped and petted the horses and fed them some grass. It was really nice to be interacting with animals. I don’t get allot of that in the city so to be able to pull off the side of the rode, grab some grass and have a horse eat from my hand, it really makes me feel as though humans are not the only things on this earth and we all are connected in some way. Once I hit Bedford I took a small road through some forest areas then periodically there were some high tech buildings tucked away in the back roads. I felt as though I had entered into the valley of Bio Chemical companies. I am not sure if the one I got a photo of is biochemical but this was the one that really intrigued me.

UPDATE:
I am going to be going to Hawaii (the big island) in May and will be doing many bike trips around there. I will be constantly updating the blog with photos of the beautiful island. I am currently hoping that I will be able to get a nicer camera so that I can get you all some better quality work.

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 27.2 miles
TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 4 hr

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 33 hrs 50 min
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 247.62 Miles

Pi(e) & Ride

Day 25 – 3.14.09

Today was the best day on my travels so far. Not only was the weather fantastic but I have my new bike and was able to get free really good pie. Can life get any better, I submit that it can NOT! (thank you Brian Regan)

After riding my new bike from the shop to my apartment I met up with my friends Dom and we headed down town to meet up with the Mass Bike association. It was great to meet around 18 other bikers. There were people there from all different skills of biking. Some were triathlon competitors, some were commuters, some were one the bike for the first time in a long time, and then there was me, the cross-country nut. I am really excited to get to know these people. Shane was the organizer of the trip and he introduced himself to everybody and we set off on a nice relaxing trip to Summerville. It was nice and we got free pie. (I did not realize this but today is officially pi(e) day March 14th or 3.14…, So it all makes sense now). Here are some pictures that I took and there are some in the photo album on the side bar from trips past (coming soon).

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 18.49 miles
TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 2 hr 30 min

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 28 hrs 50 min
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 208.77 Miles

Sponsors - Pangaia and Eureka

Day 23 – 3/11/09

To day I was planning on going to Harris Cyclery but they did not have the bike built yet so I went to my friend Jesse’s work in Porter Square. The ride took me down N Harvard st and right through Harvard Square, which is not fun. When I got to Porter I locked my bike up and hung out with Jesse we went to a great Thai restaurant called Sugar and Spice (1933 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02140) if you haven’t been there…GO! The yellow curry it great.

Update on the trip: I have received some sponsors I have been sponsored by an organic farm in Hawaii called Pangaia (www.pangaia.cc/index.html) to be able to buy my bike. My parents are apart of the community at Pangaia. I have also been sponsored by Eureka Puzzle and Games (1349 Beacon St. Brookline, MA 02446) for my bike jerseys. This is helping me take one step closer to my bike trip. Tomorrow I am going to go ride some bikes and see what bike I want. The two that I am going to look at is the Jamis Aurora, and Surly Long Haul Trucker. The battle will be fierce and there will be only one winner.

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 9.09 miles
TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 90 min

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 24 hrs 50 min
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 178.28 Miles