Attempt #2 at The 30 Days of Biking

       The, 30 Days of Biking, ended this past Saturday and I'll be upfront with you, I didn't ride my bike. I walked by it about a dozen or so times on the way to doing something more pressing, but never had the chance and by the end of the day, I didn't have the energy or desire to put together any sort of a ride, but maybe that's why I like this challenge. The challenge is to ride your bike thirty times in a month. There is no mileage goal or pace demand. It's just get on your bike and ride. I need that kind of simplicity. Yes, it'd be ideal if you really could actually do that or it would be a real biketopia, if you lived in a place full of bike shops and a huge bicycling community that was hosting events where you got together and really got in some great and fun rides. And maybe add to that the idea of living in a place where you could realistically ride your bike to work or use it for some meaningful errands on a daily basis. But that is not what I imagine most people live around nor is it the usual experience of most folks; despite what'd you see on social media or read about in bicycling publications. Yes, there are the Boulder, Colorado's and the Austin, Texas', but for everyone one of those types of places there are hundreds of Tifton, Georgia's and Orlando, Florida's. I would imagine most people are like me and work 10-15 hour days, far from home and get home exhausted and either get a super small window to ride around the block or the occasional longer ride and then that is that. And if you are busy like me, then when it comes to hobbies or "extras", I guess beggars can't exactly be choosy. I am not complaining, but rather stating the facts.

The gear. 

        Last year, I participated in the Fifth Annual Version of the, 30 Days of Biking, and you can read about it here. And so, when I saw something about the Sixth Annual Version pop up on my Facebook feed, I knew that I wanted to do it. It's one of the easiest things that one can be apart of. It's free. The lone requirement is that you get on your bike and ride it. There isn't even a required distance. It could be around your house or even just around in your garage, if you have one, or up and down your driveway. You don't have to ride a 100 miles on your carbon bike in full time trial regalia. You just have get on your bicycle and ride and it's really that simple. And if you can't ride everyday, then at least try to ride nearly thirty times during the month. I know as my April starting filling up quickly from morning till night, I just made it a goal to try to ride the majority of the days. And to top the whole challenge off, it's for a very good cause.

A place void of kickstands. 

      30 Days of Biking, is a nonprofit group that has two main goals: get people off their behinds and onto a bike and help raise money for the World Bicycle Relief Fund. It didn't officially become a nonprofit charity till this year when several big name sponsors jumped on board after the annual events past four years of exponential participation and success and they formed a board of trustees to lead the charity.You should look up all the information about the, 30 Days of Biking. It's all pretty neat. In my lowly opinion, we need a lot more stuff like this and less of most everything else.

A view from the top. 

     And if you don't know much about World Bicycle Relief Fund, you should go check them out too. They're a really great charity that was begun by the co-founder of SRAM, the maker of all things gears and drive trains for bicycles, and with a lot of help from the founders of Trek and Specialized after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. They provide bikes to folks in Africa, South America, Asia, and in the Caribbean that live lives where their only mode of transportation is walking and where being in that position limits someone in every possible way. You should look them up too. I will probably throw together a post about them, but for now, clicking the above link will have to do. And without saying too much, I have a really big idea that I am cooking up that involves this charity. Be excited. I am. 

     

    

          As I alluded to earlier, I had originally planned to carve out the smallest of pieces of each day and try to fit some sort of ride into that smallest of spaces. I really I figured I could do it. I was mentally setting the goal of trying to ride at least a mile a day if I could find the time. And then all of my April things came together, conspired against me, and exploded. It almost looked like Jackson Pollock designed my daily calendar. School bled into track, and track bled into work at home, and work at home bled into extra-curricular obligations at school, and those bled into church obligations. And all of those things made it pretty hard to summon the mustard to ride a little each day. Maybe, I should get an electric bike or get Mel or FH to pedal me around.  

The very best type of riding. 

    Even though, I didn't get to ride each day, I still found the time to get on the bike somewhere around 18-25 times. I recorded about 18 rides through Strava, but I then took a few very short rides here and there and left my GPS watch and phone at home. I was also able to ride around 90 or so miles. I'm very glad I attempted the thirty day challenge and will most likely do it next year. I can always use some excuse to get outside and get on my bike and go for a ride; even the shortest of rides. Next year, why don't you join me and we'll have a little friendly competition.

Happy riding,

    DAVID

We Salute Your Shorts....My Life is a Whirlwind

     I have had a very stressful last couple of weeks. At times, it has been almost more than I can handle at different moments and I have had to cope in little ways like going for short walks through a little breezeway near my classroom and reminding myself why I teach and coach or I have gotten home from work and left my phone and practically everything else in my car or inside and FH and I have just walked down our road and through the woods and stayed out till past dark because the weather is just perfect right now and I will never get to live each day that goes by with Mel or FH again.

     I know we all live these maxed out lives and I really do wish I knew how to do it better or what I really wish is that I knew a way to opted out in a reasonable way. I am not pretending like I lead the busiest or hardest of lives, but it does blow my mind that in the last month or so, I have been to NYC, coached almost a full season of track, taught for over 20 days, graded over 500 papers, proctored the ACT, read, studied, and took a test to be certified to give the SAT, read two, 200+ page books, ran 100 miles, driven over two thousand miles, broke a tooth, got it repaired, worked on our house, ridden my bike around 200 miles, changed the brakes in my car, and a hundred other little, everyday things. I could keep listing things, but that is enough. You get it because you have your crazy list too. It is just mind-blowing. Or at least it is to me.

    I am also not saying I want the opposite. I see the opposite too often. It seems like a miserable existence whether it is self-imposed or forced. I know of several folks who are so lonely or bored and sit at home where they look forward to one event for months at a time because that is their one chance to get out of the house for the whole Spring, but I would like things to go and be a little slower.


What I feel I am seeing when I look at my calendar and then at our family calendar and then go to do something and realize that I can't do whatever it is because that something is broken or something of the like, but also know that I can't just not do what I needed to do.

  

     I am writing all of this because I love writing. And I really love and look forward to writing and preparing the posts that I do end up publishing for this blog. However, I just don't have the time to do the long posts that I used to put out, but I also am completely unwilling to quit this place and let it die. So, I have racked my brain trying to think of some sort of solution where I can live my fast-paced life and have a blog that I update more than two times every five or six months. And I think I have come up with some sort of solution.

      It'd be easy to just quit blogging and it would mostly make sense for me to do so. I really don't have time to do it and I don't really want to hear that saying about people having the time for the things they care about or are important to them. That may sound good on paper, but in life it looks more like when you have to choose between getting five hours of sleep or finishing a blog, or making a little money for your family on a Saturday or sitting behind a computer screen and finishing a blog post, or grading some papers or writing a blog post. Those are not great choices, but they are little choices I have to make on a daily or weekly basis. I am in no way complaining or expecting any sympathy because it really isn't that big of a deal. I love my job and am so grateful to God for allowing me to live a life where He supplies for me and my family in such great and miraculous ways and that allows me to work in a vocation that I feel called to do. And I love my family immensely and cannot and do not want to imagine a life without them. But I also want to have a little time each week to write.

    So, in an effort to do all I want to do, I have come up with a little solution. I came up with the idea about a week while looking for a new book to read on our bookshelves. One of the books we own is titled, "By-Line Ernest Hemingway: Selected Articles and Dispatches of Four Decades". I haven't had the chance to read it completely, but I have liked the little I have had a chance read. It is a book full of newspaper blurbs and little short articles that Hemingway wrote as a newspaper and magazine correspondent that he was throughout the majority of his career. And it got me to thinking about why couldn't I just write these short little posts where I can knock it all out in a couple of sittings or maybe just write all I can for twenty or so minutes and double check it and then let it go.

     I have made mention of doing something like this in the past, but instead of doing so, I either didn't post at all or worked up these super long posts and took two weeks past forever to do them, and to be honest, most of them are still sitting my, Drafts, section of this blog spot. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to post here more often and doing these short, little blurbs about what is actually and currently happening in my life right now are the only way I see this place not becoming just another blog that never gets updated and then becoming a place where no one goes. I don't want that.


     So, here's to the future. May it be full of short, yet informative, yet witty, yet appealing posts that you enjoy reading and I enjoy writing until the day I have time to write long and good posts.


Thanks for reading. Thanks for following.


DAVID