The Mantra

Nobody Knows it But Me

There's a place that I travel,
When I want to roam
And nobody knows it but me.

The roads don't go there,
And the signs stay home
And nobody knows it but me.

It's far, far away and way, way afar,
It's over the moon and the sea,
And wherever you are going,
That's wherever you are
And nobody knows it but me.

-Patrick O'Leary

Charlotte Adventures

Officially my "adventure" has started, but I haven't gone any where. Today I decided to go down to Charlotte and just check out that city from a new perspective. Fortunately, my options were huge, because I have only either seen Charlotte through sporting events or concerts. As has been the case with much of my time lately, I spent half of the day going from bike shop to bike shop. I parked on Morehead Ave and rode like 5 miles all the way down to South Park Cycles, and then took the new metro/ light rail back up. I bought a one way ticket for the ride and for whatever reason the trail doesn't stop at the Morehead stop (even though it is on the metro map) so I went one stop too far. That stop would have required me to cross the interstate so I thought it would be a harmless move to just go back down one stop. Well it slipped my mind that when I got off the train, my one way pass ended. I got back on the train going south and sure enough there were officers aboard checking tickets. I handed him mine not even paying attention, then right as I did so, I realize that I was probably going to get thrown off the train. The cop and I both had a delayed reaction and he looked at the ticket a second time and said, "buddy you've already gone your one way," I thought about running but the door was closed, I thought about speaking another language, but I don't know one. So, I apologized and said that the train didnt stop at Morehead and he just stared. I pointed to the map and said that I was nervous about crossing the interstate. He said "you're right son, this is the safer way, be careful out there." Then I looked down and the whole train was staring at me in disgust, they thought I was some little punk biker trying to rip off the city. Haha...I got you city! 300 yards on the light rail for free!!! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
After my citification, I went to Francis Beatty Park and tried a little single speeding. The trail sucked and my bike (single speed) kinda sucks too. Oh well it was mildy fun.
Oh crap, I almost forgot, this morning I went to S&D Coffee, which is where Ryan Arnold works. S&D is the second largest coffee roaster/distributor in the US. It was a pretty to cool experience to see how it goes from green bean to ground coffee.
After all of that I went to UNCC to hang out "jam" with the charlotte parkour crew. Parkour is that Spider-man like sport which looks sweet, but my experience was pretty lame. I guess it was a slow night for them, but it was not all I had made it out to be. Just climb some walls and you will be a parkour champion.
Those were my Charlotte adventures. Hopefully as I get further from the city, they will get more eventful.

2 miles or less

So today I thought I would try my hand in riding my bike for errands under 2 miles. Let me first be clear in that I don't have any interest in being a "trendy commuter" or a mail courier or anything like that. I was just riding partly because I like to, partly because my car is out of gas, but mostly because it makes sense. I first rode down to the coffee shop and had a cup of coffee and read a bit, then I went down to the bike shop to return the bike light that I borrowed for the race, then I headed down to Cornelius to the fly shop to learn about some good fishing place, then I went to Jersey Mikes for lunch and then came home. It was the hottest day that we have had in a while and I stayed pretty cool, so my previous thoughts that I would be sweaty when I got places was a myth. Hint: the more you ride, the better shape you achieve, the less you sweat. It makes sense huh? While riding I noticed something surprising. It actually took me about the same time to get from Cornelius back to Davidson. I would pass a car, then they would pass me. Then they would stop at a light or because of traffic and I would scoot along. I am not even the least bit tired tonight and I probably rode ten miles total today on the single speed. Riding a bike around is actually very practical and if you like biking, it is pretty damn fun.

Trek's 1 World 2 Wheels program

If it 2 miles or less... Ride A Bike!

For your Health
+ The average person loses 13 lbs. their first year of commuting by bike.
+ Just three hours of bicylcing per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%
+ A 140-pound cyclist burns 508 calories while pedaling 14 miles in an hour.

For the World
+ The U.S. could save 463 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips
+Each U.S. rush=hour auto commuter spends and average of 50 hours a year stuck in traffic
+In 2003, cars stalled in traffic wasted 5 billion gallons of fuel

For our Future
+In 1964, 50% of kids rode to school and the obesity rate was 12%... in 2004, 3% rode to school and the obesity rate was 45%
+ Between 1960 and today the average weight of a 6-11 year old has increased 11 pounds

60% of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively.

Go By Bike

~From a Trek Brochure

http://1world2wheels.org/
http://www.bicyclebenefits.org/

25% of all trips are made within a mile of the home. 40% of all trips are within 2 miles of the home, and 50% of the working population commutes 5 miles or less to work.

Burn 24 Hour Race

12 hours of individual riding, 104 miles, 18 Power bars, 18 bottles of water, 12 servings of GU....0 BURN Energy Drinks. This weekend, Galen King and I completed the Burn Energy Drink 24 hour mountain bike race. It goes down as the hardest thing I have ever done athletically. I think back to 2 AM on Sunday morning when I was half-awake, shivering, wondering if I could force myself to the Start/Finish Line to take the baton from Galen for laps 7&8. I finally got moving, warmed up and eventually completed 14 7.5 mile loops.
The atmosphere was great, the people were all very helpful and everyone there shared a common bond. On the trail people were courteous and occasionally they were willing to talk to a blabbermouth like me. I had some great conversations with people on the trail, and it really helped take away the pains of climbing up Dark Mountain again and again and again. The race experience really solidified not only my love for the sport of mtn biking, but also for the culture that surrounds it. From the style to the sportsmanship, from the common interests and willingness to compete against yourself and others, I loved it all. During the race, each person was pushing themselves to compete against what their bodies thought they could do, as well as against the next person.
Galen and I came in 5th place out of the 2-person teams and 46th out of 115 overall, but we came there to "just finish" and just finishing was the best prize at the end of the day. I will always be able to look back to that time when I was alone, at night, climbing up the same damn hill for the 8th time that day. I didn't think that I could make it, so that was when I just had to stop thinking. I still hate going up hills on bikes and I don't like being alone in the dark, but I have stretched the boundaries of how much I know about myself. I am ready to continue that trend. Challenging myself hopefully won't have to come in the form of athletic torture, but I should always try to live in a way that does so. Whether it is with diet, speech, writing, reading, traveling. The more one is challenged, the more they find out about themselves.

Things, Things, Things...all these things.

Four years in the making and I have finally graduated from Davidson College. If you would have told me 5 or 6 years ago me future, I would have called it ludicrous. Expected or not, the day has come and I am a college graduate from Davidson. It is not that exciting right now just to be a college graduate, I have always expected that of myself and most of the people around me did the same. I guess I should just pause for a second and realize that it is and accomplishment. However, talking about college is not the purpose of this blog. But the end of college is motivation for the first post.

Things, things, things, and more things. Things is what I have, but do I really need them? Four years of living away from home has given me loads of things. These things are of nor real value, but they have meaning. They have meaning, but I don't think that I would miss them if they vanished. I filled up a whole truck and trailer today with things, but I still have more than enough to get by. I am not saying that I want to or could be a "minimalist," but I have way to much stuff. This summer will be good to just get out and try to let go. I want to learn how to let my mind go and find meaning in things other than materials. I am excited to read good books, ride good trails, and meet new people. It is 6 days until the Burn 24 hour Mountain Bike race, I think it will be a good start to my summer.