Gettin' Real

Yesterday we bought one way plane tickets to Vancouver- woo hoo! Our adventure, long an amorphous vision, is really happening. In exactly two weeks, I'll take (and please lord pass) the bar exam, and 5 days later, on August 4, we'll head to Vancouver. We haven't bought a return ticket because we have no idea how long we'll be gone. We're guessing about a month and a half, but who knows what'll come up.

One of the cool things about this tour is that because I don't start work until the end of November, we are totally unrestrained by time. We'll be free to linger on the beach, take unplanned side trips, explore towns big and small, and really take time to be completely present in the experience, unencumbered by the real life worries and responsibilities we will face at home.

Although Arik is a pretty que sera, sera go with the flow kinda guy, this will be brand new territory for me. I plan trips meticulously, down to the restaurants we'll eat at, I don't go anywhere without my google maps printout in hand, and my clothes are color coordinated. I like to be in control of my life and this tour will take me emphatically out of my comfort zone. That's a big reason why I'm looking forward to it.

After considering getting an iphone to have access to a GPS, Arik and I decided to go without it, and will instead rely on good old fashioned maps, human know how and interaction to meander our way down the coast. We have no idea where we'll be staying, what we'll be eating, or when we'll finally roll into Imperial Beach. What we do know is that we'll be biking the coast for a pressing cause, and that whatever craziness happens along the way, we'll have each other to lean on and laugh with.

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Best Laid Plans

Despite our best training intentions, this whole studying for the bar thing is taking a lot more time and energy than we anticipated, and our training has suffered for it. There's a saying about bike tours: You train for the tour or the tour trains you. It looks like we're going to be pretty solidly in the second camp, which means we have a pretty painful first week of touring to look forward to.

We checked out flights to Vancouver one way and they were a whopping 400 bucks each- yikes. We're going to try moving the start date to a less popular day of the week in hopes of bringing that number down a bit.

We have just about all the gear we'll need for the tour- just missing a few odds and ends. Now we're trying to figure out what kind of fabric pen works best on dri-fit material- suggestions are welcome!

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Thoughts, Prayers, Love and Hope

Hi all,

Please send thoughts, prayers, hope, and love to Steve Damm and his family. We are riding for Steve, who is battling a really rough brain tumor. Unfortunately, things have gotten worse lately. The strength and perseverance the Damm family has displayed throughout what would be a completely soul-crushing experience for many others is pretty incredible, and they could sure use the thoughts of others during this especially trying time.

To read about Steve and his family, check out their blog: http://checkonsteve.blogspot.com/

If you'd like to help make sure future families don't have to go through what the Damms are, please consider donating: http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Also if you live in the Dallas area and would like to help out the Damm family (by providing a meal or otherwise helping out), you can sign up here: http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/602198/login/?logout

As always, if there is anyone you'd like us to ride in honor or memory of, please let us know.

Be well,

Arik and Mia

Un Lungo Giro in Bicicletta (A Long Bike Ride, Italian-Style)

This past weekend, Arik and I ventured an hour south of Dallas to tackle the Tour d'Italia in Italy, Texas. The ride started at Italy High School, and thousands of bikers milled about before the start. Those in clip-in bike shoes hobbled awkwardly in the parking lots like baby birds, and I don't know that we've ever seen so many lycra-clad, tanned, large calved people in our lives.

We rolled down Main Street and soon were in the hills of Ellis County. There were a ton of other bikers (the organizers estimated about 2000) but we rarely felt crowded. As we moseyed along and bikers passed us, they would call out a "good morning!" or "how y'all doing?" before they pedaled off. One biker pulled a wagon along behind him that held a boombox and played some loud, funky tunes.

Arik 10 miles in wearing the Livestrong shirt we'll wear on our tour

There were rest stops every 10 miles or so, stocked with plums, peaches, bananas, oreos, pretzels and gatorade, though not, as one biker passing us had promised, with margarita machines. Then again she had a mohawk made of feathers glued to the top of her helmet so perhaps she wasn't totally trustworthy.

Mia at one of the rest stops

Even without the margaritas, the first 25 miles were really enjoyable. The sun was out but not too hot, there were a lot of other bikers around, and even though we rode into a headwind just about the entire time, Arik and I felt good physically. Then about halfway through the ride (we planned to do the longest, 63 mile, route) Arik's quads started cramping. Our pace slowed considerably, the sun beat down on us mercilessly as the clock crept toward noon, and Arik grimaced as he struggled up what felt like endless hills. Still, Arik soldiered on, and felt good at each rest stop.

We finally passed the point of no return: where the 40 and 50 mile routes split off and the 63 mile route continued on. We didn't even ask each other if we'd keep going- we just rode straight through in somewhat grim silence. At this point we hadn't seen another rider in at least 30 minutes and SAG vehicles started following us closely, ready to pick us up if we decided we couldn't make it.

At the 40 mile mark, after an especially trying strip of road for Arik's quads, we made it to the second to last rest stop. The people manning it cheered for us, gave us cold paper towels to cool ourselves off with, and informed us that we were the last people coming through. They couldn't believe we weren't on road bikes and asked if we were sure we wanted to keep going, but after we told them about our tour they realized how important making it all the way was to us.

Mia in happier times, before Arik was hurtin'

Refueled and recooled, we set off for the final 23 mile stretch. 7 miles in, with the temperature close to 100 degrees and the hills coming one after another, Arik said he had to stop. He was obviously in pain, and when he got off the bike he almost fell down because he couldn't straighten out his legs. We tried stretching and rubbing them but realized he wouldn't (and shouldn't) get back on the bike. We got a little freaked out when we couldn't find a phone number for the SAG units, but fortunately a guy came by after about 5 minutes and asked if we needed help. He radioed a pickup truck, and a large, jolly fellow loaded up our bikes and ferryed us home. He was simple and talkative and friendly- the kind of person I don't think you could find anywhere but Texas- and he regaled us with stories of chasing storms as an amateur radioman. We passed about 10 other riders still on the course before he dropped us off at the high school.

Arik was bummed we didn't make it all the way, but I couldn't believe he'd ridden over 15 miles on cramping quads. And 47 miles total, on a steamy, sunny Texas day, ain't too shabby at all!

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

An Unintentional Hiatus

Despite our best intentions to get seriously biking this week, my hard-headedness derailed our plans. Ignoring Arik's friendly reminders about wearing flip flops during activities, I soldiered on and played soccer sans real shoes. After a couple of nice punts in my sister's backyard, I felt a sharp pain in my foot, looked down, cringed, and hobbled over to Dr. Dad, who luckily was nearby spectating. I burst a blood vessel in my foot and was instructed to "get inside, get ice on it, and get it elevated or your whole foot's gonna explode." Thanks for helping me not freak out pops! I ended up laying on my sis's couch for about 3 hours with a throbbing foot and a nice dose of humility. Dad told me I couldn't bike again for at least a week, and today marks the end of that week. And the worst part was having to tell Arik he was right! :D We'll be back in the saddle soon.

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

On Mileage and Bike Lanes

Very often when we tell people we're going to bike 1800 miles this summer, their first reaction is some version of either "Are you nuts?!" or "That rocks!" Their second reaction, after hearing that we hope to average around 55 miles/day during the tour, is to ask how we're going to find the time to bike 55 miles/day while we train, especially since I'm studying about 6 hours/day for the bar exam. The good news is, the distance you ride in a week is how far you can expect to ride comfortably in a day. So we need to average at least 55 miles of riding per week. This week, our first week of multiple rides, we rode a total of 64.2 miles, and we only rode twice. Next week we'd like to ride at least 4 times, so we should be more than a-ok.

Gotta Start Somewhere

After the somewhat harrowing ride described in yesterday's post, I did some googling and discovered Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, an organization devoted to helping make those kinds of rides the exception rather than the rule. One of their big goals is to get bike lanes in Dallas- hooray! Hopefully we'll have a chance to tag along on some of their group rides.


Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Not So Fun Being Prey in the Urban Jungle

Yesterday Arik and I ventured across the Trinity again, this time to get a membership at the White Rock YMCA (I can't run anymore b/c I have the knees of a 90 year old ex-mogul skiier so I wanted an outdoor pool to swim laps in) and to stop by the Kroger on Mockingbird. Our ride there was pleasant again- not much traffic and sunny skies with a breeze. We took a rest outside Kroger and enjoyed some tasty watermelon we picked up there, then headed to the YMCA and got signed up.

Our ride to White Rock, and the previous long rides we've done in the past 2 weeks, had made us feel really positive about riding in the big city- we know Dallas is car-dominated, but we hadn't had any bad experiences and were feeling confident and enjoying ourselves. The ride home was not so cheery- there was a ton of traffic, right lanes downtown were often filled up with parked cars, and for the first time we appreciated how tough it is to navigate streets not designed for bikes alongside cars streaking by doing 50 mph with drivers often openly hostile to us being on the road. Bike lanes would sure be a godsend. We made it home in one piece but with our confidence a bit shaken. Like a good nerd, I ordered two books on urban cycling (here and here) in hopes of getting some of that confidence back. Wish us luck!


In other news, we'll be doing the Tour d'Italia, in Italy....Texas on June 20. It has 12, 30, 40, 50, and 63 mile routes and promises free snow cones, but alas, no lasagna, at the end. We're thinking about doing either the 50 or 63 mile routes, but we aren't sure yet.

As always, please let us know if there's anyone you'd like us to ride in honor or memory of, and thanks so much for the support and encouragement.

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike