Here are some pictures of the last week riding in Northern California.
Swimming hole on the road side
Stop for dance party
Foggy cliffs
We’ve got our own “Roche Perce” in Quebec, but there are so many on the West Coast
I’m excited. This week I got two notifications in my inbox from Kiva. Two of my micro-loans were paid back! These are loans I made in the past 6 months. One was to Anita Sabino in Comas, Peru, so that she could start a grocery store.
The second was to Asiyah Yanan in Rajeg, Tangerang, Indonesia, so that she could raise ducks.
I immediately used the $50 I got back to lend to two more entrepreneurs (one in Sudan and one in Vietnam).
Microcredit, one sustainable solution to global poverty. And why we are on this crazy bike ride of ours.
It’s Day 17 of Riding to Break the Cycle 2008, and we’ve entered Northern California. Here are a few pictures from the last week of riding.
Sand dunes in Oregon
Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach
My bike and Natalie’s
Eating lunch on the Oregon Coast Line
California
It’s Day 15 of Riding to Break the Cycle 2008. We’ve covered over 600 miles, about 1000 km now, and I’m still alive. The Oregon coast has been good to us.
So what does a typical morning look like?
Whether I awake on a camp site at a State Park, a Methodist Church or a Community Youth Centre, I’ve got the same routine. Roll up my Thermorest sleeping pad, my MEC +10C sleeping bag, and my newly purchased travel pillow and pack them away into a big REI duffel bag donated by my friend Phil in Seattle. Then I’m off to check on my bike, adding lube to my chain and wiping the extra off, checking the brake pads, pumping up the tires. I haven’t had a flat yet - which I attribute to keeping the pressure up in my tire tubes (slightly over 100 psi) and checking my tires for embedded foreign objects like glass or rocks. And finally I change into my bike clothing for the day, eat breakfast (usually cereal or oatmeal along with bananas and bagels), wash my dishes, and load my pack into the trailer.
Then we have a Route meeting, where ride leaders Emma and Jess distribute route maps for the day, and explain the itinerary we are taking, where the support van will stop for lunch, what alternative scenic routes we can take, and where we will be staying overnight that day. The directions have mileage counts on them so that we can keep track of when we’ll need to turn approximately - which makes me glad I purchased my CatEye cycle computer.
Once the meeting’s done, we stock up on snacks and fill up our water bottles or hydration packs. Then we organize ourselves in pods - small riding groups - and we’re off on the road.
Internet access has been limited the past few days, so I’ll try to cram in as much as possible today.
It’s now Day 11 of our ride. It’s been raining on and off for the last 4-5 day, and so I’d had to keep my rain gear with me all the time. Two highlight of the past few days was crossing the Astoria-Megler bridge, and meeting Nasim and Jafar on the road in Oregon. This is the Iranian couple featured in the BBC for biking around the world for peace and environmental conservation.
And people thought we were crazy for biking from Vancouver to Mexico! These two have covered many European countries, Canada, the US and are planning to go through Korea, China and Japan in the fall. We were lucky to have them camp with us in Nehalem, and I enjoyed talking to them and sharing stories about our cultures.
Back to the laundromat!
