Continuing the Adventure Back Home
Trip Start
Jun 17, 2011
1
36
Trip End
Aug 26, 2011
Sausalito, California
Sunday, September 18, 2011
After a weekend of unpacking the house, we launched back in to work with a week of all educator training at the Headlands Institute. As our workplace and social community are essentially one in the same, it was a wonderful return to a supportive group of folks who were totally psyched about what we had done.
Outside of work, though, is where things have really been getting out of control, albeit in the best of ways. As I hope you are aware of by now, Matt and I have been inspired to participate in the Climate Ride California during the first week of October. Our bike-centric life this summer changed our identity from non-cyclists to passionate bikers. This next challenge has further morphed us into bicycle advocates, as this event is less about pushing our personal limits and more about supporting organizations that are pushing for sustainability through bicycles, renewable energy, and climate science education. But don't get me wrong, the century ride (100 miles) on day four will be a new record for us all the same!
So with the fundraising deadline a mere three weeks after our return home, our energy has been focusd on getting close to our goal of $4800 (aka The Fundraising Minimum). We have just crossed the 50% mark, so it definitely feels like the glass is half full from contributors' amazing generosity and also half empty with the daunting remainder left to go with just a few days left until the fundraising deadline. This effort has truly been an example of "grassroots donating" where each contribution--no matter how insignificant it may seem by itself--has been appreciated as essential to the cumulative progress we've made! If you haven't made a donation yet, don't be shy, every little bit will help: http://climateride.donordrive.com/team/caseyandmatt
Then I was recruited to represent Alliance for Climate Education, one of the recently approved beneficiaries of the Climate Ride. My introductory blog was featured on their website www.acespace.org/blog and I'll be posting more that are live updates once the event gets underway, so bookmark that link! ACE is an organization that's providing a critical service to high schools around the country by giving engaging climate science presentations to students and then empowering them with resources and opportunities to take action on their knowledge. They are about to reach their 1 million student landmark!
And then, just when I least expected it, I got word that a short bike story I had submitted to a contest on the GOOD website was selected as one of 15 finalists for voting! The top three stories will win up to $5000 grants for their favorite bike charity, mine of course being the non-profit Climate Ride (not to be confused with our fundraising for its event). The voting system appears to be one vote per computer per day through September 23rd. In order to read my story titled "At Least It's No Mt. St. Helena" you have to click on the Next tab in the upper right of the main image once at this link: http://www.good.is/post/submissions-share-a-bike-photo-and-your-best-bike-story/ It would be amazing if I won!
To top it off, we were also able to get some time off approved that will allow us to bike from Bend, Oregon to the starting point of the Climate Ride in Fortuna, CA the week beforehand. We will be attending the wedding of my close friend McKenzie and her soon-to-be husband Chris this coming weekend and then setting off from there. Who knew how difficult (and expensive) it would be to rent a car one-way that is big enough to hold our bicycles? Figuring that out was an adventure in an of itself. We figured out that between Bend and San Francisco, we will be covering about 1/3 of our total mileage in Iceland, but in just two weeks! It is going to be intense, that is for sure...
Well, when it rains it pours, even if it is pouring exciting things into our lives! With all of our time and energy tied up in these big upcoming events, it hasn't left much opportunity for reflection on the experience we just came back from and our hectic transition into our "regular lives." The most obvious realization for me was the contrast of the multi-tasking-juggling format of my day-to-day life at home versus the singular direction of existence while on the road in Iceland. Even when the going was quite tough, it was easy to prioritize what was important for that moment and follow through with it. Here I so easily lose that clarity, the quality gets lost in the quantity of things to do.
The other thing we have had a good laugh about is repeating some local rides that we found difficult before our trip. Even if we have already lost some of our fitness from the summer, we have found ourselves at the top of the previously-dreaded Sausalito hill without feeling the mental and physical agony once associated with it. Our perspective of what's quite possible and what's a real challenge has permanently shifted for us. And so we say, "Bring it on!"
