start biking

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 18:43:54 GMT

Well, the season is now in, and I have become earth bound.

I'm saving up and working ridiculous hours to buy a Trek 520. This summer is going to be such an adventure. I'm not positive as to where I'm going. I'm not sure of when I'm going. I'm not sure of who I'm going with. I just know that I am going.

Ernie and I have been biking together the past couple weeks for the most part. In and aroudn Newark and Wilmington. I'm getting back into shape, and hoping that my knee is in better condition now than it was last year. Dann has the same problem as me and he told me what his doctor told him. I have to do these excercises to make my knee more flexible. A knee injury is the last thing I want.

Some possible bike trips this summer include -

TBM trip to Florida for a month or two

Personal trip to Elkins, West Virginia

Plane ride to Utah, road trip to Cali, and from there bike up to Washington to stay with my dad

And of course, the usual beach trip

Of course, I won't be able to find the time/money to do all these trips. But I will decide in time which are the most important to me.

Right now, my Fuji Finest is in the shop being repaired. I crashed last December and almost trashed it. It's costing me $200 to fix it, but it's my baby. It's worth it.

O yea, to see some good pictures from a friend's bike trip go to dannthraxxx.

i hold this to be true to myself

Tue, 30 Sep 2003 07:40:34 GMT

that i am more than what i am told i am, or led to believe. no one, not even myself, will understand my potential fully. if i were to understand my limits, then i would have reached them, and my life would be meaningless. i must always be moving. i will guide myself by the stars at night. i will survive by the land provided to us. that, in a world where process and pattern is a certainty, i will break free of such circumstance. that my understanding of other people, and my ability to connect with their emotions, is dependant upon my connection to the real world. not the world we view through our protective screens. the safety we are provided by the systems we are tossed into is an illusion, designed to conform us to function better. that society is necessary, and revolution is even more necessary. that in half a century, in the history books, our capitalist society will not be considered a renessaince of any sorts. but instead, will be written of like squandered oppurtunity. our malls will be the villains in children's story books. your $120 shoes will be the cement with which you drowned yourself.

for i believe that we are born into this world with oppurtunities. but we must look under that rock in our backyards to find them. we need to start learning for ourselves, for if indeed we do not, we will all surely die before we have begun to live.

this is a paper i wrote about my bike trip to the beach over the summer

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 07:09:56 GMT

it's not very good, as i had to write it in about a haf hours time.

My bike trip to the beach began on July 14th, 2003 with my friends Shehara and Ernie. Shehara had bikes to the beach before, though along route 9. We were going along bike route 1, which generally goes through the center of Delaware. Ernie had never bikes that far before, but he was more than excited to.

We set out from Ernie’s house, having stayed the night there, at 9 AM. The weather was perfect, it wasn’t too hot, and we were determined to make it to Killin’s Pond by sunset. The first 20 miles or so was generally boring. Along with familiar territory all the way to Middletown, there was much traffic and noise pollution.

Traveling through Middletown, the scenery almost immediately began to transform from the familiar, harrowing site of neighborhoods and Wawa’s, to the unfamiliar site of farmland and acres of untouched greenery. We encountered only a few cars throughout Middletown, and one guy stopped to ask us if we had biked from Newark. He had seen us up there and recognized us.

For the next 30 miles or so we rode through mostly farmland along desolate roads. We would encounter the occasional motorist who were generally pleasant. We had two other bicyclists pass us, going at a much greater speed than us, not being weighed down by loads of gear. We stopped to eat every hour or so at the next small town (and there were many of these). The food was usually very good, down-home cooking. We spent the majority of our money on food.

We arrived at Killin’s Pond, after leaving Shehara behind by about an hour, just as the sun set. We were afraid that the office would be closed and we would not be able to get a campground. We later found that, even if the office is closed, you can still get a site by filling out a piece of paper and dropping it in a box, with your money.

Ernie and I got our campsite and checked it out as we waited for Shehara. That night we made fire, ate tofu pups, set camp, and went to bed.

The next morning I awoke with incredible leg pain, but within 10 minutes of stretching and walking it passed. I was able to continue the ride without trouble, except for my butt which hurt the most of my whole body.

The rest of the ride to Rehoboth beach took about 4 hours. Upon arrival there we immediately locked up our bikes and went for food at Grotto’s Pizza. We stayed the night at a beachhouse and the next day we met some of our friends on the beach. We all decided to stay the night at Cape Henlopen that night, camping right on the beach. It was a beautiful night, with no bugs or rain.

The next day Ernie, Shehara, and I took the Ferry from Lewes to Cape May and our friend Sarah picked us up. We stayed the night at her beach house in Sea Isle, New Jersey and the next day we returned to Lewes, Delaware. We had left our tent with some friends who wanted to stay another night in Cape Henlopen, so we returned there to search for it. They had buried it in a dune.

With that done, we began our trip back home, stopping briefly in a pizza shop to eat lunch. We ran into a lady who had orginally lived in Wilmington, but had decided to move to Rehoboth. She told us that her daughter wanted to come visit more often but couldn’t afford it. We told her that she should bike down.

That night we stayed at Killin’s Pond again, only this time we would encounter the worst accident of the entire trip. After having set his bike up against a pole, Ernie left to go gather wood. Immediately we would a cracking sound an dlooked over at his fallen bike. His rack had broken off, tumbling all his gear to the ground. For the rest of our 80 mile journey, he would have to ride with 20 pounds of equipment strapped to his back.

The final day of our trip was no slower, but we decided to take route 9 home instead of bike route 1. Route 9 is a beautiful 2 lane highway, with very little traffic until northern Delaware. The end of our trip was marked by Reeding Point Bridge, just outside of Delaware City. This bridge was more a symbolic end, because of the ascent we had to climb to reach the top.

We rode through Delaware City and Old New Castle and rode on home into Newport (where I got my first flat tire of the entire trip). We arrived home about 11 at night. I had never looked at my bed with such thanks.

In all, this was an amazing trip that only inspires me to greater trips. Next summer we are going to bike to Montreal, Canada and back home again. I greatly look forward to future trips with Shehara and learning to be self-reliant.

i will post pictures soon.

6000 years ago man invented the wheel

Sat, 27 Sep 2003 08:25:18 GMT

today, we have reinvented it.