And with that, Joe and I bike 4,141 miles from Neptune City, NJ to arrive in Seaside, OR and prove that geeks are not lazy.
My hand tan is fading, and Joe and I don’t wake up near each other covered in mosquitoes. Joe gets to sleep in, and I get to spend an entire day reading Wikipedia without having to eat my weight in food. We felt the bitter sweet taste of finishing the day after Yellowstone. Only 2 weeks left, only 1 week left, only 200 miles left, and finally, our last day.
Seaside, Oregon
The plan was ~70 miles from Portland, OR to Seaside, OR. It went smoother than we could have imagined. Gigi, in a picture below, pushed the entire way with us on her own bike. Thank you so much for riding out!
Seaside, mostly a dart-throw-city on the coast, ended up being a perfect end. It was touristy enough to have random people cheer for us, and also for them to wonder why we were riding directly into the water. It also had historic significance being the last stop of the Lewis and Clark trail.
The last 10 miles biking into Seaside are a tease. It is impossible to see the beach until you are actually at the beach. We arrived, walked our bikes 200 feet through the sand as we did on day 1, and road the minute our tires didn’t sink in. We spent some time taking pictures, then headed to dinner. As quick as it started, the ending was the same .The choppiness of how I am writing is exactly how we felt. It was anti-climactic and we were always wondering, “Is this is?” At dinner, Joe and I were joined by Matt Haughey from Metafilter.com, our main sponsor of the ride. Gigi, Gigi’s kid, Gigi’s husband John (from Jive Software), a few college friends, and my family also were there.
Pictures from last day.
2 Geeks prove a point.
We set out to have fun, and also to prove a point that geeks are not lazy. Though our numbers came up short in the effort to change commuting habits, we know we had an impact on many people in different ways. We had dropped mouths in small towns because they didn’t know this was possible. We had little kids stare in awe as we passed by their parents in traffic. We could be the butterfly that causes them to beat Lance’s record. My parents both picked up bicycles, I can only assume because of our efforts. My sister is excited to move to Austin, TX and start riding. Our friends have said they were inspired and pushed further in physical tests because of us. You can be sure that we both will be riding our bikes to work for as long as our body allows. See you on the road, geeks.
What next for the geeks?
Carlos will be in Austin, TX as of Sept 1st, 2009 and is looking to plant his feet for a few years. He’ll continue to ride bikes and may enter a few races, though his competition bone has been missing for years.
Joe will continue to pursue his love of photography in either California or back in Hawaii. He is already planning out his fixed gear bike colors and is excited to enter the local bike scene.
We are extremely easy to find, and the contact page will always work.
Carlos: Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook
Joe: Flickr, Twitter, Facebook
See you on the road, geeks!
Thank you everyone, from the bottom of our geeky hearts! To the families and hosts who took us in, the sponsors to helped our pockets, everyone we met along the way, and to the countless people who supported us via Twitter and this blog.
Thank you.
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Wanna ride with us from Portland Oregon to Seaside Oregon this Sunday? Let us know so we don’t leave without you!
We just arrived to Prineville, OR after a week of ridiculous riding through the desert of Eastern Oregon.
Eastern Oregon is not fun to ride. Do not be fooled by the beauty of Portland and the coast. East of Prineville OR and you get a haven for people in trucks with LEER cabs, McCain/Palin, Obama is a ******, and ‘I love to fish’ stickers. They honk and yell things (not understanding how sound waves work). Water is scarce. The scenery and flora is almost non-existent, other than the … I digress …
We are in good spirits, and I’m really excited to see my parents in 2 days. The thought of the journey after the ride gives enough energy to scale mountains. Joe is ready for this to be over and his body is telling him the same thing. We have given up using the tent and have been sleeping (peacefully) on picnic tables and bleachers.
Cyclists (in cars) have pulled over to make sure we have enough water and food. A guy even pulled over to apologize for honking a few miles back.
Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City is a complete sham. The owner is a liar, and the entire experience was rancid. I’m not one to complain, but that needed to be said. This paragraph should have a post of its own, but I am 1,000x a better person than they are.
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This is the one picture that explains exactly how Joe and I spent our time in Yellowstone. With new friends:
Joe’s wildlife self started to bloom in the woods. He has been cooking his own food for the past few days with a home made stove:
Roadblocks on our path:
This is what the trip is about:
The colors!!!
A little rock-star moment once we left Yellowstone:
Slideshow of all pictures from Yellowstone:
Slideshow from Jared’s skating photo-shoot:
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It’s been over a week since our last post. Thanks for the support and understanding that finding Internet and time has been rough.
Joe and I have been in the woods camping, starting fires to fend off mosquitoes, and have joined a group of cyclists. The geek part is still with us, as any outlet we see is an oppotunity to charge our electronics.
We have been biking for the past few days with 7 people that we met in Yellowstone. Joe and I had been getting along great and this just bumped our spirits to the next level.
Touring Tip: Biking on the Trans-Am route designated by the Adventure Cycling Association has forced us to see cyclists everyday. Stay on the Trans-Am route! Meeting cyclists and biking together takes fun to a new level.
The Wreck
This is being written from the Hot Springs Lodge in Jackson, MT. How I got here is quite interesting; I was biking with Aaron, one of the other cyclists part of the 7 person mob of bikers. He had picked up a giant ball on the side of the road and attached it to the side of his bike. It was no one’s fault, but rather a combination of misfortunes.
We came down the hill, I knicked the ball, and went over the handlebars. The bike is OK and I have gashes on a few parts of my body. My helmet pretty much saved my life. I hit the ground hard with my head and the helmet worked perfectly. The handlebars were jammed in the frame but came out with a forceful pull. Aaron felt a little bad, but I made it clear it was neither of our faults.
When I went down, I was scarily composed. I laid on the ground and didn’t move. I just thought about what I had hit, and assessed the situation. About 7 cars stopped to ask, “Are you OK?” I even made a joke which fended off a few of them… “Sure he’s OK.”
Joe’s pictures will tell the story of our past week. They will be up ASAP.
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Day 43-49: A Bandolier of Updates
Posted on 09. Jul, 2009 by carlos.
We are alive and kicking/pedaling! This post is currently being written in the house of Kirk Hanna, a sports writer for the local paper here in Rawlins, WY.
Firstly, a huge thanks to Tara Anderson from Lijit.com who helped put together a meetup in Boulder. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out!
This morning, Joe woke up with a bit of altitude sickness (hypoxia) which knocked him out for 17.5 hours. We have been over 6000+ feet high for the past few days and it finally caught up to him. He woke up to vomit, then fall back asleep. After a few more hours in his mini-coma, started feeling better.
- We celebrated the 4th in Boulder, CO.
- We almost ran over a rattle snake.
- We legally biked 100+ miles on I-80. We felt safer than MANY other roads.
- Mosquitoes are ridiculous! A motivation to not stop.
The live tracking is temporarily broken and says we are still chillin’ in Julesburg, CO. I have temporarily put up another map on the Track Us page. Greg Hendrickson from MapMyRace.com is helping us get the kinks worked out. He is quite amazing to work with.
After the old-historic-east, the corn-nothingness-middle, we have reached the outdoorsy mountains of our west. The creeks are clear enough to swim in, and there is a huge increase of people wearing The North Face outerwear.
Joe hopped a barbed wire fence to take this picture:
It’s impossible to feel geeky at certain moments. The farther west we go, the more these moments happen. I was biking at night into Laramie, WY at night on a wide shoulder with few cars, stars in full bloom, and only the sounds of prairie dogs and crickets to entertain my ears. The moon had been casting shadows and gave enough light to see debris on the shoulder. I drifted off into a trance for about 20 miles and had no thoughts of technology, email, or anything that required electricity. I was in the true sense of “getting back to nature.”
The Tour De France podcast has been keeping me up to date on the standings. I just finished watching Breaking Away and I’m tempted to enter some races when I get back to Austin. Any suggestions on how to judge which races one should enter?
Cycling from Denver to Fort Collins was too easy. Iowa and other states were a challenge while Colorado had to be better and put bike lanes everywhere. Hundreds of miles of trails gave the peace of mind that we can enjoy a nice bike ride. Cyclists sprinkled all over the roads, and drivers who are probably also cyclists. Way to show-off, Colorado! How dare you give us awesome people like these riders:
Upon Entering Wyoming:
The next few days will be ‘getting to nature’ times for both of us. Electronics will run out of battery, Joe will be taking beautiful pictures, and I’ll be in deep trances of thought.
Many thanks to Ian, our host in Boulder who let us borrow the last half of the Trans-Am route maps made by the Adventure Cycling Association. The second half of our cross country journey will be on a designated, widely traveled path. It is not geeky to use paper maps, but we do appreciate quality work. These maps are pure analog quality.
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Day 40/41: 7 Flats, Randy, Ole’s Big Game
Posted on 01. Jul, 2009 by carlos.
7 Flats in 10 hours
I woke up in Sterling, CO with both tires flat. This would have been all and well but the goat heads were attacking Joe’s bike the previous day. He had 4 flats the previous day which had us in a town with no bike shop, 50 miles from next days destination, and 2 flats.
Thank you Sam Walton! Walmart had cheap patches that lasted only about 45 miles, exactly what was needed. I had our 7th flat (in 24 hours)as I was pulling into the day’s destination.
Touring Tip: If you are passing through places with goat-heads, bring enough patches and tubes for 10+ flats. You don’t want the horrible feeling of possibly being stranded, something we were on the brink of. Never underestimate how strong those little buggers are.
Thank You Randy Ballheim!
As luck would have it, our next host was a huge bike geek. His garage was a mini bike shop and he fixed Joe’s bike…with a 2×4 piece of wood and a hammer. It was quite the spectacle.
Click, click, click…*silence* BOOM! My tire got a nasty tear in it and the tube started to poke through. Once that happens, the tube explodes! The sound was enough to have Joe swerve from shock.
Randy came to the rescue a second time when, 7 miles into a 100 mile day we were stranded on the side of the I-76 access road. He stopped his day, went to go to the bike store (luckily open), and drove to us to drop off a tire. Thank you Randy!
Randy helping to fix up the tire situation:
Would you see this driving on the interstate?
One for the grandkids:
Hey Horsie:
Ole’s Big Game Steakhouse in Paxton, Nebraska:
The elephant is real:
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Event in Boulder on July 3rd!
Posted on 30. Jun, 2009 by carlos.
The more the merrier. After biking through towns of 80 people, we miss large groups of geeks and cyclists. Lijit.com and a few other great companies in the area are putting together this meetup. You know it’ll be quality when Lijit has their hands on it.
From their blog:
Additionally, if you’re in the Denver/Boulder area, you’re invited to meet the guys this Friday, July 3rd, as they make a stop in Boulder. We’ll be meeting up at the Boulder Draft House, from 4-6 pm, to enjoy some happy hour beers with the guys. (Look for us in the back room!) Ride your bike, stop in, and let us show Carlos and Joe just how much we love our bikes around here.
Event Details
What: Come share a drink and meet up with the 2 guys from Real Geeks Ride. These guys are biking across the country to inspire other geeks into bicyclef commuting.
Date: Friday, July 3rd
Location: Boulder Draft House
Time: 4pm to 6pm
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Some Random Nebraska Shots
Posted on 29. Jun, 2009 by carlos.
Hanging around the most phallic state capitol our country has to offer. This was in Lincoln, Nebraska:
“You want to take a picture of art? Here I am.” -Man Below
What creepy hands you have…
Just because:
