Real Geeks Ride

Seaside, Oregon *sniffle* (RgR’s Last Post)

Posted on 12. Aug, 2009 by carlos in RgR News

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.

Tags: jive software, last day, matt haughey, metafilter, seaside oregon