About Real Geeks Ride
Quickly
- The goal of this is to get 1,000 geeks to bike to work.
- Carlos and Joe are not avid cyclists. This is a story of their transition.
- The bike ride across the USA begins May 20th, 2009 and ends August 2nd.
- Joe is a professional photographer living in Hawaii.
- Carlos is working full time on RgR, and lives in Austin Tx.
- We have sponsors! Make sure to check out the sponsors page to see the people and companies who make this possible. Think how cool a sponsor for a ride like this must be…
Ride Introduction
This ride across the USA, and the months leading up to it, is about their transition from ‘geeks’ into ‘geeks with bikes’. They will be showing, through realgeeksride.com and various forms of social media, the challenges, myths, and culture of cycling, the way a geek would understand them.
Through their example, they hope to inspire (or potentially force) other geeks to change their commuting habits. If these two geeks can make it across the USA, it is foolish to think other geeks can not at least bike to work.
The ride is proof that it doesn’t take a hardcore environmentalist to make more sustainable, everyday choices. – WendMagazine.com
The Route
We chose this route for various reasons: the north is cooler during the time of our ride, major biking cities are along our route, the second half of our ride is already an established bike route, Carlos’ parents live in NY (nearer to start), Pennsylvania has a wonderful web site for biking through, Boulder, Chicago, Portland, and Pittsburgh are well known for their biking communities.
To see our route in full detail, please click “The Route” in the top navigation.
Meet Carlos
Carlos Urreta is 22 years of age and a 2008 graduate of Hawaii Pacific University with a degree in public relations. He has been exposed to computers from a young age, and is a technologist/geek at heart. Born into a hardworking family; Carlos carries with him an appreciation for simple living. Both passionate and creative, his work ethic is summed up in a quote by the Danish philosopher, Sir Ove Arup, “pursuit of quality should in itself be useful.”
His interests include photography, efficiency, traveling, coffee shops with wi-fi, humanism, rollerblading, networking, design, ultimate Frisbee, staying up with news, facts, lists, mini-houses, and vegetarianism.
Geekiest moment: Learning binary to ascii conversion table with a friend and speaking solely 1s and 0s to each other.
Meet Joe
Joe Philipson was raised in the Antelope Valley just north of Los Angeles. His 7th grade teacher first introduced him to computers. With an always growing thirst for technology, Joe finds himself quickly adapting to new gadgets and anything ‘tech.’ Initially arriving in Hawaii to work as an elementary teacher. He purchased a camera on a whim, and two years later he works full-time as professional photographer in Hawaii.
His interests including photography, social media, swimming and water sports, traveling, adventure, hours of music, and has a strong tendency to ‘rock the house.’
Geekiest moment: Joe’s inner geek shined throughout college and made a tie using a shower curtain and iron that housed a live goldfish.
