Real Geeks Ride

Contest winner: @wishes for the name ‘Hermes’

Posted on 27. Mar, 2009 by carlos.

Winner: @wishes !

Congrats @wishes for picking out the winning name! My explanation for the win is simple; she got lucky.  ’Hermes’ is a name very close to home. Next step is making some cloth wings to put on the back tires! *Looks at @wishes for her artistic skills.*

I played Tanarus for many years (7?) with the handle (name) ’Hermes.’ Judge me all you want, that game was is awesome. Check out the minimum requirements for a good laugh. Gamer geeks can understand how attached one gets to the handle of a player. The name came from my healthy addiction of “base flagging.” She had absolutely no prior knowledge of this, so her name was quite the shock.

Future contests will have a better way of judging. We will most likely leave it up to the people of the internet, or get experts. This was just for getting our feet wet.

Future Contests

If you have any ideas for future contests (silly/creative/geeky welcomed), or would like to sponsor a contest, send an email to contact@realgeeksride.com. The prize does have to be something one can hold in their hand.

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Contest: Name my bike, win Ergon bar grips.

Posted on 24. Mar, 2009 by carlos.

I can’t go another day without knowing the name of my bike. We need to be on a more personal level if this traveling thing is going to work out. Click here to see a picture of the bike. Help me!

How to enter (2 steps):

• 1. Tweet this: Free contest to win bike gear from @realgeeksride: http://is.gd/oLYW
• 2. Enter a comment below with my new bike’s name. Make sure to include your twitter name in the comment.

The winner will be chosen by: me picking at random, me picking the best, or a poll. Still haven’t decided. @reply us if you think one way is better.

Contest ends: Thursday, March 26th at 9 p.m. EST

Winner gets: Ergon Bike Ergonomics: E1S bike grips

Visit here for more info on the grips.

Contest rules:

1 entry per re-tweet – shipping is covered by me – no horseplay or tomfoolery

Side notes: I’m testing out how this contest goes; potential for bigger and better later. I won these fancy grips at the BikeHugger.com after-party at SXSWi. Unfortunately I can’t use them, but you possibly can!

If you want your product put into a future contest, let us know!

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Looking for hosts in…

Posted on 22. Mar, 2009 by carlos.

We sincerely thank the hosts who have graciously agreed to let us use their showers and provide somewhere for us sleep. So far we have 43 of the 63 stops covered.

Announcement: We will be doing portrait shots of everyone we stay with!

We are still looking for some hosts in various cities. If you know of someone in any of these towns make sure to send them to us! We’d love to meet, and have them be a part of our ride. To see more detailed info on hosting us check out the Host Us page.

We do not have hosts for:

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Bike 1: Surly Long Haul Trucker has arrived!

Posted on 19. Mar, 2009 by carlos.

My bike has arrived! This green piece of steel will become my best friend for the next few months. The bicycle is a reasonable price and has all the  necessary ’specs’ for smooth riding. Joe will be getting the same bike early April.

I’ll be doing a post about the differences for Touring Bikes soon, but for now, join me in drooling at the new toy.

Type of bike: Surly – Long Haul Trucker

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What’s that part? Brake pads.

Posted on 14. Mar, 2009 by carlos.

In our ‘What’s that part?‘ posts, we will be showing a part, what it is, where it goes on a bike, what it does, and things you should know about it. Simple as that. 

We are training ourselves to not assume when posting about bikes and our ride. We know our readers and future commuters come from all walks of knowledge and experience. 

If you learn something from the posts, yippee! If you already know about the parts, make sure to comment!

What’s that part?

These are Brake Pads. They are the reason you are able to stop using your hands. After squeezing the brake levers which attach to your handlebars, the brake pads push against rim on both sides, causing you to slow.

Where does it go?

The brake pads attach to bike brakes, shown below.  Fancy time road bike brakes on your left, and ‘classic’ brakes on the right.

The brakes above attach to the bike where the pink arrows are pointing. The green arrows indicate the mentioned hand levers which activate the brakes.

What should I know?

• They wear down and need to be replaced.
• As a commuter, have your brakes and brake pads checked roughly every 6 months.
• ‘Good’ brake pads range from $10 – $20. Don’t try to save money when buying pads.

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Going to SXSWi? We are!

Posted on 09. Mar, 2009 by carlos.

This is the second year I am attending SXSW Interactive. Last year I fell in love with Austin and the type of people at the conference. It is true: ” the more times you go, the better you get at it.” If you are a geek going to rock out your latest site, or just going for the free booze, make sure to send us a message to meet up.

Joe just booked his ticket an hour ago, which means we will both be there!

If you are representing a company that has a product or geek idea to incorporate into our ride, let us know!

The meeting we are looking forward to most:

Carrie Gouldin from ThinkGeek.com is meeting with us to see how we can work together to geek out our bikes. Only great ideas can come from this; how about physical Twitter message boards, live stream cameras, or bike-powered electronics? We’ll let you know how that meeting goes!

The event we are looking forward to most: Bike Hugger Mobile Social

“Bike Hugger is bringing the party back to SXSW with 43% more bike culture. There’s an Urban Ride, a BBQ, and then an After Party.” [source] [RSVP] [...]

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What type of bike should I get to commute to work?

Posted on 05. Mar, 2009 by carlos.

I’ve been apprenticing at Tsunami Cycles, a cycle repair shop in Austin, Texas, for the past week. I am continuously reminded of the timeless adage, “the more you learn, the more you realize you do not know.” I learn how to fix a single tire, only to be told that many types of tires exist. I learn one way to remove a part, only to learn that different countries thread parts differently. The vast array of bikes grows with time. Thousands of customizations to each person’s liking are available and only a mechanic knows how to tell the difference.

PHEW…those were my overwhelming feelings, but let’s back peddle a bit. To start off, we do not need to fix bicycles. Let’s put repairs to the back of our mind and learn to simply identify the bikes we will be dealing with. This is the starting point that I needed to grasp.

Below will help you understand some general things about commuter bikes and some important questions to ask yourself.

What is a commuter bike?

Any type of bike can be a ‘commuter.’ The bike that gets you comfortably from home to work and back, is a good commuter. This is not the be-all end-all post for picking your bike, but we both have to start some where.

What questions should I answer about my commute?

Does it have a lot of hills?

If yes, then your answer is in a geared system. Make an automatic assumption that you will be getting a geared bike. Without detail on how gears work, they will ease your climb and give you more power when cruising on a straight path.

[...]

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A Welcome from Carlos and Joe

Posted on 26. Feb, 2009 by carlos.

Welcome all!

Thanks for reading the first post of this incredible journey. We truly hope that our story inspires you to your own personally great experience.

As our adventure gets underway, we welcome you to join us; potential hosts, city help, or even a waving as we pass by. If you are a geek and can spare a few minutes each day to keep up with us, we will try not to disappoint. You just may find yourself inspired to bike to work. Let us help you nurture your new mode of transportation. 

We are not avid cyclists. Our calves and forearms look quite similiar to yours. This site is the story of our transition from ‘geeks’ to ‘geeks on bikes.’ We will be getting our own crash course into cycling, then showing all that is needed for you to start your healthly biking experience. Of course, we’ll be adding that geek flavor you secretly (or publicly) love. 

We are seeing cycling with fresh eyes. Let us show you how to become a happy, healthy, and safe bike commuter.

Sincerely,

Carlos Urreta and Joe Philipson

Interact with us!

For the hundreds of people who subscribed to our updates page and for the countless people who have heard about us through other means, here are some ways to best stay in touch with where we are, what we are doing, and who we are meeting.

Below are ways to interact with us before and during our ride across the USA. If you are interested in having us geek out your service or product, please send an email to sponsor@realgeeksride.com. 

Twitter : @realgeeksride

RSS : Add our feed.

Facebook : Become a fan.

Brightkite : Stalk us, we welcome it.

12seconds.tv : See us, 12 seconds at a time.

More geek stuff coming!

Thank you

Thank you to all the wonderful people who have been instrumental in the planning phase of this ride. To the hosts, organizations, friends, family, cyclists, companies, geeks, sponsors, and everyday people who have offered their assistance, thank you. We look forward to working with you in the upcoming months, and are very excited for more people like you.

Carlos Urreta (standing) and Joe Philipson (Sitting)

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