I just forgot about this blog for awhile. Blogging about doing stuff is sometime harder than actually doing stuff.
I've done alot since my last post in June.
It started when Sheryl donated to this guy's cause, an AIDS benefit ride from Boston to NYC. That guy ended up being Marcus, and I donated too. Along with my donation I said to him something along the lines of 'Wow, that's amazing, I wish I could do it too.'
And then I thought, 'Why don't I?'
I had never before done a century, the most I had done before was 60 for the 5-boro, and this ride was THREE centuries in three days. (well, the last day was 75 but still, nothing to sneeze at.)
So I joined. I spent 3 months fundraising and training, riding all around the boros, and by the time the ride rolled around in September, I was intimidated but determined.
The hardest part was getting up on the 2nd morning. After the first 100 miles my knees were killing me. But I figured I wasn't the only one and life could be alot worse. I just took it as it came and went slower. I walked up the big hills. (and in northern Connecticut, there are alot of them.)
But I finished, and I had an amazing time.
And I also went on kindof a bike binge. Buying parts, buying more bikes, I had the intention of fixing them up and selling them affordably to friends.
I had a small problem, I let the dumb overpriced ads on Craigslist get to me.
I was trying to fight what I thought was greedy injustice. Then again I could find what I needed on Craigslist as well. It's a mixed bag and I just have to resign myself to the fact I need to do my own thing. That and stay off Craigslist.
I think what sealed it for me was going into a bike shop in Greenpoint Brooklyn one day, and seeing an entire rack of those crappy garbage bikes, barely fixed up but with price tags in the $300 range. The guy told me yes they do sell.
That was hard for me to swallow. You really can't stop ignorance. Hey, we had a stupid Republican president for 8 years that way. Whaddya gonna do, you know?
I'm not the person who is going to change the world. I don't even like getting up on weekends. I'm just one of billions of people on the internet, biking around, taking photos, and fixing things.
