2007

Twelve months ago I started my effort to Race Green in 2007, with goals of trying to raise awareness about global warming, present some ideas and ways to reduce individual impact on the environment and raise some money for the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization that works with business, government and science to “find practical environmental solutions”. So after a year how did I do (being this is the time for 2007 in review posts on the web)?

Here are some stats that may give you an idea of my work. I rode my bike 6,000+ miles in the year. Of those miles about 2,000 were commuting miles, that is miles many people would have driven. I rode through January of 2007 when Denver streets were ice packed for weeks on end because of blizzards. During that time I had fenders on and rode on major streets which had less ice and obstacles. This clearly helped the environment as “Cutting a 20 mile trip out of your schedule each week can reduce your global warming pollution by more than 1,200 pounds a year and save you over $100 in gas expenses.” (Environmental defense web site) I also switched grocery bags from plastic to reusable canvas. I figure I used at least 5 plastic bags a week so a net savings of 250 bags. It takes an equivalent amount of energy to produce 14 plastic bags as it does to drive a mile, so some carbon reduction there too.

I also went out and tried to do more than change my personal lifestyle during the year. I met with staff from Congresswoman Diana DeGette’s office on behalf of the League of Conservation Voters, I went to a local school and discussed Earth Day and what each student could do to lessen there impact (including a portion on riding their bikes and bike safety). Finally I raised over $1,000 for Environmental Defense.

Overall I’d say it was a good year. In 2008 I’m going to keep it going. I’m starting a full team for racing and environmental awareness. The team is going to promote riding and the multiple benefits bike riding provides (health benefits and environmental benefits). I’ve already got an after-school program lined up at my son’s school to get kids out riding their bikes and hopefully more will come. I’ll still be out racing and trying to get fast too. Though riding fast and winning are tougher to accomplish then raising awareness the racing is fun.

Anyway don’t leave just because 2007 is over, I’m keeping things going, maybe a slightly different path but still going.

BIKE FOR SALE: A shameless plug for my bike YETI ASR Large I've got it for sale...drop me a comment if you're interested

Post Grad Reading Level

So I was checking out SLY's blog the other day and it had a link to tell you the reading level of your blog, well I must be a genius because mine came back as Post Grad reading level. For the few of you who actually read my blog consider yourselves highly educated people. I guess I should work on dumbing down my content, make the reading level a little easier. I assume if I did that more people would visit the site and I’d get more comments.

Cash Advance Loans

All I’ve got to say is this feature has got to be inaccurate.

Base Training with Eddy

Base miles, finally a chance to ride more outside. Today it was cold (30ish) and some wet roads from snow yesterday, but 2.5 hours outside in the cold is better than any time inside so I went out.

East of Denver is a little town called Watkins, one of my favorite rides for 2-3 hours of base miles. Roads quickly turn into farm roads, little traffic and rollers the whole way, in general a pleasant ride. But one problem, farm roads mean farms. Farms mean farm dogs. So today as I was spinning along I catch an object coming from my right and hear the growling of a mean a$$ looking dog trying to catch me for an afternoon snack. Just like in the scene from American Flyers where Kevin Costner takes his brother training with Eddy, this dog is on me. I sprint as hard as possible, look down and still see the dog right there, shift to the 12 (remember this is early season base training I shouldn't be in the 12) and give it another kick. Finally I get away from the dog, not sure how but glad he didn't get me for an afternoon snack.

When I lived in Iowa I road some with the Des Moines Cycling Club, one guy carried a little gun (pistol) to take care of dogs like these, which seemed more rampant in Iowa than in Denver. Not sure that was the best solution to the problem, but then again we never did extra sprints either.

Wow, Out of Circulation

I've been missing for awhile so here is a quick rundown:

Thanksgiving - stabbed by my sister in the eye (with her fingernail) couldn't see for a week
New York City - Business trip, cool town but I can only handle it for a few days
December - Cold and snowy way too many miles riding in the basement of the trainer
Work - time for writing reviews, man that sucks

The good news is I'm riding some and work should taper off soon.

On another note, the presidential primaries/cacuses start soon. If you are at all serious about the direction America is going look a little deeper than the famed candidates. I'm a hippie liberal who wants an eco-friendly candidate. I've been donating money to two people Chris Dodd http://chrisdodd.com/ and Joe Biden http://www.joebiden.com/home. I hope giving these guys a little will allow them to keep their voices in the debate. Seriously I don't care who you vote for, but make sure you listen to all the voices out there, give a little money to the lesser known candidates to help them as in many cases they have the best ideas and best potential to change.