Once upon a time.....

In reality the once upon a time was not so long ago. It all started on July 26, 2009, when I registered to participate in Climate Ride 2009.

Raising enough funds to be able to participate looked difficult; I had never done it before. But the climate change cause was so deep into my heart, that I just pressed the "enter" button (after paying aU$100 fee) and here I am.

Raising awareness on climate change on my bicycle was a win-win for me. And after 59 days, I can only say Thank You!. Thanks for becoming part of this initiative, thanks for the great emails and messages full of wondeful wishes and positive energy, and thanks also to those that could contribute to the fundraising campaign, making climate ride a reality for me.

Special thank you to Donna Manz, a great journalist from my local newspaper who got interested in this adventure and wrote a very nice article about the ride and how I was connecting my two passions (protecting the planet and my bicycle) for a cause, helping spread the word in my community. You can see the article on page 4 in the following link
http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2009/081909/Vienna.pdf






The ride is soon to start, only 3 days left, and my excitement is increasing by the minute.



Given that I just started this blog, I want to share with you a brief summary of what has happened in the last 59 days. I promise to keep posting messages from the road, so keep checking the blog.

Cycle and ReCycle:
This is my team's name. Of course after registering I looked around and convinced some of my friends to join me in this super adventure; however, to be honest, some of them were so motivated that very little or no convincing was necessary at all, and in the process we also made a new friend. So who are we? (i) Mariasol, my very good friend and bike pal from Ecuador, with whom I ride every weekend; (ii) Daniel, my colleague and true believer on climate change, and very good friend from Spain, and (iii) Uwe, a German colleague from the World Bank who I am so happy of having met through Climate Ride, and let me not forget to mention, an amazing cyclist.

Here is a picture of the four of us.

Fundraising:
Oh, what an amazing experience! So far, U$5,020...wow...and only thanks to you all!!!

I got in touch with everyone, and by that, I really mean everyone, and that was great. I touch base with so many of you from whom I had not heard in ages. School mates, friends from the university in Chile and USA, friends in Greece, family and friends spread all over the planet, fellow parents, colleagues from past and present jobs, etc, etc, etc.................., and the best that I got from this..........is the unbelievable amount of positive energy that I received and that will be more than enough to fuel the 300 miles from NY to DC.

Just for you to remember, here is the link to my fundraising site. Additional donations are always welcome, they are worth the cause, but you can also reserve them for 2010 Climate Ride which will take place in California in May....because yes, you guessed right, I have all the intention to participate in that one also. Who wouldn't like to bike in California's wine region?

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?EventID=26781&LangPref=en-CA&RegistrationID=698307

Training
It has been lots of fun and in the process I have burnt many calories! To all of you who are planning to start on a diet, don't do it, keep eating as much as you want, but start riding a bicycle instead; environmentally friendly and it works!

In addition to my daily commute of 15.4 miles each way to and from work (measured with my new bike computer), and my 30-40 mile ride on the weekends, I added some good number of miles and some of them in very exotic places.

Let's start with Germany this summer. It was an adventure because the ride took me across several small towns, and you can guess that given my lack of German (which I expect to improve once we move to Switzerland; if this is news for you, I'll let you know more about it later), and the somehow complicated names of the streets and towns.....yes, again you guessed it right, I got lost. But sign language is useful, and I got back home safe and sound.

Let's continue with Galapagos. Yes, I went on holidays to Galapagos (Isabela's island) and did some mountain bike there with Mariasol. It was not the longest of the rides, but it was in an amazing environment, plus we went with other 7 friends, including our own Galapagos tour guide.

Mountain bike in Quito. This was longer that the Galapagos ride, the setting was very nice, and I had the opportunity to practice how to change a flat tire twice. So slowly, slowly, things started getting better.

Back at home. I broke my personal records. I have done 80 (128 kms) and 92 (148kms) miles in a day....wow....., plus I met some wonderful Climate Ride pals, with whom I have been training and gone to places around the area that I had not visited before. Thanks Jenny for organizing the trainings!!!
I also participated in the September Critical Mass (google it if you have not heard about it) that takes place the first friday of every month; you can join us in the next one that will take place on October 2 (6:30PM in Dupont Circle).
So, I feel ready for the 300 miles challenge. Happy, motivated, excited,...............and leaving for NY on Thursday.

So, keep looking at the blog. Things will only get better, and if you live in DC or plan to be around next Wednesday September 30, please join me and other 100+ climate riders when we arrive to the US Capitol after our 5 day-300 mile ride from NY to DC to raise awareness on Climate Change. This event will be great, very symbolic, and the end of our ride, but hopefully, it will also be the beginning of a better future. Hope to see you there!

Join Climate Riders as they arrive at the US Capitol on Wednesday, September 30th!
RSVP via the facebook