The Perfect Number of Bikes is X + 1

Where x = the number of bikes your currently own. 

Every year Bike and Build pairs up with Giant and BoKoo Bikes to provide free bikes to all of its participants.  Once riders hit a certain percentage of their fundraising goal, they receive a glorious email with directions to ordering said bike.  While I have had the box for a few days, this afternoon I finally had time to put it together and did so in record time, without directions.  It helps that last spring I built several hundred bikes for work.

I saw a couple of people put together a time-lapse video of the entire process last year, so I decided to do the same.  Make sure you stick around for the end of the video because I have a new incentive scheme going on for anyone who donates!  Click here to figure out how.

Sometimes it takes a while for a name to come to me and other times it will hit as soon as I see the bike.  This year's base model for the ladies is mostly black with some light blue accents.  Coming from the land of the Ravens, I decided to name my bike Edgar Allen Poe, Poe for short.  The next step will be to get pedals, a bike fitting and probably a new saddle. 

100 Days to Go Until I Drift West

So often when I think of Bike and Build, I think of the Holstee Manifesto.  According to their website, the founders wanted "to create something they could reflect back on if they ever felt stuck or found themselves living according to someone else’s definition of happiness."  The poster has been printed thousands of times and has even been turned into a video featuring a wide variety of NYC cyclists. 

Some of my favorite lines:

• Do what you love and do it often.
• If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.
• When you eat, appreciate every last bite.
• Travel often.  Getting lost will help you find yourself. 
• Some opportunities only come once, seize them.

With that being said THERE ARE ONLY 100 DAYS UNTIL DRIFT WEST HITS THE ROAD.  My bike showed up today which means tomorrow it comes out of its box and we hit the road.  New name to be reveal tomorrow.  Head over to the bike blog to see how you can donate to my ride!!

Urban Gardening: Season 3

Well it's that time of year again when cherry blossoms start to bloom around the city and bulbs start to pop up in public and private gardens.  While some people are trying to figure out which basketball teams will make it to the final four, urban gardeners are trying to narrow down the final fruit and vegetable which will make it into their gardens. 

This spring I vowed to start on the garden before the weeds took over.  While I was a few weeks earlier than last year, the water was still turned off and the weeds were over a foot high.  On the upside, it rained the night before so the weeds were a bit easier to pull up. 

Two hours and four wheelbarrow loads later I could finally see the dirt, Frank was found and so were the rest of my gardening tools.  There were still a lot of weeds in the ground, but after a quick till most of them came loose.

This year eighteen different kinds of flowers and vegetables will be planted at the community garden and bunch of herbs have already made it into planters at home.  A few plants will be taken out and replaced as the summer wares on and I get a jump on the fall harvest.   

All of the plants went in with out a hitch and there was no room to spare!  It doesn't look like much right now, but give it a few weeks and things will, hopefully, be sprouting away.  Gardening, a lesson in patience.