The bike is back!

Total miles: 349.38.....land/sea miles: 323.13/26.25....so my bike is back! And it is like having a brand new bike. The old rear wheel was so bent truing would just be a band aid so i found some affordable new wheels, had a tuneup, replaced some cables, and had new handlebar tape put on. It is so fun to have it back. Yesterday i went on a shorter, 14.39 mile ride and today, having the day off i rode for 50.79 miles, one of my longest rides yet. Endomondo says today's ride was 42.69, but my phone battery died before i got home. It was a great day and i was so happy to enjoy the roads again. I rode from my house to forest grove, took a roundabout way to hwy 47, and then rode on the banks-vernonia paved trail for a few more miles before going back to banks, then to cornelius and finally home. Also, yesterday i skyped with Andrey's mother, which was a real treat. He is very alert and active. I think he was very intrigued by seeing a face in a box on the computer screen. My face hurt from smiling so much. As for his mother,she is very supportive of my efforts and just a wonderful woman. And watching her hold Andrey was such a beautiful sight. That is it for now. I am happy.

a bit more

Total Miles: 284.28....Land/Sea Miles: 258.03/26.25... Yesterday, I did 23.3 miles on a stationary bike and 2 miles of rowing. Today was a 1 mile swim. hopelessly behind (poor initial planning!) but won't stop. Will be fun to see how far I can get. And, I'm not HOPELESSLY behind, really, I'm not. But as for sea miles? hmmmm....yeah. We'll see. I'm a slow swimmer, and it's hard to have the time/energy to swim more than a mile per day. Also, I have a terrible attention span with monotonous tasks, so a rowing machine is horrible. So we'll see what happens. But I won't quit.

stationary

Total Miles: 257.98....land/sea miles: 234.73/23.25...The bike is done, but still in the shop...Need to wait until friday to get it (payday). I had them do a few more things to it. It's gonna be pretty sweet when it's out. So, that leaves me at LA fitness, on the stationary bike mostly. Did 30 miles yesterday, took me around 78 minutes, which is much quicker than it would be on an actual bike, but i'll take it. Planning on heading to LA fitness again today. Cheers.

Stationary bike

Total miles: 227.98....land/sea miles:204.73/23.25....20 miles on stationary bike. Hopefully i get the real one back tomorrow or friday.

Adding some sea miles

Total miles: 207.98....land/sea miles:184.73/23.25..... Did almost the same thing as yesterday, just a little more: 1 mile swim and 5 mile row. Im not counting the 2 mile power walk from the gym to the train station because i dont want to be THAT desperate. Thats about all there is to say...can't wait to get my bike back.

Back in the game!

Total miles: 201.98...land/sea miles: 184.73/17.25..... Ok, so I lat week absolutely sucked. Between two jobs, no bike, a bus service that runs at the worse times, small windows of opportunity with a gym 5.5 miles away, it just was tough. The bike should be ready on wednesday or thursday. The rear wheel was so bad, it was beyond truing, so new wheels, tuneup, and new handlebar tape are in the works. I am so excited to have it back! But today, i swam one mile and rowed (yes, rowed) 3.25, and on saturday, i ran 2 miles...not much, especially for those who knew me at college (regular 8-10 mile runs) but given my knee situation, i have to ease into things. It feeels stupid, because it is easy to run a slow 2 miles, but i really don't want to get injured. I have been doing lots of stretching and will slowly build up my running base so i can supplement the other activities when it is logistically difficult to complete them. The rowing wasnt too bad. It is easier to so a shorter, intense session (less miles, but better than being too bored to do any) than a longer, seemingly-never-ending session. The swimming was great. I do breast stroke, by the way, because (though slower) it is the most natural stroke for me, the most intuitive. I have very good form with all strokes, including butterfly, but freestyle would mean frequent breaks because it is too hypoxic (if you breathe on both sides and dont deform your body by only breathing on one), butterfly is too anerobic, and backstroke is just strange. Given that frogs (like humans) have limbs, it just makes sense to me to swim like they do. I did breaststroke in a biathalon once and got alot of laughs...and i was slow. But it is what i will do because it is what i enjoy. Well, that is it for now. More swimming tomorrow, maybe some spinning as well (thanks to David Hahs for the suggestion!) and i'm confident it will be a good week!

Some set backs...but it's all good.

Total miles: 195.73.....land/sea miles: 182.73/13. This week...well, let's just say it's a "sophomore slump". I was riding over to my sister's house yesterday, when I popped a tire after 3.78 miles....Having just used my spare tube a fee days before for the other tire, I had no way to fix it, so I had to walk home. You can bet your ass I'm counting those walking home miles... Aside from the obvious flat tire issue (5 minute fix), the bike just needs a good tune up. The rear wheel is far from true, and i intend to consistently log weeks like last week, all summer long. So a good tune will help me in the long run. I used today to run couple errands (taking the bus is soooo much worse than riding a bike!) and hope to be on the bike early next week. In the mean time, you can expect some sea miles in the form of swimming, maybe tomorrow if my sister doesnt come into town (the other one) but if she does i will hang with her because the rest of the weekend is pretty packed with my second job. So, this (of course) puts me behind, but thats ok. I juat gotta do what I can do. If my IT band wasnt so sore I'd run. As for now, I am stretching iy and doing low impact activities (like cycling) so i can mix it up in the future. Cheers.

Wind and no shoulder

Total miles: 188.17....land/sea miles: 175.17/13. I rode south on Hillsboro Highway, intending to ride about 14 miles before turning back when the should disappeare and the road became terribly rough. I prefer to ride on rural state highways because the traffic isn't too heavy and the shoulders are large. But this was a joke. The road looked like something out of a second world country and I wasn't about to destroy my bike or get hit, but turning around meant riding face first into 20 mph gusts...I was a bit mad, but at least it's some miles: 15.56, 7.78 each way. Cheers.

Stationary workouts=boring

Total Miles: 172.61....land/sea miles: 159.61/13. The "equation" in the title, I'll call it Warren's Theorem. Proof? Well, I challenge anyone to find me a counter example...my experience is that even if stationary workouts are tolerable, they fall very short of actually being in motion. Case in point: The Rowing Machine, or Ergometer, if you will..I fell far short of my goal tonight because I was just plain bored to tears. I wasn't too tired, I just couldn't couldn't do it, even while listening to music I love. There is probably no wat I can continue to do it. And it isn't about not wanting to see Andrey, because you're crazy if you think that), bur I'd rather swim. The problem is, swinming is much slower. It's like jogging as opposed to cycling. The spirit of this whole project was based on me simulating (albeit much, much easier than reality) the distances by land and sea needed to traverse a polar (read: shorter) route to Andrey's home. But then I was thinking that there are probably much more solid ground miles than actual water miles, because the arctic is often frozen. So maybe I can justify doing far less sea miles and more land miles that way. Cycling is fun. I look forward to it every day, even just short rides to the gym and back. But sitting on a machine and doing the same repetitive motion just won't work. Anywyay, I stayed late at work today because we were slammed, so my time was limited. I rode to the gyn (5.13 miles), rowed 3 miles, and rode the bike home a slightly longer way for 6.45 miles. That brings me to 11.58 land and 3 sea. Not much, but every debt countd.

Two shorter rides

Total miles: 158.03....land/sea miles: 148.03/10. Two shorter rides today, one that was 15.18 miles and the other 10.85 miles for a total of 26.03 miles. Both were tracked by endomondo, which also posts to facebook. Again, if you coule pledge 1 cent per mile, even if I achieve the total miles, you'd be paying about 46 bucks. Over 34 weeks that isn't much to give, (less than 2 bucks a week!), but it helps me in a big way. Cheers!

The sea miles have begun!

Total miles: 132.....land/sea miles: 122/10. Today was a big day for this "campaign". I rode my bike to LA fitness, taking a detour to the hillsboro library (roughly 7.2 miles), then i was on the rowing machine for 1 hour 22 minutes (total, I took a couple breaks), logging a total of 10 miles, then rode straight home. After a couple hours, I went back on the bike for a 26 mile ride! The bike rides were all recorded by endomondo (highly recommended by my friends, great app) so you can check it there. That brings my total today to 38.3 miles on the bike + 10 on the machine for 48.3 total miles today. Not bad. I can feel my legs getting stronger already. Additionally, I secured a part time job at a gas station/convenience store my friends own (glamorous, right?) for some part time work in addition to my job at First American Title. This will make it challenging to log the miles because I will be so busy, but I will ride n' row as much as I can. I'm feeling good about things, and feel like I'm on the right track to doing all that I can. Your donations will help alot as well. Thank you for them! A week ago I was feeling like it would be impossible to raise the funds, but i think between the generous donations and pledges, as well as my working my tail off, we will make it happen. Thanks again for all the support!

To Gaston and back.

Total miles: 83.7...land/sea miles: 83.7/0. I rode from my house in Hillsboro to the Yamhill county line (in Gaston) and back. 13.5 miles each way, for a total of 27 miles. MapMyFitness mapped my way down just fine, but showed a beeline route back to my house, which obviously isnt what happened. Tomorrow should see the start of some see miles as well as about 10 miles or so on the bike. Pay day is in a week, so I can get a tuneup then. Hopefully she makes it...she's been a champ so far. Many thanks to my donors and others who are expressing their support.

A few more miles

Total miles: 56.7; land/sea miles: 56.7/0. I kind of took it easy today, but still logged some miles. I need to plug in some long rides, but it is hard when it doesnt stay as light as I'd like. By the time I get home, have a snack, change, it is usually almost 7. For long rides, I need a couple of hours. I had the MapMyFitness app running in my poket while I was riding, but i was running errands and had to pause it often. 3 miles: to the bike shop to get more air in my tires (of course they were closed...), then to the grocery store and back home. Then to a fitness center to check out their pool and rowing machines so I could see what my options are for logging those sea miles (yet to be started). This was 4.8 miles each way, for a sub total of 9.6, + previous 3 is 12.6...about half of what I shoud have done. Also, I discovered that the registration for the Seattle to Portland is closed...what a bummer. But the Seattle to Vancouver BC is still open. That might be a possibility. Right now, having a good idea of my work schedule and how long it takes to ride, I am in a better position to strategize for how I can get a good schedule to log enough miles. I want to put up some more pics of my beautiful son, but I am writing this on my phone, and not sure how to post it. More and more people are stepping forward to help. It is so generous. Thank You to all!

Bike ride in western Washington County

Total miles: 44.1; Land/Sea miles: 44.1/0 Wow, so I am realizing how it will be hard to keep this up EVERY DAY. But, as I go along and get stronger, it will get easier. The bike did ok, but it does need a good general tuneup, mainly because it has been a couple years since it had one, and if I am going to be putting on some serious miles this summer, well...I don't want to run it into the ground! My plan was to head out from Hillsboro toward hwy 47 and go up to Buxton, which I think is some tiny logging town. But with my phone (which was my map) in my pocket, I made a wrong turn and did some zig zaggin to 47. By then dusk was upon me so I just rode toward Banks and then ons towards home. It was a respectable ride, but chilly! You should see me out there, as I don't look like a "typical" cyclist. I wore jeans, hoodie, adidas track jacket, adidas shoes (not my biking shoes, in case the bike breaks down, I want to not be wearing cleats), and a beanie. I need a new helmet, so until then, I just hope no one hits me. When it got dark, I put my headlamp on with the flashing light to make myself noticeable. Hillsboro is the perfect place for a bike rider to live. Contrary to what the name might suggest, there are no hills around...just farm after beautiful farm. Between here and the coast mountains there are just beautiful country roads, actually not too unlike what my buddy Zack and I rode on in Sweden last summer. Thanks for all your support and encouragement. It has touched me howbmuc love people have shown. If you can make a small (or large, but I assume most can't) pledge, please see the post entitled "Till Andrey". It is far too cumbersome to look up the code to put that button here while typing this on my phone, because I am ghetto and don't have a computer.