Sunday November 29th - JULIE'S BIRTHDAY

Emma Wood to Leo Carillo

Miah, a 2nd time SLBTer, recently returned to the tour after spending the days around Thanksgiving with his family. Miah’s had a rough first part of the ride, going down with a nasty cold which some riders have succumbed. He has not ridden since we passed through Cambria, but joined us today in Ventura. While under the weather instead of riding Miah took on the important role of “sagging.” Primarily this means that you drive the Support and Gear (SAG) vehicle, but it takes on many other behind the scene responsibilities. “Sagging was great. I got healthy and got clear insight of what needs to happen daily.” Captaining what became the “Sicksie Bus” for three days with the other infirmed; Ashley, Sean, & guest appearances from David, Miah etc took on many tasks daily.

Riders of the Bike Tour get all the glory, but their days are incredibly smooth due to the sags hard work. The first job of the day is to pack up the bus, not a small feat. Any special errands that need to be run are their responsibilities. For example; pick up pre-arranged food donations, buy additional lunch goods, find biodiesel gas stations, fill up propane, charge essential appliances, get campground reservations, meet up with chaperones at schools, help riders with directions... these could all happen before lunch. Lunch by the way is a production in and of itself. Set up the table, whip up some tuna, slice cheese, make hummus, cut bread, silverware, water, snacks… there’s a lot to be done… and then clean it up after the tornado of hungry riders tears through. The perks are that you get to go to the store and pick up your favorite juice you haven’t even see in two weeks, or get tacos whenever you want. “We were at Vons, and David had been pretty quiet just laying on the counter of the bus because of his bad back… then he just came to life saying ‘We need tacos’, and there was a taqueria right there…. We had carnitas” explained Miah. But he says the best part of sagging is other people’s reactions to the woody short bus. “You can see people stop and look at it, and you know they are thinking ‘What is that?’ Then they just have the biggest smiles on their faces.”

The crew enjoyed a leisurely day in Ventura. Friday was “Buy Nothing Day” a protest against the consumerism of the holiday season. Luckily we hit the Patagonia headquarters store on Saturday what we deemed “Buy Everything Day.” Out of respect for the wood panel floors we left our muddy cleats outside, regardless there’s no way 20 unshowered bikers couldn’t make a scene in the store. After two hours of shopping for responsibly made wares we finally departed, glowing from our screaming deals (thanks, Chris ;).

We were free to enjoy the morning, with the guideline to be sure to be leaving Ventura by 1pm. My group didn’t leave until two. Here’s why… 1) Courtney was really having a hard time deciding if he should buy a base layer that was made from recyclable capilene or the petroleum free merino wool . 2) We decided to buy tamales at the Farmers Market & got sucked into listening to a middle school aged punk band playing on the curb & 3) we stopped into the Channel Island Visitor Center. The Visitor Center gave us an insight into the subtle differences between Catalina and the other channel islands, and some major differences. The center has a fossil of a pigmy mammoth found on one of the islands. The docent told us that it probably floated or swam out to the island and then shrank in size, a perfect example of the breadbox theory. We didn’t get out of Ventura until after 2pm.
The next bit of riding was especially pretty. “It was like a movie, it was perfect” described Miah. He continued, “From Pt Mugu to Zuma Beach there were slightly rolling hills overlooking the beach. The sun was low in the sky, everything was a golden color, and the waves the way the waves were coming in… It was a moment that made me so glad that I didn’t stay at home.”

After celebrating Julie’s birthday for awhile with custard and French fries, we came into Leo Carillo. This was our last night together for the next three days and we had mac and cheese as well as cakes to celebrate Julie’s day. After dinner we fell into work, we needed to divide food, curriculum, and gear for the next day. Since we have so many schools in the LA area we actually need to break up into smaller groups to be able to hit all of them. We had 10 schools to visit and only 48 hours to do it in, every crew would be visiting two schools on Monday. These are the routes

INLAND: Day 1) Over Malibu Mountains to Burbank, Day 2) Studio City & Glendale then Altadena, Day 3) Altadena to Huntingon Beach.

COASTAL: Day 1) Leo Carillo to Venice Day 2) Lawndale and South Central LA to Manhatten Beach day 3) Meet with Inland at Huntington Beach

ORANGE COUNTY: Day 1) 80 miles Leo Carillo to Fullerton, Garden Grove and Orange, to Huntington Beach then Irvine.



Orange County crew left early in the morning so they’d roll into Miah’s parents’ house before dark. They almost got their by lunch

Inland left next to get ready to go over Malibu

Coastal Crew laughed for 4 hours after Courtney ripped his spandex shorts on the bus door and didn’t leave until noontime.

Next we’ll be hearing from the individual crews on their journeys.

Friday November 28th

Santa Barbara was good to us, but we were on the road again today. Not too many miles from SB to Ventura, but an interesting one. On the way a crew met Bill at a hot dog stand just before we got on the 101 to ask for directions. Danny told him what we were all about, then asked if he had any Gatorade. Bill said no but he had lemonade, and we’d probably like it. We got 5 and he gave it too us for free. “It was really good” said Libby. Then he came out with some red vines because we “need some sugar for that bike ride” according to Bill. He gave directions and just then two other people came up to get hot dogs. As they rolled up he said “Sorry I was just playing Santa Claus to a bunch of non profit” Libby described it as “the highlight of my day”.

Libby and Adam both got another flat tire today. The personal count of flat tires for those two in the last two days stands at this; Libby 4, Adam 5. That’s 9 within 48 hours. There’s talk that half of all the flats we’ve had have been from those two! What’s causing this bad luck? According to Libby she was talking to Danny just before we had the Bici Centro event about not having a single flat yet. Danny said, “yeah, knock on wood”, Libby just laughed. Now she’s learned her lesson. Adam’s take? “I hate Santa Barbara” And well he should.

Tonight we sleep at Emma Wood, one of those campsites with character. Really an RV park, we’re staying in the small tenting cul-de-sac behind it. Sandwiched within a hundred feet of both the 101 and a railroad, it’s so noisy there can’t even be a video blog tonight due to the highway noise. It is home to some of the most fantastic sunsets. “ The sunset tonight was one of the best I’ve seen” said Libby. It was even clear enough to see the channel islands as the sun set behind them.

It’s a return to camping for the crew for the next two nights. “Tents have become like home, today when we set them up it was like, ‘oh here’s our little home again’” said Libby. We usually roll into our campsites just before dusk. From there, we have a little routine that generally we follow;
STEP ONE: Quick set up your tent, you’ve got to do it before dark . Find a good spot, level & protected from the wind. If you’re lucky enough to have a tent mate then you get them to help you set up.
STEP TWO: Even quicker change into your clothes you’ve been dreaming about for the last hour, cozy slippers and warm pants etc. Hang spandex on a nearby tree for the night.
STEP THREE: See if you can catch a sunset,
STEP FOUR: Try to help cook dinner in the bus. There’s not always enough jobs or enough space for everyone, so when it’s obvious that you can’t help you succumb to washing dishes afterwards.
STEP FIVE: Eat a hot meal
STEP SIX: Wash the dishes
STEP SEVEN: Meet to talk about the next day. Talk about the route/ school/ anything special you need to know. Set up who will sag and who will sweep. Sweeps ride last and make sure no one is stranded with bike trouble. Ideally a sweep always has a tube, a pump, a patch kit, a tool, a cell phone to call the bus if the need it, and the knowledge of how to change a flat tire. More on why this is important later.
STEP EIGHT: Brush teeth, etc. get to bed, you have a big day of riding in the morning

THE ORIGIN OF SWEEPS
“I always knew you were good with a broom, honey” -Courtney

The SLBT first established “Sweeps” on the very first bike trip to Phoenix. I bet you didn’t even know there was a bike trip to Arizona, there’s not even a blog for it’s that’s how primitive it was. On day two of riding, Kathy Rose got a flat tire in Camp Pendleton. Camp Pendleton is a barren stretch of road that goes through the military base between Orange and North San Diego County. Civilian cars are not allowed, but cyclists can go through if they have a valid form of ID, it’s about as scenic as it sounds. From Kathy, “I was riding my upright bike with a basket and a tiny walkie talkie. Because it wasn’t a road bike, every one else could ride more efficiently and it was hard to keep up. I’d also never had a flat before and I didn’t recognize the funny noises the bike was making, and was finding it increasingly harder and harder to keep up. I skid out going down hill, and by then it was obvious that the rear tire was flat. I pulled out my tiny walkie talkie to call for help. After many attempts to reach someone with “This is Kathy, do you hear me? I need help!” I realized the walkie talkie had a range of about 10 feet. It was time to attempt to fix my first flat tire, which I had never done before. We’d been shown how too,… maybe I don’t remember. I got out the tire levers and was about to take off the wheel,… and then realized that I didn’t own a pump, and had no way to get more air into the tire… so taking the tire off wasn’t going to do any help. I went back to the radio, and started pushing my bike . I’d get really excited when I heard any static back- maybe someone heard me. I was stranded, I realized that I’d be waking for awhile, and I did. My only company was military men driving by, slowing down to give me weird looks but not to help. The rest of the crew had stopped miles ahead wondering where I was. After what seemed like hours, but maybe was only 45 min, my friend Erica was sent back to check on me, she had a pump and knew how to fix a flat, my savior.” From that night on we decided that a sweep must know how to change a flat and have a pump, and there needs to be two of them, and we threw out the radios. And so now we learn from our mistakes.

Before we go to bed for the night we want to send a shout out to our friend Chris who always makes us feel at home in Ventura.

Friday Nov 28th - With Full Bellies & Clean Clothes We Left Santa Barbara

Our parents would be proud. We really pulled off a spectacular Thanksgiving last night. We gathered together at dusk at a park near Chris E's house. He lives up on a hill (a really steep hill, ask Courtney, Meagan, and Laurie) that overlooks the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. A lot of work went into preparing our 30 guests, here's a partial list;

• Mashed Cauliflower - ingredients from the Farmers Market
• Squash Soup - Jenny
• Romaine Salad - Farmers Market
• Green Beans - from Farmers Market
• Homemade Salsa & blue corn chips - Jenny & Nicci
• Stuffing - donated bread from Trader Joes
• Squash - Farmers Market
• Cranberries - Dakota!
• Fruit Salad - donated from several farmers markets
• 2 different potato dishes - I know Dakota made one of them
• Rolls - homemade and donated from Farmers Market
• Chocolate Chip Bread - made by Julie
• And of course we had a Turkey - prepared by Brent
• Chris E and Laurie hand made all of the desserts - Pumpkin Pie & Pecan Pie
  

There may have been others food, but I got so sleepy I had to take a nap in the bus for awhile. After dining at dusk at the city overlook, we washed up the dishes and sat around singing and telling stories. The only thing that would have made it better was if our families were with us.

We leave Santa Barbara today, but could not do so without thanking our gracious hosts; Brent & Dakota (Buster & Lola), Chris E, and Danny's Granny. It takes a special kind of person to take in a group of bikers (who had been camping for the previous week) and let them take over your homes for 4 days. Thank you, thank you, thank you! we're blessed by your generosity. And to all of our friends who joined us for Thanksgiving - we could not have asked for a more special & unique celebration. We're blessed to have you in our little Catalina family. And please get let us know when you've got the "Transitioning from Catalina" manual finished.

Today we pull out our fresh and clean spandex and jump back in the saddle (don't call it a bike seat, for whatever reason when you're serious about biking it's more like you're riding a horse then just sitting) and head out the 30ish miles to Emma Wood just outside of Ventura.

Thursday November 27th THANKSGIVING

It's just about 1pm and the kitchen at Brent and Dakota's smells amazing, and things are cooking up at Danny's Granny's too. We've got so many friends in town - Nicci, Jenny, Whitney, Owen, Laurie, Chris, Dakota and Brent - all together with us to celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a beautiful day in Santa Barbara, the rain has passed and the beautiful warm weather that we've been enjoying has returned!! We'll get together later this afternoon to dine together. Our food will be a combination of the foods we've had donated, food from the Santa Barbara farmers market, and dishes our friends have made.

We'd like to send a big HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of our family members that have tolerated us being away for the holiday. We miss you and love you, and can't wait to see you soon!

Wednesday November 26

A lazy rainy morning, people did what they wanted to until later afternoon when we met up in Isla Vista. This was such a rad event, we had some folks from Bici Centro come meet us at the Isla Vista Food Co-op for a ride into the city and workshop. Bici Centro is a volunteer bike kitchen in Santa Barbara. They provide education and events to the community for free and boost bike culture. Thomas, Jonathan, and other Bici Centro volunteers met up with us as we started on the Bike trail through UCSB. We hadn't gotten too far before the rain started, then Libby got flat tire. We all waited for her and Courtney to change it, cheered when it was all wrapped up, got about 200 yards and Adam got a flat. Awwww too bad.. then Libby got a flat, then Adam again, and again. Five flats in a 12 mile stretch, it took us 2.5 hours to get there. Adam just decided to walk the rest of the way on his 3rd flat...

We were famished once we got to the bike kitchen and ate the meal Travis prepared for us. After that we tore into our bikes. We got full use of the facilities, Thomas said "this is a community bike kitchen so now it's your kitchen too." Jacob replaced his bottom bracket, Courtney worked on his brakes, I learned how to "true my wheel" (spokes pull your bike wheel into opposing directions, if one gets loose it can actually change the shape of your wheel so that it is not a "true" circle, what you do is systematically tighten and loosen the spokes where the shape has bent until it straightens out). We kept stopping and looking at each other to say "I can't believe we got a whole bike kitchen to ourselves!" What a blessing. We finally wrapped it just before 9 and rode home in the rain... and got three more flat tires (what happened!!??)

Tomorrow Thanksgiving!

Tuesday November 25

THE ELEMENTS

Headwinds, rain, and city riding.

Whooo. We're beat. Forty miles from Lompoc to Goleta and headwinds the whole way. Headwinds is a wind that is blowing towards you and turns your body into a sail. This means you get to pedal your heart out uphill, and keep pedaling on the downhill. After miles and miles of monotanous biking we dropped onto the 101 and rode along the highway for a bit. At El Capitan we ate lunch and that's when the rain started. Personally, I was half estatic. I've been living on Catalina for awhile and haven't seen real rain since January. We were also really excited to finally use the rain gear that we've been lugging around for the last 4 bike trips - it's the first real rain we've even encountered on bikes! Soaking wet by midday, we finally arrived to Santa Barbara. We dropped people off at the different homestayes we'd be staying at for the next couple of days (awesome to have a roof over our heads during the rain - Thanks Danny's Granny, Chris, Brent & Dakota).

We regrouped at Ocean Futures to meet up with our friends Karen & Nancy. They had a full spread out for us and we mowed it down, especially the group that rode down State Street in the rain (keep an eye on the buses!). Lots of the OFS team is out on expedition in Norway studying Orca whales, so the office was a bit quiet. The latest news was that the bilge exploded on the ship (ewwwwww). We hope butter luck comes to our exploring friends up north. We also got to sneak preview some uncut clips for an upcoming special (my favorite was "Pink Dolphins") and generally just got to hang out in the office. Our friend Laura B who works one of the AOTE cruise ship programs showed up later and that was a special treat because she used to work out on the island as well.

We hit up the Farmers Market with her later. Divided into teams we asked the vendors there if they'd be willing to give us anything they didn't want to take back home with them. We came home with bins and boxes and bags full of great food. A couple of things worked in our favor 1) it is the biggest day for the Farmers Market in the year and it was raining 2) the food bank that normally picks up food didn't come today, 3) People were really friendly and overwhelmingly generous!

Monday, November 24

El Churro, San Luis Obispo Montessori, Guatalupe, Lompoc

El Churro Regional Park provided us with so many cultural opportunities; Cuesta "College", a Mens Colony, Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. It was hard to leave the beauty but we had visits to make. We split into two groups, well three groups if you count the small army of sick people accumulating in the SAG (Sicksie Bus; Ashley, Miah, & Sean).

One group head to Grover Beach to check out the Voler (pronounced to our surprise with a French accent vo-lay, not vo-laire like we've been saying for the last two years) factory. The folks at Voler have donated extra jerseys and shorts to us for the last two years. This has helped make an expensive sport (jerseys alone can run $40-$60) affordable for we environmental educators. We got to see the entire screen printing process and even see some pretty cute Twin Six brand jerseys being printed and sewn together in the plant. We had some fun with some of the ladies in the plant, thanks to them and Jeff for showing us the place, and assisting us so much with this trip. Most of us however headed to San Luis Obispo Montessori and got to garden with the 4th, 5th, & 6th graders for a couple of hours! So much fun to learn with and from those students in the garden and compost.

We met up at Pismo State Beach for lunch, but 50 miles and the Harris Grade waited for us before Lompoc. This was a huge day, not big hills, but lots of miles before sundown. Frankly we flew, we made amazing time down PCH1. When we met up at Guatalupe Jacob figured that we were making 15 miles an hour. The Harris grade is 8 miles of uphill, but once you get there you're just about homefree. Little regrouping at the base, and lots of encouragement on the way helped, but really it was nothing compared to Santa Cruz mountains!

Superfun downhill, rolled through town, and we got into the RV park before night. We have not stayed in Lompoc for two years, and we were really looking forward to the bowling alley only to find out that it had recently been torn down. The locals at the restruant we stopped at were equally dissapointed. Next day we get to Santa Barbara for a couple days, yeehaw!!

Sunday November 23

Camp Ocean Pines to El Chorro State Park Campground

There are days on the bike tour where we rush and huff and puff and sweat rivers to reach a school and then continue in a hurry to make camp before dark. Today was not one of those days. Instead, hungry riders gathered around the Camp Ocean Pines breakfast hall at a leisurely 8 o-clock in our pajamas. After breakfast, Camp Ocean Pine’s Naturalist and Raptor caretaker, Scott, introduced riders to two rescued raptors, a noble great horned owl and a juvenile red-tailed hawk. Although the birds fulfill a similar ecological niche, the two birds might be each other’s prey, the owl vulnerable by day, and the hawk, at night.

With our photographer, Dan Sullivan, on board for just one more day, riders celebrated his birthday dressed in fabulous flare. With our hosts waving, a cowboy and cowgirl, Evel Kneivel, a Hawaiian hula girl, a stop sign, a gymnast, and batman’s Robyn tore out of the camp and headed south toward San Luis Obispo. Riders stopped twenty miles down the road at Morrow Bay Estuary to see what happens when fresh and salt water mix. One rider, Abigail went out looking for white pelicans and came back with stories of rare sea otter sightings. Seals and sea lion also attract harbor and great white sharks into the estuary. Taking the day to learn and recuperate, riders witnessed one way that dams and levees can impact animal habitat. With water diverted from the floodplains, sediment flowed through the levee and dumped into the estuary, threatening its very existence. Fortunately, farsighted conservationists advocated for the levee’s removal. With the floodplains largely restored, sediment is now dispersed throughout natural waterways, before reaching the Morrow Bay Estuary.

Saturday November 22

Group Interview (in “Van Gogh” cabin at Camp Ocean Pines about ride through Big Sur)
Interviewees: Abigail, Julie, Libby, Laurie, Alexis, and eventually Danny

How are you feeling?
Abigail: My body is talking to me… It’s saying ‘Stretch me, give me a break...’ But also feeling awesome and so accomplished
Julie: I feel like I want to ride
Libby: Flying down those his I felt like ‘this is what life is all about’
Laurie: (sigh) The California coast never ceases to amaze me.

What were your High/Low for these last few days?
Julie: (low) not being able to ride (Julie had hot water spilled on her foot, and got some blisters that are keeping her from riding)
Alexis: My high and low were the same day. Just before lunch after climbing that hill in Carmel was my low, and coming into Big Sur was my high.
Abigail: (high) Such amazing backdrops and hills that kick your butt
Libby: (high) The moments you forget you’re on a bike and take your breath away
Abigail: Looking back down and a mountain and thinking ‘Look at what I did… and look at the view!”
Danny: (high) Jumping in the ocean (low) When my bike broke (his derailleur actually broke off of his bike while riding)
Laurie: (low) My tummy hurts (high) Sunset last night at Plaskett Creek on the bluffs. There were the biggest most intense waves & you could feel the power of the wave shaking everything
Libby: I caught myself just grinning ear to ear…
Abigail: Yeah, forget your tush hurting, my face hurts from smiling

What will you come away with after riding Big Sur
Julie: A sore foot
Laurie: A sore butt
Libby: Sunburn
Danny: A better understanding of life
Abigail: No more intimidating hills
Danny: Bigger calf muscles
Abigail: The feeling that you can do anything
Libby: A deep appreciation of my granny gear.

Friday November 21

My, Everyone Thought He Rode Around Not Getting Enough Recycling.

Here she comes, Big Sur!

“Big Sur has been good to us every year, good weather, not too much traffic, and beautiful scenery” from Jacob, three time Sustainable Living Bike Tour rider. The Big Sur section of the tour is held in the hearts of SLBT cyclists with anticipation and anxiety. Riders spend three days riding up and down the hills of PCH1 as it hugs the jagged coastline of central California. We took a moment with Jacob to see how this trip compared to the others in 06 and 07. “I took an especially causal approach this year, as I’ve become increasingly familiar with the ride I knew how much time I could take. There was a general feeling of un-hurriedness, and attempting to really soak it in.”

One of the first of several stops was at the Spirit Garden “the cultural hub of Big Sur” according to Jacob. Essentially a gift shop and bakery next to the Shell gas station, it is a place of respite for travelers. Woven “birds nest” tree houses lined with pillows and blankets gave us a nice overlook of the garden when we first arrived. Jam packed with worldly artwork and crafts for sale, it was an explosion of color and sound in the serene redwood setting.

Jacob also made time to see the Julia Pfeiffer waterfalls, watch sea otters, and observe the California condor. “The burn damage [at Julia Pfeiffer-Burns Park] was especially hard hitting” said Jacob. Since the fires were squelched earlier in the year, the focus has been turned to mudslide prevention, important with the close proximity of Pacific Coast Highway 1. In addition to closed trail there was evidence of bridges removed, and chain link fences installed to catch debris to keep it off the road.

Later in the day the group ran into a research assistant for project from UCSC and got an update about the state of sea otters in California. Big Sur used to be the last strong hold of sea otters in California, and while the population there has held steady it has increased in other areas like Monterrey Bay. The concern now is that the overall population has not grown in awhile, and scientists are not sure why.

While this not her first time to this area, Lissa a first time SLBT rider told us her impressions of biking the mountains, “Oh my God, (laughs) what glorious beauty lies before me… And it pains me… every time we approach a mountain (all laugh).” Great job, we’re sure it will be easier next year, Lissa.

It was our third trip to Plaskett Creek, and for being such an intimate campsite it is usually a memorable stay. The campsite, is just off the PCH1, on the ocean side of the highway there is trail to the beach, and usually an amazing sunset by the time we arrive there. We were well attended to by the staff member at the campsite who was patrolling the site from his pick-up truck, and made friends with our neighbors there. Last year we feasted on an endless falafel dinner, and have basically been raving about it ever since. So we revisited our favorite meal once again, finishing off the night with cakes, pies, and singing (thanks for a beautiful birthday, friends).

Thursday November 20

One of the unique things about traveling is the people that you meet along the way. Today we had two inspiring encounters with like-minded folks. We left New Brighton State Beach and stopped for breakfast at the homestead of Freddy and Ellen in Aptos. The family lives on a highly productive mini farm and orchard. Our rider David was impressed by how they were “quietly and methodically” putting into practice the principals of permaculture that we teach on Catalina. We got to sample from a wide variety of heirloom fruit organically grown on the farm. David’s favorite was a pink fleshed apple that he described as the crispest and most delicious apple he’d ever had, “it sparkled in my mouth”. Another highlight was Ginger the most well cared for cow any of us had ever seen . “Her eye lashes were miles long” said Jenna. Riders still comment on what a pretty cow she is. It was equally impressive that her owners grew and gathered majority of the biomass or food that Ginger needs to eat. Here’s a list of what it takes to feed Ginger daily:

• 7-10 pumpkins
• 50 apples
• 6 mangle fodder beets
• 30 lbs organic hay
• 12 lbs of organic alfalfa – but she only eats the leafy bits, not the stems.

Daily Ginger produces 5 gallons of the purest most refreshing milk that we had ever tasted. Thanks to Freddy and Ellen for their hospitality.

The next bit of biking exposed another of farming. We rode past acres and acres of conventional strawberry farms. Growing strawberries in southern California isn’t a simple task. We got to see plasti-culture, a common form of agriculture to grow strawberries in several stages along the route. Fields are covered in a sheet of plastic and holes are burned into it for the plants to grow. The plastic helps with water retention, weed suppression, heat acceleration and fumigation - to kill any potential threat to the strawberry plants. As we cycled past some fields were just being covered in sheets of clear plastic, while others had piles of it on the side of the road where it had just been pulled off. As we passed by workers in various stage of protective clothing, it made a striking juxtaposition to the scene on the mini-farm earlier in the day.

The bike path through to Monterrey is long and scenic. Along the way we got the chance to meet Mike and Max who are biking self-contained (meaning no SAG vehicle to carry their gear like us) from Alaska to Argentina for the next two years. Our rider Jacob met Mike while we were riding through Golden Gate Park during Car Free Sundays. Alexis and I found him on the side of the road looking for Max. In lieu of using their maps that they left in San Francisco, they made a plan to just head south. Mike asked if he could follow us to highway 1. So we rode along with him (and Max once we found him) until we found the bus to grab a snack. We were inspired by their trip, and more than a few of us were temped to join along. They have already been riding for four months, with no complaints and a pretty easy going attitude, Like their countryman Courtney said, “I’d wish them good luck-but I don’t think the need it.”

Next stop, Big Sur

We’d like to take a moment to give a huge thanks to the folks from Grove Market Food for their generous food donation. We were able to walk away with:

• box of bananas
• bread, pasta, sauce – which we devoured tonight.
• So many greens
• and 10% discount on anything else we wanted to get

November 19th - Santa Cruzin'

The Bike Tour’s third annual trip to Almaden Country Day School was a blast. After the flat but long cycle, we arrived just as the middle school was wrapping up a play. We got to work with the 5th graders – who especially enjoyed the Organic Corn game, got the 6th graders pumped for Catalina with a slide show, and revisited our friends from the 7th & 8th grade. A few lucky riders got to read “Diary of a Worm” with the Kindergarten as well. The last two times we have come to Almaden, we have been invited to their Thanksgiving Feast that is prepared by students and parents. I’ve heard it’s the second largest Thanksgiving festival this side of the Mississippi, but maybe I made that up. Because our schedule changed a bit this year, we were a week early for the official fest – but the 7th grade parents wouldn’t let a little scheduling change get in the way of that!! We were treated to a delicious organic lunch; soup, salad, pasta, fruit from their trees at home, chips, cookies and much more! We dined with our gracious hosts the 7th graders, and left the school satiated.

Danny and Sean actually took a side detour and visited DeAnza Community College and the Kirsch Environmental Center ~ check it out on-line. They got the first LEED Platinum certification for any building in the USA at a community college.

After that we had a big climb ahead of us. It was only about 20ish miles until our campsite, Big Basin. It’s just that about 13 of those miles were in the Santa Cruz mountains. I took off with a lady peleton; Julie Meagan and Libby. After about a half an hour of climbing we stopped for a snack, stretching, and photo taking. Travis pulled up in the bus to check in with us. We asked just about how much farther we had to go. Spirits sunk when he told us that if the length of his arm was the full distance we were going, we were at about his fingernail. It was slow going, so slow in fact that Jenna had enough time to watch a banana slug crossing the road. But we made up ways to amuse ourselves. Libby made up songs about the mountains and biking really really slow. Lissa challenged Abigail to bike faster than she could walk… Lissa (the walker) won, but returned to the saddle when Abigail reminded her that this is not the Sustainable Living Walking Tour.

Turns out Travis might have been exaggerating about only being a miniscule way up the hill, but it got us in the right mindset for the day’s climb, and the future ones in Big Sur. Best of all we had the redwoods to keep us entertained with sweeping views of the mountains and a beautiful golden setting sun. Most of us reached the campsite by dark, and the rest of us were swooped up into the bus for a ride into the campsite.

We had been enjoying unseasonably warm weather in San Francisco and San Jose, just about until this point. When the sun went down in the redwoods that day it got cooold. Some waiting at the camp decided to head out to the sites we had reserved. And we waited, and waited. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so we piled into the tiny womens bathroom. Eight of us were huddled in there at it’s highest capacity playing team building initiatives… you can take the instructors out of camp, but you can’t take the camp out of the instructors. Matty P, our friend from seasons past came and joined us for a bit as we hunkered down for the night.



It was a chilly morning, but we had a nice downhill into Boulder Creek out of the mountains. Julie and I stopped into an antique shop and found an old booklet of Catalina postcards that we’ve never seen in Avalon.

We all met up at the home of Kristin and Mark Sullivan in Capitola, lovingly referred to as the Straw Bale house. The home features;

• walls constructed of renewable straw from a farmer they knew
• highly effective passive solar design
• extensive water catchment system
• use of salvaged wood
• native plant landscaping
• an organic garden and more!

Thanks to Barbara Graves, Kristin and Mark Sullivan, and members of the cycle group that showed up.

We wrappd the day up at New Brighton State Beach. I woke up in the morning with huge bags under my eyes. Not just “I climbed over a mountain and slept in a tent” eyes, bags so big they actually distort my eye shape. This is happened the last two times I’ve stayed here on the bike tour, unfortunately on days that were on or surrounding my birthday. This caused me to be convinced I’d gotten a bunch of wrinkles and aged overnight. In a conversation about this phenomenon with Heather she mentioned that I was probably having a reaction to something at the campsite. Oh… Guess that explains why years came off my face after moving around for 20 minutes. This year instead of having a panic attach, I just woke up half an hour before everyone else.

In the morning we will stop by a local homestead and get our first taste of Big Sur, ending up in Andrew Molera.

Nov 18th - If you're going to San Francisco... bring your bike!!

San Francisco treated us well. Not only did we benefit from the support of our friends and sponsors there, but we were able to benefit from the car-free culture in San Francisco. The bike lanes in San Francisco are plentiful and well mapped, we comfortably shared them with so many other cyclists.

We stayed at the YMCA in Point Bonita, so we were especially lucky to have a dedicated bike line across the Golden Gate Bridge. On our way there we realized that it was Car Free Sundays in Golden Gate Park, so we got to enjoy the full breadth of the road with so many other walkers, bikers, and roller skaters. A lot of us got to see Disco roller skating for the first time when we took a break to watch them. A big climb and a speedy downhill gave us a little taste of the Santa Cruz mountains that we will be climbing tomorrow. We pulled into the YMCA with enough time to watch the sunset from Point Bonita. We joked that we got to find out why it was called “bonita” this year, because last year we arrived in pitch black and fog!

The next morning we had to get up at 5am to visit our San Francisco school. I took a turn at “sagging” meaning that I was responsible for driving our SAG (Support And Gear) vehicle. Travis is still a bit laid up from his injury so he joined me. We got to enjoy the simple pleasure of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on a crystal clear day just after sunrise. As we reached the end of the bridge Travis and I scrambled to find money to pay the toll. As I rolled down the window with some cash crumpled in my hand, the attendant let me know that since we were technically a carpool the $6 toll charge was waived. Kind of funny to think of a 20 passenger bus with only 2 people in it as a carpool, but glad to take advantage of this carpool initiative (and hold onto the 6 bucks).

We got to the school early and were ready to talk to the 8^th grade. We were split up into three different activity areas around the campus thinking critically about our environmental footprint, exploring the depths of non-point source pollution, and thinking creatively about solutions when using alternative transportation.

Thirty-five miles of urban riding later, we pulled into the Foothills Congregation Church. We’ve been so luck to be able to stay at this community’s facilities for the last three years where they have given us shelter and a hot shower (kind of a hot commodity on the bike trip). We’d also like to send a shout out to the choir that was practicing there that night – you sounded amazing, and send our apologies if we were too loud to the meditation group that met in the morning.

Next we get to visit our friends of many different grade levels at Almaden Country Day School, but we’ve got 25 miles before we get there in the morning!

Sunday, November 16

What a way to end the weekend! Waking up relatively early, I actually had the pleasure of going to Cafe Gratitude for breakfast, while others got their stuff organized. This little restaurant is all organic, vegan and mostly raw food, plus the people are just the most chipper you can ever imagine. The team all converged on Kathy's at 11 AM to get the bus packed. We held a mini reminder meeting about safety while we bike as a large group then headed back to Sports Basement for last minute fixer-uppers.

Golden Gate Park and Presidio were beautiful rides. Reconvening at the parking lot below the bridge we were able to cross the Golden Gate together, this year in the light of day, haha. Also, this year we decided to head to the coast instead of cutting through the tunnel so we had a large climb and then a very steep and very fast downhill to Point Bonita YMCA, where we watched the sunset and had a wonderful meal (thanks David, Lissa, Julie, Meagan, Travis and Morgan!). After some late night planning, we tucked ourselves into our beds and dreams of sustainability presentations danced in our heads.

Saturday, November 15

Today was amazing! The weather was great and we came together as a whole team in the waning hours of the day, which always ties things together well before we begin the major riding. The morning had us gathering together at the Sports Basement, where Jeff gave us a bike maintenance workshop - and a world class performance to say the least. Hilarious and in good taste, he had us rolling with laughter; I even thought I saw some tears :) There were crackers, cheese, veggies and dip, not to mention a 20% discount for gear in the store and tune-ups for all our riders. While we took hours sifting through 3 floors for cheap equipment, a few bodies went to the Alemany farmers' market to get some goods for the evening extravaganza at Kathy's in the Mission District. I rode in from Laurie's house just as the van and the 2nd crew - Travis, Julie, Danny, Sean, Alexis, Abigail, Becky and Morgan. Even Matty P made a surprise visit. The evening party was ripe with guests from San Francisco: friends of Kathy's, people from the building, friends and past staff members, etc. There was great food (veggie pasta, salads and desserts) and good times. A few drums, guitars and vocal wonders made there way to the back room for a jam session and the night ended with a more contemporary dance session, DJ'ed by none-other-than Miah at the iTunes desk.

Second Day First School..

Once on the mainland we loaded the bus with curriculum supplies, food, camping gear, and bet you can guess….18 bicycles!!! Following that feat we made our way from the Long Beach Catalina Express terminal to Santa Barbara where we were welcomed by Traci Cope at Crane Country Day School. The school graciously fed us and allowed us to stay in their library for the night. The next morning we were able to tour the campus and catch up with some students and teachers before starting activities. Visiting the garden started with checking out the stairs, trellis, and compost bins that the Sustainable Bike Tour ’06 helped construct. Crane has taken their goal of becoming waste free to heart and has a school wide composting program led by Janie and the 6th graders. All of the sixth graders that visited us this past fall gathered in their groups from Catalina and participated in challenge initiatives and garden projects. Lissa had the honor of reuniting with her group where they worked through team challenges reinforcing what was learned while at the program. In the garden David, Miah, Courtney, and Meagan delved into fun and active projects with two groups. Twenty five students, 4 instructors, and two Crane staffulty cleared a huge pumpkin patch, removed iceplant, and remulched garden spaces completing in 45 minutes what Joel said would have taken him hours to do. Gardening provides real life examples for the sustainability week the students just completed. Topics such as the use of mulching, seasonal eating, and composting of green waste were discussed with students. We had such a great time with students we really didn’t want to leave. We can’t thank Crane, Traci, Janie, Peter, Joel, and all the energetic student enough for hosting us and sharing a fun and productive morning.
As I write this we are on our voyage North to San Francisco through the stunning wine country. We will be writing more as events unfold.

Final Countdown!

As we count down the final days and hours until we begin our epic journey it becomes more apparent what lies ahead of us. All the time and energy put into planning school visits, creating curriculum, and arranging accommodationswill finally culminate as we clip into our bikes and make our way down the coast.

With each amazing experience with the students we visit and every breathtaking view we will be reminded how thankful we are for everyone who has contributed to this bike tour. Through our facebook group we were fortunate enough to cross paths with Jessica Gottlieb, who attended Family Camp at CIC. Jessica published a great article about the bike tour which you can read

HERE

We hope that through exposure like this we will be able to reach an even larger and more diverse audience. Many thanks to Jessica for your support!

And of course we can't forget about our sponsors who make it possible for this grass roots program to become a reality. This morning the crew who left the island Wednesday stopped at Bicycle Bob's in Santa Barbara, CA to pick up some donations. Thank you very much for you generous donation and support of our mission!

Stay Tuned!

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. ~H.G. Wells

Just Leaving the Island

9:28 pm - Howlands Landing

Farewells and well wishes echoed through Howland's Landing as ten excited riders piled into a van and departed Catalina Island. For the last 48 hours camp has buzzed with the activity of getting this bike trip organized, sorted, and packed.

Swept up by all the commotion Morgan tossed aside plans to build barns in Oregon this winter and joined the tour last minute. Unfortunately, the jubilation of the moment turned bittersweet when Travis fell off the back of a vehicle he was climbing onto and injured his foot. A quick trip to the Avalon clinic revealed a bad sprain, and a prescription of ice and bed rest for the next couple of days. Travis still plans on participating in the bike trip even if he does ride shotgun in the SAG (support and gear) short bus for awhile.

The crew that departed today will head to a Santa Barbara school tonight, with the great privilege of being able to sleep in the school's library. Tomorrow they will get to connect with students in the schools beautiful garden, as well as with some challenge team initiatives.

Before the group left camp today, we had the opportunity to catch up with a very special first time rider David.

How are you feeling today, David?
David: Bittersweet. I feel a sense of renewal but also of trepidation. I'm nervous about my back that I hurt last week, and also about my packing. What do I really need? I'm feeling weighted down by all my possessions, and I'm just looking forward to the zen of just riding.

Tell me a little bit about your bike...
David: It's the most expensive thing I've ever bought. It was handmade in Wisconsin with American steel. It's lineage is from Schwinn, when Schwinn was bought by another company, one of the grandsons kept a plant and decided it would only make custom made bikes, and that's where my came from.

Finish this sentence, "People may not know..."
David: ... that I have feelings too... and that I'm not a robot from the future sent to destroy sustainable bike tour people.

That's an interesting, and perhaps revealing statement.
David: (laughs) Yes.

Shortly after our interview David was swept away with 9 other riders, 15 boxes of food, 25 bag of personal gear, and 6 road bikes. Eight more staff members remain at camp, finishing out the season with only 18 guests in camp! The last of the riders will close up camp and join everyone else in San Francisco Saturday.

Here is a roster of this year's riders:

Abigail Adam Alexis Ashley Becky Courtney
Danny David Jacob Jenna Julie Libby
Lissa Meagan Miah Morgan Sean Travis

Amongst the crew there are;
6 First time SLBT Riders
7 Cyclists in their Sophomore Debut
5 Lucky Folks attempting the Triple Crown of Bike Tours

That's it for now from here on the island, next some words from Santa Barbara...

9 Days 16 hours to lift off

Energy here at Howlands Landing is off the charts as members of our team are preparing for the ride of our lives.  We just said "see you soon" to one of the 18 schools we will be visiting this year.  We will be hitting up their school on December 1st only 3 weeks from now. Reconnecting with the students and teachers, continuing education, and raising awareness about sustainable living is what the whole trip is all about. We have two more schools visting before we descend upon San Francisco for the big kick off.  The Green Festival in San Francisco is an event we plan on attending for the enrichment of our staff. Green Festivals are our nation's premier sustainability events providing a meeting space for speakers and exhibitors.  San Francisco will be November 14, 15, and 16. Check www.greenfestivals.org for dates in Seattle, Denver, and Chicago. 

As I sit amongst the hustle and bustle of mapping our route, talking curriculum with schools, and designing T-shirts I am inspired by the volunteer efforts of my fellow comrades and the schools' enthusiasm for hosting us. This year's sustainable living bike tour is shaping up to be a huge success!

Thanks to our generous supporters we have come much closer to reaching our budget goals.  All bike trip members would like to extend our gratitude to Brett Hammond, Mindy Leiterman, Gaye Knight Simmons, Rachel Eidelman, Virginia Villa, Jo Pierce, Kathy Halloran, Scott Blair, Bora Aytun, and Kathy Shute for their kind contributions. We wouldn't be able to accomplish this without your support.