Sustainable Living Bike Tour 2018

We're back, baby! 

You may be wondering what happened to us last year. Did we bike? Did we explore? Where did we go?

Short answers- Yes and... YES! and... we biked all around the hills of Julian CA and Palomar Mountain, the Anza-Borrego Desert and Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. Why we thought it would be easy to call the top of a 4000 ft mountain range our home base, we can't tell you. What we can tell you is that we had a blast on this less than traditional Sustainable Living Bike Tour. It was shorter than normal and instead of doing a Point A to Point B long trip, we did day trips and A LOT more hiking exploration.

Our purpose for biking may have evolved over the years, but our enthusiasm hasn't! We are seriously looking forward to this year's trip: an oldie but goodie- San Jose area to Los Angeles on a mostly coastal route. 

BIG SUR OR BUST!

Stand by for more exciting updates as we prepare to hit the road on Monday, November 19th!

SUSTAINABLE LIVING BIKE TOUR 2016

Rain, Redwoods, and Thanksgiving

By Sarah Frantz

It had been months since any of us had felt a raindrop.

While winter rainfall allows for our gem in the Pacific to burst with vibrant flowers and lush vegetation in the early springtime, Catalina typically reverts back to its arid climate as the island tries to conserve its water resources during the warmer seasons. Beginning this year’s bike tour in Humboldt Redwoods State Park was a welcomed change of scenery for our staff and a wonderful reminder of how different ecosystems are in various parts of the world.

The first thing to note about this adventure in the Redwoods was that it rained. A lot. And by “a lot” I mean pretty much constantly.“All of this rain is allowing us to become one with the algae,” Travis joked cheerfully one morning. Most of our clothes, shoes, backpacks, tents, pillows, and sleeping bags drank the rainwater like sponges. Even our waterproof gear threw in the towel after three days of non-stop rain (or at least mine did). Sometimes we even had to relocate our tents in the middle of the night to avoid a new stream that crept through our campsite! The relentless rain sparked our creativity to find new ways to keep ourselves dry. We turned trash bags into ponchos, bagel bags and duct tape into socks, and…

We built a fortress.

Tarps, trees, bus.

Boom.

(Note – this was the ultimate team-building task).

Here’s a little known secret about the CELP staff. These nature-enthused, bicycle-loving, adventure junkies are also very creative chefs! Fortunately for us, our bike trip coincided with this year’s Thanksgiving holiday. If I had to pick one holiday to spend with my CELP family, Thanksgiving would definitely be the one. 

What was on the menu?

Apple slices, an assortment of cheese and crackers, homemade cranberry sauce, deli sandwiches, cheesy polenta, stuffing, mashed cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, potatoes, and hot beverages to warm the soul.

With happy hearts and tummies, the next few days were spent eagerly exploring the magical Redwoods!

Did you know that California Redwoods…

“Live over 2,000 years old

Weigh up to 1.6 million pounds

Grow up to 367 feet tall

Have a diameter up to 22 feet across

Bark thickness up to 12 inches.” 

Puff Ball Mushrooms

Rainbows in the redwoods

After a few days of relaxed exploration and soggy fun, we prepared ourselves for the beginning of our ride! To do this, we set up our own personal bike tune-up station underneath the rain tarps. We opened up our tool kit and busied ourselves with lubing up bike chains, adjusting seats, and airing up tires.

Claire Bear demonstrated how to change a tire tube like a pro!

On our third and final morning in the Redwoods, thin golden streams of sunshine finally peaked through the tall canopy of trees as the rain began to subside.  We packed up our campsite, loaded the bus, and snapped on our bike helmets. The first 32 miles of our ride were along the strikingly scenic California highway known as the Avenue of the Giants.

Why drive through a tree when you can bike through one?! 

Mother Nature scores a 10/10 with the CELP staff for her awe-inspiring ancient forest.

Not Your Average Bake Sale

Not Your Average Bake Sale

In mid-October, 2016 if you had walked into our kitchen, you would have thought you were in a candle factory. For a week our camp became a production hot spot of bread, cookies, candles, balms, hummus, salsa, and any other creations we could muster up. You might be thinking this sounds like a challenge to pull off in a small kitchen on a remote island. You are correct. Not to mention, we were working full time leading snorkels, hikes, kayaks and environmental awareness programs for multiple school groups in our camp. However, against all odds, we succeeded and were able to sell our plethora of artisan goods at the fifth annual Fall Festival in Avalon.

Close to half of our staff made the two-hour journey to the “busy city” of Avalon to showcase their salesperson talents at our farmers market style booth. We sold out of almost every single product, raising enough money to make our bike tour possible! It was an exciting change of pace from our routine here at Howlands Landing, and it was a fantastic way for our staff to do some outreach to the surrounding communities here on Catalina Island. Every year our booth brings returning customers, who are excited to see what new recipes we have tried out. Our participation is not just about raising money, but also showcasing the accessibility of local, organic, and environmentally-conscious products. One of the core programs of our CELP curriculum is sustainable living and gardening, in which we strive to impart the importance of reducing food miles and promoting local food systems. Fall Fest is the perfect way for us to practice what we preach and make these sustainable concepts a reality.  

Kayaktivism: The Bike Tour takes to the Water to Protest a Mall on the Lagoon

Sustainability and development should go hand in hand. When people see that natural spaces are being threatened by unnecessary human consumerism and profit, we have to take a stand.  A corporation called Caruso Affiliated is attempting to construct a mall on a sensitive lagoon in Carlsbad, and the public was not included in this dialogue until concerned citizens made some noise. Now that the measure is going to a public vote, the local community is finally able to take a stand, so our team joined the citizens of Carlsbad to show the developers that nature is worth protecting. 

Kayaktivism looks good on these activists

Save Carlsbad: No Lagoon Mall!

What do we want? NATURE! When do we want it? FOREVER!

The team takes a break at a table that hopefully is the last of its kind in this lagoon

Why? What made you think up this mess?

Cycling the Desert

Some highlights of our ride so far:

On the Santa Ana River Trail en route to Chino Hills State Park

Entering one of the most magical places on Earth

Tess finds a new home in Joshua Tree's canyons

Hardest decision of the day: which crack to climb in this monzogranite wonderland

Rich and Janice Langen saved the day (again) with their endless support and melodies! 

On the lookout for the elusive Chuckwalla lizard 

The Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia, is found mostly in the Mojave Desert between 1,300 and 5,900 ft elevation 

Cholla cactus garden in Pinto Basin 

Barrel Cactus like this grew along our route from Joshua Tree through Anzo Borrego

 --Nico

Touring before the Tour

Today was our first day riding together as a group around LA and it was pretty exciting. We started the day with a tour of the 24th Street School's garden, where our friend (and former CELPster) Abigail works. Its a beautiful little nook in the neighborhood of West Adams and I imagine even more magical when filled with small children.

Our focus for the day was on gathering ideas for our space back home on Catalina. As the previous post explains, our garden is going through a lot of transition right now and we're hoping to have it thriving again soon, so we need to keep at it! We all loved the abundance of trees, the kids' art projects and we made a long lists of ideas to take back to the island!

24th Street Elementary School Garden Tour

The wishing tree

Upcycling

The next day we went to the Los Angeles County Arboretum and had our friend Chris (another former CELPster and Abigail's husband #powercouple) show us around. We saw examples of Hugelkulture, different bee housings, and even a room of beautiful orchids. We left feeling so inspired and excited about our 30 mile ride through the foothills to Chino Hills State Park!

Chris showing us the Ocotillo

Bee hives in unexpected places

Vanilla comes from a species of orchid native to Mexico

We're planning to incorporate an arroyo like this at Howlands

We spent some time climbing trees

We're sorry for the delayed posts; we haven't had any cell service until today! Also, be sure to follow our Instagram account: www.instagram.com/SLBikeTour
--Venisha

The Howlands Garden Renovation

Catalina may be paradise, but gardening here has its challenges. The arid climate and the presence of "pests" like the Catalina ground squirrels and rats means that we have to devise some creative solutions as a community. Similar to how an ecosystem must adapt to keep up with environmental pressures, we are constantly experimenting and changing the way we do and design things. 

Here a few highlights of some ongoing projects, which were done in great part thanks to the help of two student groups from Fort Collins, Colorado: Kinard CARES and Lesher IMPACTS.  

This geodesic dome will be converted into a beautiful nursery to protect plants from getting eaten by island critters

We just planted an array of native plant seeds in this newly constructed bed around our fruit trees

The terrace project will soon contain vegetable beds, all made with our local Howlands compost

The latest rainwater catchment system--gravity fed, baby.

The 2015 tour aims to focus on the following topics:

• School garden design
• Garden irrigation methods
• Low water gardening (xeriscaping) and water catchment
• Pest management

We're stoked to visit local LA schools to get some inspiration!

Voler....Voler, Voler, VOLER!

Pronounced "voh-LAY," this rad cycling apparel company kindly donated 3 whole boxes full of brand new riding gear for our team. Amazing! We are so stoked for the colorful new collection of amazing threads, and future bike tour cyclists will be able to enjoy this quality swag for years to come. 

We have oodles of gratitude for our sponsors and supporters at Voler! A special shout out to Ed, Seth, Derek and Aaron. We would look like a bunch of chumps without your generosity. Now we feel like superheroes!

Ride on,

The 2015 SLBT Team

The Proposed 2015 Route

Behold, the tentative route for the 2015 Bike Tour! Of course the itinerary is always subject to change based on a variety factors. Last year's tour ended early because of mudslides on the PCH. Especially with this year predicted to be a strong El Nino year, we're keeping our fingers crossed for decent riding weather (while simultaneously keeping our fingers crossed for much-needed rain during this drought.) Stay posted for further developments!

Enjoying native plants during the holidays

The bike tour is over, the crew has said their goodbyes, and we're all headed our separate ways for the winter season. However, we still have great pictures and ideas to share from beyond the road...

Bike Tour 2014 Crew

Eating Local

The holidays are synonymous with the beginning of winter here in the northern hemisphere. Regardless of whether you enjoy this season in the warm southern sun or under a white layer of snow, there are sure to be holiday feasts featuring dishes of crops that have origins here in the Americas. The following winter crops are not only easier to find at farmers markets this time of year, but also were cultivated and domesticated from their wild cousins thousands of years ago in North and South America.

Potatoes

No matter how you enjoy them--mashed, fried, baked--these deliciously filling and versatile tubers are a popular side on many plates. 

Potatoes got their start as a domestic crop in the highlands of the Andes. The diversity, high amount of starch, and durability of this crop made it a staple in people's diet there centuries before potatoes were brought to Ireland. Today, thousands of varieties exist throughout the world, though it is believed the highest diversity is still in the terraced farms of the Andes. However, potato biodiversity is plummeting worldwide as monoculture production of just a few species becomes the norm: look for unique heirloom varieties when you shop!
Our final meal at Travis's house in Highland Park featured potatoes in a root vegetable medley that was seasoned to perfection, all donated to us by New Frontiers Market in San Luis Obispo.

http://grist.org/food/gmo-potatoes-is-the-biodiversity-shortcut-worth-it/

Squash

Starting around Halloween and well into winter, squashes -- pumpkin, acorn, butternut, you name it-- take pride of place in many homes. Each kind offers a unique range of colors and flavors, and can be turned into anything from delicious pie to savory soup contained within the gourd itself. Their current range is testament to the large geographical footprint where squashes were domesticated. Some, such as pumpkins, were originally cultivated in northern Mexico and the southern United States, while others like the fig leaf gourd began their relationship with humans as far south as Argentina. Try a new recipe this holiday season with one that's local to your area!

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/squash-recipes/butternut-squash-salad

Maize/Corn

This is perhaps one of the most famous American domestics, and is featured prominently in many stories and historical accounts of interactions between Native Americans and European settlers. While in many places the harvest for this crop is earlier in the year, its ability to be stored whole or in flour or meal form has made this crop what it is today. The ancestor to this crop, according to archeologists, was located in Central Mexico and from there was traded across North and South America. Now we use everything from sweetcorn, corn meal, feed corn, and corn syrup in our diets.

So however you spend your holidays, take some time to enjoy these native food crops by finding a local provider near you and supporting local farmers and agriculture:

http://www.localharvest.org/

Source of information about crop domestication:
1491 (Second Edition): New Revelations of the Americas.
Charles C. Mann

--Ann

El Nino Strikes!

We're safe and sound in rainy Los Angeles, ending the bike tour as it began: wet. Our last school visit at Crane Country Day was amazing as our hosts fed and housed us in the cozy library on their beautiful campus in Montecito.

Ceed crashes after 65 miles of cycling

The team celebrates Josh's birthday on the Santa Barbara beach

The warm welcome was followed by a couple of hours Monday morning working in the school garden and presenting at their morning assembly. Thanks to the Crane librarian, Traci Cope, for providing us such a lovely dinner, breakfast and hot showers.

Working with the 6th grade class who came to CELP in their garden at Crane

We built another stone pathway, which became our specialty this bike tour

Keeping spirits high during the last project

We rode as far as Ventura before realizing that a landslide along Highway 1 was going to deter our final stretch of riding.

Final bike tour lunch in Ventura, before the rains

We schlepped all the gear to LA in various vehicles and the faithful bus, just in time to enjoy some heavy downpours on the streets of southern California. With all the drought-ridden towns we've visited on the tour, it's nice to finally see some precipitation. A few inches of rain certainly won't bring the southwest out of the crisis, but two inches is better than nothing.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-rain-drought-monitor-20141204-story.html

Ending the ride in Ventura, here is the route that we cycled this year, totaling 425 miles--and not all of it was paved.

The final route