and then rides all around it on her bike.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

You guys, I've started reading blogs.

(aka, I Have a New Favorite Extreme Sport)
(no, I do not consider reading blogs an extreme sport)

I never really did before. I know it's a huge thing, like, lots of people spend lots of time doing it, but I never really did, until just lately...

because...

I have become completely fascinated with extreme snow mountain biking... in Alaska (obviously). Long, endurance mountain biking races on big bikes with giant fat tires...

There are people who bike the Iditarod. Did you know that??? The Iditarod! The dog sled race! The one they make dog sled racing movies about! Incredible!!! I've been following the stories/pictures of some of the people who did it this last month - yes, they do it in February/March - and I'm totally hooked.

The race starts in Anchorage, and there's a finish line in McGrath, after 350 miles, and then a brave (crazy?) few push on to the ultimate finish line in Nome, Alaska, 1,100 miles from where they started. This year saw the first woman ever finish the bike race all the way to Nome - in just over 25 days. WOW!!

Anyway, the reason I even bother bringing this up (don't worry, Mom, I'm not going to try it) is because there's one blog that I particularly love, that's written by a journalist from Juneau who did the Anchorage-McGrath stretch (350 miles), and the other day she posted a little story entitled Covering Ground that I'm copying here for you all to read:

A co-worker who doesn't know me very well stopped me today and said, "Hey, I saw you out on your bicycle by the ferry terminal the other day. Wow! You're really covering ground."

"Which day was that?" I asked, because it seemed the natural response.

"That day you were out by the ferry terminal," he answered.

"Could be a lot of days," I said.

"You mean you've been out there more than once?"

I just smiled because the ferry terminal is only 12 miles from downtown Juneau. There seems to be this perception among non-cyclists that their world is a very, very big place - too big to traverse without the aid of big machines and fossil fuels. It takes a slow-moving cyclists' perspective to realize that our world is in fact a small place, because all it takes is patience - just patience - and you can go almost anywhere.

Doesn't that just make you smile? And want to travel around the world? On a bike?

My roommies had a little talk with me the other day about how, like, biking the Iditarod would be really cold and stuff, and I'm making them nervous with all my talking about it and making them look at pictures of seas of snow and little people on little bikes riding through it all in minus 30 temperatures wit minus 80 wind chills...

They're really cool pictures though. 8-)

I have posted the link to this and other fun sites - like the one from the guy who actually did travel around the world on a bike (and a sailboat) - in the column on the right, for your reading/viewing enjoyment. :)

Little Skippy, by the way, is doing really well, and I'm completely in love with her, and for her part, she is happy that she will never see more than a dusting of snow. With her tires, I'm happy with that too.

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