Only a few days left before we hit Tijuana.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Arrived in Newport!
Hey! I dont have much time, we've arrived in Newport! The weather is looking better!
Here's a couple videos you guys can check out!
http://sportsgist.com/video/1162
http://sportsgist.com/video/1172
Cheers!
P.S. the Oregon coast must be one the most beautiful places on Earth.
Here's a couple videos you guys can check out!
http://sportsgist.com/video/1162
http://sportsgist.com/video/1172
Cheers!
P.S. the Oregon coast must be one the most beautiful places on Earth.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Global AFC hits Oregan!
Hey! Yesterday, we had a relatively short ride. Little rain! Rain, really changes a lot. When the weather is nasty, we bike faster, we take 5 minutes to eat lunch, and we hardly glance at the sights around us. The objective is just to get to the next destination, eat, and pass out. But yesterday, although it was pretty gray, there was no rain! So we took our time, looked at the scenery around us. We went along the Columbia River, until we hit the 1.5km bridge that links Washington to Oregon. When we entered Oregon, we ate lunch at co-op bakery called the Blue Scorcher. They kindly gave our entire group 40% off, since we had biked 40 miles to get there! We ate very well to say the least!
From there we headed to Seaside, where I'm writing from right now. It's a nice town! And we headed down to the beach, watched the sunset, the waves...oooh man it was soo nice to see it! We made fire, took out the acoustic guitar, played some tunes, and celebrated our first day with no rain! A fire, at the beach, with an acoustic guitar, has to be one of the best things in life! All we needed was a clear sky to see the stars at night...
But, I have a feeling there will be many more beach fires on this trip! And our bodies are getting used to this cycling. I couldn't believe how my leg muscles have already started to get firmer! So we're having more and more energy at the end of our rides!
Especially after our 23 mile ride today! That's nothing for us! Sounds like a break!
We'll be camping for the next 3 days, so I dunno if i'll be able to write!
From there we headed to Seaside, where I'm writing from right now. It's a nice town! And we headed down to the beach, watched the sunset, the waves...oooh man it was soo nice to see it! We made fire, took out the acoustic guitar, played some tunes, and celebrated our first day with no rain! A fire, at the beach, with an acoustic guitar, has to be one of the best things in life! All we needed was a clear sky to see the stars at night...
But, I have a feeling there will be many more beach fires on this trip! And our bodies are getting used to this cycling. I couldn't believe how my leg muscles have already started to get firmer! So we're having more and more energy at the end of our rides!
Especially after our 23 mile ride today! That's nothing for us! Sounds like a break!
We'll be camping for the next 3 days, so I dunno if i'll be able to write!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Seattle
Grey. Arrived in Seattle after a 120 km ride through lots and lots of rain! Our fingers and toes were numb. Lunch was eaten in barely 5 minutes, we just wanted to get back on our bikes, and make it to Seattle. No time to look at the scenery.
Okay, this does paint a pretty grim picture. And the picture indeed was grim, but we made the best out of it! We sang songs....from All Star (Smash Mouth) to the Umpa Lumpa song (Charlie and the chocolate factory). We told riddles. We discussed micro-credit. We talked about God, about religions, about physics. About everything and nothing.
Arriving in Seattle was a great relief. Our team got split up into two homes. We just passed out once we got inside. Our gear soaked. We got some hot chocolate going to warm our insides. We also cooked up a bunch of pasta! So delicious, people were eating the noodles before the sauce was even ready...we were THAT hungry!
On that note, we've been well fed on this trip. Everyone has had more than enough to eat! We take energy bars on the ride...these are probably one of the biggest costs for food. We're looking at the possibility of making our own energy bars. Dried fruit, granola...? Please leave a comment if you know of any good recipes!
Anyways, the next morning (today), we had a day off to explore Seattle. Which was a nice break for our legs! Tomorrow we'll be up at 5AM, so I have to get off the computer and get some sleep!
But I was happy to hear today that grade 3's and 4's are keeping track on my progress and checking out my blog! It's a big motivation for me, to keep writing them! So thanks "y'all" !
I've had some interesting discussions about micro-credit and charities in general on this trip.
Okay, this does paint a pretty grim picture. And the picture indeed was grim, but we made the best out of it! We sang songs....from All Star (Smash Mouth) to the Umpa Lumpa song (Charlie and the chocolate factory). We told riddles. We discussed micro-credit. We talked about God, about religions, about physics. About everything and nothing.
Arriving in Seattle was a great relief. Our team got split up into two homes. We just passed out once we got inside. Our gear soaked. We got some hot chocolate going to warm our insides. We also cooked up a bunch of pasta! So delicious, people were eating the noodles before the sauce was even ready...we were THAT hungry!
On that note, we've been well fed on this trip. Everyone has had more than enough to eat! We take energy bars on the ride...these are probably one of the biggest costs for food. We're looking at the possibility of making our own energy bars. Dried fruit, granola...? Please leave a comment if you know of any good recipes!
Anyways, the next morning (today), we had a day off to explore Seattle. Which was a nice break for our legs! Tomorrow we'll be up at 5AM, so I have to get off the computer and get some sleep!
But I was happy to hear today that grade 3's and 4's are keeping track on my progress and checking out my blog! It's a big motivation for me, to keep writing them! So thanks "y'all" !
I've had some interesting discussions about micro-credit and charities in general on this trip.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Daily updates at GlobalAFC.org
Hey! So the ride has been going great so far! I'm dead tired today, we're staying at a church in Stanwood. I've been taking lots of pictures and footage which I hope to be posting on this blog soon, but for now, I just wanted to put up our main blog site.
Here you can find out what's going on during the trip, it'll be updated daily and is written by the team (each person takes their turn at it!)
To access the blog go to: http://www.globalafc.org/blog/
Here you can find out what's going on during the trip, it'll be updated daily and is written by the team (each person takes their turn at it!)
To access the blog go to: http://www.globalafc.org/blog/
Day 2!
We filled ourselves with bananas for breakfast in a Safeway parking lot. We had to eat up all the fruits we had before crossing the U.S. border (Ben ate 8 bananas for the cause!). The border was a breeze. It was the first time I’ve crossed an international border by bike, I think that’s why it hasn’t hit me, or many of the riders that we are no longer in Canada! The ride was great, Kamila and I were sweepers (we stay at the end of the pack, making sure that no one gets left behind.
The 50 km ride was even cheered on by a herd of cows who seemed to be gathering by a fence, all their heads raised as we passed by).
We arrived at the Community Bike Shop in South Bellingham to find a small one-storey building, which seemed to be full of hidden corners. The place was littered with used bikes. All of them donated. They get repaired here, then are sold off. It’s a pretty sweet place! Complete with a “suicide machine” (a kind of homemade unicycle that many of the riders tried to balance on), and a barbecue (where our wonderful cooks made beans, potatoes, salad).
We showered at a nearby YMCA, used their sauna and steam room! So good! We found ourselves a documentary-guitarist-song-writer dude who came and interviewed some of us! Keep your eyes peeled for a mini-documentary on YouTube!
Although, South Bellingham seemed pretty slow on a Sunday night, our team got the party started. We hooked up some speakers to a laptop, got some bike lights (our strobe lights) and created our own club in one of the rooms in the bike shop! Dancing the night away, everyone was busting out some pretty sweet moves! Definite good times (hopefully we can link up some footage from it!)! We even turned many cycling terms into crazy dance moves! No need to look for a party, the Global AFC team is ALWAYS a party!
-Philippe Murphy, 2008 Rider
The 50 km ride was even cheered on by a herd of cows who seemed to be gathering by a fence, all their heads raised as we passed by).
We arrived at the Community Bike Shop in South Bellingham to find a small one-storey building, which seemed to be full of hidden corners. The place was littered with used bikes. All of them donated. They get repaired here, then are sold off. It’s a pretty sweet place! Complete with a “suicide machine” (a kind of homemade unicycle that many of the riders tried to balance on), and a barbecue (where our wonderful cooks made beans, potatoes, salad).
We showered at a nearby YMCA, used their sauna and steam room! So good! We found ourselves a documentary-guitarist-song-writer dude who came and interviewed some of us! Keep your eyes peeled for a mini-documentary on YouTube!
Although, South Bellingham seemed pretty slow on a Sunday night, our team got the party started. We hooked up some speakers to a laptop, got some bike lights (our strobe lights) and created our own club in one of the rooms in the bike shop! Dancing the night away, everyone was busting out some pretty sweet moves! Definite good times (hopefully we can link up some footage from it!)! We even turned many cycling terms into crazy dance moves! No need to look for a party, the Global AFC team is ALWAYS a party!
-Philippe Murphy, 2008 Rider
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Orientation!
So, I've survived Vancouver, one of the most expensive cities in Canada. Thanks to many kind individuals who offered me couches to sleep on. Such as the guys living close to Adam's house. Or Nasra and her sisters, or Adam, or fellow couch surfer members, or Bronwyn. Also thanks to those people for feeding me! And people like Anna and Chanique and their friend from the Explorer program at UBC that packed my backpack with loads of food (sooo good!)! There's also the bakery on Granville island which gets rid of all its bread every night at 7:30PM. It's good stuff! You just have to toast it! And Emma (one of the leaders for the trip) let me use her kitchen and ingredients so I could cook up a storm!
I have to say I was living a luxurious life as a homeless bum. I have biked in all directions in Vancouver. I know this city now. The Mountains to the North, the Ocean to the West...Went down to Richmond, up to North and West Vancouver, visited the Lynn Valley, went to Bowen Island.
But, the stress of eachday wondering where I was going to sleep at night, was starting to get to me. I was definitely looking forward to getting our project started. Where food and sleeping would be taken care of! And I'd have a team of 24 people to help me out if needed!
And so we've gathered for our first orientation! For the first time I met all the riders. Except Peter, who seems to have vanished. We have little details on his fundraising status, his bike status, or any status for that matter!
Everyone has managed to get up to the $3000 fundraising goal, or atleast pretty close (meaning just a couple hundred away!) Although one of the riders is still far behind, but we're hoping and praying that they'll be able to pull it off before the ride begins. It's pretty strict, we HAVE to raise $3000 to participates no 'buts'.
All the riders are awesome! Everyone coming from all different backgrounds and experiences and cultures! Each person with ideas and perspectives! There WILL be a lot of debates, there WILL be problems, but we're all in it together. There WILL be a lot of fun! And we've gone through the values that we would like to have while on this ride. We have also signed to obey certain rules while on the ride.
I'm am looking to forward to getting to know the stories of each individual on the trip! We even have a guy from Sweden! Tom! Pretty international, and it's only the 2nd year that this ride is taking place!
Saturday, is our kickoff! We're going to start with about 100+ riders who will ride with the team from the Vancouver Art Gallery to commercial drive (a 10km route). This is just a big awareness event! Once we get to commercial drive, we'll be having a bbq! @ 1pm, we'll be getting on our bikes and heading down to our first destination, White Rock. There will be other riders accompanying us for some or even all the way down to White Rock if they'd like! But after Saturday, it'll be just our group of 24. Sunday, we're already going to be crossing the border into the States!
The route we're taking has changed slightly, so I'll post the most updated one we have so far...there are still a couple places that may change.
.murph.
Saturday 05/31/08 White Rock, BC
Sunday 06/01/08 Bellingham
Monday 06/02/08 Stanwood
Tuesday 06/03/08 Seattle
Wednesday 06/04/08 Seattle
Thursday 06/05/08 McCleary
Friday 06/06/08 Bay Centre
Saturday 06/07/08 Seaside
Sunday 06/08/08 Nehalem Bay Stat Park (yurts)
Monday 06/09/08 Cape Lookout State Park
Tuesday 06/10/08 Cape Lookout State Park
Wednesday 06/11/08 Newport
Thursday 06/12/08 Florence
Friday 06/13/08 Coos Bay
Saturday 06/14/08 Port Orford
Sunday 06/15/08 Port Orford
Monday 06/16/08 Brookings
Tuesday 06/17/08 Elk Prairie Campground
Wednesday 06/18/08 Arcata
Thursday 06/19/08 Humbolt Redwoods State park
Friday 06/20/08 Leggett (Standish-Hickey State Park)
Saturday 06/21/08 Leggett (Standish-Hickey State Park)
Sunday 06/22/08 Fort Bragg (mendocino)
Monday 06/23/08 Gualala
Tuesday 06/24/08 Bodega Bay/Doran Park
Wednesday 06/25/08 San Francisco
Thursday 06/26/08 San Francisco
Friday 06/27/08 San Francisco
Saturday 06/28/08 Half Moon Bay
Sunday 06/29/08 Santa Cruz
Monday 06/30/08 Monterey
Tuesday 07/01/08 Kirk Creek
Wednesday 07/02/08 Cambria
Thursday 07/03/08 San Luis Obispo
Friday 07/04/08 San Luis Obispo
Saturday 07/05/08 Lampoc
Sunday 07/06/08 Santa Barbara
Monday 07/07/08 Oxnard
Tuesday 07/08/08 Santa Monica
Wednesday 07/09/08 Santa Monica
Thursday 07/10/08 Dana Point
Friday 07/11/08 San Diego
Saturday 07/12/08 Mexico
Sunday 07/13/08 Mexico
Monday 07/14/08 San Diego
Tuesday 07/15/08 San Diego
Wednesday 07/16/08 San Diego Thursday 07/17/08 San Diego
I have to say I was living a luxurious life as a homeless bum. I have biked in all directions in Vancouver. I know this city now. The Mountains to the North, the Ocean to the West...Went down to Richmond, up to North and West Vancouver, visited the Lynn Valley, went to Bowen Island.
But, the stress of eachday wondering where I was going to sleep at night, was starting to get to me. I was definitely looking forward to getting our project started. Where food and sleeping would be taken care of! And I'd have a team of 24 people to help me out if needed!
And so we've gathered for our first orientation! For the first time I met all the riders. Except Peter, who seems to have vanished. We have little details on his fundraising status, his bike status, or any status for that matter!
Everyone has managed to get up to the $3000 fundraising goal, or atleast pretty close (meaning just a couple hundred away!) Although one of the riders is still far behind, but we're hoping and praying that they'll be able to pull it off before the ride begins. It's pretty strict, we HAVE to raise $3000 to participates no 'buts'.
All the riders are awesome! Everyone coming from all different backgrounds and experiences and cultures! Each person with ideas and perspectives! There WILL be a lot of debates, there WILL be problems, but we're all in it together. There WILL be a lot of fun! And we've gone through the values that we would like to have while on this ride. We have also signed to obey certain rules while on the ride.
I'm am looking to forward to getting to know the stories of each individual on the trip! We even have a guy from Sweden! Tom! Pretty international, and it's only the 2nd year that this ride is taking place!
Saturday, is our kickoff! We're going to start with about 100+ riders who will ride with the team from the Vancouver Art Gallery to commercial drive (a 10km route). This is just a big awareness event! Once we get to commercial drive, we'll be having a bbq! @ 1pm, we'll be getting on our bikes and heading down to our first destination, White Rock. There will be other riders accompanying us for some or even all the way down to White Rock if they'd like! But after Saturday, it'll be just our group of 24. Sunday, we're already going to be crossing the border into the States!
The route we're taking has changed slightly, so I'll post the most updated one we have so far...there are still a couple places that may change.
.murph.
Saturday 05/31/08 White Rock, BC
Sunday 06/01/08 Bellingham
Monday 06/02/08 Stanwood
Tuesday 06/03/08 Seattle
Wednesday 06/04/08 Seattle
Thursday 06/05/08 McCleary
Friday 06/06/08 Bay Centre
Saturday 06/07/08 Seaside
Sunday 06/08/08 Nehalem Bay Stat Park (yurts)
Monday 06/09/08 Cape Lookout State Park
Tuesday 06/10/08 Cape Lookout State Park
Wednesday 06/11/08 Newport
Thursday 06/12/08 Florence
Friday 06/13/08 Coos Bay
Saturday 06/14/08 Port Orford
Sunday 06/15/08 Port Orford
Monday 06/16/08 Brookings
Tuesday 06/17/08 Elk Prairie Campground
Wednesday 06/18/08 Arcata
Thursday 06/19/08 Humbolt Redwoods State park
Friday 06/20/08 Leggett (Standish-Hickey State Park)
Saturday 06/21/08 Leggett (Standish-Hickey State Park)
Sunday 06/22/08 Fort Bragg (mendocino)
Monday 06/23/08 Gualala
Tuesday 06/24/08 Bodega Bay/Doran Park
Wednesday 06/25/08 San Francisco
Thursday 06/26/08 San Francisco
Friday 06/27/08 San Francisco
Saturday 06/28/08 Half Moon Bay
Sunday 06/29/08 Santa Cruz
Monday 06/30/08 Monterey
Tuesday 07/01/08 Kirk Creek
Wednesday 07/02/08 Cambria
Thursday 07/03/08 San Luis Obispo
Friday 07/04/08 San Luis Obispo
Saturday 07/05/08 Lampoc
Sunday 07/06/08 Santa Barbara
Monday 07/07/08 Oxnard
Tuesday 07/08/08 Santa Monica
Wednesday 07/09/08 Santa Monica
Thursday 07/10/08 Dana Point
Friday 07/11/08 San Diego
Saturday 07/12/08 Mexico
Sunday 07/13/08 Mexico
Monday 07/14/08 San Diego
Tuesday 07/15/08 San Diego
Wednesday 07/16/08 San Diego Thursday 07/17/08 San Diego
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