My face is exploding with exhaustion as a plunder around this morning. Today is my food crews day to make breakfast. We made dinner last night and lunch for today too. As a result I feel as though I havn't got to sit down in 24hr let alone sleep. It has been go go go. Perform, then run around to all the local health food stores in Moncton to get donations and ethically sourced food, and then of course cook. AND on top of this we have all of our regular tour responsibilities, so needless to say, I am a little zonked. This 15 min that I have found to write this post (at 7:30am) just shows how crazy our lives are right now.

To ADD to this, I am fairly grumpy right now, and utterly sorry for this, but when sleep becomes elusive I think I get upset because I just want to rest and not play games. But anyways.

With all of that said, it is great to be cycling with the Otesha team. Last night during our daily check-in, every person expressed their challenges with being super exhausted, so I am not alone. However I also expressed to the team how its the little things that are awesome. Writing chalk messages on the road (even though none of my other team members saw it...booo), eating lunch in a car wash since that was the only shelter we could find from the rain, having awkward conversations with people in health food stores, swapping clothes, laughing at how ridiculous each of us looks, its all part and parcel of the experience and I love it! Without these little things life would be so boring. The hardest part sometimes is to leave space for these little things to grow and frolic.

Ok, I better go do my back exercises before we head on the road. Thanks for listening.

Last thursday was the kind of day that is meant for hibernating. But not for us. The rising tide team is composed of 9 youth volunteers and we were awake and jiving before even the sun woke up. It was our first official day of the tour but no one would have guessed the day we had in store (as is the case with most Otesha tour days). 

So after our graceful 5:30am wake up we all grunted and groaned as we rolled up our sleeping mats and stuffed our sleeping bags into their sacks. A peak out the window was all one needed to do to recognize that the day was going to be a rainy one. Dark clouds crowded the sky as rain pelted the beautiful park around us.

After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal and cornmeal (for those that are gluten free) we packed up our stuff and headed on our way. Being an Otesha tour ment that we would spend the next 2 months cycling on our bikes to bring a little sparkle of hope and inspiration to communities and students throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 

I was with the first group, the lead team as we call it. So we hitched up the trailer (the team has 2 trailers that allow us to carry all of our group gear without needing a car) and cycled out. Today our performance was not very far away, however after the first 5 minutes I was soaked. So I surrendered to the wetness, as the rest of my teammates also  did, and just enjoyed the rain. After 45 minutes or so the whole team had arrived at the school. A school that insisted on providing us with food both before and after our 3 performances.

Such generosity is something that we will no doubt be facing many times on our tour, however every time I encounter it I am always taken a back by the reminder of how amazing people are. We are, essentially, strangers to the many people we will encounter on the road, and yet constantly we are welcomed in with open arms to feed us, shelter us, and simply just respect us. Such respect is sometimes hard to find, and so I am always so grateful for it. 

But back to the rain, because of all of our wet gear, which we hung to dry during our performances, small lake systems started to form on the floor of the school's staff lounge. These lake systems soon became a hazard when I, in a mad rush to put food in my mouth between our 2nd and 3rd performance, slipped on one of the lakes and smashed my knee into the hard ground. I always thought those "careful: slippery when wet" signs were silly, however I now realize there importance. It was a hard fall, and my knee still hurts, it has prevented me from biking, yet it did not prevent me from performing. The show must go on!

And so, we completed our 3rd performances, spreading even more inspiration to create change simply through our daily choices. Its amazing what an impact we can make when we stop and think about how what we eat, wear, say can have on both our local and global community. Hopefully the students left inspired to be change makers. We planted the seeds, the watering is up to them.

And so after 3 performances, one nasty fall, lots of rain, and even more inspired students, the day ended. We will all pretty excited to crawl into those sleeping bags and say goodnight.

Goodnight.

Rising Tide Tour Begins

Today is my day of reflection, as Nicole (from Otesha headquarters) put it, reflection means more then the vest you wear, it is about reflecting on where we come from, where we are going and what is being obtained from our everyday experiences. If our life is not contributing to personal growth what is stopping it from contributing? I feel as though personal growth is an important part of living and having done a previous Otesha tour I am in a privileged place to see how I act and react to the experiences I am having on this tour compared to my last. How can I go into the tour with more zest, a stronger sense of center and ability to connect with my tour mates? All questions I am pondering.

It is only day 3 of the "official" training week (although I have been in Fredericton for 6 days) but it feels like we have been here for weeks, which is characteristic of most intense experiences. I am trying to take it day by day, embracing the silly times and conversations but also finding places and time to be with me and reflect and listen to my body and self.

(Aside: there are chick monks going crazy behind me right now that I hope do not attack me...I am sitting in the woods.)

I am really excited for our team, there seems to be a lot of openness, creativity, and passion. I hope that I am able to keep true to myself without being a leader. I find it challenging to draw the line that divides where I am stepping up because of simply my nature and who I am vs because I planned the tour and am a tour liaison. Something that has seemed to work is that by  sharing the route pages (where we are going, distance biked each day, etc.) with the whole team prior to training week starting tour members have been able to check out where we are going on their own and have been commenting on stuff that they have found out for them selves rather then always asking me!

Thats all the reflection I have for you now! Bike safe and wear those reflective vests!!

Busy Times on my Bike

Pedal up and pedal down, pedal all over town.

This has been my mantra the past few weeks! It has been a busy time, full of Otesha outreach events, warmer weather, long runs, rock climbing, birthday parties and other events.

I love being engaged in my community, active and busy! Its great to meet new people (and see people I already know) at events. But, this network that I am forming will be left behind (again) as I take off to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on an Otesha bike trip (again). The upside is my plans are to return to Ottawa at the end of September, so this network I will have formed will be re-united with me…yippee!

But back to the Maritimes. Yes, I am heading out to the east coast now to bike along the Bay of Fundy with an awesome crew of other volunteers. There will only be 9 of us this time, and I am excited to meet them! Our training week starts in a month and I can’t wait! However between now and then there is a lot to get done! I can’t believe its already April!

Along with April showers, April also brings Easter, CanBike training, a half marathon, finishing a business plan, fix my bike, and work and do fun things too! Wowzers! Busy!

Just wanted to give you a quick “me” update, since I have been MIA the past few weeks, sorry it couldn’t have been more bike related!

Pictures from Safe Winter Cycling Rally in Ottawa

Bike Parking!!!

We're geared up and ready to rock, after a few inspiring words!

Why I ride

Ottawa has been going well. I love working for something I truly believe in, that being the environment. And biking is such an interracial part of how I shout this belief to the world. Riding my bike states that I don’t want to contribute to the pollution that automobiles produce. It states that there is another way and it challenges others to think beyond what media and our society tells us. Just because we perceive our cities to be designed around the use of the automobile, they don’t have to be. The roadways could be just as much for bikes, and instead of allowing the putting up of big box stores we could create a demand for more smaller stores. Putting the power (granted less power) back into the hands of the people. Empowering more individuals to own their businesses. Creating stronger communities and economy that demands that we know our surroundings and interact with our neighbours…all of this I say by riding my bike.

My bike empowers me. Just like anyone else out there, I spend a lot of time sitting (like right now as I type this blog post), so my body gets a little angsty, wanting to play an important role in my life too. With my bike it can do that. I am the motor behind those handle bars, I am the one that turns the peddles and sends me rolling from home to work, to soccer, to art class, to friends, to plays, and so much more! I don’t depend on your oil in my gas tank, just my oatmeal in my bowl to get me rolling. That’s why my bike empowers me, because I can go anywhere with it, all I need is a little food in my belly and grease on my chain.

My bike challenges me. Before I really got intimate with my bike I did not even know how to change a tire. That’s right, less then a year ago, when I would get a flat tire I would slunk over to my dad or the local bike shop! But no longer! Flat tire? No problem! Need to repack your axel? Done it (although kinda tricky). Fix tension of brakes? Yep! Realign the gears, yep! Yet there is so much more to learn. And yet, it’s possible! Bikes are complicated but in an approachable way. It’s all fairly simple mechanics when you break it down. Going beyond the mechanical challenges, my bike challenges me physically as I push further and go beyond what I thought was possible. What will my bike and I conquer next? Who knows!

My bike creates community. Despite all of the tension around “bikers vs. car drivers” being a biker is a great way to strike up conversation and create community. There are so many others (hidden by all the cars) that are also facing the elements and cycling to work throughout Ottawa and Canada. I have waved to friends, talked to other cyclists, and smiled at pedestrians all while on my bike. I get to interact with my surrounds and the people in it when I go to work. I get to mail my letters while still on my bike, I get to listen to the birds sing, and watch the sun blast a hole in the clouds. There is something very intimate about being on my bike. I am exposed to my surrounds and therefore get to interact with them and be part of the world and part of my community. The other day I biked home and my neighbour asked me how the biking conditions were, since he was about to saddle up on his bike too. Would we have had that convo were it not for our bikes? Nope! Our bikes enabled this interaction. Yum.

Ok, I will end there for now. But before I TOTALLY end I want to clarify that I am not trying to be self righteous or snutty-poofy by saying all of this, I am simply expressing some of the awesome reasons why I bike. I am simply challenging you all to consider why do you or don’t you bike? And perhaps if you don’t bike, try taking a lonely bike out for a whirl. Who knows what you could find, both in yourself and the world around you! Enjoy the ride!

Bikes vs Cars

Why do we always have to be against one another? Don't get me wrong, I am NOT a fan of cars, I never want to own one, and dread the times when I have to ride in one, yet they exist and like it or not our cities and western culture has developed around them. That doesn't mean we have an excuse to rely on them or drive everywhere, but it does mean that they exist on the streets. However, bikes also exist. Bikes in fact have been around longer then automobiles! The first bicycle invention was created in 1817 by Karl von Drais, while the first automobile was not invented until 1886 by Karl Bentz. So, why do bikes get the shaft? As a biker I feel like I constantly have to fight for my right to a piece of the street (especially in the winter), which doesn't seem to make sense when I am the vulnerable under-dog who really has been here longer then the car driver. Humf.

But what gets me the most is the tension and anger we create around the idea that we have to share the road. Share?! Heavens no! Again, all I am asking for is a little R. E. S. P. E. C. T., is that so hard to do for me? There are cars that provide that, but there are many that don't. I think a big problem is that a lot of the car drivers are...surprise surprise...not bikers. Therefore they do not understand why a biker would ride in the middle of the road and get in their way. When really it is not that the biker wants to get in the way, but rather that the side of the road is full of hard and dangerous ice layers. Some drivers would thus reply, "Well then you shouldn't be on the road". But again, I disagree. I know this is an extreme, but take a look at Copenhagen, this is a city that has more bikers then drivers, and thus they have to adapt their infrastructure for it. Yes their climate is somewhat milder, but they do get snow, they do get ice, and all the unfavorable conditions that winter brings.

But wait, lets back up to the ticket word...INFRASTRUCTURE! I have to say that are infrastructure is not built to value both cars and bikes, its built to value cars only. And while north American cities are getting better (Woot woot to Ottawa's bike lane on Laurier Street, I love it), we have a long way to go. So obviously its awkward when bikers have to pedal along in a world designed for cars, yet it doesn't mean it shouldn't happen. In fact more bikers should do this. The more bikers flood the cities the more demand will arise to adjust our city infrastructure to create space for the bikers, which in turn creates a better infrastructure for cars too.

So instead of becoming hateraters lets be appreciaters. And if you want safer roads, then lets lobby the cities to built better infrastructure that supports both car and bike traffic (and walkers of course too!).

Resources:

History of the Automobile: http://www.yourdiscovery.com/cars/timeline/

History of the Bicycle: http://bicycling.about.com/od/thebikelife/ss/History.htm

Biking in Copenhagen: http://www.bycyklen.dk/english/thecitybikeandcopenhagen.aspx