Global Agents for Change http://www.globalafc.org/blog Changing the World Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:37:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 en Hide and Seek http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/hide-and-seek/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/hide-and-seek/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:37:03 +0000 Shawn Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/hide-and-seek/ Our night in Utrecht will be hard to top I suspect, in terms of hosts and accommodation at least. As Chris mentioned in yesterday’s blog, we stayed in a converted industrial/office building, with a group that is paying a tiny amount of rent to basically ensure OTHER people don’t take over as squatters and destroy the building. In a building big enough for over 20 people to play hide and seek, we each had our own room, there was free laundry, a working kitchen, fun hosts…definitely off to a rocking start.

After heading out, we visited an amazing dutch bank today called Triodos, heavily involved in funding microfinance, alternative energy, organic farming, and other sustainable initiatives locally and globally. Free coffee and an enlightening presentation/q&a later, we were on the road and set for the afternoon’s adventures. The ride into Ede today was easy/very hard, depending on the pod you were in, whether your bike exploded, and whether you managed to ride 50km or 80km (stopping to ask directions is definitely highly advised!). All safely in for the night, we’re currently staying in donated Dutch army barracks space, complete with 8 to a room dorms with fresh linen, 6 computers, tons of shower space, a bar….you get the picture, we’ve been extremely spoiled on day 1 and 2. No major concerns yet, and the team really seems to be coming together strongly…all good news!

Off to Vreden, Germany tomorrow, our first country behind us - this also means a 6:30am wake up and our first 90km+ day ahead of us tomorrow, and we’re getting together for a quick group check in before shut eye… so I’ll leave it short.

 Shawn

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/hide-and-seek/feed/ European Tour - The very first ride day! (Written by Chris) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-very-first-ride-day-written-by-chris/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-very-first-ride-day-written-by-chris/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:35:53 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-very-first-ride-day-written-by-chris/ We have just arrived in Utrecht and we are staying in the coolest building ever. It is actually my dream place to live, a huge semi abandoned office space that has been reclaimed by 4 people to keep others from squatting. It is massive and spacious and likely going to get knocked down in a year. Seeing everyone’s expression after they walk in the door after doing our first 40km of the trip is awesome.

The first real ride of the trip was pretty picturesque. We rolled through plenty of small towns all while having our own separated bike paths from the cars. I think the distance was also the perfect amount to get started with. It allowed us to get our feet wet without anyone worrying about not being able to do it. It also, at least for the first couple groups, meant we were at our destination by just after 2pm.

Our trip has not been all peaches and cream so far though. We were unable to get a couple more tents last night so some people got very cozy last night. Really it is just more team bonding though. Gene also had a pretty spectacular wipe out today where he wound up going over his handlebars down and small embankment and into a ditch. Luckily he has fine and other than being a little smell and wet nothing was damaged.

I’m also not alone in the flat department! Three other people blew out their tires pumping up their tires. Luckily all of them had seen me change mine earlier in the day so they had a pretty good idea of how to do it when the time came. I guess we are all too strong for our own good.

That’s all for now, I think we are going to be a very happy bunch tonight.

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-very-first-ride-day-written-by-chris/feed/ European Tour - Orientation Day 2 (Written by Gala) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-orientation-day-2-written-by-gala/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-orientation-day-2-written-by-gala/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:33:22 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-orientation-day-2-written-by-gala/ well, if you don’t mind 4 flat tires on the 2nd day of orientation (yes, one was mine, from pumping my tires too much), getting lost, gene almost getting electricuited AND falling head over handlebars into a ditch while trying to take a photo riding fully loaded (he’s o.k.)… then it could be considered simple as 123, do-ray-mi, abc baby you and me girrrlll.

when we heard the news of MJs death, we briefly nicknamed this the michael jackson memorial tour. and some of us considered riding with only one bike glove the whole way.

no….
tonight we arrived in utrecht, 40kms south of amsterdam, to stay in an abandoned warehouse with a guy who sabrina met on couchsurfing. after arrival, since my chore group’s chore this week is Making Dinner (they dont know my cooking skillz)… Shawn, Gene, Eileen and I set out to find the nearest grocery store and then purchased food for the next three meals, stuffed it into panniers, rode back and cooked a delicious pasta with both vegetarian and meat options, and then we all played a massive game of hide and go seek in this nutty joint.

nutty!

time to go to sleep. ill get 5 hours if i sleep riggghhht now.

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-orientation-day-2-written-by-gala/feed/ Pacific Coast Tour (Written by Ben, Anna & Brad) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-ben-anna-brad/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-ben-anna-brad/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:42:29 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-ben-anna-brad/ Written by Ben June 26, 2009

Well after a well deserved and enjoyed two day break in San Francisco we were back on our journey south. However, today was actually a fairly relaxing day miles wise. We only had to travel 28 miles down to Half Moon Bay (although me and Patrick managed to do a couple extra miles due to a slight detour).

We had our lunch in Pacifica, which was really cool cause it had a big beach with waves that broke really close to shore. Then something strange kind of happened. This guy named Daniel wandered into our lunch area and tried to recruit Taryn and Cody into his gang. He then went kind of confused and asked if we had any beer and mustard. After a little while he left, for which everyone was glad - although he did forget his stick of beef jerky. Lunch went pretty smoothly after that, and for the first time everyone made it out before 2:30pm.

Then, after what seemed like barely any time at all (although we did go over a decent sized hill) we arrived in Half-Moon Bay with time to spare. Since, we had an hour to go before we were supposed to be at our host site, me and Patrick decided to try and go find a library, so that we could get Internet access. However, we were met by a rather unfriendly librarian who told us very explicitly that we were not allowed more than 15min (which since my computer froze half-way through turned out to be about 7min).

Finally, after taking about half an hour to find the church, we got there to find out that they had a Nintendo 64 (which the boys were quite excited about), and a huge collection of books, which we were more than welcome to take with us. We had dinner, and then a very interesting (and somewhat painful) game of Capture-the-Flag in a field beside the Church.

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Written by Anna, June 27, 2009 

Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz, 49 miles

We woke up bright and early at 6:00 am in order to clear the room out for a meeting. The group moved efficiently, grabbed breakfast in the church’s fog room, and soon enough we were all on our way. By 10 am (the time at which we have become accustomed to taking off), we had already covered 10 miles– even after a leisurely break at Starbucks.

My pod for the morning was comprised of Carly, Rachel, Taryn and myself. There were some long, steady climbs, but the heavy fog and Oceanside views kept things interesting and some good conversation kept my mind off the hills. We found a surprising number of cyclists on the road and asked whether there was a ride going on. The woman answered, Òno, this is just California– we like to cycle! About 30 miles into the ride, as we approached our lunch spot, Carly got her first flat– a pretty remarkable blow-out. The group struggled for about an hour to repair it and eventually continued alongon with the sweeps (Brad and Cody) following behind us. Carly quickly got over her flat frustrations when we decided to go strawberry picking! 7 delicious pounds of strawberries later, everyone was in a good mood and we moved on to our lunch spot by the beach, where the soaked up the sun and watched some surfers.

The afternoon was hot and had some hills, but I found quite a bit of energy and the 19 miles left in the day went by quickly. My pod arrived in Santa Cruz around 5 pm– just in time for dinner at the New Life Center. After showers, a number of us biked down to the famous Santa Cruz boardwalk to soak up some Americana– fair food, ice cream, carnival rides and a quick jaunt to the beach! We found our appetites had not been satiated, so we biked downtown to a cute strip with restaurants, boutiques and some street performers. After some cheap and filling Mexican fast food, we biked back to New Life and crashed.

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Written by Brad June 28, 2009

Another relatively easy day, the extensive bike paths and bike lanes today were a blessing between Santa Cruz and Monterrey, CA. Ever since San Francisco–but not before–the scenery in the morning has been veiled by a thick fog until mid-morning or early afternoon. A mixed blessing: even though it was hard to see, the fog made the temperature and the sun bearable, which was especially obvious when the sun finally did come out. Although not a terribly interesting day, the ubiquitous bike lanes and less-traveled roads allowed Cody, Sahriar, and myself to engage in a productive discussion about what poverty really is. For good measure, allow me to add a taste of the aforementioned self-imposed century back a week or so ago.

The day biking into Arcata is what I am considering my hump day for the trip for a variety of reasons. But the day after, biking to Humboldt State Park, was among the best. In general, I find that the faster I go, the less I stop, and the greater the challenge to overcome, the happier I am at the end of the day. I think it has something to do with a sense of accomplishment. At lunch, when we realized that we still had the keys to the church in Arcata (and later, that we had left important receipts there as well), Eva volunteered immediately to go back by bike with one provision: that she could put her panniers in the van. The idea immediately intrigued me. How fun would it be to backtrack 25 miles and challenge myself to complete the entire 56 mile ride starting late in the afternoon after a 50-mile prelude–without panniers! We set out from the lunch spot around 1:30, and didnÔt stop until we got back. Although the challenges were mainly mental, the headwind was a very real problem. About to dig into several granola bars once we arrived, Robin offered to take us out for burritos downtown as a thank-you for biking all the way back. We could have sent the van, after all, but this way was much more enjoyable for all.

By the time we left Arcata again, it was already 5:30 in the evening. Realizing the challenge at hand, we pushed ourselves rather hard, taking breaks only when absolutely necessary. The highway seemed so much more pleasant this time around, which was quite simply because the sun was shining, enabling me to see the water and trees more clearly. Overall, the highway was quite flat, and the tailwind made our job significantly easier. All these things helped us to arrive at the state park, amazingly enough, before dark. While most people got lost that day because of faulty directions, Bugsy came to our rescue just a mile or two from the site in the van to tell us which exit to take. Our grand entrance into the campground was fun–it was neat to be cheered on by the team, and they were intrigued to hear how our day had gone. Surprisingly, I woke up early the next morning, with my left knee only slightly sore, in time to do yoga in the redwoods for about an hour before anyone else but Ben was awake.

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-ben-anna-brad/feed/ European Tour - The tour has offically almost started (Written by Chris) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-tour-has-offically-almost-started-written-by-chris/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-tour-has-offically-almost-started-written-by-chris/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:24:32 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-tour-has-offically-almost-started-written-by-chris/ The trip is officially underway! Well, at the very least we are now midway through orienting ourselves to one another, the city on the other hand is still proving a little difficult to navigate for a few people. Day one was a nice mix of time to chat about our concerns and feelings towards the ride and practical riding tips. We also had a great picnic lunch with the local Bahi group who came to wish us well on our trip. I think they really managed to inspire some of the group and it was the perfect way to start the adventure we are getting ready to full embark on tomorrow.

I would also like to say that I become the first person to get a flat tire. Yes, that’s right, I actually managed to get a flat tire BEFORE the tour even started. Apparently I was a little over zealous with my pumping and I ripped the valve right off. I then had to change it another time because I put in the wrong tube, so I think that means I get to help lead the tire changing session we are doing tonight.

As for the last couple days they have been a blur. I finally managed to get a full nights sleep for the first time - previous to that I got 2, 6, and 4 hours respectively. I actually didn’t get out to do many of the “tourist” actives in the city. Instead I spent most of my days meandering the streets on foot or by bike. It really was a nice city to just wander around taking in the way of life.

I will say I love that bikes are the dominate method of transportation here. They say there are more bikes than people in the Netherlands and I think in Amsterdam specifically the ratio must be 4 or 5 to 1. It makes me wish that Vancouver was more bike friendly, and I thought we were doing pretty well before I got here.

I think that’s about all I’ve got for now, Internet is short and I’m a little sunburnt - it’s been smoking hot - so my brain feels like mush. I’ll try and upload more pictures at a later date when we get more than a 20 minute bursts.

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-the-tour-has-offically-almost-started-written-by-chris/feed/ European Tour - Amsterdam and the last of civilization (Written by Gala) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-amsterdam-and-the-last-of-civilization-written-by-gala/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-amsterdam-and-the-last-of-civilization-written-by-gala/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:22:17 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-amsterdam-and-the-last-of-civilization-written-by-gala/ Just finished washing some dishes, mainly a butter knife used to spread nutella on bread (staple diet at the moment) at Jan’s apartment here on the Noord side of Amsterdam. 63 ms. oslofjordweg, a former shipping container, since painted red and transformed into a narrow bedroom complete with kitchen and bath, has been my residence since hopping off the train from Paris on Wednesday. After setting up the bicycle, I was introduced to student life in Amsterdam with a traditional homemade ’suriname’ meal at a friend of Jan’s, a house party, and a night spent dancing to wrap up day one. Not bad at all, would be my argument.

The ‘crew’ have been quickly streaming into town.

“How’s the bike treating you?” ask two tall strangers as Chris and I walk down the canal… “umm…” “No, no… we’re one of you, I mean.. Global Agents? I have the same bike as you…” responds Jake Moir, one of the 15 or so people I had yet to meet of our crew of 20. Amsterdam’s petite size allows for a couple more random run ins with a few more Global Agents for Change, and Friday night finds 10 of us in a people-packed park, each with a bottle of wine in hand.

this is the beginning of our tour.

we’ve all got our reserves about the Balkans, and there is a reciprocating feeling of non-saneness among us too. some have experience in similar cycling tours, and some (cough cough) have never ventured from day-long tours. although, i did have my fair share of critical masses this year. and although we won’t be a team of 2000, which is the stats of the latest Vancouver Mass ride (check out this cycle rant from a former professor of mine about CM here), our team of 20 will be a sight to see in our bright green and orange jerseys next week.

“training” these past few days has consisted of very slow mini-rides (as most people ride granny bikes with one gear) around the cutest lil houses on cobblestone streets that you ever did see, and a trip to Jan’s parents house for use of their holy washing machine.

holy washing machine.
did I just say that?

I think I’m losing my mind. and, I promise my writing will get better once my surroundings get less comfortable. that’s a usual trend that I’ve noticed.

PS, the library here is really neat.
ramble, ramble, ramble. orientation starts tomorrow and I’m moving from this nice little storage unit of a house out to the campground which will be hosting us for the next 3 days.

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-amsterdam-and-the-last-of-civilization-written-by-gala/feed/ Pacific Coast Tour (Written by Omid, Cody, & Sahriar) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-omid-cody-sahriar/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-omid-cody-sahriar/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:24:29 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-omid-cody-sahriar/ Hello! The Pacific Coast team has just passed San Francisco! Below are 3 accounts from Cody, Omid, and Sahriar from last week. Sorry for the lateness - internet access has been limited.
Enjoy!

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Written by Sahriar June 12th (Story Group Class)
The church that we stayed at treated us to an fabulous breakfast this morning that consisted of casserole and gingerbread pancakes. I was surprisingly the first person to have all my stuff packed this morning and I was in one of the first pods to set out, but we didn’t get very far before we all decided to stop for some mini golfing and go carting.

The ride to lunch was a little gruelling and consisted of some really long hills. Sarah and Adam made us a wonderful lunch with bread, bologna, salad, and lots of fruits and snacks. A few of us also decided to get some slurpees afterwards but we were disappointed when we couldn’t get the Bumblebee Blast slurpee that we had seen ads for.

I rode the rest of the day with Jenny through the beautiful Oregon coast which had large stretches of forest interrupted by the occasional sand dune. Other than the scenery, the highlights include almost being run over by a really big RV, and being honked or yelled at by practically every other car passing us on a bridge (apparently we were supposed to walk our bikes on the shoulder). When we got to our destination in Coos Bay (a church), we were pretty shocked to learn that one of the riders had fallen of her bike and had to be taken to the hospital for stitches, but thankfully she wasn’t too badly injured.

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Written by Cody June 18th (Arcata - Humboldt Redwood, Burlington Campground, California)

Today was the first day back on the bikes after a day off in Arcata, California. The Global Agents for Change being the finely tuned machine it is had decided that this morning everyone would be waking up at 7 am to be on the road by 9 am. Come 10 am  most riders had set out for our lunch in the friendliest (and so modest!) city, Fortuna. The ride out was an easy (and loud/busy) ride down the 101 highway and through Eureka’s Old Town before a gentle climb and coast to lunch.

At lunch time it occurred to the group that perhaps the key for the facilities in Arcata might be better served by remaining in Arcata. Brad and Eva decided that it would be a fun idea to cycle back to Arcata to return the key and pick up some forgotten documents at the same time. (We are a very finely tuned machine indeed). They both deserve huge accolades, along with funny looks, as this meant turning today from a 53 mile day ride (that distance is according to the directions; the reality is always far longer with several extra hills thrown in) into a 100 plus mile ride; in cycling lingo, a century. Having rolled into camp around 8 or 9 this evening both were pretty characteristically non-plussed about the whole thing, but thoroughly satisfied.

The second half of the day terrain wise was not particularly noteworthy - gentle undulating hills meant the miles just rolled by. We were fortunate enough to have the sun come out after a cloudy start to the day. The appearance of the sun raised spirits so high that an impromptu party was called at exit 663. Impromptu meaning we had no idea what the directions we had meant and couldn’t decide if we were where we were meant to be, or if we had overshot our exit number by 400 or so. The party really got started when Graham informed us all that he had a flat tire and that it might be nice to spend some time fixing it.

After an exciting game of patch the punctured tire we continued on in blind faith that maybe the distances on our directions were correct, even if exit numbers, highway numbers and road names were not. I’m not sure the distances were correct but we found the campsite either way with plenty of sunshine to spare, which meant swimming in the nearby river. Hooray!

After the sun dipped down behind the trees everyone headed from the rivers beach back to camp for camp set up, a touch of slack-lining and our pasta dinner. All in all a relaxing day - a fair distance in fair weather.

Tune in tomorrow, featuring Death Mountain! Same bat-time, same bat-channel.

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Written by Omir
So today is the big day, it is my turn to recapture the events that unfolded today in a few paragraphs or less; however, I don’t think a mere scriptural re-hash of events could really capture the emotions that I felt today, and so today’s blog entry will be in the form of a rap.

California Countryside, Blue Sky Was Sitting High
Now Your Boy Was Riding Fly, Turquoise Tide Up On My Side
Grahams Ipod Amplified As I Followed Codys Stride
Partial Lane I Occupied So No Cars Could Pass Me By

Now The Day Started Real Chill, Smooth Roads Hardly Real Hills
In The Distance Echoed Shrills From Highway Maintenance Drills

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-written-by-omid-cody-sahriar/feed/ European Tour - I’m in Amsterdam! (Written by Chris) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-im-in-amsterdam-written-by-chris/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-im-in-amsterdam-written-by-chris/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:13:27 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-im-in-amsterdam-written-by-chris/ I’m currently hauled up in a room that I swear if it had a ceiling fan could be straight out of Apocalypse Now, although that could just be the heat or lack of sleep playing tricks on me. Holy crap I am in Amsterdam. How the hell did that happen? I think I had a minor panic attack on the plane – judging by the very worried expression of the kind British women next to me when I woke up – the gravity of this trip is actually starting to set in. But I am getting ahead of myself so lets back track a little.

I woke up June 24th PST at around 9am. Before I would wind up in the state I am currently in I would make it until June 25th 9pm CEST before really getting any sleep. Not a bad start to the trip. The 24th started out uneventful enough: it had to; we still had no power so there was nothing to make any noise. After waking to yell at the landlords to try and rectify the situation I decided there was nothing I could do at home without the internet so I wound up going to starbucks to find theirs broken as well. By this time I was feeling akin to a street addict shaking so I drove up to SFU to sit in the parkling lot and borrow there internet access. I justify all of this by claiming the need to have checked my e-mail to confirm very things about my trip. Going to SFU also had the added bonus of getting to give Lauren another hug and kiss goodbye.

I then finally got a call from my would be ride to the airport, and was thankful that he would still be able to deliver me. He would have to take me there 2.5 hours earlier than the 3.5 I was planning on being there before my international flight but worry not, this time would not be wasted. Once the KLM (Dutch Airlines) desk finally opened I was informed that my bike needed a box to get on the plane, the handle bars needed to be spun and the pedals needed to come off. I will deal with each of these issues in order of prevalence.
The bike box: I had phoned YVR last week and asked to speak to the KLM representative who informed me that although a box was recommended that I would be fine if I showed up with my bike as is and they would give me a bag to stick it in. Upon arriving at the terminal I was informed that this is NEVER the case and I couldn’t possibly have spoken to a KLM representative unless I phoned the Netherlands. I of course am a Capricorn and very stubborn so I calmed explained my plight and a rather kind flight attendant scoured the airport for any extra bags she count find of any size and after about an hour and a half produced three midsized ones that would partially cover my bike and some tape.

The handle bars: Now this I think is just silly. Due to the way my bike is designed when you spin the handlebars it actually makes the bike wider and much harder to fit into various places. If I took them off it may be easier and almost make sense, but I was only told to spin them. I tried to explain the laws of physics to the flight attendant but I think she could sense my fine arts degree and insisted I spin them.

The pedals: I felt that these became somewhat of a moot point once the handlebars made the bike bigger but again it was insisted that I take them off. I explained that I actually couldn’t it was too difficult with the tools I had on me but this didn’t seem to register. Apparently she assumed that if I was going to do this crazy bike trip I was claiming to be on that I would have all of the correct tools to breakdown my bike, including the special wrench for pedals. At this point a very nice German cyclist came to my help and ran all over YVR trying to find a construction worker who happened to have a larger wrench that would fit. He did manage to find a big wrench and larger construction worker but neither worked. I just padded my pedals and put more tape around them. So I suppose I kind of won that point. On the upside I made a new German friend, and although we doesn’t live on our route we did have a lovely dinner together.

The actually plane ride itself was probably the bumpiest assent that I had ever experience but the rest of the flight went rather smooth. I arrived at the airport to find all of my bags in tack and bike pretty much fine. Some how they managed to pull the seat apart but they didn’t break it so that shouldn’t be a big issue. Oddly enough though, Amsterdam doesn’t have a special pickup window for sporting goods and bikes like Vancouver. I found my bike randomly sitting next to a door guarded by no one so I just took it and carried on my way to the train, which whisked me directly down to the city centre.

From there I only got minorly lost trying to find my Hotel but checked in no problem. The most amusing part of that story is that a very kind Dutch woman came to my aid while I was looking at my map and attempted to help my find my Hotel. The only problem was that I was actually standing right in front of it and hadn’t realized it but she didn’t lead me too far afield before we found our way back.

I then met up with another one of the riders Gala and we set off to explore the city. I was wearing my Global AFC shirt and Gala had her Elan bike and we were almost instantly recognized by two other riders on the trip, Charles and Jake so we located some food and a bottle of wine and did what all tourists should do: sit in the middle of “The Dam” on the steps and people watch.

So I think that is pretty much what has happened in the last 29 hours. I am going to attempt to get to sleep now and hopefully be able to make it through the night. I’m in Amsterdam… wow.

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/european-tour-im-in-amsterdam-written-by-chris/feed/ Pacific Coast Tour Day 21 (Written by Jenni Panek-Christie) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-day-21-written-by-jenni-panek-christie/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-day-21-written-by-jenni-panek-christie/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:16:05 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-day-21-written-by-jenni-panek-christie/ “Killer Mountain”. The day of the Legendary hill. Panniers tossed, abandoned, to the side. Cyclists’ corpses line the roadside. Built up anxiety and anticipation at the bottom of the every hill we came across. Is this the one? Procrastination: stops at every “world famous” attraction on the side of the highway. Every one a perfect photo opp! Unexpectedly, the final destination, the campsite for the night, came upon us, and the sudden joy that the past 2 1/2 wekks had stregthened and conditioned us so well that we had unknowingly mastered the notorious climb overwhelmed our senses. Of course, it was all too good to be true. We had been misinformed. The epic hill would present itself to us the next day..

]]> http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/pacific-coast-tour-day-21-written-by-jenni-panek-christie/feed/ 10 days till European Tour (Written by Gala) http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/10-days-till-european-tour-written-by-gala/ http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/10-days-till-european-tour-written-by-gala/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:14:03 +0000 Connie Blog http://www.globalafc.org/blog/blog/10-days-till-european-tour-written-by-gala/ You’d think that on the evening of your departure for a 2 month long cycling trip through foreign countries… on the evening of your embarkment on a journey that one year ago you never could have imagined yourself doing… a journey that relies 100% on having your bicycle endure the entire 15 hour plane ride from Vancouver to Paris, and then another 4 hour train trip to Amsterdam, all inside a cardboard box… you’d think that as an amateur at this profession, you might get someone else to dismantle your bike and assemble it neatly into that cardboard box for you. Because probably somewhere along the line, someone told you it wasn’t that easy to do.

Well, as usual, I found myself learning things the hard way, and after 3 hours of loosening bolts, twisting handlebars, loosing important miscellaneous small pieces under the porch, removing tires, not so easily removing pedals, finding makeshift tools to do the job with, and grunting and screaming as I realized the bike just doesn’t slip easily into the stupid box (because I think my bike shop gave me a child sized box, i swear…) it worked. well, lots of packing tape, but it worked.

23 hours, 2 planes, and 117 tiny steps up a narrow french staircase near “sacre coeur de montematre” later, and my home for the next 10 weeks is sitting in a closet waiting for the train ride to Amsterdam next tuesday.

At this point, 10 days will come too soon for my liking, but there is definitely no backing out now. Besides, it’ll be nice to stop paying $6 for a shot of espresso.

a bientot!

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