i like to ride my bicycle

Sunday, January 3, 2009
I want to ride my bicycle
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Sports

Last November, 20 (or 18, or 19 depending on the day) of us (us being the people who work, or have worked, for the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program) started a journey that started in ....San Francisco.... and ended at the Mexican border. The mode of transportation: our bicycles.

The sustainable living bike tour was in its fourth year though it was my first. I borrowed a road bike from my friend Belle who had moved back to England and shortly thereafter realized I had no idea what I was getting myself into. After a day in ....San Francisco.... we started loading our support vehicle and it was time to go. I had, just that morning, returned from my pioneer road bike ride to and from a bicycle shop to get cleats put on my new bike shoes. I had never ridden a road bike, had never “clipped in,” had never so much as changed my own flat tire (though I love riding bikes), and I was determined to hit the ground running, or I guess riding, as the case may be.



There was chaos, as is bound to be with 20 riders, as everyone got ready to take off in never before worn bike clothes for some and fourth year well worn in rags for others. We handed out maps and talked about riding safely. We were instructed to have our cell phone on us and money at all times, both of which were in my bag at the bottom of the pile of luggage. Also, I couldn’t find my helmet. It was supposed to be at the bottom attached to my bag too but when I arrived that night to our destination (after borrowing a helmet for the day), it was nowhere to be found. We would be reunited, however, later in the trip. I was very overwhelmed. We left San Francisco and started towards Point Bonita, a day to practice a few hills and get used to the bike. As we started ascending the hill before the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge. I realized I didn’t know how to change gears. Well, I knew how, I just didn’t know which ones I needed to change or why. What became quite clear to me was that either I was way more out of shape than I thought (that marathon in October was insignificant) and would not make it up the miniscule hill, or that I needed to change gears (or more importantly learn which one to change), and fast. Danny rode easily past me struggling and told me to change gears. I told him I didn’t know which one to change and he motioned, using his own bike as a model, where I needed to push. What a difference that made!

The end of the first day- only about 10 or 15 miles, but some hilly ones, felt good. We rode, once again, across the Golden Gate Bridge the next morning and stopped at a school to talk about sustainable living before leaving San Francisco entirely. That is, however the purpose of the trip! We visit schools and community events to talk about and run programs regarding sustainable living. One school and 25 miles down, we had a long way to go. Fourteen schools and 750 miles, to be exact.


The hilly first day was a great training run. A few days later I would be heading up the Santa Cruz mountains (13 miles of uphill with no give) and then into Big Sur on my bicycle.

Big Sur has steep hills and is a narrow two lane road along beautiful coastline. There is no bike lane and there were a few daunting signs warning us with a jagged line which was supposed to symbolize the road and “next 90 miles” or “next 63 miles” underneath it. ..Big Sur.. was the most breathtaking, challenging, and therefore most rewarding part of the trip. I learned how and why to change my gears pretty quick.

Camping in a different spot every night and putting in mileage on your legs and your bicycle every day can be quite a task.



By the time we reached Santa Barbara a couple days before Thanksgiving I was happy for the respite of staying at Danny’s grandma’s for a few days with just less than half the crew and resting my tired body. Coming into ....Santa Barbara.... was also the first hint of rain we got and that can be disheartening when your mode of transportation is a bicycle. We did a 12 mile ride (took 2 ½ hours, in the rain, because of 8 flats along the way, all because of people from our crew) from Goleta into Santa Barbara with Bici- Centro, a Santa Barbara bicycle organization, and even got to meet with the people in charge of some of Santa Barbara’s environmental initiatives where we saw a “Bikestation” (place to park your bike inside with restrooms, showers, and lockers) with a vending machine with bike gear, gloves, lube, etc, as potential purchases. We had a Thanksgiving feast in a little park over looking Santa Barbara and when it got colder and darker we went inside for guitars, songs, and games.

Hopping on our bikes the next day with our Thanksgiving feast still digesting felt good. It’s funny when you get to a point where you find out how long you’re riding that day and know exactly what that means, what that might feel like, on your body and your watch. Sixty miles does not mean the same thing on day 12 as 60 miles means on day 4. We kept riding, through Ventura and Malibu (with a quick stop at the sand dunes)



before splitting into 3 different groups for 3 days to tackle Los Angeles. Or divide and conquer, I guess, since that is the area with the most schools to visit.



We reconvened by accident on the side of the road to Carlsbad, where we would all be meeting up anyway, and finished the ride to Carlsbad (somewhat) together. We took the steep hill up to Torry Pines on our way to San Diego and split to spend the night at different homestays of people we know. Though it was nice to sleep indoors, I have to say, I was missing camping.


We woke up in San Diego, reconvened at the ferry terminal to Coronado island to visit Mar Vista, our last school, and then headed straight for the border. We didn’t go into Mexico this year sadly because of the violence that’s been happening down there, but we still spanned over 750 miles in 3 weeks. It was cause for celebration.

for more info, videos, pictures, etc, you can check out the official bike trip blog at: www.sustainablelivingbiketour.blogspot.com

it's a wonderful life

Friday, January 23, 2009
it's a wonderful life
Current mood: hopeful

It’s amazing to work in a place where picking trash up off the ground is expected, not alarming. Where I work, live, and play with the same people every day. Where my food is made and I wake up each day with different ways to reach the same kids, or different kids to reach the same ways. Environmental education has taught me a lot. I so value the experience of a 5 mile bike ride on a dirt road into a town where everyone truly knows your name, where all you can find is a dive shop, a restaurant, a visitors center, and a small (not local) grocery store. Riding home in the dark with headlamps on, stars above, and bioluminescence in the water below makes you look at things a little differently. It’s impossible not to.

My time in between the island life- in NYC over the summer and in ....Dallas.... right now- has shown me how much I truly have learned. It has shown me how to integrate my environmental knowledge into a (more) normal lifestyle. Or perhaps just a more ubiquitous lifestyle. Every choice I make has power in it’s potential to make the world a better place or contribute to the environmental mess we’ve created and perpetuated. Every choice is thought out. I like not having the ease of accessibility; it makes it impossible to take things for granted. And even though I’m going into my third season now with the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program, it’s still impossible for me to take the experience of that beautiful place for granted too. Communication is hard and as I ponder going back there soon I’m trying to have all the unlimited internet and cell phone service time I can, before these things too, are limited and therefore valued even more.

Things are not convenient there. I broke my sunglasses halfway through the spring and had nowhere to buy new ones. Luckily, we have a pretty good stash of lost and found at camp, and they were easily replaced. The students come and go each week and sometimes it is a real struggle. There can be a lot of resistance from kids who are not used to being in the middle of nowhere, of doing a solo- hike at night, of hiking up any hills, of using hand- eye coordination to push a kayak forward and having the forethought and the teamwork to do that with a buddy. Perhaps they are not used to doing a night snorkel, to spending time in a garden or a microscope lab, to being out of their comfort zone, or to see that their actions have consequences further reaching then themselves. It’s the tough weeks that challenge me that make me REMEMBER. Remember what it’s like to be out of my comfort zone, to change my style of teaching, and to remember what it’s like to be away from home for the first time, as many of the kids might be.

Being out of our comfort zone is a remarkable way we really get to know ourselves.
I am not done learning.
I’ve had many adventures in the past year:

Camping in isolated spots on Catalina:


Showing my island world to my sister Meredith and her husband Scott:


The ....Chicago.... ..Marathon.. October 12:

Seeing Obama at my Alma Mater in Fort Collins, Colorado October 26th:


Water fun and scuba diving Catalina Island:


Hiking the untouched hills on Catalina:


Seeing friends and riding bikes in Fort Collins.., ..Colorado....:


Seeing two of my brothers get married:




Spending a summer with my sister Morgan near NYC:


Biking across the ..Brooklyn.. bridge:


Learning to work, live, and play with the same 20 people:


Returning home, again:

the island life for me

Sunday, March 23, 2008
the island life for me
Current mood: content
I’m sitting on the edge of an island listening to the waves roll in, watching something that hasn’t become so familiar that I stop appreciating it. I don’t really imagine how that could happen. I’ve been in the states for just over a month. I still look the wrong way when crossing the street, I still speak with an apparently funny accent and strange intonations which I didn’t realize I had until I’d stepped foot out of the country where I’d gained the inflections and back into the familiar soil in the United States.



I’m getting to know the LA airport quite well as I had a 4 hour layover after leaving Auckland but before returning to Dallas, only to return to that same airport 3 days later to start a new job on another island, on Catalina. A week and a half later I return to the same airport for the same LA- Dallas route to be home for my brother’s wedding, and then, after another 3 days, I’m back at the LA airport, back on a ferry headed towards the continuation of a job I’d just started as an instructor with an environmental outdoor education program.


It still feels like I’m as far away as New Zealand sometimes. I have to pre-plan every phone call or text message because my cell phone gets such bad service here. It’s a tease to my homing device. "I’m back in the country!! But I still can’t talk to you!!"


My sister Meredith and her husband Scott just visited me in California. I showed them around the island and we took up a whole bench and rode in a van full of strangers on unpaved windy roads across Catalina island. We kayaked and saw seals and sea lions, we snorkeled, had a campfire, we hiked and I shared my newfound knowledge of Catalina native edible and non-edible plants, native animals, tide pool organisms, composting, and the like. We did a (full) moonlight kayak and paddled straight out towards the mainland, though we could barely see it, until Howland’s Landing cove was almost indistinguishable as darkness seeped in and we watched the moon appear half on the horizon and sat mesmerized on kayaks in the middle of the channel and continued to watch until the orange tinted glowing full moon rose into the sky and I couldn’t feel my toes but I could feel the breeze and feel like I was, again, on the end of the earth.


I don’t have a 3 second delay when speaking to loved ones now that I’m back in the country. And it’s good to be back in the USA.

not normally an over sharer

Friday, February 22, 2008
not normally an over sharer
Current mood: tired

Some things I wrote en route back to the states and since returning (hopefully it's intelligible):

En Route to LA, somewhere over the Pacific:

A guy tried to be my friend (or maybe just friendly) at the Skytower in Auckland in the morning of the day I was set to depart New Zealand. I small talked but wasn't interested in talking about Nelson, Queenstown or Wellington. Or how to buy a car and sell one in New Zealand. Or how to find work here. Or the best places to visit on the North and South Islands.

I wasn't even interested in conversation when he said he was from Austria but lives in Zurich though I lived there once too and on a normal day would use any opportunity to speak a bit of German. Maybe I wasn't interested because I'm from the states and live in NZ. And I had too much whirling in my own head to pay attention to what he was saying.

I'm on a flight to LA.
I thought I was ready to go, and I think I am.
But it's hard to say goodbye to this experience that's solely mine. I was at the airport and everything seemed normal; I was fine. All of the sudden I was at the gate for my flight and I heard all these crass American accents. I know I have one too, but when it's taken out of context, out of the US, it's tamer, different. I was getting on a plane to be just one of them again. American.

I listened to the Americans speak and I knew right away I was judging them for simply being American. For speaking in the same accent as me and for speaking about New Zealand to each other so casually. For being on a flight back to the states. I started to cry for (as it seemed) no reason at all in a room full of strangers, inconsolable. We boarded and the plane started to take off and all of the sudden we were in the clouds already, New Zealand fading out of sight so quickly, unfairly.

Sunset at take-off was grand (and sunset upon arriving in Dallas would be too, but I didn't know that yet), and now I'm going back. Back to what I know in Texas until Wednesday when I board yet another plane to California for another new beginning. I might just be getting good at those.

LA airport:
American accents are all around and I know as soon as I step into my father's arms all of the NZ experiences will seem so foreign and as if it were all a dream.

White tennis shoes, sweatpants or matching tracksuits, clad with Starbucks and Burger King, these accents are strong and somehow now seem foreign to me. I know I'm judging them but momentarily it's okay because it's part of adjusting back to the reality I came from. Maybe it's not judgment, maybe it's just observing, amazement, at this place and these people who have become foreign to me but from which I came.

I sat next to a father- type guy from Alabama on the plane with a thick Southern accent and also the kind of Southern hospitality that makes you speak more than just superficial niceties to strangers in airplanes. Listening to him sounded like home and I remembered what I liked about the U.S.

Dallas:
The 17th of February is finally coming to an end.. I'm at home in Dallas and it's feeling really good. Left New Zealand on Sunday February 17th at 7:40pm and finally arrived in Dallas at 8:15pm Sunday February 17th. So- I guess it's kind of like I only lost about half an hour. Sure seemed like more though.

Cried a lot at the airport and sunk into my father's arms for as long as it took.


Stomach was bouncing as I stepped off the plane.


Went straight to a Tex-Mex restaurant from the airport with my whole family and it was one of my more delicious meals as of late.

NZ was not a dream; it was fabulous.
The morning after I arrived I went downstairs to go for breakfast with my parents and my stepmom said "you know it's about 37 degrees outside right?" She spoke in fahrenheit and I was in a tank top. It was the end of a Texas winter; I didn't need much else.

So- am home to free soda refills, hands under the table during dinner, the toilet flushing the other way around, temperature in Fahrenheit, and driving on the right side of the road where everything looks so familiar… in a suburban! But only for a few days…

California:
I'm in California (again) now, just three days after returning to the country, to embark on something else that is sure to be an adventure.

While in Dallas my brother said to me something like "It's a shame you couldn't have more time to adjust before hopping into something else," and my sister Vanessa answered for me, "It's how she rolls Coyt."

It's how I roll.
And life is good.

it's time

Thursday, February 07, 2008
it’s time
Current mood: pensive
I'm still in New Zealand and it's been a year and a half here... Now that i'm getting settled in a new city (again), I'm leaving (again).

My time is winding down and I can hear the clock ticking in the background. The ticking follows the tocking and the tocking follows me as I wind my way through streets in cities I've learned to call home. I see familiar faces and I can't understand why things fall into place two weeks before I leave, two weeks before I heave my two bags onto a plane and my body into a seat doing brainless activities to keep myself from what is coming. It fell into place a long time ago, and is really still happening the way it should be, I've just learned to appreciate it now that I won't have it, this life in New Zealand. People act differently when they're leaving somewhere. Throw caution to the wind while treading carefully.

I thought a year and half would be long enough to figure out what to do with my life, but I've been too busy living to waste time planning and right now I know (roughly) what the next three months will bring and that's more than I've known in a long time.

It was the superbowl last weekend and I didn't even know it was on (that being said, I don't normally when I'm home either...) but I am very out of touch and sometimes it's nice that way. Sometimes though I wish I could reach out and give my siblings a hug or squeeze my niece and nephews cheeks, so I'm looking forward to that.
And if I get home and someone asks me how my "trip" went, I will secretly be raging. This is not a trip. This is living. With jobs, and expenses, and bad (good?) decisions and all that comes with all of that (and some pretty great times too!).
My attempt at something worth reading. haha

I'm going to California. I will be working for Catalina Environmental Leadership Program on Catalina Island. I get back to LA, then Texas, on Feb 17th, then turn right around (still jet-lagged and "return" culture shocked I presume) back to LA to start what will be the next three months of my life (and more?). I can't wait. Ideally I'd spend a bit more time at home after being gone a year and a half but I won't be ready to leave NZ yet, and I already had the flight before I got the job, so there that is. I will spend my days with little kids learning with them and teaching them about the environment through kayaking, gardening, hiking, snorkeling, ropes-coursing, rock climbing, star gazing, composting, living simply, and appreciating the great world we live in. Sounds good doesn't it?
I think so.
I will be missing my (already bought, no refund) flight to Colorado. I still can't wait to see my friends there, and where ever in the world they (you?) may be.
We shall be in touch, friends. I've missed you.

the long and short of it

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
the long and short of it
Current mood: relaxed
Well… four months later and I'm still here. In New Zealand that is. I just moved to Wellington, New Zealand's capital and all is well. I'll be here till March; that's the plan. I live every day as they come; that's how it somehow got to be 14 months on these islands.

Been four months since I wrote. What a whirlwind.
In that time I have:

Worked hard


(hardly worked?)


Dressed like a pirate


Learned to snowboard


Felt at home


Heli skied


Made new friends


Watched dolphins play


Had a very black and white birthday


Skiied


Eaten well


Bungy Jumped


Drank


Seen great views


Run


Hiked


Said goodbye


And moved… again.

still going strong

Sunday, July 01, 2007
still going strong
Current mood: restless
Where to begin?! Yesterday marked 10 months on these islands I surprisingly realized. I now live in Queenstown, New Zealand. It's a small ski town similar to Breckenridge in the states. A party town if you're looking to party, but also pretty cool.
It's very close to the ski hills, hiking trails, mountain biking trails (actually did that with Dave, flatmate, the day after I moved in… 4 hours mountain biking… very intense… very humbling as I literally fell in the water almost every time we had a river crossing- not so easy on a bike!), the lake, everything! It is the adventure capital of the world and caters to adventure enthusiasts- bungee jumping off bridges, skydiving, jet boating, canyon swinging, etc. I have lived here two months and only had a job for 3 weeks of that (so hard to find a job until the ski hills open and the town gets busier)!

But- now I'm working hard- the town has picked up and it is busy busy busy.
I got a job at a 5star hotel as a concierge, a ski concierge two days a week (go-to gal for snow conditions, transport to mountain, rentals, etc) and regular concierge 3 days a week.


I really love this town. Been tons of fun already, and it's just the beginning.
The town is busy allright! There are people everywhere. Last week was Winterfest where I got to see some very cool kiwi bands and two mountains (both within a half hour- 45 minute drive) nearby are open. There were parades and rail jams on the mountains and many activities to occupy everyone in Queenstown.

I will be snowboarding this season, so we'll see how that goes! Bought one so I'm committed to the season! It's been painful so far (literally- the bum, knees, wrists…) but I'm learning! Been up about 4 days already and there will be many more to come. Thought it was time to learn something new on the mountain (not that i'm anywhere near done learning about skiing!)

I'm working as a ski concierge at a 5 star hotel in town. Still learning the ropes a bit… but it keeps me entertained I guess. I have to be much more professional than I did working at a bar in Nelson! (no more "inappropriate touching Thursday"s… a weekly occurrence in Nelson, but we make up for it at the bars I suppose…)



Monty's bar for Chris' last night before heading back to England


Surreal bar with Dave and Amy




me before dancing until 5am...



My flatmates are fabulous. I live with Kain and Liza (partners, kiwi, 28 and 29), and Dave (26, English). We have an amazing view of the mountains, liza and kain's two cats, and fires in the fireplace every night as there is no central heating here! (heating blanket, space heater, and two duvets on my bed do their best... but sometimes it's still cold!) We all get along really well and it feels good here. We take turns cooking for each other and i've learned a thing or two in the kitchen! It's fun to eat together- it's always a feast- real good, healthy food, and a lot of it!




We eat very well and now Thursdays have a new meaning (along with inappropriate touching of course). We all usually hang out and drink a little and listen to house music (Kain's favourite). The music's not what I generally listen to but it's fun to widen my musical knowledge and the company is good. Out on the town with them is also particularly fun.

Last week it snowed and snowed and snowed and I couldn't drive my car up the hill to my house! I live up a steep hill and that makes the views fabulous and the walk home from town a workout. We built jumps and I took pictures as the flatmates and friends snowboarded down the street.

A visiting friend got particularly creative:




I think I've turned into a person that I wouldn't recognize a few years back. I'm still learning, always will be. I'm enjoying my time here and changing my opinions on a lot of things. I feel really lucky because I have a few really close friends here and feel at home in New Zealand.

I've made the decision to extend my visa and stay in new zealand at least until October when the ski season ends. After that, who knows?! Maybe Australia for a few months, maybe a year, maybe back to the states to save for and then go to grad school, maybe i'll get a degree in new zealand... my plans change every day. But i do know, i'll be here until october at least, quite possibly longer (start saving so you can visit if you ever want to see me again! only kidding... kind of). This country is amazing- an outdoor lover's mecca! It's really easy to settle into life here, and i've made it my home.
Who knows what happens next…?!


Not me... but I don't mind.