Cycle for Science begins!
Hey all!
Cycle for Science is off, zoom!
At the time of this posting, we have ridden just about 200 miles and tonight we’re posting up in Yuba City. We’re going to update here about every 2-3 days, but we’re a little behind. Bear with us because it’s been an incredible journey so far, and we haven’t even really gone anywhere yet. Our bodies already seem to have adjusted to 50-60 mile days (at least, when it’s flat). But we hit the Sierras this weekend, California’s bony backbone, a ten thousand-foot climb.
See I even broke Google trying to figure out the best route:
We’ve got a couple of posts written, and we’re going to play catch up tomorrow and Thursday in Chico. The stories: they’re coming.
In the meantime, a few quick tidbits to tide you over:
- On Sunday, we …. well, it’s a secret now, but it involves a red Chevy convertible. We say no more.
- On Monday, we taught our first class! Cal Middle School and Ms. Mafe Aguilar let us take over fifth period. Thirty 7th graders and five Sol Cycles zipped around the front of the school. Photos and details on that coming soon.
- Then a middle school science teacher recognized Rachel and her Cycle for Science stickers in a bike shop. “You guys on NPR?” hollered a bike mechanic from the other room.
- Yesterday, Rachel made friends with a pitbull in an orchard today, who was jealously eyeing the bacon bits in her sandwich. Farmer Greg called off Baby Girl and invited her inside to refill water (I was maybe five miles back toodling along after a leisurely lunch at a dock on the Sacramento River, where each station was marked by a rag doll).
Farmer Greg was a two time lumberjack world champion (more on this in Rachel’s upcoming post), and here he is in his infinite glory, with the infamous Baby Girl and his housemate Steven.
- And this morning, we squeezed in a teaching lesson with the grandkids of our amazing hosts (Rick and Sharon from Warm Showers, check out their cross country blog!)
They loved it, and christened the purple one “Sunny”. Some of their feedback afterwards:
“Can we power the internet with the sun”
“I want a roller coaster outside powered by the sun!”
That’s all for now, stay posted for our day-by-day updates. Happy Earth Day!