2/19/2015 0 Comments TRECYCLE Adventure BeginsToday I declared my plans for an adventure to cycle 333 miles across the state of Ohio on a recumbent trike to raise awareness and support for native tree reforestation in response to the loss of millions of ash trees to the Emerald Ash Borer in Ohio. This trek is inspired by world adventurer David Cornthwaite from England who is advising as many as 200 adventurers, each taking their own journeys with a goal of raising funds to plant 1,000,000 (1 million) trees! I plan to raise at least $3 per mile, a total of $1,000 or roughly $150 per day to support the planting of 50 trees (7 x six foot 3 gallon trees per day) in City, County, Metro Park and National Park locations along the trail. The TRECYCLE adventure begins in Cincinnati on the banks of the Ohio River on Sunday, April 19, 2015 and ends on the shore of Lake Erie on Saturday, April 25. The week encompasses the Environmental holidays of Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22 and Arbor Day on Friday, April 24. I will be travelling about 10 miles per hour, around 50 miles per day. At that rate there should be time each day to participate in tree plantings and speak with any groups who would like to hear about the adventure. Weather permitting I will camp in parks or lodge in warmshowers.org host homes, hostels, bed and breakfasts or hotels along the way. LINK to GPS Map of the Ohio to Erie Trail TRECYCLE Ride My dream is that this adventure can further inspire fellow Ohioans to take their own adventures right out their front door or driveway on the Ohio to Erie Trail. If you are interested more in this adventure please contact me. If you’d like to join the trek there's room for more. If you’d like to contribute and sponsor me in this adventure, see details below or link with the TRECYCLE Indiegogo Life crowdfunding site. If you are just curious about this crazy adventure and you’d just like to follow along I will be using this blog to report progress. I've done a few charities in the past, but it has been a very long time since I've solicited my family and friends for donations. Usually I will just cover the minimum pledge out of my own pocket so as not to bother folks. Well this time it's different. I am about to embark on my longest adventure - a 7 day, 333 mile journey. Its a cause I care about and hits close to home since I have three trees affected by the Emerald Ash Borer in our yard that have to be sawed down this spring. Remember you are joining a cause much bigger with adventurer David Cornthwaite of England to plant 1 million trees around the world. Here are a few suggested sponsorship options: $3 sponsor one mile $5 sponsor one seedling $20 sponsor one sapling tree $40 sponsor 2 trees $100 sponsor 33 miles $143 sponsor me for a day Thank you!
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2/8/2015 0 Comments Cycling NumbersOne thing I've done since I began regular cycling again in 2010 is to log my mileage each day. That has become data that just begs to be analyzed for the fun of it. Well according to the numbers I passed 2 major milestones in cycling this past week. The first was 15,000 miles ridden by bike or trike in the 4 ½ years since August 2010. That’s about 9 miles a day. Roughly 6 of those miles per day (70%) have been for commuting purposes (to work and back or to do errands – any trip I otherwise would have driven a car.) By cycling instead of driving a car I saved 13,650 pounds or 6.2 metric tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere. The second milestone was 1,000,000 calories burned during 1,668 hours of cycling. That is roughly the equivalent of burning 286 pounds, or the caloric equivalent of 1,494 Burger King whoppers, 3,707 scoops of Graeters Ice Cream or 5,888 Guinness Stout Ales. No fitness club was necessary. Imagine how absurd it would seem to me now if I had to drive to the fitness club to ride a stationary bike! All in all I have saved 683 gallons of gas, worth $2,298. If one calculates all savings, in addition to the gas, such as car maintenance, fitness club savings, less parking fees, lower insurance costs and all the indirect savings to the environment, highway maintenance, etc. then by some calculations at the generally accepted figure of $1.00 per mile the savings altogether are estimated at $15,000. That has more than paid for my original bike and the new trike, the velokit and all the maintenance since. Contrary to what it may sound like I do not ride every day. On average it comes to about 3 out of every 4 days or 70 % of the time. Riding can go in spurts, my longest stretch has been 35 days, but there have been droughts of one or more days due to more important family activities, terribly bad weather, long, long distance travel days, illness, laziness, or having no particular reason to ride. One thing that has extended my riding into the winter months has been the green velokit which protects me on 5 of 6 sides (left, right, front and back and top – nothing on the bottom.) I have logged 3,250 miles in three seasons with the velokit. It keeps me dry, cuts the wind and keeps me relatively warm in my upper body. The kit was made in Ohio by a fellow named “Krash”. It was handmade, mine was the 62nd one he produced and possibly last one, as he announced last year on his web site that he has retired from the velokit business. More blog topics ahead…
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Brent DevittFollow my thoughts on adventure and the environment. Archives
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