This weekend Dallas and I will ride in the MS 150 bike tour.  We will bike from Pawtucket, RI to Wheaton College in Massachusetts and back to Pawtucket the next day.  There is still time to donate if you haven’t yet!

The big tour that I’m referring to in my post title, however, begins for me after the bike tour ends.  What Cheer? Brigade, the band I joined in March, is touring the west coast, starting with Honk Fest West in Seattle this weekend!  I will be joining them in Portland for a show on Tuesday, and we will continue on down the coast from there.  If you live on the west coast anywhere between Seattle and Tijuana, please check out our website or our Facebook page for show dates and try to come dance with us!  I promise you will be entertained.  Here’s a really short clip from our last show in Worcester, MA, but feel free to watch more WC?B on Youtube!

Since our last update, both Dallas and I have been keeping ourselves incredibly busy.  I wish I had been keeping up more frequently with blogging, since I think each of these paragraphs really deserve their own blog entry.  Alas, I will cram everything into one long post – sorry!

bike repair stand at Burnside Park

May was Bike Month, and we had great weather to accompany the many bike-related events that were planned around Providence.  Dallas and I, along with Matt Moritz from the RI Bicycle Coalition, gave a presentation on bicycle touring at AS220 as part of a bike speaker series for the month of May.  Bike-to-Work Day was on Friday, May 16th.  Mayor Angel Taveras announced the installation of three bike repair stands around the city, which Dash was instrumental in implementing.  On a ride to photograph all of the stands a few days ago, however, I noticed that some have already been vandalized.  Does anyone have suggestions on how to effectively prevent theft and destruction of the bike tools or is this tragedy of the commons inevitable?

Hiking the Appalachian/Long Trail in Vermont with Hannah and John

On Memorial Day weekend, I was invited to go along to hike part of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont with Hannah, the daughter of my dad’s coworker, John.  It was part of Hannah’s senior project and I was needed to confirm that she actually did the hike.  Much to my dismay, it rained on us during 3 of our 4 days of hiking, but it was still a beautiful escape from the city.  We met a few people who were hiking the whole Long Trail, and some that were hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.  I learned that those hikers have trail names that they earn somehow, and I enjoyed hearing their stories about other strangers and obstacles they encountered along the way.

Moving by Bike

On June 1st, Dallas and I moved into an apartment just a few blocks away from our previous sublet, taking the place of Liza and Tyson, a couple of pedicabber friends who moved to Newport.  Without a car, we completed our entire move by bicycle and on foot.  My friend Tony was kind enough to let me borrow a bike trailer (and a bike to hitch it to) for the heavy stuff.  We now have a lovely roommate, Perry, and a dog, Mani!

As we near the summer solstice, the MS bike ride quickly approaches.  I have not been pounding people with e-mails asking for donations like I have in the past, so am way behind in my fundraising goals.  I’ll share my fundraising link here if you’d like to donate, but just as important are volunteers to help make the event run smoothly.  If you live locally and have any free time the weekend of June 21st-22nd (or the Friday before that), please consider volunteering.  It’s a fun event and one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for the MS Society.

If anyone in Providence is looking for something fun to do this Friday night, RIBike is hosting a dinner and bikes event at 655 Hope Street from 7-10pm.  Check out the facebook event for details