Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Favorite quotations, etc.
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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

I've mentioned before how much I admired Göran Kropp for his phenomenal human powered adventures. We had the good fortune to attend one of his lectures. What a character!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ran_Kropp

Kropp died when his protection pulled from a crack during a fall while rock climbing in Washington. He was being belayed by Erden Eruç who was interviewed this morning on the NPR program Only a Game about his own ERE-esque human powered circumnavigation.

http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2016/06/2 ... navigation

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jennypenny
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by jennypenny »

I thought of this thread when I watched these guys on Outrageous Acts of Science (jumps right to segment).

Just once I want to be that fearless.

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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

jennypenny wrote:Short video ... http://www.ducttapethenbeer.com/damn-that-was-awesome/

Because I don’t want to say, “I wish.” I want to say, “Damn, that was awesome.”
Brendan Leonard is doing a speaking tour to promote his new book. Last night I heard him speak.

http://semi-rad.com/books/

He wrote and did the voiceover for the video. Funny, I hadn't put two-and-two together that the guy climbing in the video is not him.

The talk and book are about how he used a technical-writing job with IBM as a springboard to mountain/adventure writing gigs while overcoming addiction and living in his car/van. For those interested in such things, he's done well getting sponsors through his blog. He focuses on the mundane and funny aspects of the dirtbag lifestyle and it seems like he caught the wave as it became more popular.

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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

A violin busking adventure.... Hah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shQZ6406EQk

ETA: Revisiting akratic's friend who is also a violin busker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LRFdpPJICQ
https://www.facebook.com/AndrewSiess

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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

This one touches on the skills and attitude that put the E in ERE.

For her thirtieth birthday, Katie gave herself a trip on a cruise to Antarctica. In the other, older passengers on the ship, she caught a glimpse of her future if she continued on the path she was on. In the ship’s crew, she saw something else: a superwoman equivalent of herself. Today, we bring you the story of a journey to the far reaches of our planet, and of what it takes to see the person you want to be, and then become that person. It starts with saying ‘yes’.

Dirtbag Diaries, Start Saying Yes.
https://soundcloud.com/thedirtbagdiarie ... saying-yes

The interview begins at 5:50

CECTPA
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by CECTPA »

A video on philosophy of living off the grid with lots of good thoughts. Very inspiring.
I'm Off-Grid and I'm Not a Superhero | Esther Emery

black_son_of_gray
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by black_son_of_gray »

Well, this guy had one hell of a go at it

A career in 'adventure' mode:
Ditch digger
Chairman of the board, Fed. Reserve Bank, Philadephia
Garbage man
President of Haverford College
Short-order cook
Undercover prison inmate
Ford Foundation in India
Dishwasher (fired)
Author
President of Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
Sewage worker
Miner
Prison guard
Brief stint 'homeless', to see what it was like (answer:awful)
Innkeeper
Started a theater guild
Published a weekly newspaper
Justice of the peace
“There’s a restlessness in me,” Mr. Coleman explained in 1987, “a desire to walk in other people’s shoes.”

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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

The 11th issue of the free online magazine Bicycle Traveler was just released.

http://www.bicycletraveler.bicyclingaroundtheworld.nl/

I especially recommend the story, Cycling for Simplicity by Greg Foyster.

Here is a direct link to the ABC Radio documentary about the monk he mentions in the story.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/ ... 141101.mp3

The simplicity story was well contrasted by the engineer who measured the weight/time ratio for touring, questioning the desire to be an ultra minimalist bike tourer.

enigmaT120
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by enigmaT120 »

I just finished reading that issue! It reminded me that I've put almost 7000 miles on my Fargo without going anywhere.

And Kyrgyzstan has some pretty places. Like parts of Oregon.

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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." John Muir

Wilderness: https://vimeo.com/190453307

Along those lines, it appears the Baja Divide Ride is coming together. I've mentioned it here before. Last year a couple developed the route and posted the gps coordinates for others for free. This year they've organized a free group ride. It runs the length of Baja and starts January 2.

https://bajadivide.com/

I should probably post this in the Something From Nothing thread because they did exactly that. They took a love of off road bicycle riding and turned it into a movement. I suspect this Baja Divide ride will be one talked about many years from now in the same way boomer dirtbags (the good kind of dirtbag) talk about the first Bikecentennenal in 1976.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikecentennial

enigmaT120
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by enigmaT120 »

Cool. I'm not making much progress on my Oregon Coast Range Divide Route yet.

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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

Great. You have permission to quit your job and get pedaling so as to arrive here for the start of the Baja ride. Forty-five days should be just enough. It is looking like I might have an empty apartment over the new year so you can crash here if you arrive a few days early. :D

ps. A guy was selling a pristine Co-Motion Divide, Rohloff-ready with S&S couplers and Tubus racks at the bike swap meet the weekend before last. My size. He was asking $1500 but I'm sure he would have come down quite a bit. Thankfully I have the bike I need. Shall I send you his number?

enigmaT120
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by enigmaT120 »

Drool. No thanks.

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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by TopHatFox »

A great book on the subject of living a "good story" in real life: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Miles-Th ... 1400202981

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Ego
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by Ego »

Ego wrote:Along those lines, it appears the Baja Divide Ride is coming together. I've mentioned it here before. Last year a couple developed the route and posted the gps coordinates for others for free. This year they've organized a free group ride. It runs the length of Baja and starts January 2.

https://bajadivide.com/

I should probably post this in the Something From Nothing thread because they did exactly that. They took a love of off road bicycle riding and turned it into a movement. I suspect this Baja Divide ride will be one talked about many years from now in the same way boomer dirtbags (the good kind of dirtbag) talk about the first Bikecentennenal in 1976.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikecentennial
Last night Lael Wilcox and Nicholas Carman did a slide presentation at our REI. These two are legit modern-day adventurers. I asked about the fact that they put all of their research online for free. Considering that they go back to Alaska and work for several months at a time in order to finance their rides, I was surprised they hadn't monetized the research by creating an Adventure Touring Association style map book. He used an interesting word in describing their philosophy. Egalitarian.

It is important to them that the route be open (no fences to cross) and the information be freely available to all. Equality of opportunity.

Talk about ultraminimalism. One t-shirt. One pair of shorts. One lightweight jacket. They use MacGyver skills to solve problems. For instance, one day they got a few fish and roasted them over a fire by using a set of discarded bed springs as a grill. They sleep under the stars. They learned Spanish out of sheer necessity by asking routing questions. I think the thing that stuck me most was that they both seemed far more competent than their ages would suggest but they still manage to maintain the curiosity and fearlessness of youth.

Today when I happened upon this quote by Amelia Earhart I thought it fit them well. "The more one does the more one can do."

enigmaT120
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by enigmaT120 »

Here's the Bike Forums link to the Baja Divide trip. I have other things to do for now, none of them as fun.
'
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/10627 ... ivide.html

black_son_of_gray
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by black_son_of_gray »

These people go to the most remote places in each US state and look around. I enjoy the trip reports. Some of them are micro-adventure-y, some of them are pretty long and involved trips.

http://remotefootprints.org/project-remote

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C40
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by C40 »

A 105 year old recently completed a bicyling hour record ride. He's the only person over 105 years old to make an attempt, so he automatically has the record for that age category (105-110?). Before I link to it, you need some context of the "Hour Record"

One of the long-running cool parts of bicycle racing is the "Hour Record". Here's how it works:

- You ride a ride a bike on a track of known exact length.You start from a stop and go for one hour. Your laps are counted and the distance of your last partial lap, and the record is kept in kilometers.
- The track is a "velodrome". It's an oval track with banked turns. The really nice ones are made out of wood (And I guess they're only really nice if they're kept smooth).

That's basically it. A maximal one hour effort is super difficult. First, the guy has to be in super good shape and train specifically for it. Then, he has to have a near-perfect effort during the attempt. If memory serves me right, when Eddy Merckx set the hour record back in 1971 (at 49.4km, or 30.7miles) he said he probably wouldn't make any more attempts and that the effort he made was so intense, he felt like it would take some time off the end of his life (that he'd die sooner). That makes it all the more interesting that a 105 year old has made an attempt.

http://www.velonews.com/2017/01/news/10 ... ord_427263

He did less than half the distance of Merckx's record (22.5km, or 14mph. He had a better attempt two years ago and set the 100+ year old record at 17miles).

The current record is at 54km, which is really impressive as it's 34miles, but compared to the Merckx record, it's not. The current record was done using new technology - a significantly better bike and clothes. Merckx, on the same fancy bike in his prime, even with all his old 1970s training methods, 1970s nutrition, and far inferior doping methods, probably would've been faster.




This hour record is really interesting because it happens separately from all the other racing. So, there is a whole race schedule and the real races happening. No one automatically does the hour record. It's not a regular thing like, say, the NBA 3-point contest. But it is a much more serious, important, and respected thing than the 3point or slam dunk contests. A rider can make an hour record attempt when they want. But to have a chance at setting the record, you don't just decide "oh, I guess I'll try this weekend". It's something a racer would decide and plan for starting 6-12 months in advance and modify their training and racing schedules for. They also have to plan it with the governing body to get the official timing and distance measuring done. Sometimes numerous riders will make attempts in the same year. Sometimes years have gone by without anyone making an attempt.

In the 80s, people started making big aerodynamic improvements to the bikes, and by making bikes that allowed super aerodynamic body positions (significantly better than what, say, current time trialists and Ironmen competitors use now). (Just the technical side alone of the hour record progression, attempts, etc. is a super interesting subject). So -- they made it so the record could only be set using the same technology as Eddy Merckx used. (context here, Eddy Merkx was a God of bicycle racing. He was like Michael Jordan times 3. Or more. The hour record he set stood for 12 years and then the guy who beat it used disc wheels and a skinsuit (the wheels make a big difference). So the bike technology was limited to what is basically a normal road bike. When the governing body made that limitation, they also made a separate category with no or much less limitations on bike design and body position, and there have been rule changes over time.

The hour record is also cool because it's something you an also do yourself to see how you compare. To do it right, you need to ride on an "out and back" route or on a loop (so you don't just ride with a huge tailwind). Of course, your conditions on a road will never be as good as a nice velodrome.


If you want to learn more about this, there is a good documentary from the 70s about a guy named Ole Ritter making an attempt. I had a DVD of it. It's here, though the upload quality isn't the greatest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOuY7mXDWDY (the first 5 minutes give you a good idea of how an hour record attempt works)


Here's some more information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_reco ... ur_records


This page has a better table showing the records:
http://bikeraceinfo.com/records/wrldhour.html

And some info about the Merckx record:
http://bikeraceinfo.com/riderhistories/ ... ecord.html

There are other documentaries about guys who have set hour records. Some real interesting stories about the guys who drove technical progress (one guy was doing everything on his own and I think he built the bike in his shed or barn!)

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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

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black_son_of_gray
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Re: Life is a Daring Adventure | The Inspiration Thread

Post by black_son_of_gray »

Mount Washington in the winter months requires serious skill.

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