The long bike ride

August 3, 2004 11:36 AM

The Long Bike Ride is a cross-country charity ride (which is short of its goal, kick in a few bucks) by two guys that have never ridden a bike more than 15 miles in one sitting. They're already halfway done, having ridden 50-75 miles everyday for the past couple months, probably thanks to riding high-end ultralight recumbent bikes. Their tour updates are extensive and looking at the photos they look quite relaxed. Then I realized if you're getting your 50-75 miles done in about 4 hours, the rest of the time you can just party! party! party! Still, a pretty amazing feat to do this entire route, especially considering their lack of experience and training.
posted by mathowie (17 comments total)

hmmm. an ad for recumbent bikes on the right, a thread here. advertorial?
posted by ZippityBuddha at 12:24 PM on August 3, 2004

Two things come to mind:

Why do people think their own struggles are worth our charity?

Knowing the immense challenge facing them, Doug and Sam hope their ambitious tour can inspire people to donate to the Make-A-Wish organization, which grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.


And what ever happened to the poor kid who inspired him in the first place?


Sam has personal reasons for organizing a fundraising event for this foundation. Sam experienced the benefits of Make-A-Wish first hand when in fifth grade his childhood friend, Sean Zukowski who was dying of Leukemia, asked Sam to accompany him on his “granted wish.”

posted by haqspan at 12:29 PM on August 3, 2004

a cross-country bike trip is a long-time dream of mine. if i had been on the founding team of Red Envelope, i hope i'd be doing the same thing with my profits.

btw, it really isn't *that* hard, for anyone in decent shape, regardless of experience or training. i've known people who have never seriously biked in their lives and finished the SF-LA AIDS ride with no problem. that's about 100 miles a day. that said, my longest ride has been about 60 miles in a day.

fwiw, here's the charity i'm hoping to do it for one day.

i couldn't find any info about how much money they had raised so far. that would be my biggest concern about my trip, as i have zero fund-raising skills, and i sucked at selling raffle tickets for my elementary school.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:39 PM on August 3, 2004

I have dreamed of a long ride myself. I commute some 20 miles a day to work.


People in the Metro-DC area can contact me and perhaps we can sponsor the "Mallory Memorial Bike Ride", done for no other reason than it's there.
posted by Reverend Mykeru at 12:45 PM on August 3, 2004

a brief derail while I play with the troll
advertorial?
Zippy, I praised Matt's policy of minimum commercialization and maximum disclosure in the Fark thread. And, for the record, Drew Curtis was recently photographed with an "I am not Matt Haughey" sign and that's good enough for me.

However, I do have a few dozen questions about the "Thinkum" ad, starting with:
W.
T.
F.
M.?!?
posted by wendell at 1:12 PM on August 3, 2004

I've wanted to the Tour de Canada for a while but I am always either short on time or money.
posted by srboisvert at 1:14 PM on August 3, 2004

or words (such as "do")...or sleep!
posted by srboisvert at 1:32 PM on August 3, 2004

Somthing I always had wanted to do, USA is perfect for long distance bike rideing.

My old roomate went from DC to Vegas on a 'bent when he was younger, he tried it again years later and had to turn back after his knee went out in the Appalachians.
posted by stbalbach at 2:14 PM on August 3, 2004

FWIW, the recumbent bikes these guys are using have nothing to do with the one being advertised on the front page, it's like a ford ad and these guys are driving chevys to alaska.

On the updates page, it has the money they raised, which looks to be around 13k so far (with 20k as their goal).

I've recently got up off the couch to do a 50 mile ride, but I'm not sure if I could do it everyday for several months. I'm pretty impressed with their progress. They haven't updated in a week or so though, I hope they haven't pulled out.
posted by mathowie at 2:18 PM on August 3, 2004

advertorial?

No. It's a different brand. If anything, it's competing with the Bigha ad.

Coincidence, not conspiracy.
posted by dash_slot- at 2:22 PM on August 3, 2004

Who needs a bike? Good luck and have fun!
posted by Frank Grimes at 6:21 PM on August 3, 2004

Maybe they'll pass this guy.
posted by Frank Grimes at 6:25 PM on August 3, 2004

Coincidence, not conspiracy.

Not even a coincidence, its called Google Adsense.
posted by lagado at 6:29 PM on August 3, 2004

So what are the advantages of a recumbent bike over a normal bike. I haven't seen a lot of people run out start using them.
posted by jeblis at 11:47 PM on August 3, 2004

Here's why.
posted by jeblis at 11:53 PM on August 3, 2004

I am trying to convince my parents to let me do a cross-country Habitat ride. It's 4,000 miles across America *insert parental gasp of horror* on a bike!
posted by superfem at 12:27 AM on August 4, 2004

i've known people who have never seriously biked in their lives and finished the SF-LA AIDS ride with no problem. that's about 100 miles a day.

Here's hoping people don't read that and actually believe it. Perhaps you've known people to go from nothing to a hundred miles a day, but for most that would be torture and probably end up in injury.

I've been on several state rides and even among those who ride often 70 miles is generally a good day.

If you're going to ride 100 miles a day, train, it is not easy.
posted by justgary at 10:04 AM on August 4, 2004