End of Day 1
Our first day of riding took us from our starting point of Astoria to St. Helens, Oregon. Dad and I leisurely rode 69 miles, averaging about 15 miles per hour and taking plenty of breaks. We are making a concerted attempt to really start the beginning of this ride slow, neither of us are in perfect shape yet and we are very aware of the total length of our ride. The ride consisted of rolling hills and panoramic vistas of the Columbia River and mountains.
We woke up some time around six in the morning, ate breakfast, took a group picture in front of the Columbia River, and got rolling by about eight.
The first rest stop of our ride provided a surprising amount of action in our ride today – two people went down within about ten minutes of each other. The first gentleman went down some time before we got to our first rest stop, though I am not sure as to his exact injuries, it was rumoured that he broke his collar bone or clavicle or something; a common injury experienced by cyclist when they fall. The other guy fell about ½ of a mile past the aforementioned rest stop. It was a long downhill and he must have run off the road. The news came up to us as we were leaving the rest stop, and I was the guy who took the initiative to rush back and tell our group leader, Mike, of the news. When I told Mike that a rider was down he responded by dropping his jaw and saying, “another one!?!?!” Later on I asked one of the ride attendants the odds of either of the guys coming back to finish the ride, she said slim.
But on the upside, the first rest stop was stunningly beautiful and I found a guy (I am going to guess his name is Tim) that brought his hair clippers with him, meaning that I can finally cut my shaggy hair. I am thinking that I may go with a Mohawk or a mullet.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, which I guess was good. We talked to a bunch of different people. I met a guy that is my age, he just graduated from a school, in Wisconsin and is preparing for law school at the University of Wisconsin. He is a refreshing change of pace from the generally geriatric crowd that this ride attracts. I figure that it makes sense, they are one of few people that can afford the ride and afford to time as well (because what are retired people going to do if they are not doing something fun/ridiculous?)
On a side note, I thought that after our ride is all said and done we can make a movie pitch to a studio based on the story of Paul Farmer and the story of Len and Paul’s Ride4Haiti. I was thinking that the movie would primarily be about Dr. Farmer because he has definitely done more interesting things than anything my father and I can accomplish, but the Len and Paul characters would be important. But we may need to pitch it with names a little sexier than Len and Paul Burman; I was thinking that I would be called Biff Rockwell -- dad can decide what he wants to be referred to on the big screen. Elijah Wood would play Biff and dad said that he wanted Robin Williams to play Papa Rockwell.
Now we are in St. Helens, I am watching the Monday night baseball (at 4pm pacific time, how great is that?) and I think that dad is asleep. We got burgers from a chain that I have never heard of before for a late lunch, dinner is in a little more than an hour and I am sure that we will be hungry again. I am excited to get back on my bike -- tomorrow we will pass Portland as we inch our way towards New Hampshire.
Thanks for your support. Paul.
We woke up some time around six in the morning, ate breakfast, took a group picture in front of the Columbia River, and got rolling by about eight.
The first rest stop of our ride provided a surprising amount of action in our ride today – two people went down within about ten minutes of each other. The first gentleman went down some time before we got to our first rest stop, though I am not sure as to his exact injuries, it was rumoured that he broke his collar bone or clavicle or something; a common injury experienced by cyclist when they fall. The other guy fell about ½ of a mile past the aforementioned rest stop. It was a long downhill and he must have run off the road. The news came up to us as we were leaving the rest stop, and I was the guy who took the initiative to rush back and tell our group leader, Mike, of the news. When I told Mike that a rider was down he responded by dropping his jaw and saying, “another one!?!?!” Later on I asked one of the ride attendants the odds of either of the guys coming back to finish the ride, she said slim.
But on the upside, the first rest stop was stunningly beautiful and I found a guy (I am going to guess his name is Tim) that brought his hair clippers with him, meaning that I can finally cut my shaggy hair. I am thinking that I may go with a Mohawk or a mullet.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, which I guess was good. We talked to a bunch of different people. I met a guy that is my age, he just graduated from a school, in Wisconsin and is preparing for law school at the University of Wisconsin. He is a refreshing change of pace from the generally geriatric crowd that this ride attracts. I figure that it makes sense, they are one of few people that can afford the ride and afford to time as well (because what are retired people going to do if they are not doing something fun/ridiculous?)
On a side note, I thought that after our ride is all said and done we can make a movie pitch to a studio based on the story of Paul Farmer and the story of Len and Paul’s Ride4Haiti. I was thinking that the movie would primarily be about Dr. Farmer because he has definitely done more interesting things than anything my father and I can accomplish, but the Len and Paul characters would be important. But we may need to pitch it with names a little sexier than Len and Paul Burman; I was thinking that I would be called Biff Rockwell -- dad can decide what he wants to be referred to on the big screen. Elijah Wood would play Biff and dad said that he wanted Robin Williams to play Papa Rockwell.
Now we are in St. Helens, I am watching the Monday night baseball (at 4pm pacific time, how great is that?) and I think that dad is asleep. We got burgers from a chain that I have never heard of before for a late lunch, dinner is in a little more than an hour and I am sure that we will be hungry again. I am excited to get back on my bike -- tomorrow we will pass Portland as we inch our way towards New Hampshire.
Thanks for your support. Paul.
posted by Len Burman at 4:55 PM
1 Comments:
As I was riding to work this morning on my trusty hybrid, I spent some time wondering how Team Burman was doing on their slightly longer daily ride. I enjoyed reading Paul's record of the first day. The description of the two riders gone by the wayside sounds like something that might appear in the journal of Lewis and Clark. On a positive note, the TAD tumbling rider returned to duty today in good spirits. Keep rolling. David
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