As we round the year out, and members and donors share with us how Adventure Cycling has changed their lives, I am reminded of how I found this wonderful organization and how it has changed my life, first as a member, then a donor, then joining the staff.
In 2008, living in Los Angeles, I got tired of pumping money into the endless repairs my car seemed to require. I thought if I drove the car less, it would last longer between repair cycles and, therefore, save me some cash. I borrowed an old mountain bike and began cycling to work 3 to 4 times a week. I lived 5 miles from my workplace, but it was in LA, relatively flat, and, of course, excellent weather pretty much all year round. Little did I know what I was getting into.
On my first ride home from work, I blew a flat tire, and had no way to fix it. I ended up walking home. Walking in LA is a big deal. No one walks (or rides for that matter) in LA. Or so I thought. I considered giving up the whole enterprise, but got a repair kit instead, fixed the tire, and began bike commuting again. Over that first year, I lost 15 pounds, learned to navigate around my mid-Wilshire and Koreatown neighborhood, and even rode from my apartment near downtown LA to my brother's house in El Segundo. It was a 20 mile ride. I rode through wealthy parts of town and not-so-wealthy parts of town. I realized that by car, those neighborhoods looked frightening, but on my bike, I was just another person in the community.
Then fate took hold...
In the summer of 2008, after I'd been bike commuting for over a year, I was running late to work and decided to drive. There was construction on one of the roads and traffic was backed up. As I turned into the parking lot of my office, another driver made an illegal U-turn, and we collided. Fortunately we were both alive with no real injuries. But my car was totaled. I had a decision to make, get another car, or try this thing called car-free. I decided it couldn't hurt to try the car-free thing for awhile.
I won't lie, the first year was awful. None of my friends understood what I was trying to do, I felt all the difficulties people feel when they don't have a car. I didn't really understand how to use my own two feet. And I suppose there was a little bit of feeling the dependence of my car and not knowing how to be independent. It was something I felt in every part of my life. I thought it was all because of the car, but now I see there was much more to it.
A year went by with me trying to navigate LA's public transit (which is excellent), carpooling with co-workers, and riding my bike. On the anniversary of the collision, I decided to make a real effort to show everyone (and myself) that being car-free was not only not that bad, but actually fun, economical, healthy, and did I mention fun? Of course, first I had to prove it to myself. I started a blog about my car-free adventures, and through that endeavor plugged into a community of bicyclists and pedestrians who educated me, helped me learn bicycle safety, eventually helped me build a bike, and inspired me to embrace the lifestyle.
I know, what does this have to do with Adventure Cycling? Well, stick with me, it's one of the most important parts, and I'm getting there. Just a couple of months after I decided to embrace my car-freeness, my Target Huggy mountain bike was stolen. Again, one of those moments of fate. I bought a used Schwinn Le Tour off of Craigslist, and something amazing happened.
You see, I had been feeling trapped and dependent on a car all that time because I felt like cycling was slow and tedious, and, well, hard. When I switched to that Schwinn road bike, all of a sudden I was flying through town without even breaking a sweat. It was amazing! All of a sudden, cycling wasn't so hard, and, yes, I actually enjoyed it! I started joining in on group rides around town, making friends with other cyclists, and then, oh yes, here's the good part, I beat myself to work.
Driving always took 30 minutes, no matter what. That's just LA. On that crummy mountain bike, it took 45 minutes, no matter what. One day, barely breaking a sweat or breathing heavily, I left my house and made it to work in 18 minutes. In Los Angeles traffic! I remember riding past cars backed up in traffic and thinking "Suckers!" Upon arriving at work, I got off my bike, looked at the cyclometer, shook my head, laughed, and said to myself, "Well, there you go, Amanda. Guess you don't need a car after all."
That's when I decided to go one step further and show everyone that not only could you make it in LA without a car, but you could make it to anywhere in the country, actually vacation by bicycle. I set my sights on the Grand Canyon by bike. And, of course, in my naivety, I thought I was one of only a few people who have ever had that idea. Silly me.
I began planning the trip. I came across a lot of opposition. Friends, colleagues, even family thought it was too dangerous, not feasible, something only a crazy person would do. My boss was so worried she started helping me look for resources and sent me a link to
Adventure Cycling Association.
I was amazed.
Not only was I not the first person to want to ride cross-country, but here were thousands of people who had done the same and continued to do so. Here was an organization promoting this activity and providing all the resources I would need. Here I could find questions to the millions of questions I had, having never ridden cross-country before.
And, I wasn't crazy. I was amongst a large community of people (and not just people who consider themselves 'cyclists') who saw the value in seeing the world by bicycle. A community that knew what I knew, which was that when you approach the world from a bicycle, under your own power, completely independent, you see so much more of the beauty and appreciate so much more of the wonder of our great country.
I joined immediately. The first copy of Adventure Cyclist that I received in the mail had an image of a cyclist riding a road in South Korea on it. I was astounded and inspired. I thought, if these people can ride across South Korea, surely I can make it to the Grand Canyon! I began training for my cross-country trip, riding centuries and double-centuries, climbing the hills in Malibu, and joining some fast riders in LA. Training for my trip, which with Adventure Cycling's help I knew I could do, changed me as a person. My legs got stronger, but so did my independence and confidence. My self-reliance went off the charts. I could never fix anything on my car, but I know how to repair every aspect of my bike, from the bottom bracket to the headset to rebuilding wheels. It helped strengthen my relationship with my father, as he and I began chatting about bike tools and repairs. This trip changed my life, and I haven't even taken it yet!
In spring 2011, I had the opportunity to embark on another adventure, joining the organization that had already helped change my life as an employee. In the process, I have had to re-route my plans for the Grand Canyon, but it's still in my sights, just a different approach.
I have been on the Adventure Cycling team for 7 months, and every day I am amazed at the stories I hear from people of all ages and all demographics about what Adventure Cycling means to them. To me, Adventure Cycling helped completely change my life in ways I never would have expected but have been the best things to ever happen to me. I know many of you reading can say the same.
I hope you'll consider making a donation today to help this wonderful organization continue to inspire and change lives through the transformative power of bicycling.
There are 5 days left in our 2011 Holiday Campaign, and we still have an $18,000 match to make. You can help us meet the match by
making a gift today.
Happy 2012 cycling to all!
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AMANDA LIPSEY is the development director for Adventure Cycling Association.
Breaking ground for an expanded bike-travel "mecca." Approval of the first new official U.S. Bicycle Routes in nearly three decades. A cool new website to promote overnight bike trips. Record map sales and lots of new route development and improvement. These are just a few of the highlights from a rock-solid year for Adventure Cycling Association.
+ Design and early construction for a major new addition to our world headquarters in Missoula, Montana -- allowing us to add cartographers and other program staff to help inspire more people to travel by bicycle!
We wish you all a happy 2012 and look forward to reporting back to you with the results of the campaign!
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