After getting back into road cycling in 2004, it wasn't too long before I discovered the joys and the challenge of a charity bicycle ride event. My first charity ride was the Madison, Wisconsin area Tour de Cure back in the spring of 2005. Since then, I've done numerous charity rides, including Trek 100, which benefits childhood cancers, and the Quadrupedal, which raises funds for the Humane Society down in Iowa County near Dodgeville, Wisconsin.
My latest charity ride was the Door County Century, which raises money for a school in Door County, Wisconsin. This year, that ride also served as a venue for raising funds for colon cancer research. In fact, via a link or mailing information on the ride's Web site, you can donate to this research at Johns Hopkins, which seeks to improve testing methods for colon cancer.
The beauty of a good charity ride comes not only from the ride itself, but in knowing your sweat and effort is helping a worthy cause.
I know that when I did my first 100 mile century ride at the Trek 100, thinking about my late sister Laura Michel Bowman, who died from the cancer Wilms' tumor, helped keep me motivated as the miles wore on. She liked cycling--and I like to think she would enjoy the fact that I still get out there and ride strong.
At the Door County Century, the colon cancer fund raising was led by Jan O'Neill, who lost her brother Roger to the disease. The research the funds are seeks to improve the technology for blood tests that aim to detect colon cancer. For anyone who has gone through the discomfort and expense of a colonoscopy, you know that finding less intrusive methods of testing to complement or replace colonoscopies is an important effort that could saves many lives down the road. I contacted Jan about 10 days after the ride, and she says that a few thousand dollars had been raised, "and hopefully, we also raised consciousness and awareness about the disease and the research." For more on Jan's efforts and her late brother, check out this story from Isthmus.
The real heroes of these charity rides aren't the individual riders like me. For the most part, we are having a blast even on mile 90. The real heroes--the truly beautiful effort involved in these rides--comes from the organizers and fundraisers who sweat the details of putting on the events and raising the funds. While I'm due for knee surgery soon and probably won't be doing another charity ride until late 2010, I will definitely stay involved in charity rides.
If you are looking for a great charity ride, the ones I mentioned here in Wisconsin are all great, well-established rides. This September's DCC may have the most beautiful ride I've been on yet. Get out there if you can, even for a shorter route option!
In mid-August, I took a trip down to Illinois to fish the Kankakee River for smallmouth bass and catfish. The "K3" river is in Northeast Illinois, flowing through my hometown of Kankakee, but now that I'm up in Green Bay, I can't get down there as much as I'd like.
Though I ran into a cold front, my August 20-21 trip resulted in a few good fish, including a large catfish nabbed by my good friend, Ed Safiran Jr. (see pic of Ed--he's the one wearing the glasses--with said Cat below). While I can't divulge the exact location of the fishing hole, it's within the Kankakee River State Park. By late summer, the river usually runs low, making it easier to wade out to the holes in the river's rock bottom where the game fish congregate. Drifting live baits into these holes works great at this time of year, and you can cast lures near riffles and shallower holes as you wade to the best spots, which can get you some smallies even before you hit the main holes.
The beauty of this type of fishing is in wading itself, especially in an undeveloped stretch of a river like we have at the K3 state park. With limestone bluffs and woods all along the river's edge, and not a house or road in sight, wading puts you right smack into the river environment. Then there is the physical challenge of wading out to the best spots.
Wading the Kankakee makes you one with the river, at the risk of sounding all Zen about it. Bank fishing and bass fishing from a boat have their place, but nothing beats wading for a deep appreciation of the stream environment. For beginners, I would not recommend trying to wade the Kankakee river without a guide or veteran K3 river fisherman. I learned from Ed's father Ed senior and even Ed's grandpa about how to wade the Kankakee, and have been doing it for 30 years. (See a typical K3 river smallie I caught a couple of years back in the pic below--that fish was in the protected "slot" of fish 12" to 18" so after its photo opp, it went back in the K3).
So if you do wade the Kankakee--be careful. There are many spots I would not wade into even during low water, much less in spring or after heavy rains. But by all means, if you haven't tried wading a stream and are physically able to, give it a try. It's angling the way it was meant to be--a physical challenge that puts you right into the stream environment.
When we were house-hunting last fall for our move to Green Bay, we immediately liked our current home at 1145 Grignon Street in Green Bay. It's a beautifully renovated french provincial with refined style and character, located in a good neighborhood near downtown.
One of the things I noticed when we visited the property (see pic, below left) was that the realtor had left the original blueprints for the house on display. The blueprint noted the house was designed in 1928 for an "A.F. Pfeifer" esq., by Roy Deakman, a Madison, Wisconsin-based architect. My wife Karen and I both went to Marquette University's Graduate School of Journalism in the late 1980s, and we have a mutual friend from those days named Cate Pfeifer. Anyway, when we viewed the Grignon home and I saw the blueprint, I recalled that Cate had ties to the Green Bay area, having spent part of her childhood in nearby Door County. So I had exclaimed to Karen that, "maybe A.F. Pfeifer was a relative of Cate's?"
We discounted that chance, but when we started circulating news of our new home to friends, Cate saw the photo of the place and let us know she thought it was her grandparents house. Turns out it was. Indeed, the place had been built for Cate's grandparents, Adolph and Ilse Pfeifer.
What a coincidence, we thought. Sure, Wisconsin isn't that big a place, and it turns out Cate actually grew up in Green Bay (summers in Door County--pre-touristy era), but what are the chances that our home in Green Bay was built for the grandfather of a friend we made 20 years ago in another part the state? Anyway, kizmet!
We had the perfect opportunity to have Cate over for a visit in early May when the Green Bay Historic Preservation Commission decided to award our home a plaque as a historically notable property. We didn't do anything to earn this; the award was due to the tasteful, historically sensitive renovation by the previous owner, and the fact that the home, while not that old, was the best example of a french provincial in town.
So Cate came over for a visit and the award ceremony. It was great to see her again, and I think she enjoyed seeing the restored state of her grandparent's old place. From talking to neighbors and Cate, we've learned the history of the home. Adolph owned a dental lab, and excelled at the precision needed in that type of work. He died relatively young, but Ilse was a good businesswoman and successfully carried on the business. The home stayed in the family after Ilse's death, but fell into significant disrepair before it was eventually sold to a contractor named Dale Lenns who did the renovation and flipped the home to us. So once again, I can't really be credited with the work behind the historic designation, other than ponying up the bucks for the mortgage.
One lesson I've learned from this bit of serendipity is to appreciate the work and care that's gone into this house. We are trying to keep the home tasteful and orderly, which I'm sure is in keeping with the spirit of Cate's folks. She sent us pictures of Adolph and Ilse, and they were tidy, refined-looking people.
Just look at the perfect knot on Adolph's tie! The guy was meticulous, no doubt. No wonder he had a well-built home made for himself. I'll use this to motivate myself to be a good owner of this property, and keep it orderly and tasteful. Karen probably takes a warmer lesson about the importance of family and community ties from this coincidence, but I'm a simpler sort. I'll use this bit of serendipity to motivate me to mow the lawn and tend to the flowers.
Well, my wife and I are now moved into our new home in Green Bay, though we are hardly unpacked or settled in. But I thought I'd do a quick post to show off a pic of the new house, and to share some thoughts on staying Green while moving.
Our house is a chateau-style home built in 1928, and beautifully renovated top to bottom (see pic). We moved from a slightly larger house near Madison, so we had to get rid of a lot of stuff. The whole experience gave me a few ideas about being Green while moving:
* See if your moving company can supply you with lightly used boxes. Ours (a Mayflower agent) was able to, at no extra cost to their price, and another Mayflower agent here in Green Bay is picking up the used boxes. The ones that are fried will get recycled, but those that are still strong could be reused by other clients. (I still ended up buying some new boxes, but at least with most boxes I was re-using, not just consuming.)
* This is pretty obvious, but think about giving away furniture, toys, clothes you don't need to charities and take a deduction, unless you have enough to hold a serious garage sale. I ended up giving some nice furniture to Saint Vincent DePaul. They came to pick it up. Trouble is, we had planned to give it to some relatives back in the Madison area, but couldn't pull that off before we moved, so we ended up moving it here, then giving it away. That's a waste in transport costs, but the important point is that charity stores like SVDP will come get your furniture at no charge. Better to give it to charity if you know it's probably going to end up in the corner of your basement, or tucked in a storage space.
* Properly dispose of old computers and electronics. I had to pay $20 to get rid of my old Mac & monitor from 1992. It served me well back in the day, and was still running, but obsolete. Too bad things aren't like in Europe, where the European Union has a law called the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive that puts the onus on manufacturers to fund a low-cost infrastructure for electronic waste recycling. Old computers and electronics have some nasty chemicals, including lead and cadmium. It's more efficient if manufacturers think ahead about the cost of disposal, and jointly invest in an infrastructure for recycling and disposal. Here, consumers have to each shell out $10 or $15 bucks per old product, and drive to a special site and pay for a sticker. It makes it all too tempting to just chuck it in the regular trash, and those chemicals end up in a landfill.
* If you have to move on a real cold day in November like me, you might as well turn the heat off or way down while the movers have the doors open. No sense in heating your front yard.
*When you view your new house prior to move in, make note of the types and wattage of bulbs used. Then you can have the right CFL bulbs on hand for when you first move in, at least for some of the more commonly used fixtures in high traffic areas. As a side note, it's helpful to store surge bars and a few extension cords and bulbs in a clearly marked box, because those end up being needed right away.
* A neighbor in the Madison area who had seen my for sale sign very graciously stopped by and gave me a box full of used bubble wrap. None of my new neighbors seem to be selling or packing to move, so I'm disposing of my used wrap as solid waste, but at least some of it was reused.
There are probably better Green moving tips out there, but that's a few things that popped into my head. Back to un-packing now, and to anyone reading this in Green Bay--go Bears!
