all which isn't singing is mere talking

Today is mine and e e cummings' birthdays, hence the title. Today would be celebratory that I've managed to make it thus far in my life but I've work, meetings, errands and school all day. Fun, games, presents and cake shall have to be saved for another day.

Nah, scratch the presents part. Want to give me the best gift of all? A donation to Bike and Build in my name. (go here >> www.bikeandbuild.org/donate) It's eco-friendly (no wasteful wrapping paper), would make me very happy, and would make people all across the country happy for helping to support affordable housing construction. You can do something to help end poverty with a gift like this. Donate $1, donate $10.14, donate $24, donate $4000.

It's corny what they say about every penny counting, but it's true. Think how cheap a nail is. Just around a penny each. You can afford a nail, right? Now think about how that nail is going to help hold together a warm, safe, comfortable house for someone who may have never lived in anything but substandard housing. You don't have to do this for me. Do it for them.

Getting hit: On how to get a bomb squad* cop to come to your ER room

*No actual bombs, don't worry.

Continuing in the vein of ridiculousness, today I was riding my bike and got hit by, of all things, a cop car.

Yeah, a cop car.

Now before you go all militant and get angry over cops not treating cyclists fairly and all that, you should know this was an accident in the purest sense of the term. I was riding up to a crosswalk by a coffeeshop to go the CVS next door, and two cars pulled up to the stop sign. The one furthest from me was a cop car, and the two cars were staggered by a foot or two, with the cop car a little bit further back. Seeing that they were both stopped, I rolled through the crosswalk. But then the police car started going! It all happened so fast, so I don't really remember actually hitting the car. All I managed was to think "the cop car is really moving!" then the next thing I remember was rolling down the hood of the car (and thinking "i thought this only happened in movies"), then sitting on the ground. She hadn't seen me at all behind the other car. Yeah, she hit me when I had the right of way, so for legal purposes it's her fault, but she also had no idea I was there and obviously wasn't trying to hit me. She had come to a full and complete stop and just plain and simple didn't see me.

Someone grabbed my bike for me, and I was able to stand, so we got on the sidewalk. A bunch of people saw the accident, and one guy gave me his card if I needed a witness. Two more cop cars came, a fire truck with EMTs came, and then an ambulance. A little overkill, but whatever. The firemen took my bike, the EMTs took me, and the other cops did police-y type things.

The ambulance ride was pretty interesting. I was talking to the EMT, a former bike commuter here in Cleveland. Apparently he had stopped riding his bike to work because it got too unsafe. He also said that they'd been having more bike accidents recently. Not the kind of thing a bike advocate wants to hear, but important.

The ER visit was mostly routine. Some more cops came and asked me questions. Everyone would ask me, so what happened? I'd answer with "I was riding my bike when I got hit by a cop car" and I'd get a response along the lines of "wait, what? a cop car hit you?" As my knee, hip, and shin were hurting, I got a whole slew of x-rays. Got wheeled back radiology to find a bomb squad/crime scene photographer sitting outside my room (hence the title). Yeah, no joke. Apparently I'm a crime scene. So he took a few photographs and showed me the ones he had taken of Jay, my bike. Apparently the front fork is bent, along with one of the things that holds on the fenders. According to him, it looked fixable. I guess we'll see when I pick up the bike and take it the bike shop. The x-rays came back, nothing was broken! Just a lot of contusions, which I think is a fancy word for bruises, kinda like how laceration is a fancy term for a cut. Got discharged, limped over to the hospital cafeteria and got an Einstein's asiago cheese bagel because I feeling a little sorry for myself. Man, they have to be the best kind of bagel in the world. Took the bus back to my apartment and am now milking this for all its worth by sitting on my rear and being totally lazy. I'm already feeling better.

I'm incredibly lucky to have escaped from a car/bike collision with only bruises and a bike that (probably) can be fixed. That doesn't always happen, like in the case of Sylvia Bingham the other week here in Cleveland. So, on that note, I would like to request a few things of all you readers:

1. Wear a helmet. Even if you don't think it works (even I'm not totally sold on the claim they protect your head), it sure makes it a lot easier to deal with paperwork/authorities if you do end up being involved in an accident.
2. Read this post from Cycling Tips Blog on what to do if you're involved in an accident. Thank goodness I had read the post, and remembered parts of it, because the last bullet point is very true: the adrenaline masks the pain, and it's better to get it checked out right then because things don't start hurting until later.
3. If you're in the Cleveland area, please participate in the 17 October ride celebrating the life of Sylvia Bingham. Meet in Edgewater park at 10am, there will be guided rides to go off and participate in community service type activities. Given what I know about Sylvia, I can't think of a better way to memorialize her life than to do a cycling event that gives back to the community, and one that will raise awareness of cycling in Cleveland.

Also, since I know you're feeling sorry for poor ole Furman, please consider donating to Bike & Build for me. Shameless, I know. :P But it's going to a good cause: affordable housing!

Bike & Build 2010: Northern U.S.

Ever wonder what I'm going to do after graduation next May? Well, I'm still wondering that myself (job offers that start in September are very welcome) but I do know that from June to August, I'll be biking across the country.

Wait... 3800+ miles? On a bike? Am I out of mind?

Yes, yes, and probably yes. A classmate of mine at school particpated in a Bike & Build tour during the summer of 2008, and quickly sold me on it. Bike & Build organizes cross-country cycling trips for young adults to raise money for and support affordable housing efforts. So in addition to cycling 3800+ miles, I have to raise $4000 before May to support our building efforts. I'll have donation information up soon when I figure out how that all works. Along the way, we will stop to have "build days" where we actually help construct a house. I'm not exactly a master carpenter a la Norm Abram quite yet, or heck, even a house builder like Tom Silva, but I do know how to do basic stuff like hammer a nail, sand, drill and paint, and I learn quickly.

This is going to be a crazy experience. Never have I fundraised like that before. Never have I cycled more than 42 miles (dude, I was doing a sprint tri, endurance was not the goal). I will have to embrace novel things like clipless pedals, aluminum frame bikes, and brifters (I'm kinda old school, okay?). Regardless, I'm stoked for this opportunity. The nice thing about giving into the whole triathletes-must-have-blogs deal and then not giving up the blog is that I already have a great platform for a B&B blog.

Also, welcome to anyone who might have gotten here from the Bike & Build site, especially if you're a fellow NUS rider!

Inspiration, when you least expect it

Immediately after lunch today, I got a message from a friend of mine who was a team leader on a Bike & Build trip last summer. Apparently one of his riders from last summer was leading a group on the Northern U.S. route this summer, and their group was riding through Cleveland today and were a little bit lost. I grabbed a spare bike map from our bike planner, hit the pavement, and met some of the riders in front of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We ended up going to get lunch and I did my best to satisfy their request for cheeseburgers. Apparently after riding 60 miles in the morning, nothing sounds better than a cheeseburger!

The four riders I ate with (mind you, this was my second lunch of the day) were really cool. I know "cool" is one of those generic, somewhat-meaningless-by-this-point terms (along the lines of "nice"), but really, there isn't a better way to describe them. It was really inspiring to hear their stories and their tales of the trip so far. I had been considering applying for the trip for next summer after talking with my friend; meeting with these riders just reaffirmed my decision. Screw the traditional backpacking across Europe trip, I want to bike across the country!