I’ve been busy lately with work and other projects. I apologize for my failure to put up the Tour Divide 2009 ride write-ups. I still have more pictures to upload, too. It’s been really nice outside lately. New York area is enjoying a beautiful and cool Indian summer, so I’ve been riding my Salsa Fargo and exploring places in Bergen (NJ), Rockland (NY) and Westchester (NY) counties. But I promise as soon as weather turns for the worse, I’ll catch up.
Aside from my recent travels and mountain biking (the ‘real’ fun stuff), I have some other stuff I’d like to share:
First, a few days ago, I found Cass Gilbert’s travel/photo blog about his trip from Alaska down to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. I’ve been following his travels for a few years, mostly his biking trips in Indian Himalayas (my favorite playground) where he used to run a low-impact bike touring business. On this trip, he seems to have a great time, judging by photos on his new blog: While Out Riding. Right now, he is on the Great Divide Mountain Biking Route making his way through lots of snow somewhere in Montana, or Idaho. I clearly remember these places and it is hard to believe there is so much snow this early in October. Must have been one of those early ‘freak’ snow storms. He really is a HARD-CORE tourer/biker;) In any case, subscribe to his blog. His pictures are unbelievable!!!
Second, I put a link in my sidebar to a book I greatly recommend: The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life. I see it all around me almost every day when my friends and co-workers, even myself sometimes, worry about unimportant ‘things’, pay too much attention to stuff that is so irrelevant or avoid dealing with problems rather than simply solve them before they start stressing us out… It shouldn’t be that way and that’s what the book is about. I’m still reading it. It doesn’t have any new mind-blowing, secret or mystical advice. It’s just a collection of simple ‘common sense’ ideas how to overcome clutter and negativity in one’s mind. I found most of the advice extremely practical and from my own experiences on a ‘journey to simplify my life’ very much true. Leo Babauta, the author of the book, also writes on his great blog: Zen Habits - Simple Productivity. I check it out regularly. From time to time it’s good to be reminded that life shouldn’t be unnecessarily over-analyzed in our minds. I guess anyone marginally familiar with Eastern philosophies knows that already.
Third, I’m getting this shirt for sure: “Sometimes ‘fun’ hurts pretty f*cking bad” from XXCmag.com: Endurance Racing. Epic Adventures. So true!!!
October 7th, 2009
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Photography |
one comment
You can follow updates of this year’s Tour Divide race through candid eyes of Jon Billman @ Outside Online. The easiest way is to subscribe to The Outside Blog Adventure RSS Feed through your newsreader. He is one of the contributors, so you might get some other unrelated articles, too.
Not only he writes well but he also raced the GDMTBR in 2007, all the way to Antelope Wells, NM. That adds a level of credibility to his writings about the Great Divide race. Last year he penned an article for the August ‘08 print issue of the Outside Magazine about the GDR ‘07 race and I loved it: The World’s Toughest Bike Race Is Not in France.
Here are the ‘09 updates so far. Enjoy;)
June 18th, 2009
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Cycling, Great Divide, Racing |
no comments
I have started plotting my new extended trip: Vagabonding on the Silk Route. I’m still not 100% set on exact route and time frame but tentatively I’m looking at Fall 2008. Flying into Beijing, most likely taking a train to Urumqi, cycling from there into Kazakhstan through Korgaz, then looping through countries of Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan (Samarkand and Bukhara) and Tajikistan (Pamir highway), returning back to Western China and following the Southern route of the Silk Road through Kashgar, Khotan to Lanzhou. From there jumping on a train to Beijing again, enjoy a few days of sightseeing before flying back home…
I have also decided to go with a new Wordpress blog hosted on my own domain. This should make it easier when traveling in China. (To get around periodic blocking of Google domains by Chinese gov’t.) Plus, it looks better and it’s easier to customize, too. So, stay tuned for more to come…
February 10th, 2008
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Preparation |
5 comments
Do you have great photos from your cycling trips, or any photos featuring touring cyclists in action??? Do you want them to be published in a photo book??? Read the email below I received some days ago from a fellow cyclist, Alastair Humphrey. He is putting such a project together. Not a bad way for an amateur photographer, if you ask me, to have a few pics published, the easy way;) He also posted some pictures of what he is looking for here: BEST, SECOND BEST…I know some of my blog’s readers are avid travel stories readers so it might be of interest to take a look at Alastair’s self-published book about his ‘Round the world’ trip “Moods of Future Joys (Round the World Part One: Riding into Africa)“. You can buy it HERE, or read some sample chapters HERE 
Hi,I am putting together a book of photography about cycling adventures
round the world. Traveling by bike is an awesome way to access the
world’s wild places, to really connect with people, to see incredible
sunsets and to sleep in very silly places. I want to reflect all this
in this unique book. I want to find a wide variety of contributors to
the book. All profits from the book will go to charity (’Hope and
Homes for Children’) so you won’t be paid but it will be a great way
for cyclists to get their photos published and to promote your work.
If you have high quality (at least 300dpi), digital photographs from
your own cycling adventures then please email me ASAP at
alastair.humphreys@gmail.com to discuss. Please also forward this on
to any other cyclists - there are so many that I know should be
included…
I am looking for a maximum of 5 photos per contributor in order to
give a wide spectrum to the book. It is not only hard-core Tibet
pictures I am looking for: bike rides through Europe and Ireland are
definitely included!
All contributors will be fully acknowledged for each picture. You must
give permission for your picture to be used in this charity
fund-raising book that will be available worldwide through Amazon.
Your pictures will not be used in any other publications.
I am specifically looking for photos in these categories:
Bike
Riding
Eating
Sleeping
People
Urban
Remote
Hills
Desert
The essence of cycle travel.
Please pass this on to any other cyclists I have forgotten!
–
Alastair
http://www.alastairhumphreys.com
http://www.roundtheworldbybike.com
November 18th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Cycling, Fun |
3 comments
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are getting close so let me put in this ’shamelss’ plug. You guys have seen some ads on my website. I tried to keep it to minimum and in unobtrusive places. The blog is personal in nature and has a limited appeal to really create too much traffic. My expectations to make any money were pretty much anything above ZERO;) It was more of a learning experience that I’m planning to leverage once I get back;) Although I have received a few PAYPAL donations in exchange for a few postcards mailed. Thanks guys… You know who you are;)
In any case, for sakes of full disclosure if you see links throughout my posts that take you directly to Amazon.com, it is because they are linked by me and if you click on them (or the big Amazon.com banner at the bottom of this page, too), visit the Amazon.com website and buy anything there I get a small commission.
The price you end up paying won’t affected at all. Unlike the Google’s Adsense, the Amazon.com Associates program pays only for actual sales, not ‘views’…So, if you had any plans to get anything, and I mean anything (it doesn’t need to be a product that I link to), from Amazon.com for the upcoming holidays, just go ahead and CLICK HERE
or on any of my music, book or computer links throughout my text;) I hope my articles are either useful in providing some information or at least inspirational in some way to encourage you to make similar trip;)
Thanks for reading and have a great holidays wherever you find yourself. And to myself, Happy Birthday, which is coming up on Nov. 20th;)
November 17th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging |
no comments
Thanks to tireless efforts, well positioned friends and support for my trip from a fellow blogger and friend Shirazi there was an article published about my trip in the Pakistani English daily ‘The Nation’ on October 15th. The scans aren’t the best but should suffice to be able to read it. Just click on it and go to the large version in Flickr (You need to be signed in and select the ‘All sizes’ option in order to view the larger version scans): Left page, right page…
Enjoy it guys and thanks again Shirazi. BTW, congrats to myself, this was my 200th post at this blog;) And guys, please, get either Opera or Firefox browsers for viewing. I’m tired to keep re-checking Internet Explorer’s screwed up formatting.
November 8th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Pakistan |
4 comments
Light Within is a blog written by Mr. Shirazi whom I had a chance to meet while in Lahore and spend a great afternoon together discussing anything Pakistan and travel related;) See his blog entry here how he recounted our meeting…
Also, blogspot.com domain seems to be blocked again here in Pakistan, so use either Anonymouse.org or Inblogs.net to see it;)
September 1st, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Himalayas, Pakistan |
one comment
