Green Month Wrap Up & Tour De Cure Seoul

Zak successfully finished green month!! I am so proud that he stuck it out even though I gave up on the third week. Here are his totals from the month:

421 Miles
20513 Calories
43h:18m:47s on the bike
$91.30 saved

In addition to finishing a month of bike riding Zak and two of his friends completed a "Tour De Cure" from Seoul to Pyeongtaek for the American Diabetes Association. They were able to raise $800 for the cause and completed the 60.55 mile ride in 5 hours and 20 minutes.

Thank you to all that donated:
 Brian Simms
Erich Oelschlegel
Elizabeth & Chantz Shealy
Kimberly Shealy
Martha Jane Allder
Danielle McSwain
Zachary & Nikki Moreland
Stanley Stinehour
Kevin Crocker
George Daniel Gunter
Anthony J Stinehour

And a huge congratulations to Zak, Chantz, and Anthony for completing the ride for such a great cause!

Green Month Update: Weeks 2 and 3!

Wow it is already the 4th week of Green Month! Here is an update on our riding:

Week 2 seemed to fly by and the weather was perfect! Conveniently that bee farm I discussed in the last posting disappeared so we no longer had to worry about being stung or swallowing a bee (hey I have done it before and it is not fun!) Neither of us seemed too exhausted from traveling around by bike. More and more people were wondering why Zak and I were riding our bikes everywhere and I had a few people say they saw me biking around, most people's jaws drop when we tell them that we commute to and from our house on our bikes but in all honesty it isn't much of a bike ride at all and is faster than taking the bus and about 10 minutes longer than taking the car. 

For the past year or so of riding my bike I have had to carry it up and over the train tracks on the other side of our apartment complex. It is about 4 sets of fairly vertical stairs but I always looked at it as a good upper body work out! Although I have found myself saying "I wish they would have a bike assist on these stairs" and bam what do you know:

Yay!!! 

Now on to week 3: This week has good news and bad news. Good news is that Zak is still riding bad news is that I had to give up riding due to a stomach bug that I had picked up somewhere during the week. I normally would have just stayed home and avoided driving while recovering but unfortunately I had to attend a mandatory "mock evacuation" on the base. I am still currently battling whatever this foreign microbe is that I picked up and it sucks to have had to quit. I am still rooting for Zak and proud that he has made it into the final week, looks like good weather for the rest of the week as well. 

Here is his week three wrap up:

No gasoline/ Bike Month

Still riding... 
349 Miles
17536 calories 
36h:23m:6s of travel

Zak is also planning his third bike trip from Seoul to Pyeongtaek which is approximately 60 miles. He has a few friends joining him this time and they are riding for the American Diabetes Association! Here is their page: 60 Miles For The Cure. 

I will check back in next week to wrap up Green Month!! Thanks for reading xx

Green Month: Week 1 Wrap Up!

So we did it, we survived the first week of Green Month ! We had great weather this past week so luckily we didn't have to do any extreme weather riding! The highlight of the week goes to Zak and his ingenious way to fulfill his plans of golfing that he made prior to us starting green month:

No big deal, just riding a bicycle with golf clubs... ha ha!

We had a Cinco De Mayo party to attend over the weekend which I had agreed to bring Corona to without actually considering how we would get a case of Corona from the store to my friends house, our solution:

One six pack at a time! 

So it is not that we are limited on our every day life because of not using the car or other means of transportation we just have to find different ways to do it! 

Our usual commuting path from our home to the base has become such an easy and effortless ride now, I honestly went into a zone today riding home and 30 minutes felt like 5! The only time I dislike that bike ride is the section that we have to ride through which happens to be a bee farm. I pull up my mask, drop down my sunglasses and go into full on crazy peddling mode to push through the cloud of bees fast enough so they don't land on me.  Zak said he got hit in the ear by one this week but thankfully we haven't been stung... yet. 

I am looking forward to seeing what challenges we can overcome this week!! Until the next update here are some more photos we took during our first week being petrol free!

Yes that is a pineapple in my back pack :o)

Oh an here is a cute picture of Pip because she feels left out of the blog lately..

Well that is it for week one, and according to Zak's estimation of mileage/gas prices/car mpg we have saved a little over $20 in fuel this week and have burned about 10,000 combined calories of our own fuel! 

Thanks for reading

xxx

Out of hibernation!

So now that winter is officially over here in Korea (longest winter of my life!) I can come out of hibernation and catch you all up on what we have been doing since the sun has come out. There has been a lot of bike riding around the city lately, and we have met some great friends who enjoy biking as well!

Here are some pictures of us biking through Pyeongtaek (the city we live in):

This is a lake we like to bike to, it is in an area of our city that is expanding.. surrounding us were about 30+ cranes building new high rises.. if you can believe it!

(Oops! Flat tire!)

(The tall high rises to the right are where we live!)

When we are done biking we usually hit up the local Baskin Robbins for some ice cream, or in this case the ice cream fondue!

This would be our biking gang; Andy, Tyler, Bobbie Jo, Zak, Me and April!

Oh and did I mention there is also some late night biking involved to get fried food?!

And the best way to cure cabin fever during the winter is going out for some drinks, here is a photo diary of our nights out locally and in Seoul... and oh yes, here in Korea you can pull the ice out of your beer and throw it at a wall for a chance to win another beer...

...and that is exactly what Zak did! 

 Drinking on the train.. one of our favorite past times..

Soju Bowl!!!!!! 

Oh and Pip made some new friends as well! Here she is with Einstein and Vamp :)

Her best defense is kicking big dogs in the face, and well, its her only defense!

Another update soon! Thanks for reading

xxx

Pip's first bike ride.. and house hold goods! YAY!

Zak and I have been super busy lately! I feel like I have been doing school work non-stop...well... because I have been. And Zak is busy with his crazy work schedule at the moment. We did however manage to find time to take our little Pip on a bike ride with us down by the river here in Pyeongtaek. I wasn't sure how she would react to being put into a basket on my bike, but she seemed ok with it and I felt comfortable enough to bring her with us. It was such a beautiful day and the weather has cooled down so much. I fear that before I know it it will be snowing! Here is a picture of Pip enjoying her ride:

And Zak while we were taking a break:

I am so happy to announce that Zak and I are no longer sleeping on the couch! Our house hold goods have arrived!! It has been such a mess the past couple of days but we had to kick it into high gear because Zak invited some friends over for the weekend, and I wanted our home to be presentable! I didn't think we could do it judging by the disaster we started with:

But we did! Our friends came over and we enjoyed lots of food, drinks, and played on our Playstation Move. Take a look at how pizza delivery boxes come in Korea! Ribbons and all!

  I still have a lot of work to do sorting out the bedroom and all of our clothes, but it will get done and it is soooo nice to have everything here.

 I have a mission this month, to figure out what to do on Zak's birthday! He said all he wants is for me to take him somewhere he hasn't been to before in Korea, so I need to get creative! His birthday is November 1st, so I have a few weeks to decide. 

Did I mention that I am soooo excited that the holiday's are right around the corner? I am currently burning my spiced pumpkin candles mmmmm they smell so good!