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

Sidetrack from Travels: Green Month!

     Ok readers, Zak and I have started a challenge. Call us crazy but we have decided to not use our car, taxis, or petrol powered trains for the month of May. This leaves us with walking, biking, using electric trains and ONLY if there are storms out, taking the public bus...that is unless you would find humor in us documenting what it was like to ride our bikes in 20mph winds and pouring rain. (we shall see).

     We have decided to do this not only to achieve a really awesome goal but also in an effort to be in the best shape of our lives by the time we go home for vacation next month. (home=beach in case you didn't know... beach=bikini, you see where I am going with this) We have both been working very hard on getting our bodies in shape since the beginning of the year and we are feeling really good about our accomplishments thus far but we want to push it just that one step further. 

     Another reason we are doing this challenge is to better the environment where we can. Living in Korea has given myself and Zak a whole new respect for recycling. This is such a small country and it is their way of life to recycle pretty much everything (and I mean everything, excluding egg shells and bones!) So we decided to make one month of our life a little inconvenient to give back to Korea!  

     The challenge started yesterday, and while we usually commute on our bikes 1-2 times a week we have never had to depend solely on them for transportation and running errands... hmm guess we should have stocked up on toilet paper before we started this challenge. 

     Yesterday wasn't too bad for me, I took it easy on the way to the gym (which is about a 45 minute casual paced bike ride each way) worked out with my trainer and then rode back. Here is what Zak had to say about his first day: 

May 1st, Day One of "No Petrol Month"

21.23 miles ridden on bike

981 calories burned

19 city mpg for Accord EX-L V6

$3.809 per/gal US National Average

$4.26 saved today

Exhaustion Level 7/10

     We shall see what the next month has in store for us, we will be sure to document with pictures and check in every week!

     Wish us luck and thanks for reading!

xxx