Okay, so remember back in February when I said I’d join in Scalzi’s awesome idea and donate $1 per time Theodore Beale got his creepy internet hateboner wank on? THE DEBT HAS COME DUE.
I pledged $1 per time, so that will total $154! I chose to give the full amount to RAINN.
And done. It felt wonderful.
Just for the record, on September 5, I said a thing on Twitter:
And now it’s September 15, the day the magical royalties elves at Musa Publishing send me the money I’ve earned with my steampunk adventuring over the last month.
Easy as that. Do what you say you’ll do. I really wish the royalties had been bigger this month, but I am still the smallest of all possible potatoes. (And remember, if all the small potatoes band together, we shall construct a mighty anti-kaiju wall of potatoes.) Maybe next month. If you would like to donate toward UNICEF’s fund for the children of Syria, go here.
And now back to the writening! (And hey, if you want to help the royalties be bigger the next time I do a double donation, tell your friends to give Steampunk a try and have a novella-length adventure.)
A giant thank you to everyone who supported my Century for UNICEF UK. With your help I raised $757, which comes it to $7.57 per mile I biked on Sunday. I’m incredibly grateful and I know the money will go to helping people who need it! Thank you everyone!!! (Thank you: Chelsea Conlin, Pat Acks, Pat Wells, Mary Ellen Neumann, Miranda Wood, May Fisher, Carrie, Mike Smith, Alyson, and the anonymous donors!)
Though since we didn’t get to $800 I have one again escaped the live blog of Metal Tornado. Hahaha you’ll never get me!!!
I took a few pictures on the ride, but not too many since I was, you know, busy pedaling like a maniac. Album is here if you want to see it. I’m considering going for a helmet cam one if these days… maybe next year. Put it on the wish list.
This was my first century since I started biking seriously a little over a year ago. I feel amazed even writing that. I’ve come so far in such a short period of time. I completed the 100 miles in 5:35:17, which is about an 18.3 mph average. That’s insane. That’s the kind of times I’ve been getting on shorter rides. And just last year when I did the metric century, my average was barely above 15 mph if I remember correctly. And say the end of the ride, we actually did a half assed sprint–somehow! I chased my friends Sam and Leonardo for the last four miles and ended the ride doing 23 mph!!
Most of the credit for my astounding success goes to my amazing friends from the Come Ride With Us meetup group: Scott, Leonardo, Sam, Carrie, John. Everyone was so encouraging. We basically ran a double pace line the whole way (and I wasn’t a total waste if space, I promise, I took my turns pulling) and it felt great to be riding with them. We had lots of people along the way hitch on to the back of our pace line, and that was fun to briefly meet them.
It also helps that the weather was excellent for most of the ride. It was overcast, relatively cool, and it even rained a little… enough to keep the temperatures down without making the roads dangerous. I’m not really sore at all, and my legs were only a little tired yesterday. (Though I did get a nasty sunburn on my arms. It’s literally impossible to put on a fresh layer if sunscreen when you’re sweating that much. Maybe I need to invest in white sleeves.)
I can’t wait to see where I am next year! (And I’ll warn you now, I’m planning to do another century for UNICEF UK next year, so start saving your pennies now. Pretty please?)
The Katy Flatland Century (you know, that thing I’m dedicating to UNICEF UK) is now just two weeks away. Less than that, technically. By this time two Sundays from now, I plan to have gorged myself on margaritas and a giant chimichanga at Chuy’s. If I can stay awake that long. But I wanted to give a little update on training for it.
I’m honestly incredibly nervous about riding a full century. I’ve only ever done a metric century (100km, or 62 miles) and a full century isn’t far from being twice that length. I’m afraid my legs will give out, or I’ll just run out of energy. (Though I’m planning to down fig newtons and bananas at every support station like a champ in order to combat that!) Committing to doing this ride for charity means that I’m resolved to not wimp out or give up, but there’s still the niggling fear that I just won’t physically be able to hack it.
I feel a little bit better about my chances after this week of training. I did a 60 mile ride yesterday, which is just two miles shy of matching my longest ride ever. I’m not going to claim it was easy, but I did it. And I wasn’t in immense pain today like I’d been a year ago after the metric century. I’m definitely in better shape than I was. In fact, I was in good enough shape to get back on my bike this morning and do another 40 miles. So this weekend I did 100 (technically 100.5) miles and I’m still capable of walking. Next step–do it all in one day, in two weeks.
Total this week, I did 180 miles, as you see preserved for posterity above. That is the most I’ve ever ridden my bike. I’m hoping to get close to that next week. As long as the weather cooperates, I’m going to do another 60 mile ride next Saturday, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
I can do this. (And you can still help. Even just $1 can make a big difference to a kid.)
I’m going to get on my bicycle in less than three weeks and ride 100 miles. The story is basically that I’m nuts. July in Houston is fricking hot. It’ll probably take me 6-7 hours to do.
Why?
Personally, it’s a challenge. Last year I achieved the metric century, which is 100km. This year I’m in better shape and I want to test my limits. I’m lucky that I can set those kinds of challenges for myself. There are a lot of people throughout the world who face the far greater challenge every day of just trying to eat enough or find clean water. I wish I could give everyone the opportunities I had growing up, and the opportunities I have now. Just making sure everyone has food and water is a good start.
I’m dedicating my first century to UNICEF UK; they do a phenomenal amount of work to help children in desperate situations. A little bit of money goes a long way. I’ve put my money where my mouth is and put $1 per mile I’m going to ride on July 21st into the pot. You should join me. I’ll do all the hard work and the gross sweating. All you have to do is throw some money at my Just Giving page–and at no risk of a chafed backside.
Every little bit helps! Ride with me!
And what the hell. If you guys can manage to get me to $801 (random number there), the day before (July 20) as I am carbing up I will finally liveblog Metal Tornado. Or something equally awful if that turd of a movie isn’t on Netflix any more. I AM OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS.
Less than 24 hours after setting out the challenge, the goal of $100 donated to the Red Cross has been reached! Wow, you guys must seriously hate me! (And by that, I mean the people who read my blog are AWESOME.)
Thus, you have bought my tasty, tasty suffering on Black Friday. I will liveblog that Ray Comfort DVD. I will liveblog the shit out of it.
But let’s not stop there. The Red Cross needs us! And apparently, you need me to alternately froth and sob over my keyboard!
So I propose this – if you get up to $250 on the donations before November 19, I will throw in Metal Tornado the next week (So probably on November 30 or December 1), because I saw it was available on Netflix and it sure does look like a thing. If you get to $350, instead of Metal Tornado I’ll liveblog Dreams From My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception, which is an anti-Obama birther wingnut DVD my parents have some how gotten hold of (don’t ask) and almost guaranteed to make me burst a blood vessel in my eye.
I’ll keep up the running money tally on the original post.
Sound good? Help out the victims of Sandy with the Red Cross! MAKE ME SUFFER!
I’ve already donated to the Red Cross to help out those who have been caught by Hurricane Sandy. I’d like you to donate as well. And I have a (dubious) reward for you if you do!
I’ve noticed my blog posts tend to get around 100 hits. I’m hoping that means at least 100 people actually read my little blog. So if you each gave $1 to the Red Cross, that’d make $100, right?
So here’s my proposal. If my readers donate $100 in total to the Red Cross between now and November 19, I will liveblog something terrible. Right now, it’s looking like it would be the random Ray Comfort DVD that got left on my friend’s windshield when he was parked near a Planned Parenthood. Because I would rather hammer nails into my skull than subject myself to Ray Comfort + Anti-abortion bullshit, so it’ll likely be hilarious.
Though I am, of course, open to suggestions. Please feel free to leave your thoughts on this topic in comments.
I’d like to operate this on the honor system. If you donate to the Red Cross because you both want me to suffer and want to help out the victims of Hurrican Sandy, leave a comment on this blog post, tweet at me, comment on facebook, plurk at me, something. If $100 has been donated by the 19th of this month, I will liveblog for you on Black Friday so you can exercise off some of your turkey with evil belly laughs.
Deal?
Money thus far: $209.40 (OH GOD NO NOT RAY COMFORT)
Challenge update since you blew away the first goal:
– Get to $250 and I’ll liveblog Metal Tornado as well, because that sure looks like a thing.
– Get to $350 and I’ll liveblog Dreams From My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception instead of Metal Tornado. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a birther propaganda piece that will probably cause me to rupture a blood vessel in my eye.
Lasted edited at: 06.11.12 14:57