Tag: adventure

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The Two Village Idiots: This Sh*t Just Got Real

 

So why am I doing this trip? It is a question I often get asked. The real question, though, is why do any trip? I mean, most of us are content with going throughout our days in the creature comforts we have become accustomed to. We get to know the people that have come and gone in our lives, but rarely seek out new people and new experiences that put us out of our comfort zone. Well, I’m not like most people. I recognized that being out of your comfort zone is where real human development happens, and I am constantly seeking new people and experiences to help facilitate adventure and personal development. That’s why I created Roam Life – because we don’t want you to be like most people either. We want you to be the BEST you.

But I guess I should answer the real question, why am I riding my bike from Pittsburgh to DC?

Good question.

Let’s make a list:

  1. It sounds like a bad/dumb idea to nearly everyone we talk to – automatically I’m interested.
  2. It’s close by to my buddy Rich and I – we want to show that you really can have an authentic, legit adventure just out your door. You don’t have to fly to outer Mongolia to have an adventure.
  3. This canal/rail trail is one of the most heavily ridden and most popular bike routes in the country and I have never ridden it. As a bike industry person, this is just a travesty.
  4. I’ve never heard of anyone riding this trail, 325 miles, straight through from end to end without stopping. So we could set a record! A dumb record, but a record none-the-less.
  5. 325 miles is no joke. I’ve ridden an 8 day, 500 mile MTB stage race, the Leadville 100 Mile MTB Trail Race, and a super rocky 50 mile MTB race in Pennsylvania this year. But 325 miles without stopping to sleep, rest, etc., is something different. It was possible to not finish any of these races, but it is very possible that we might not be able to finish this thing. This will be a real test of our equipment, our minds, and our bodies.
  6. Because of this extreme test, it will make for a perfect Roam Life video. We’ll really be able to show how we can expand ourselves through “trying” new experiences.
  7. I want to be part of, and help, my buddy Rich reach his goal of visiting his dad in Arlington. This is a powerful end goal for us, and will help us get through those tough hours on the bike.
  8. By leaving ourselves open to a variety of experiences – we’ll be able to generate future experiences and continue Roam’ing Life.

There are a lot of reasons for me to do this trip. The biggest reason is to change myself, and that change can’t be realized until you are finally on the bike.

– Josh

I was one who smiled much more back then.

I knew my purpose for as long as I could was to show people how amazing life is and could be behind the bars of a bicycle. I could do this, travel, explore, roam places, so many places without worry because my Dad was on point, the man who all looked to for support, the idea, the shoulder all who were in contact or in touch with should anything go wrong or just plain worry about seem removed and far far away. Plain and simple Dad was the rock, and yes my hero.

Dad has since passed. I no longer have that smile I once had. I realize it, I still have much anger. It wasn’t his time.

From the time of Dad’s passing to present, things have changed: ideas, paths, locations, Hell, even responsibility. One of my many “in awe” memories of Dad was how he could connect with so many people; people from one extreme to another. He brought a connection with him people adored, no matter where he was! The stories, the people, amazing people, places he’s been along with Mamasita together. I aspire. The places they’ve visited along their way; Thailand, Philippines, Canada, Colombia, so many places. It finally hit me……..

Three weeks before Dad passed, he said to me that he was very proud of me for doing what I loved. He said I showed so much pride for what I did. I quit. I left, took care of the farm, loose ends, had my family take care of me. Within that time I realized how much I missed this [bicycle] industry, connecting with people through a simple ride on a trail, any trail, anywhere, any adventure-crazy trail.

I could do do this! I can share the story. I can video my experiences with anyone who wants to hit an adventure, meet up at a trail, or convo over pizza and bourbon.

End of the day – there are so many people and places and experiences –

Fitting that the birth of my first ride, Pittsburgh, be the start of an amazing journey to visit my Dad at Arlington National Cemetery to say…well I’m not sure what will be said. No better way to embark on this journey than with my buddy Josh with Roam Life. We have very similar journeys, goals, hopes…

News at 11…………….that means more later yo!!!

– Rich

Expedition Date: October 13 – 14

Expedition Location: The Great Allegheny Trail and the C&O Canal

Expedition Start: Allegheny Trail, Pittsburgh, PA

Destination: Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC

To follow Josh and Rich, join our community at www.roamlife.com or Facebook.

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Roam Your Soul Workshop

Roam Your Soul was an amazing experience for me. It was incredibly heartwarming to share such personal explorations with such sincere and insightful women. I was greatly encouraged to challenge myself and push my boundaries, and the rewards were immediately tangible. As a group, I felt that we all connected emotionally, expanded mentally, and grew spiritually. I am truly grateful for the experience, and I will definitely carry it with me forever on my journey. Thank you!! – Mariya

Like Mariya, I hope you join me for a life-changing and exciting adventure experience.

Roam Your Soul’s Online Adventure Workshop is an 8-week e-course for women that want to explore their daily lives with new eyes, experience adventure, and roam their inner soul. We will guide you through opportunities to expand your comfort zone, discover new aspects of yourself, and connect to other adventurers.

REGISTRATION IS CURRENTLY CLOSED.

Our next workshop registration will open in February 2013.

We’ve teamed up with Peaks Over Poverty, Against the Grind, and more to make each adventure meaningful, adventurous, and fun.

“There are no rules in creating your own adventures – the possibilities are endless.”

For more information, visit the registration page. For more information about Roam Life and our Amazing Women series, click on the links!

The adventures I created for us all actually allowed me to find time for myself and reflect on what I needed in order to feel excited about life. Learning through other women’s stories and finding inspiration in their courage allowed me to break through barriers and find new adventures for myself.  – Founder, Christine

 

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Dirt Rag’s DirtFest 2012 (or, how I broke my foot riding my bike)

By Christine Perigen

At 30 years old, I thought my days of being piggy-backed as a mode of transportation were over. Turns out, I was wrong.

In the last hour of the last day at Dirt Rag’s DirtFest, I found myself hanging on to the back of Richie Rich while he sprinted down the trail on foot. Jarring up and down and trying to keep my mind off the pain shooting up my foot at every step, our team of 4 used laughter to avoid thinking about the 6 miles we still had to go until we hit a main road.

Turns out, running down a dirt trail with 100 pounds of me on your back is an awesome cross-training tool. It also makes you sound bad ass – “What did you do to train today? Oh yea? Well, I ran 3 miles in the woods with a sack of potatoes strapped to my back. NBD.”

yea, the two village idiots…again.

We were riding bikes on some of the funnest trails in the Allegripis system in Rayestown, PA. Everyone had packed up and hauled out and we stuck around for a final ride with a few friends from Giant, Stan’s NoTubes, Niner, and Felt.

Happier times at beer school

The dudes took off fast and I smashed pedals trying to keep up. When you get a bunch of dudes together on  bikes (even more specifically INDUSTRY DUDES on bikes), it’s bound to be a testosterone fest (even if that wasn’t the intention).  It also doesn’t help that I’m slow on climbs so I tried to make up speed on the downs (which I’m not so bad at – or so I thought).

After heading out on Doe and looping around to Ray’s Revenge, we finally got to the fun section. I don’t know if it was 3 days of riding, the new shoes, or trying too hard to keep up (probably a combination of all three), but I felt uneasy from the start of the rhythm section and started to slow down. After hitting a patch of gravel on the edge of the trail, my back tire skidded off the side of the hill with my foot stuck in the pedal.

Gripped with pain, I clenched a bunch of dirt in my hands while trying to find air. After pushing my bike off me, I had to shove my foot out of the pedal, which was excruciating.

I ended up hobbling along for a half mile, Josh found me on the trail with Rich and Brian in tow. It was clear I shouldn’t be walking so I hopped onto the seat of Josh’s bike while he attempted to pedal us down the trail without bucking me face-down back into the dirt. Bad idea.

So, what to do? And this is how I ended up on Rich’s back while he sprinted down the trail. Switching from one sweaty back to another, Josh and Rich took turns while Brian took care of my bike.

Back at DirtFest base camp, the guys set me up in the Sprinter van with a rapidly swelling ankle and some ice.

And then I ended up with this:

I spent the next 4 weeks traveling around to all the races and events I had signed up for…as a spectator. Cast off, boot on, I started back on the bike again and went to a lot of concerts where I got premium seating! :o)

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The Two Village Idiots & One Small Adventure

Meet Rich.

This is Rich.

He likes doing dumb things.  Like 100 mile mountain bike races.  And modeling  his goatee-like facial hair while starring in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Rich starring as Jack Sparrow.

Ok, well the first one is true.  The second one might be too. I mean, I saw it on the internet.  But I digress…

What Rich really digs is suffering…with a little sprinkle of adventure thrown in.  See, this is the proper usage of the word sprinkle.  Many people try to use the word sprinkle to describe those thin chocolate or rainbow colored pieces of confectionary goodness that you put on ice cream.  However, those are actually called jimmies.  Don’t argue it.  If you are from New England, you know what I mean.  And don’t argue with New Englanders; we are always right.

Jimmies, people. They’re jimmies.

Sprinkles can be used to describe all other shapes of ice cream paraphenalia, and also how Rich likes his adventure.  Oh yeah, right, Rich…

So, as I mentioned, Rich likes to do what some people would call “idiotic” things.  These idiotic things aren’t at all idiotic to Rich, he enjoys them and enjoys the little bit of suffering that comes along with them.  Unfortunately, Rich can’t do idiotic things all day long; he has a day job, like the rest of us.  So, Rich has to get his idiotic jollies on the weekends or on his vacation, just like everyone else.

He’s more than just a weekend warrior.

Meet Josh.

Ready to conquer the world of adventure.

Josh is dancing around the room flailing his long lanky arms yelling, “Yes! We gotta get the bags. We gotta get the bags. We’re PAAAACKING!!!!” Yes, Josh loves adventure. No, it’s not a special day. It’s any given day for us.

Packing time

Just like Rich, as it turns out, Josh likes doing dumb things too.  Like multi-day mountain bike stage races.  Or 100 mile mountain bike races on a single speed bicycle. Or bushwhacking through the woods when trails end…you get the idea.

Taking a…er….break…on the trail

So one day, six or so years ago, the two idiots meet.  It was like bowling balls colliding. The two idiots worked similar 9-5 jobs at Giant Bicycles, but on different coasts.  Josh on the west coast, Rich on the east.  They’d see each other at company events every few months, and inevitably, some pedals would be pushed, and some pints would be drained.

What? You expect us to provide evidence??

Fast forward several years and Rich has moved on to work at Stan’s NoTubes, slinging the finest wheels on the planet, while Josh has moved back east and is plotting East coast domination for Giant Bicycles.  These two rekindled their, er, idiocy, when Josh and his teammate Jackie were looking for some support for the gnarly, 8 day, 800 km, mountain bike shred fest known as the Cape Epic in South Africa.

Cape Epic, in which Josh, Jackie, their Giant bikes and Stan’s NoTubes wheels all performed flawlessly, happened to spark the idiot trigger somewhere in the back of Rich’s brain.  Upon Josh’s return from the Realm of Radness known as South Africa, Rich called Josh to say “Hey, so I think I have an idea that might align with where you’re headed with Roam Life”.

Yahoo!

“You see”, Rich said, “we both like to do these long mountain bike events and we both are kind of idiots about it. What if we started to film our suffering and making a TV show or something?”

“Suffer fest? I’m in.”

“You had me at suffering,” Josh said, “I’m in.”

So let’s recap: 2 idiots (Josh and Rich).  A couple of bikes, adventure, and dumb things.  They like doing long rides and races.  So where do we go from here?  Wait, let’s look up at the title again, what does it say? “The Two Village Idiots & One Small Adventure.”  Oh right, the small adventure part.

Adventure calls. The idiots respond.

Ok, well the two idiots started bantering about various dumb trips to get lost on.  An 8-10 day epic slog deep into the wilds of Northeastern Canada came up.  How about 5 days at the Pisgah Stage Race in North Carolina?  What about a mixed moto/mtb session?  While these were all very valient ideas and are trips they will very likely do in the future, the two idiots made a smart decision (wait, that CAN’T be right) by agreeing to walk before they run and figure out if they know how to run a camera on a 2 day trip prior to venturing off into unknown lands only to F everything up.  What can go wrong in 2 days?

– Josh

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Share Your Story

Your story is unique and inspiring. Roam Life is about creating a community of inspired adventurers around the world. Through sharing our stories with one another, we’re able to provide guidance, advice, experience, and inspiration to people from all around the world.

Help others start THEIR adventures by sharing YOUR adventure story. You may just be highlighted on our front page!

Questions or to email your adventure story, contact [email protected]

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Big Adventure Planning

How do you start planning those big adventure dreams so they become a reality?? Whether you are planning a ’round-the-world trip on your bicycle or looking for a new adventure on a wilderness trail, we all start planning at the same place: the beginning.

Creating a plan of action for an adventure goal can be a daunting task in the beginning. Join others looking to begin their next adventure for discussion, brainstorming, and the initial phases of planning.

Big Adventure Planning is to help YOU start planning that big adventure. Whether it means you want to start hiking more, travel to a new country, take a year off of work, or learn something new, it takes planning and prioritizing to make it happen.

 

What’s your long-term adventure goal?

Whether it’s a new hike in the Adirondacks or a bicycle trip around the world, one person’s adventure goal can seem incomprehensible to others. The key to turning what others may deem “that crazy dream of yours” into reality is breaking the preparation and adventure itself into manageable steps.

  • Write down a clear goal: what, where, when, duration, and budget

Where do you begin?

To bicycle around the world, you have to start somewhere!

  • Find that pinpoint in your adventure – that starting point where it all begins.
  • Create small adventures to lead up to your big adventure goal.

Presented by Christine Perigen and Josh Fonner of Roam Life, Inc. 2012.