Take a Second Look

     How many times are you driving a car and say, “Oh my god I didn’t see that guy!”? This is a statement you hear a lot when you are riding with some people. Today I was driving down a main road in the city of Keene, NH. I see ambulances, police cars, and even a fire truck. As I get closer I see it, a motorcycle with a guy talking to an officer with blood on his arm. Sitting behind the motorcycle is a car that had a lot of front end damage. I don’t know who was at fault and who hit who, but all I could think was, “Wow he is lucky to be alive.”

     This brings me to the title, “Take a second look.” Put down your phone, look both ways before pulling out on main streets then, take a second look. I bring this up because I bicycle many times a week, I bicycle on this very road that I was driving today where I saw the aftermath of this. I think about how many times in the USA a person on a bicycle is struck and killed each year. Per the CDC Website: In 2015 in the United States, over 1,000 bicyclists died and there were almost 467,000 bicycle-related injuries.

      I don’t have the stats for 2016 but I bet you the numbers are not going down. With more people getting on bikes, with more people buying cars and driving, please listen to these four little words, take a second look. The motorcycle world has coined the phrase, look twice and save a life. This same term could apply to bicycles. If you bike enough on the roadways you will have stories where your handle bars were inches from a cars mirror as it drove by because that driver didn’t care how close it came to you, this very thing happened to me a couple days ago.

      I got back into bicycling for the joy of it, for the rush as you feel the wind on your face, the feeling you get when your legs are screaming in pain but you know you must still bike home. The moment you pull into the end of the ride and know that the things you saw are seen because you did that ride, that you just completed that ride. Let’s think about all those riders who want to think about that feeling at the end of the ride that don’t get to, because someone was texting, someone looked once and pulled out. Let’s take a moment and think about the people laying in the hospital bed right now that can't complete that ride, or worse.

     Let’s just do one thing and look twice before we pull out. Let’s look at the sides of the road as we drive, let’s give the people on bikes space, let’s make it so that a person can go home to their family and have that end of the ride feeling. Let’s just take a second look!

- Travis

A Message from Ruzz - An Update

Hey, Guys,
     For those of you that have been keeping up with our YouTube channel and our videos, you may have noticed that we haven't been posting any after the ride videos as of late. I know that in our recent videos I keep mentioning that I've been very ill and that I haven't been able to go biking. As you know biking is a big part of my life and it has saddened me to have to take a break from it. Travis has taken up the mantel and has been biking a lot for the both of us, but as far as riding together, I have yet to be healthy enough to go on rides with him. I just wanted to take the time to explain everything in more detail. 
     First and foremost, I want you to know that yes, we are still active and aren't going anywhere. While I haven't been riding much due to my current health issues, Travis has been biking a lot. I was diagnosed with an illness that basically makes it so that my body rejects food and doesn't absorb the proper nutrients from what I eat. Basically my body has been eating itself from the inside out. I lost upwards of 30 pounds in 4 weeks. As you can imagine this has taken its toll not only on my physical body, but my emotional state as well. I am doing all I can to get better but the nature of this illness is aggressive and the doctors haven't been able to come up with a solution as to how to fix me. On the plus side, I have gotten a second opinion and am happy to tell you that I am on the mend and should be back into the swing of things at some point. The process is slow going and right now my focus is on taking life one day at a time. One meal at a time. 
     That being said, I want to say thank you to each and every person that has supported us thus far. Please keep me in your warm wishes and prayers. I don't plan to go out without a fight, and I just wanted you all to know where I am in the process. It means the world to me that we have you and we hope you continue to join us in our biking journey. 

- Ruzzel 

P. S. Update: Travis and I have a couple benefit rides we are planning on so stay tuned for more info on those :)

A Bike in Time - A Rant

     As I go through life I've come to realize more and more that the time I spend on my bike is time well spent. I could be wrong, but I don't think that anyone ever regretted a time they went biking. And I feel like that's how it should be. A bike, I've come to believe, is an intimate thing. When someone chooses to go biking, it's a conscious decision to open yourself up to the joys and wonders of a purely humanistic activity. It's an unspoken bond between a person, their bike, and the greater world around them. 
     When a person chooses to go biking, it's almost as if we see the world from a whole new lens. Think about it. Biking is faster than walking, but slower than riding a car. When you walk, you see the world in "real time". Everything moves just at the right speed for your mind to be able to wander. To take things in at a deeper level.       When you ride a car, you're moving at a speed where your mind takes in bits of information as you ride along. How many of us actually remember all the parts of a car ride? A lot of it is second nature. We don't take time to sit and wonder about the world when we're going 55 down a highway. When we ride in a car we take the world in on a very superficial level. 
     Then there's biking. 
     When we bike, we're moving just fast enough where our minds don't get bogged down by the intricacies and minutia of the world around us. We leave all the "deep thinking" and thoughts behind. When we bike we move slow enough to be able to take in the world, but fast enough to move through time fluidly. When we bike, we are put into a peculiar mindset that is truly magnificent. We're able to take in everything around us in a way that sets the experience apart from anything else out there.
     It's that experience that keeps me biking. Despite how busy life gets, which it often does, I know that my bike will always be there for me when I come back. Like an old friend welcoming you with a hug after a long stint away, a bike welcomes us to a view of the world that is amazing.
     If you get the chance, get out there and go for a bike ride. And as always, have a bikerful day!

- Ruzz 

A Bit of Giving Back - An Update

     As you may of may not know, Travis and I  are very big into giving back and helping people through our biking. At least we try to. That being said, now that life has become somewhat more manageable, we are getting more into helping out with bike events and doing benefit rides. This past Saturday we were asked by the Winchester, New Hampshire Kiwanis Club to help out with their annual Bike Rodeo.
     Every year the Winchester Kiwanis club helps out their local and surrounding communities by putting on a bike event that focuses on child bike safety and proper helmet fitting. During the event a bike course demonstrating proper bike riding was set up so that kids could learn the proper mechanics of bike riding. We were asked to help with the course, and I must say, it was really fun! Here are some pictures from the event!

     Feel free to hit up our YouTube channel and watch the video we posted from the event yesterday:

2017 Winchester Kiwanis Bike Rodeo

     Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel while you're there if you haven't already. As always, have a bikerful day!

- Ruzzel & Travis - 2 Guys With Bikes

The Fixed Gear and the Rant - A Message from Travis.

     I have a fixed gear bike. A couple days ago I brought it to a local bike shop for repairs. After being repaired I asked said shop to remove the rear wheel so I could change it to a free wheel. I explained to them that I am new to this type of biking. This particular bike shop was very grumpy about removing the rear wheel off the bike. The person that was helping me seemed very put out by my request, but eventually removed the two nuts that needed to be removed.

     Yesterday I brought my bike to Norm's (another bike shop here in Keene) and asked them to remove the rear sprocket off the rim of my bike. Norm's mechanic asked why I was removing it and did it without problem. Then he explained to me that what I thought I could do, I couldn't. The mechanic then showed me what part I needed to buy to do what I wanted to do to my bike. I bought the 10 dollar part and I was off riding.

      Why wouldn't the first shop just take the extra five minutes to listen, ask, and sell me the part I needed? I'm sorry but Norm's has my business from now on!

-Travis (Posted by Ruzzel)

Art of the Fall

     So over the last few days I've been thinking, as I usually do, and my thoughts are drawn back to our bike ride we went on last Tuesday when I fell on the trail. I know that in our highlight video we joke about the small cut I got in said fall, but it really did put life and biking into a bit of perspective for me. More specifically, how falling on a bike is very much like failing in life. First, a little back story:

     It was dark. The sky was dripping light beads of drizzle that stung my face as we whizzed by. The light shake of my bike as I rode the trail sent vibrations through my entire being. My glasses condensed in the cool night air, and the only things I could see were the beam of light that my trusty Cateye cast in front of me, and the blinking light attached to the back of Travis's bike. 
     Travis pulled ahead, going down a steepening hill that lead to a paved bike path that we've been on countless times before. For a split second he disappeared from view as I made it to the top of the hill not slowing down. In the distance I heard him call out, "There's ice up ahead!"
     His words didn't fully register. 
     One second. 
     Two. 
     Three.
     Before I could process what was going on, I felt my bike lose traction and start to fishtail. I knew then that there was no way I was making it out on my bike. Without thinking, I let go of my bike. The rest was a blur. I remember letting out some sort of verbal yell as I went down. I remember tumbling and rolling to a stop. The thoughts that came to my mind were: 
     Do I feel any sharp pain?
     No.
     Could I move?
     Yes.
     Once I was sure I wasn't dead, my body unclenched and I relaxed. I remember laying back, looking through my rain dripped glasses and closing my eyes. I took a sharp, cold, deep breath and let it out slowly. In that moment, a mindset of clarity befell me. As odd as it sounds, I was at peace. 
     I don't know how long I spent laying there. A minute? 10? Eventually Travis came back and brought me out of my reverie asking if I was okay. I got up slowly and stretched out accessing the damage to my bike. My light lay several feet away on the ground. My body ached. Long story short, I picked myself up and we kept pushing on.

     All the rest of the ride home I kept thinking of the fall and how lucky I really was. It could have been so much worse. I was glad for countless things. My gloves for preventing pavement burn. My helmet for protecting my head. One prevailing thought kept coming to mind though. The idea that in life, we as humans fall. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. In everything we do the potential to fail is always there. What matters in life is how we deal with our failures and how we pick ourselves up and keep pushing on.
     There was a moment when I was laying on the ground where I would have been fine just laying there. But that wouldn't have changed the reality of the situation. I was on a bike trail miles from home in the middle of the night. In life, it can be so easy to fail and not continue on. But we have to remember (as hard as it can be sometimes) that despite where we're at at any given point, there is always a bigger picture that we might not be seeing at the time. 
     In the end, we made it home, and all was well. I guess what I'm saying is, when life gets you down (on the trail and off), pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on riding.

-Ruzzel & Travis

     

It's Cold Out

     Hey, Guys! If you're from the area you know that the cold has temporarily (we hope) come back. It has been in the teens and negative numbers the past few days. Despite this cold spell, we did get out for a couple rides, but it has been few and far between. We're hoping it warms up soon so we can get back out on the trail. Looking at the weather report, it's looking good, but we all know how New England weather can be. We're in the process of getting our gear out of storage, our racks on our cars, and bikes tuned up. 

UPDATE:
     Travis and I are looking into registering for a benefit ride this summer, so stay tuned for details on that! 

-Ruzzel and Travis

P.S. As always, we take pride in staying connected with our supporters, so if there is ever anything anyone wants to see in regards to bikes or biking, or just wants to show us some love, shoot us an email and we'll see what we can do! 2guyswithbikes@gmail.com