Last week, I wrapped up my final paperwork for classes and jetted off to Portland for a course in leadership training through the Adventure Cycling Association. ACA is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and empower people to travel by bicycle, right up my alley. I've been working to get my bearings in my career encouraging people to use their bikes as transportation, whether to get their groceries or to go on vacation. ACA has many great trips and routes across the United States, any one of which I would love to join. After speaking with a friend who is a tour guide with some of ACA's trips, I decided to make the leap to attend their Leadership Training Course in Portland. While this wouldn't be a self-contained 93-day tour along the TransAmerican route, I realized that this course would give me the education and tools to leading effective and successful tours, and possibly even the opportunity to lead tours with their organization.
I showed up at PDX a bit frazzled from my busy work schedule, the end of classes, and my last week of the City Management Academy. I had been hoping to ride out to Champoeg, a cute little campground that we had stayed at about 6 years ago during our epic (for us) 600-mile bike tour around Oregon when Big Brother was just 10-months old. However, because I was borrowing a bike from a friend in Portland, I didn't think I'd have enough time to get the bike and ride the 35 miles to the campground before class started. Plus, I was being extra gentle with myself to get through these final weeks of my crazy schedule. Luckily, I was able to reach out to another participant and get a ride into camp. I was sorry to not get the ride along a beautiful road and to rack up some extra miles for May Is Bike Month but I was happy to keep my energy up for the fully packed weekend.
The course was wonderful. I cannot sing the praises of our leaders, Joyce, Wally, Sid, and Joe, enough. They gave us plenty of guidance but in a way that encouraged us to create our own trip and get exactly what we needed out of this experience. Getting to know the inner workings of an Adventure Cycling trip made me only want to join one even more. To my surprise, even with a group of 20 participants, we were able to form a cohesive group where we shared cooking duties (and I was one of the lucky winners to one of the best meals of the trip which earned me a fancy pair of ACA socks), got to know each other, and rode together. I met some great people whom I look forward to keeping in touch with. There wasn't much riding but we were kept busy with other important things--like a talent show that everyone participated in. We camped out in a grassy field, it rained one night and I realized that I need to re-waterproof my old tent but otherwise stayed nice and warm.
I showed up at PDX a bit frazzled from my busy work schedule, the end of classes, and my last week of the City Management Academy. I had been hoping to ride out to Champoeg, a cute little campground that we had stayed at about 6 years ago during our epic (for us) 600-mile bike tour around Oregon when Big Brother was just 10-months old. However, because I was borrowing a bike from a friend in Portland, I didn't think I'd have enough time to get the bike and ride the 35 miles to the campground before class started. Plus, I was being extra gentle with myself to get through these final weeks of my crazy schedule. Luckily, I was able to reach out to another participant and get a ride into camp. I was sorry to not get the ride along a beautiful road and to rack up some extra miles for May Is Bike Month but I was happy to keep my energy up for the fully packed weekend.
The course was wonderful. I cannot sing the praises of our leaders, Joyce, Wally, Sid, and Joe, enough. They gave us plenty of guidance but in a way that encouraged us to create our own trip and get exactly what we needed out of this experience. Getting to know the inner workings of an Adventure Cycling trip made me only want to join one even more. To my surprise, even with a group of 20 participants, we were able to form a cohesive group where we shared cooking duties (and I was one of the lucky winners to one of the best meals of the trip which earned me a fancy pair of ACA socks), got to know each other, and rode together. I met some great people whom I look forward to keeping in touch with. There wasn't much riding but we were kept busy with other important things--like a talent show that everyone participated in. We camped out in a grassy field, it rained one night and I realized that I need to re-waterproof my old tent but otherwise stayed nice and warm.
The adorable bike I was riding was certainly the talk of the camp with its cute flowered basket. There were some amazing bikes--custom, titanium, S&S couplers, all types of racks, and high tech bags. Mine was the only one that also had wheel skirts. After riding 25 miles on the bike on Sunday, I was pretty glad to find a ride to get us back into town without extra riding. Another participant was heading my way and was able to take the bike and me back to our friend's house to return the bike and then hop on the MAX light rail. The MAX took me closer to my favorite farmers at Fiddlehead Farm, my brother and his family. I didn't get much time with them as in my rush to return home to my kiddos, work, and my last classes, I decided to change flights for an earlier return.
Home again to my happy, wonderful kids and and crazy busy schedule. Children to cuddle, bike clinics to teach, rodeos to set up, finals to finalize, and city management graduations to graduate from.
Home again to my happy, wonderful kids and and crazy busy schedule. Children to cuddle, bike clinics to teach, rodeos to set up, finals to finalize, and city management graduations to graduate from.
I'm excited to use my new skills as a tour guide with all these fun local bike trips and am looking forward to being able to join an ACA tour, both as a participant and hopefully one day as a guide. They have some great family adventures as well, a wonderful way to get your family into bike touring with plenty of support and family fun. Take a look!
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