evan, lindsay, nina, elena and esther

Hey people we love and who love our brother Christian!! We wanted to bring an amazing feat to everyone's attention. There's a bicycler's version of a marathon, a grueling 200 mile day ride from Seattle to Portland called the STP. Well amazingly, Christian did it! Yesterday! HE DID IT!!!! AND he was one of the 15% of participants who complete the ride in one day, not two.

If you aren't familiar with fixed gear bikes, they are bikes which only have one gear, and the pedals don't stop moving, which means that you never can coast or stop pedaling. It's a tough ride. (I know, I've tried it) I can't even imagine climbing and descending hills from the puget sound beyond the columbia river ALL day long and never stop moving my legs. Needless to say, I was WORRIED for his safety and we prayed that he'd be OK. And he made it!!

Christian's been an avid urban biker for the last 2 years plus, doing his civil duty of fuel conservation by biking from his lake city apartment to downtown sometimes daily, riding around Green Lake and otherwise exploring the jewels of the emerald city by bike for fun. And he taught me to overcome my own fear of urban biking, taking us head first into the city by bike on a few occasion. I must say, it is the BEST way to explore a city -- by bike. If you can, I implore you -- rent a bike on your next trip to a new place. (of course, learn how to be bike smart in a city first) You see everything, faster than walking speed, slower than car speed. And it's exhilarating.

Christian built his own fixie bike (see the pics below). He even took it with him by plane to the holy site of fixed gear bikedom - NYC. Check out this short video that evan cooked up about a year ago. We've already posted before it but here it is again.



As for Rexburg, we know of only one fixed gear bike roaming around. Maybe because it's mainly an urban cultural thing. Props to that lone fixie owner and other bikers zipping past massive SUVs and trucks churning the roads.


Christian taking off from UW (he rode in a group of 4) at 4:30 AM


What better way to enjoy the beautiful NW scenery than by bike?


A mac-enhanced picture of Christian's fixie