Here Dare is training for the sled push for the olympics. And Sanguine is training for the face making contest. The weather around here is getting good. The tulips are out, our bike chains are oiled and we are ready for the 5 Boro Bike Tour in NYC. We surely should have some pictures next week of our trip.

As many of you know, I work at Sunnywood Design Collective. We just completed a project for The Nature Conservancy where we created a carbon calculator that simply helps you determine the size of your carbon footprint. It is a bit different than some of the other calculators out there, in that it is based primarily on your lifestyle choices and your behavior— the things that you can easily change to positively affect your impact. Our family contributes 43 tons of CO2 equivilant per year, that is roughly 1/4 of the US national average for a family of six. But we are still slightly over the world average. So, we’ll keep working on creative ways to reduce our carbon emissions. I’d like to get us down to 10 tons. Then I’ll work to cut more from that. You can help the cause too. I suggest you ride your bike to work or to the grocery. For every day you ride your bike you can cut ‘rising’ fuel costs by 20%, and cut your carbon emissions for the day as well.

So take a look at the calculator at www.nature.org, and figure out your impact.

Bicycling has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to earn money guiding, instructing, performing, exploring, delivering, racing, repairing, maintaining, designing, selling, and building bicycles. I spent 5 years using my talent as a designer at Adventure Cycling Association in Missoula, Montana inspiring people to travel by bike. Since leaving Missoula, I’ve had the opportunity to design the websites for both the League of American Bicyclists and the National Center for Bicycling and Walking. I also designed a t-shirt recently, emblazoned with the words: Embrace Sustainability! Ride Your Bike. And now, I’ve officially become an advocate/activist for bicycling. I’ve been appointed to the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council for the City of Ithaca and I’ve been elected to the New York Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors. I just got back from The National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. and I am motivated more than ever.

My mission now is to help make Ithaca a place, where bicycling is respected and embraced. So keep your eye on the new domain bikewalkithaca.org. This should be a fun ride.