Giving Back

Sort of.
I mean I haven't really taken anything, not for free, so it's more like I'm just giving, not really giving anything back.
If you know what I mean.
Anyways, I was listening to the Two Johns Podcast the other night, for the fifth or sixth time since it takes me that many tries to get through the whole thing.
I mean I get through the whole thing almost every night, I'm just not awake to hear it all.
Well I was awake to hear about this dude, Global Biker, who went on a trip to Africa to give away bicycles.
See now the 2JP has a call in thingy where folks can actually call in while they are podcasting and talk for real to the 2Js, instead of just having their emails read.
Pretty cool stuff.
Anyways, this sort of reminded me of Tom Ritchey, of well, Ritchey fame who went and did some stuff in Rwanda, with bicycles of course, to help the folks there with well, bicycling with something called Project Rwanda.
Pretty cool stuff too.
Well, on the 2JP, another caller mentioned this other thing called World Bicycle Relief.
Now I'm not big on charities and stuff like that; most times you just don't know what your money is doing once you send it in.
Okay, folks like the Red Cross and stuff are a different story, I did make a small contribution when the tsunami hit Indonesia and recently to the Japan disaster.
I mean I live on an island too and you never know when that kind of stuff may happen to you and you hope that if it does happen regular folks just like me take some time and donate too.
In a sort of what goes around comes around sort of way.
So anyways, here's a couple of cycling related organizations that caught my attention.
Now I make donations to the local bicycle co-op every once in a while, usually when I clean up all the bicycle crap that accumulates and it gets unbearable to wade through.
Which, if you have been following along at home, is more often than you think.
I mean I got through a lot of bicycling stuff so those folks get some primo junk.
Stopping by to drop stuff off also allows me to check out what they got on hand, in fact it is where I found the Lanikai Express.
Anyways, that's what I try to do locally, to help some folks who ride bikes.
Now back to the dude on the 2JP, listening to him talk about his African adventure didn't make me realize, it more like reminded me that bicycling to other folks, in faraway lands, is not a hobby like it is for me.
It's not something they do to stay fit and they don't exactly do it for enjoyment.
They ride because it's the only way to get around.
Or mostly they walk a lot.
Looking at it that way, sort of made me feel sort of selfish.
I'm sitting here worrying about stuff like aero seat posts and celeste bar tape while some folks are out there dreaming, probably wishing they just had something with two wheels.
Then I started to think about all the insanely frivolous stuff I buy, and let me tell you, I got a lot insanely frivolous bicycle stuff, and how instead of searching the eVilness all the time for more insanely frivolous stuff I can sort of make some kind of difference some where else.
Where a bicycle is not something insanely frivolous.
So I decided that I'm going to donate some of my insanely frivolous bicycle fund to these folks so that they can do something uninsanely frivolous with my money.
Hopefully they're not looking through any Campagnolo catalogs over there.
Okay, I'm not trying to be saintly or anything here and to tell you the truth it is sort of self serving.
I mean all that alloy goodness makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over, but so will thinking that maybe I'm helping someone else get a warm fuzzy, someone that ain't worried about whether or not his bicycle is equipped with Centaur or Chorus.
Well okay, if you even have a bicycle it's just not possible not to worry about if your bicycle has Centaur or Chorus, but you get my drift.
I'm not talking about humungous amounts of cash here, bu they way I look at it is that if maybe ten folks even gave a buck each, maybe some bicycle dude in some faraway land can get like a new tire, or tube or chain or something.
Stuff that I totally take for granted is probably someone else's gold.
Anyways, just some stuff I was thinking about the other night while dreaming of bicycle goodness.
I mean there's more than enough of that to go around.
The bicycle goodness I mean.