My genius friend, Jim is always coming up with super cool ideas….and when I saw him start using the term #doublegood over on Twitter I just had to jump right in.  I love the feeling that word gives off, and if there were ever a #doublegood day….today is certainly it.  But it’s better than that.  I’d have to say that today is #TripleGood.

Goodness #1: Today is such a good day that we even call it Good Friday.

Goodness #2: What makes it Double Good is that I’ll always remember April 22 as the day my Son Indie learned to ride on two wheels.  I can still feel the pride and excitement as I watched him ride off all alone with me jogging right behind him.  Even right now as I write this, I feel the emotions flowing up inside of me.  To a cycling Dad, it’s got to be one of the greatest things ever.

Goodness #3: The goodness trifecta is completed with the fact that today just happens to be one of my favorite days of the year…..Earth Day.  As a lover of this planet of ours, its always been a day that I recognize and do my best to find a special way to celebrate our Earth.  I wish all of you a #TripleGood Easter, Earth Day, and Weekend….and I’d like to close things out with a little story that I dedicate to our world.

There was a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time.  He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air….until he notices the other waves in front of him crashing against the shore.

“My God, this is terrible” the wave says, “Looks what’s going to happen to me”.

Then along comes another wave.  It seems the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him “Little wave, why do you look so sad?”

The little wave says “You don’t understand.  We’re all going to crash.  All of us waves are going to be nothing.  It’s it terrible?”

“The second wave says, “No, you don’t understand.  You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”

“Part of the ocean.  Just as we all are.”

- Morrie Schwartz (from the book “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom)

Happy Earth Day…..Love the Planet

April 22 has been a day that I’ve made a point of recognizing for at least the past 18 years or so. Also known as Earth Day, I’ve made it a day that I do my best to honor the earth.  With this year being the first Earth Day with Loving the Bike, I wanted to do something to incorporate that into the mix as well.  The result was “Bike On Earth Day”.

With the help of our teammate, Myron, Loving the Bike encouraged the students and staff at Walter Murray Collegiate to ditch their cars and take their bikes to school for Earth Day.  As a little bonus for those who opted for the bike, we gave them one of our Loving the Bike Patch Kits.  The staff and kids really seemed happy with our token of appreciation…..thanks to the great folks over at Escapade for supplying us with the kits.  Through this event, Loving the Bike helped keep about 200 cars off the road on Earth Day. For that we are extremely proud.  (Thanks to Myron for taking a few photos with his Nikon D5000.)

As part of the Earth Day celebration at Walter Murray, Colleen Thomas from Climate Project Canada was brought in to speak to the students.  She talked about the carbon footprint we produce as well as other environmental issues.  She encouraged the students and told them how to make a positive impact on our Earth, and was sure to mention how proud she was of the students who chose to ride their bikes instead of driving.

Myron’s Experience

Now the Bike On Earth Day wasn’t the only positive thing to come out of Earth Day 2010.  To honor the commitment, Myron also chose to ride his bike to school today and was thrilled with the result.  Here are Myron’s comments from his Bike On Earth Day experience:

• I realized that it only takes 10 minutes longer to bike instead of driving to work
• When I passed other cyclists they smiled at me….Wow
• I moved more quickly than the cars in the congested traffic
• I’m out of shape and I need to bike a whole lot more

Darryl’s Day

As for me, I once again went car-less on Earth Day and spent as much of the day out in nature as I could.  I took out the mountain bike today so that I could slow it down a little and appreciate every tree, flower, and blade of grass I passed.  Best of all, it was the day that my 4 year old Son became a two wheel cyclist…one incredibly proud moment for me and the start of his own Bike On Earth Day commitment.  I’ll definitely be posting more about this experience very soon.

I really do love Earth Day.  How did you spend yours?