Donald Miller and the Ride:Well Team Bike America

Portland, Oregon May Something

Caught Brett Dennen, Mason Jennings and Missy Higgins tonight at the Roseland and enjoyed the show. Dennen’s voice is something like a saxaphone and Missy Higgins came out and backed him up for a bit and that song was worth the cost of the ticket. But Mason Jennings closed the show (they rotate every night) and he and his fans sang themselves into midnight.

Jennings manages to engage his audience with three-note range and words that repeat rather than rhyme. Somehow it works. He has the wit Lyle Lovett and about three-quarter the composing ability of Dylan. He’s like a new Dylan, some people have said. I think he is a thinking mans Jack Johnson. Anyway, it was a great show. I know they are in Seattle next and Eugene after that. If they come to you, take some friends and enjoy the show.

With a few weeks left till the bike trip, I’m spending most of my time trying to wrap up "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." The book is about life, really, and how it works like a story. Or moreover how story is a summarized version of life. While working with Steve Taylor and Ben Pearson to write the screenplay for Blue Like Jazz, I discovered the principles screenwriters use to create good stories also work to create meaningful life experiences. That is, in a good story, a character has an ambition and understands conflict is going to happen and puhes through to the resolution of the story.

Anyway, the story I am living right now involves the conflict of finishing the book before I leave so the editors can review it and hand it back to me when I return to Portland in August. At that point I can edit the book in time for a January final deadline. The book is coming along remarkably well. I think I am going to be able to have it done in time, which will free up my mind on the trip, allow me to step away from the book and return to it with a better perspective.

So I write all day, and in the evenings I take bike rides to prepare for the trip. For the rest of May, though, I will be sitting at this desk typing words into that computer. I’m loving the process, to be honest. I’ve lived with the thoughts and written so much about them that the book is starting to flow. But I will be very glad to walk away from it and move from mental work to physical work.

Today I hope to get about 3,000 words written, then take a thirty-mile ride with a friend up toward Mt. Hood, then return in time for the Brett Dennen concert tonight at the Roseland. I will take Saturday off, do meetings with folks and meet with Demitri at Veloce cycles for a fitting and for advice about the ride, then on Sunday I’ll see Barack Obama at a rally on the waterfront, then take a much longer ride that evening. I am looking forward to a warm weekend of inspiration and pedaling. Then back to work on Monday for a long week of writing followed by a trip to Los Angeles where I’ll speak at a retreat. Looking forward to it all. Okay, back to work. Thanks for checking in…I look forward to finally sending out updates from the road. It all starts on June 5th when I fly to Los Angeles to meet the rest of the team. It will be fun to introduce you to them.

The Discovery Channel is running a documentary called The Science of Lance Armsrtong that I’ve really enjoyed. It’s an old doc that shows Lance preparing for his 7th Tour de France, so it’s dated, but what I love is watching a show about a guy who loves to ride his bike. The science of the show mostly deals with Lance’s biochemistry, and basically reveals that he is a freak athlete with exceptional lungs and a heart about a third bigger than the average human heart, both literally and metaphorically. If you happen to have a chance to catch it, do. And by all means come out and join us on one of the city rides in Dallas, Nashville or Washington D.C.

Watch: Inspired by Bike Messengers

My friend David turned me on to this video. One of my favorite things to do is to ride through the streets of Portland at night. There isn’t any thrill greater than mingling with traffic. But Portland traffic is light at night. And I typically stop at red lights. I’m hoping after we spend seven weeks on our bikes, we have guts like these guys. But right now this just seems crazy. Maybe by the time we get to the Dallas City Ride we can interact with some of that freeway traffic. For now, enjoy!