6footsix

happy earth day!

Just in time for Earth Day, I received the all important text message that I have a veggie oil vehicle for the Big Green Road Trip!  And this isn’t just any vehicle, it’s large enough to ride 10 and sleep 6!  Check it out! 

 

I still plan to camp out and bicycle to events, festivals and just for the heck of it along the way.  But now that I have a large vehicle and a band going with me, the opportunities and possibilities are endless!

Check out the band that will be touring with me, Roman Alexander and The Robbery, on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.  Their message goes right along with mine delivered with a mellow rock and occasional reggae sound.  The band and I will be celebrating Earth Day together tomorrow in Tustin, CA at an Earth Day Fiesta at the District.  Stop on by if you are in the 'hood.

A detailed itinerary is on its way, but the bus will launch from the Tinariwen concert at the Hollywood Bowl on June 20^th, go up the coast to Oregon and turn around in Portland after the Organic Beer and Sustainability Festival on June 27^th.  I am hopeful that this is the first of many legs of the road trip.  There are so many places on this beautiful Earth that are in need of   style exploration!

The bus needs just a few repairs to be in operable condition, so if you are feeling the love, please donate.  

Happy Earth Day!  And if your hometown is on my route, drop me a line and perhaps we can plan an event in your neighborhood!

trek is here!!

I’m pretty sure that I am not the average athlete that Trek creates their amazing customized bicycles for.  I use my bike to have fun, to take me to and from work and in most recent plans, I am using it to severely reduce my carbon footprint during my Big Green Road Trip scheduled for this summer.  

My new bike is not only big enough for my tall frame, it is fast, smooth, and oh so beautiful.  And the most wonderful part is that is it 100% recyclable.  Can you believe that?

I am so thankful to the awesome team at Trek for building me such a sweet bike.  Eric “Hootie” Bjorling, Marketing Director at Trek, was the communication behind the whole project.  He saw the project beginning to end and coordinated all the spokes that completed the wheel.  Michael Leighton is the man behind the bike, literally.  He took the specifications of what I wanted in a bike, combined them with my long legs and came up with the original blueprint.  He then put this into action and built the bike.  The talented artist behind the custom paint job that represents my free and adventurous spirit is Stacey Carnell.  She took my story of living life as a journey and captured it with thousands of little birdies.  

I would also like to extend a HUGE thank you to my dear friend Steve Crandall who has been my biggest promoter since the beginning of 6footsix.  Had it not been for him randomly conversing with Steve Baumann (chief designer at Trek) on an airplane, I would not have been presented with a wonderful custom bike from Trek.

I am so excited to go explore with my new bike.  Never, as a full grown female, have I been so comfortable while riding a bike.  In the past my legs were scrunched up for the entire ride or my seat was raised so high that my center of gravity drove the rest of my weight into my shoulders and wrists clutching handle bars much lower than my raised rear.   Neither of these uncomfortable situations made for a pleasant ride.  But as you can see, I never will have those worries again; and That’s Colleenification!

Get ready for my next video:  High Fives on Bikes!

welcome martha stewart viewers!

Check out my colleenification page for information on items for tall people and stay tuned for important information from Trek Bikes.   

Things need to be made fit people and not that other way around! -- that's colleenification

I have videos on the amazing AWP cutting board (mention my name if you call them!) and no matter if you are tall, average or not tall give my high five project a look.

and thank you for visiting!

new place in socal and what's happening soon

My apologies for being M.I.A. the last few weeks.  I have been moving from New Mexico back to sunny California. Unfortunately, when I left SoCal last October, I was forced to give up my wonderful home and garden, so I was not sure what kind of place I would find when I got back.  After a thorough search, I have found a nice studio apartment with a big balcony so I can at least have an herb garden.  It won't be the same as growing tomatoes and cantaloupes and pumpkins and eggplant and peppers like I did in the last place, but I am confident that I can make this new place my home.  

In other dimensions, I have 2 very exciting announcements:  First of all, Trek will be coming out to my neck of the woods next week to give me my new custom bicycle as well as photograph me for their upcoming catalog.  Hurray!

Also, on a Colleenification front, I am teaming up with talented furniture designer Tracy Steele in creating furniture for those of us of “exceptional height” as Tracy so whimsically states.  I am very excited about both of these upcoming events and will be sure to give you all full reports on both.

Also, stay tuned for new high five videos.  I am working towards campaigning for a National High Five Day and will need your help in the future!

so what is colleenifying all about?

When you're this tall, lots of things that most people take for granted just don't fit.   Finding clothes is hard, fitting in cars and airplanes sometimes doesn't work, furniture doesn't measure up and a thousand other things are just hard to use.  You can get an idea from this post.

The problem is not with me.  Six foot six is a perfect size for me and it is part of who I am.  The problem is with the everyday stuff people make.

Colleenifying something is designing and making it to fit people like me.  It is encouraging designers and manufacturers to make tall practical products that are simple and beautiful.  It is also making the world aware that there are lots of people in the world that have the same issues that I do. 

Colleenifying is breaking the  small minded 20^th century notion that comes with design for mass production - that people must conform to design rather than customizing for individuals. Now a days it is possible to make more custom products and I know that there are companies out there ready for this challenge.  

This can be for people of other sizes.  I may be fourteen inches taller than the average American woman, but flip the design switch and colleenify something that fits someone who is fourteen inches shorter than the average American woman.  How awesome would that be?

For now I'll look at ideas and products for tall people and really tall people like me.   I love to hear your ideas and comments, so send them in!

The time has come for designers and manufacturers to grow up! 

colleen-i-fication: the first video

Here is the first of a series of videos on Colleen-i-fying the world.

and here are the outtakes. I warn you that you should not be drinking anything that stains easily.

Here they are!   They can be custom made for a wide variety of heights and sizes.    Here is how you measure yourself and be sure to mention you need to get  colleenified!  

More details on my colleenify blog!

step one in:

Marcia Baugh of AWP Butcher Block is an amazing innovator and was able to construct this awesome raised counter top for me to use in my kitchen.  I cook a lot and was getting tired of bending so far over.  Check it out!

Marcia can make this chopping block in a range of lengths and widths and to fit people from about 5'9" to over 7'0".  At colleen-i-fying the world we've worked out how you can measure yourself so the vertical fit will be ergonomically perfect - after all, we're all about vertical here.  So far one has been made for me and another for Steve who is about six foot one and both are excellent!

Check out my colleenify blog if there are any chefs of altitude in your kitchen. You can see how to measure yourself here. 

Mention "colleen-i-fication" for a discount and ask her how to get measured!

colleen-i-fying the world

I tend to think of myself as invincible when it comes to doing anything athletic.  My parents taught me from a very young age to "cowgirl up" if I was ever hurting or sick in the middle of competition.  So when asked what kind of trail I wanted to ride when going mountain biking for the first time in Sedona a couple weeks ago, I didn't hesitate to take on the intermediate/advanced course.  

One of the challenges that I approach in life is being a bit too tall for modern day sporting equipment. The calf raise machine at the gym that my legs do not fit under because they are just too long, the hotel pool that I can't swim laps in because I can only fit three strokes in, and rental bikes which place my rear end at a height to accommodate my long legs that my center of gravity is at a constant push forward, which makes me so thankful to be working with Trek in fitting a bike to my non-traditional height.  

I wish I had video evidence to demonstrate how completely out of control I was when hurling down the rocky mountainside on an extremely light bike which I felt I had no control over.  No sooner than I would hit a rock as it would redirect me into a bush on the side of the trail.  I am still quite shocked I was not thrown over the handle bars as was my biggest fear throughout the "advanced" downhill part of the trail. My experienced mountain biking boyfriend instructed me to try to put my weight back when going downhill and slightly forward when climbing uphill.  Might I just say "easier said than done."

After twenty minutes of frustration and my eventual admittance to needing an easier course to ride, we relocated ourselves to a fun hour of or so of "Colleen friendly" mountain biking.  Sedona, AZ is absolutely beautiful and Chris and I had a wonderful weekend.

(The photo shows me on the largest frame bicycle at a store with a large selection of bikes.)

Other everyday matters of height:  

In the front seat of some cars, my foot cannot reach the gas pedal because my knees hit the dashboard first:

In the back seat of a "roomy" SUV, car manufacturers expect all legs to fit within this space:

 

The height of the sink I wash my face in is 30".  Also, note the length of my pajama pants:

 

The height of the kitchen counter where I chop veggies is 36":

 

And table manufacturers expect me to fit my legs under 2 feet of clearance?  And yes, there is 8 extra inches of denim sewn to the bottom of my jeans.

 

This world is about to become Colleen-i-fied, one step at a time...