Yes, Old Mayor Bob did ride in with me. Met me outside of town and we rode in, had a beer and went to meet his wife. She had prepared an excellent meal for us.
The new Arcata Mayor, Michael Machi, has a bad back and cannot bike. Seems like a nice guy. Yes, I got some pictures and will try to find somewhere to send them.
Made it all the way to Eureka,CA yesterday. Stopped and spent the day with Mark Mueller the owner of Windwrap a fairing manufacturer. Camped at his home last night and Carl was the chef. Great meal and conversation. They have a fairing that I hope to use on my trike. Very clever design.
Mark has a neat collection of recumbent trikes and two wheel recumbents. Carl built his own enclosed trike. Mark has a very low very fast trike that he sometimes rides. He can cruise at 30mph with it.
The Golden Harvest Cafe in Eureka should be listed as a required stop. Excellent food.
Will await your response. Your south bound west coast rider, Jim
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And here is what Mayor Bob had to say about Jim:
Martin,
Jim M. is a redwood-of-a-man.... after my own heart. He raced out of Crescent City yesterday, after a late breakfast, and rode the myriad hills and wee-shouldered roads through some of the most glorious forests of the west (best) coast, with the vigor of an athlete twenty-five years his junior - not me, by the way - he could kick my butt. This 52 year old 'has-been' was honored to ride to town with one of recreation cycling's superstars.
Humble as a Minnesota farmboy, which he was, Jim was a pleasure to ride and dine with, and he enjoyed the local brew and laid-back pace of the Humboldt Nation - but not for long; he was gone before the turn of the clock, and is headed in to the high heat of inland, northern California, perhaps to revisit the good folks of Napa, like Rich and Sandi Houck, or straight down 101, to the Bay Area. He's actually awaiting instructions from NBG leadership ! Jim has more loyalty to the NBG cause than George Hincapie has to ol' Lance.
The 69 year old is a testament to honest work, healthy play and smalltown life and worldly vision. Thanks, Martin, for sending him our way.
Sincerely,
The legendary Jim Muellner, left Seattle on Friday on his state-of-the- art three wheeled bike that fits in a suitcase. This epic man's story and the bike he rides are at his web site below. His ride will end with the Southwest and East to West relay legs here in San Francisco on July 31. Our schedule/scorecard is also noted at the end:
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Well, the Seattle NBG Day proclamation should be on its way. Pauh (the Seattle bike coordinator) and I had our picture taken by a friendly person leaving city hall. Dale and Carry did not show by 9:15AM so I left in the rain. And did it rain and rain and rain. When I finally stopped after about 60 miles I could not find one dry spot on my body. Luckily it was not cold or too windy so all in all it was a good day.
Not much excitement to talk about, except when I would stop somewhere to ask for directions the question was always, why are you doing this. So many people are so car oriented they cannot conceive of biking. I ask one young woman who had no children what she was going to do if her child wanted to ride a bike and there was no place to ride. She really did not have an answer. Hopefully my pitch was sincere enough to get her to think about it.
The sun did come out while I was eating for 30 seconds, but that is all.
Day two: No rain, at least at 6 AM. Thought I better get on my way or the roads will be full of bikers. It made a world of difference without the rain. By 10 AM I had already ridden the 60 miles I had on day one.
Even though there were some bike trails between cities, the cyclists used the road. Maybe they wanted to be seen. I opted for the trail and saw a lot of wild life. Grouse, quail, rabbits, chip monks, robins, the vegetation was filled with them. Even the trees were outstanding.
Of course the cities who have new trails make them hard to use. They put some stupid gates every half mile to keep out cars. This requires that that you have to get off your bike. Whoever designed them needs their head examined. They can not know anything about biking.
Jim Muellner's web http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide/JimMuellner
2005 Mayors' Ride : http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2005