For Immediate Release Martin Kreig
June 5, 2004 NBG@bikeroute.com
Arcata Mayor Bob Ornelas rolls into Napa City Hall on Monday, June 7 at noon having completed the first leg, all 328 miles, of his part in the 2004 Mayors' Ride. Bob who has been training for his ride on the misty roads of Humboldt County all winter long, has already garnered the support of four other small town mayors in his informal exchanges since he left Arcata on June 3rd. Reporting from the road, he tells us that he "stopped in Eureka, Fortuna, and Rio Dell (and ... Ukiah) to get endorsements from their mayors" and he plans to keep collecting support for the NBG all the way to San Francisco.
In Napa, Mayor Ed Henderson will award Bob with the third annual Napa NBG Day proclamation as they also talk about the advances Napa has made in wine country biking. Suzanne Banfield will also be there to welcome Bob before she continues on to Sausalito NBG Day planned for June 8. Also on hand, for the third year in a row, this time to help greet Bob, will be the Eagle Cycling Club. When the two Mayors have completed their official visit, the Eagles will escort Bob and Suzanne out of town and will ride Bob all the way to Vallejo and the Carquinez bridge on his way to Berkeley and Mayor Tom Bates who he will meet on June 9. From there, Bob will continue through four other Bay Area Cities Mayors' Ride ending in San Francisco.
The Mayor's Ride was initiated four years ago as a way to collect attention and support for the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG) by "Awake Again" author Martin Krieg, of San Francisco, CA, who used the bicycle and his two cross-country cycling trips to overcome the two-month-long coma, paralysis and clinical death caused by a car wreck. He has been working on the NBG which is envisioned as a safe system of interconnected trails and bike friendly roads all across the United States, since his last bike ride across America in 1986.
The 2004 Mayors' Ride will visit 24 west coast cities, and 41 in all as the teams converge on Chicago July 30 where they will meet riders coming in from east coast population centers including Boston, Pittsburgh and Washington, DC. Before Bay Area riders head east however, the west coast will still be alive with energy. In the days ahead a fleet of antique Hi Wheel bikes will accompany the band, C.A.M. Engine, which will be preparing population centers along the way for the riders' arrivals with music, and create a lot of excitement as they ride the American River from Davis to Folsom collecting four Mayoral endorsements along the way. Other relay legs throughout the country will find athletes on bikes that move forward with a rowing motion as well as a coast-to-coast unicyclist and Mayors and former Mayors and council persons riding relay legs themselves. More info: BikeRoute.com
They take their bike routes seriously down there in Florida! So much so that Mayor Pam Iorio directed her Greenway department to make for a worthy Tampa NBG Day. And that they did! Do get a look at this report, complete with pictures (we will have them webbed soon), just in from Mary Duke of Tampa Greenways:
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It was a hot, steamy morning, not particularly good riding weather in Tampa for the kick off of the southeastern leg of the National Bicycle Greenway Mayor's Ride. Mark Power of Power on Cycling and his wife and brother-in-law from Kansas made the trek on recumbent bicycles from Ballast Point Park with Dean Stoddart, landscape architect and Greenway trails contract coordinator, to the Riverwalk at the Tampa Convention Center. There they met other cyclists, Jim Shirk, Eddie Wall, Sally Thompson (Tampa Greenways & Trails Committee chair) and Mary Helen Duke (Tampa Greenways & Trails Coordinator) for the official city ride to kick off the event.
Accompanied by two of Tampa's finest bicycle cops, the group trekked to Cotanchobee/Fort Brook Park where they were met by a media entourage including Bay News at 9, CTTV15 (City public access TV station); CBS (10); and FOX (13). An enthusiastic group of about 20 Greenway & trail enthusiasts enjoyed the view of Garrison Channel and Harbour Island while listening to Mayor Pam Iorio proclaim June 1st as National Bicycle Greenway Day in Tampa.
Mayor Iorio informed the crowd of her vision for a Riverwalk from Tampa Heights to Cotanchobee Park where residents could walk or bike to the Forum to see the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup! She reported that we have about 20 miles in ground today, 20 miles of on-road bike lanes, 4.6 miles of nature trails and a vision for over 125 miles of Greenway trails connecting neighborhoods with the city.
Mayor Iorio presented the Mayor's Proclamation to Jim Shirk, who will be riding with Eddie Wall over 200 miles to Jacksonville, Florida during the next 3.5 days. She encouraged them to drink plenty of water, due to the weather conditions and wished them a safe journey.
Tampa Greenways & Trails Citizens Advisory Committee Chair Sally Thompson told of her family's history of bicycling in Tampa, and of her mothers role as a member of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee in the 1970s. She talked about how many of Tampa's roads used to be signed as bike routes. She stated that her parents bicycled on their honeymoon through Florida and that road conditions are very different today than they were 50 plus years ago for cyclists. She said that is why she is involved in Greenways & trails today. She applauded the City's efforts thru the years to make biking and walking conditions safer in Tampa and encouraged all to support the development of Greenways & trails.
Wayne Papy, Deputy Director of the Parks & Recreation Department emceed the event and presented Mayor Iorio with a Tampa Greenways & Trails T-Shirt commemorating the event.
Mary Helen Duke, AICP
Greenways & Trails Coordinator
Tampa Parks & Recreation Department
730 West Emma Street
Tampa, FL 33603
813-231-1332
813-274-7744 fax
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For immediate release Contact: Martin Krieg
June 3, 2004 831-252-8830
San Francisco to send cyclists to Chicago to Promote Safe Bikeways
On Friday June 11 at 12:00 noon at San Francisco City Hall, the legendary Joe Breeze, one of the humble inventors of the mountain bike will have biked the Golden Gate Bridge to be a part of the third annual San Francisco NBG Day. There he will meet Arcata Mayor Bob Ornelas who will have ridden from Arcata to Napa and to all five of this years SF Bay Area Mayors' Ride cities. He will also be greeted by San Francisco schoolteacher Patrick Thomas who is riding a unicycle all the way to Chicago, the end point for this year's relay, and a team of riders coming in from Palo Alto NBG Day including "Awake Again" author Martin Krieg who will be on a Penny Farthing bicycle.
At this year's event, sponsored in part by the San Francisco Bike Coalition, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office will be on hand to greet the arriving cyclists, present the 2004 San Francisco NBG Day proclamation and send Mr. Thomas and engineer Don Loomis east on their way to 11 more Mayoral receptions.
In its final form, the 2004 Mayors' Ride will have visited 24 west coast cities, and 41 in all as the teams meet riders coming in from eight major cities east of Chicago, in Chicago Before San Francisco riders head east however, the west coast will still be alive with energy. Traveling with the band, C.A.M. Engine, which will be preparing population centers along the way for the riders' arrivals with music, a fleet of antique Hi Wheel bikes will create a lot of excitement as they ride the American River from Davis to Folsom collecting four Mayoral endorsements along the way. Other relay legs throughout the country will find athletes on bikes that move forward with a rowing motion as well as Mayors and former Mayors and council persons riding relay legs themselves. More info: BikeRoute.com
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Bike legend, Joe Breeze, one of the humble inventors of the mountain bike joins our all star cast of 2004 Mayors' Ride relay cyclists. Nor would Joe be the first to mention that along with Otis Guy, they were the year in, year out winners of the 200+ mile Davis Double. Still course record holders, they regularly finished in under nine hours!
Always on the cutting edge, Joe's news company, Breezer Bike Transportation, is about building bikes that are a part of an every day lifestyle; machines designed to replace car trips. On his ride from Sausalito and over the Golden Gate Bridge, he will be joined by his partner, John Doidge and Rowbike rider, Elaine Martinez!! Others are invited!! Just fill out the questionnaire noted at the end.
In San Francisco, Joe will meet unicyclist Patrick Thomas who is riding all the way to Chicago and beyond as well as Arcata Mayor Bob Ornelas who is riding from Arcata to Napa and to all five of our SF Bay Area cities. Bob will have ridden with Car Free Berkeley councilman, Kriss Worthington, trike riding Oakland councilwoman, Nancy Nadel and get an escort from the Napa Eagle cycling club. Also in The City, Joe Breeze will greet Don Loomis, Max Chen, Faye Saunders and myself on my HiWheeler !!
To see the web bios we have done for all of the riders above, go to http://nbg.bikeroute.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios
To see our exciting schedule http://www.BikeRoute.com/NationalMayorsRide2004
To join the ride(s): http://www.BikeRoute.com/NationalMayorsRide2004
THX 4 U!!