- Dressed like Mr Clean in his white SPF 30 sun suit, Don Loomis, after having luxuriated across much of Nebraska on the wide shoulder of US 30 (an example of how US highways can be retrofitted to meet the spec we foresee for an interconnected two wheel America), will meet Mike Fahey, the Mayor of Omaha on Monday July 19. The home of the college baseball World Series, the Omaha people are excited to greet Don.
- In Omaha, Don will be joined by Robert Craddick, who has paved a red carpet for their ride down to Des Moines 156 miles away. Robert, a two wheel shaker and mover from the Iowa Capital City, has Don staying in beautiful B&B's (the Hotel Pattee and the Butler House and Cottage have each comped Don a room night) and even has Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie biking Don in from the city limits to CIty Hall. There a barbecue also awaits as Robert even got Lewright's Meat & Deli to donate 80 Brats, a hot dog like delicacy, for the barbecue he has organized for the park across the street.
And it doesn't end there, since RAGBRAI, the week long Iowa perimeter ride that attracts thousands begins this weekend, Robert has been able to team up with Lorna Davros, the Mayor's scheduler, to make Don's arrival the unofficial start of RAGBRAI week. Toward that end, after the City Hall reception, Don and the Mayor will lead a representative group of Iowa cyclists to a ground breaking for the Riverwalk, a proposed trailhead center that will feature gardens and shops and eateries near the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers. In time, this important location will connect to bike trail networks to and from the north and south ends of the city.
- On the same day, in Cincinnati, Mayor Charlie Luken, will receive NBG riders coming in from Columbus. Besides Steve Shaw, the former Mayor and personal friend of Luken's, who helped us to get the Cincinnati reception together, Victor Grinshtein and Marshall Lafferty will have rowed their way to City Hall! On Rowbikes. Attention getting machines, these are bikes you sit on like your sitting in a canoe and move forward as you you use your arms and legs to simulate a rowing motion! And to top it off Marshall's bike even has oversized training wheels and is towing a trailer as per: http://www.BikeRoute.com/BentImagesFolder/Rowbike6Wheels.jpg
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Meltdown in Columbus
Well David H-D made it to Columbus after all as he describes in his well written report below. But not only was he late, but so was our ride leader, and RAAM veteran, Jeff Stephens, who was careful to gently shepherd David into town after his night of riding. And the 196 miles that David rode is some pretty tough stuff having made that connection myself 18 years ago in full daylight. While David's bad luck compromised our reception, it does show how many more hurdles we as cyclists have to overcome to get any where.
When for example was the last time you heard a car driver talk about the fact that the wind or wall like hills had slowed them down? Or that they had to slow their pace because they were hungry (they drive faster to get to food)? Or that their tire kept going flat on them? I mean those of us out for the long haul face these concerns along with oftentimes the poor infrastructure we are trying to improve on a regular basis. Indeed we are a vulnerable lot as David's ride shows.
Now we've got to see if our Rowbikers, Marshall & Victor, were able to make anything of the question mark Columbus NBG Day had become......
THX for your gallant effort David. THX fir your great attitude Jeff. Thank you Columbus city officials for your understanding. And to Marshall, Victor and Steve, indeed let's make lemonade out of this lemon of an unfortunate ride!!
David's report:
http://nbg.bikeroute.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=2&search=Meltdown+in+Columbus
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Our Vision Statement: http://www.BikeRoute.com/nbghow.html
Rowbike Web: http://Rowbike.com
To see the NBG bios for all of our riders, go to: http://nbg.bikeroute.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios
Only 24 more days till the 2004 Mayors' Ride end in Chicago!!
We finally hit good weather on a Pittsburgh NBG Day (last Friday July 9) and that resulted in one of the best Mayors' Ride receptions to date. To help you understand what I mean, when I talked with Ro Fischer, Mayor Tom Murphy's Sr. Aide, not only did her boss celebrate with our riders, but she told me everywhere she looked there were bikes and cameras and smiling faces. Added kudos to Michael Sobkoviak of Venture Outdoors for making sure the media and the local bike clubs, both of which came out in numbers, had been fully advised. Nick and Troy, as U saw in here last week, also made sure Michael's time was not wasted as they had gone in to town the night before and participated in an indoor bike race on our behalf . So before I share the latest on Don Loomis, Unicyclist, Patrick Thomas, and our Columbus to Indy Rowbikers, here is what they are saying in Pittsburgh:
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Friday July 9, 2004 was a lovely day to be outdoors in Pittsburgh, PA. As luck would have it, on this specific day riders from the Mayor's Ride were arriving from Washington, DC. After riding for 1 week, covering about 325 miles, Pittsburgh was looking better and better. The riders, Troy and Nick were greeted by 25 fellow supporters at the Eliza Furnace Trailhead. The riders were escorted by the city police and the 25 supporters for 3 miles to Market Square where the Mayor's Office and Venture Outdoors, an organization with the mission to get people outdoors, had set up a welcoming ceremony. The mayor of Pittsburgh, Tom Murphy was present at the event to honor the riders on their completion of the trip from D.C. Mayor Murphy discussed his familiarity with the trail, having been on it a month before. Throughout his tenure of being mayor he has fought continuously for the development and maintenance of trails in the Pittsburgh area and surrounding regions. After the ceremony, the 25 supporters of the ride were escorted back to the trail by Maggie Feinstein, Program Coordinator at Venture Outdoors. The riders and staff of Venture Outdoors were treated to lunch by the mayor's office, at Primanti Brothers after the event concluded to reward their hard work and dedication to the Mayor's Ride.
Audrey Swartz
Program Leader Intern
Venture Outdoors
Also:
What Audrey didn't mention was that, although 25 bikes and two of Pittsburgh's bike police led the way through the city streets at 12:30, there were bike clubs who went straight to the staging area to greet the riders. At one point there were easily 60 bikes in Market Square, when I stopped counting, plus the normal lunchtime crowd. The weather was glorious and the crowd very appreciative of the work Mayor Murphy has done with our trail system. We also had several TV stations there as well as radio coverage.
Rosemary Fischer
Office of the Mayor
Sr. Executive Assistant
Note from NBG: As soon as Troy gets the CD to us, we will turn the awesome pictures he took of the C&O Canal Path into a slide show that will help others see how absolutely stunning this bike run truly is!! And why Troy says he wants to do it year in year out for the NBG!!