The 2005 NBG National Mayors' Ride is coming apart at the seams and the only way I can keep it all straight is to document it with these newsletters. Much of how we look on the web is the same as it has been in year's past and many of our past riders are returning but as you will see in the words ahead, we are breaking ground in lots of new areas. Politicians, sponsors and bike clubs, aware of the far reaching appeal of our message, instead of our reaching out to them, are now coming to us. The individual parties that are lending us a helping hand, as you will see, are also big shakers and movers. This as all of us walk the Big Talk of making our grand vision of an interstate for bicycles real, the National Bicycle Greenway!!
Be a BIG THINKER! Soar with us. Drill through the links to the web page that fleshes out the topics below and figure out how you can get on the train with us!! This is H U G E!! And the bigger we get the more we need you to make history with us!!
NBG General:
A) Ride the Mayors' Ride - Get a FREE Bent!
B) Our new 2005 Mayors' Ride schedule upgraded
C) Kool Stop donates a trailer to Concetta
D) Concetta starts her ride March 2 !
E) Concetta Needs routes
F) Does anyone have a Digital Camera they can loan Concetta?
G) Concetta's HiTech credentials
H) Jeff Reser dreaming a Knoxville to Cincinnati relay
I) Find a Ride Partner - Place an ad at our classifieds
J) Craigs List posters needed for our events
K) Place this NBG Day ad at your newsletter
L) HiWheel Cyclists wanted ad placed
M) 2005 riders order your FREE sunglasses from SlipNot Eyewear
N) Individual 2005 NBG Rider Business Cards now Available !!
O) The Don Loomis Bike Route across America
P) Feb Birthdays: Don Loomis, Conccetta Curtis
Southeast Flank
A) Free Recumbent for Miami to Tampa run
B) Organic Engines Sponsors Tallahassee
C) Fred Fox gets our ride posted throughout the South
D) Paul Dockins to ride Atlanta to Knoxvillle!!!
E) Paul & Fred to put out for riders for the Southeast
F) Safe routes to and from SE NBG Day City Halls Needed
Northeast Flank
A) Safe routes to and from NE NBG Day City Halls Needed
East to West
A) Skot Paschal to ride Boise to Eugene
B) Fred Kirchner, another poet, to Ride Cols to Indy, More?
C) Former Mayor Steve Shaw wants to ride again
Northwest Flank
A) Scott Marlow leaving Cascade Bike Club, will still help us
Southwest Flank
A) Palo Alto City Councilwoman, Yoriko Kishimoto, Wants to Ride with us
B) Joe Richey to ride LA to SF!!
C) Larry Twedell biking the coast with Joe
D) Doug Huskey & Tim Mcloskey return!! With Santa Cruz Bike Club?
E) Monterey Bay Mayors' Ride Century!!! ??
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NBG General:
A) As per our blogs at:
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/News and
http://www.bikeroute.com/Recumbents/News/Archives/000081.html
Ride the Mayors' Ride - Get a FREE Bent!
The Backsafer recumbent
http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/getstarted.php
At the above site is the questionnaire you will need to submit to be considered for this exciting opportunity. To see the rest of our schedule and the other relay legs for which we need riders, go to: http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2005
B) Our 2005 schedule can be found at http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2005 . Unlike years past, because there is so much activity and enough new cities to warrant it this year, we have broken not only these newsletters into the regions they serve but there are now five separate urls for each of the different relay flanks we will be covering this time around. Do get a look!
C) The people at Kool Stop International, America's preeminent brake pad, jogging stroller and bike trailer manufacturer, donated a trailer to Concetta for her ride across the US with her 22 pound dog, Cosmo (you can see Cosmo at her web site http://www.bikeroute.com/ConcettaCurtis). And talk about a gourmet trailer, with two wheels, they also make one wheel trailers, it has a cover and uses a patented technology to allow the cart's tongue to run directly off the center of the bike's rear chain stays. Like their brake pads which have long been known for their legendary quality to be the best you can put on a bike, their trailers are becoming known as the best you can put behind a bike. See all seven models at http://koolstop.com
D) And Concetta starts her tour of the US pretty soon. She leaves the Houston area on March 2 to begin her bike scouting tour for the Stop The Bombs International Peace Walk http://peacehq.tripod.com/OSSTBIPW/stbipw-sched.html that leaves Knoxville on March 14. She's been rolling the big miles out her way and this will give her a few weeks to get used to doing so while hauling a load. Normally we would like to see more cart pull training time but her scouting trip will also be a warm up for her ride across the US for us. From Knoxville to New York City, she will only be pedaling 25 miles a day...
E) Concetta is going to need routing help once she leaves New York City for us on Friday May 6. Hopefully Montana Norvell, Alex Montgomery, Andy Satinsky and Matt Yoder can tighten up the route they did for Belinky Cycle Works (bilenky.com last year to Philadelphia and either ride with Concetta or get her the directional help she will soon be needing. Hopefully Lawrence Burns, who also rode for Belinky can do the same for the route from Philly to Baltimore. And hopefully Larry Black, of Mt Airy and College Park Bikes (bike123.com) can get her the route he used to get from Baltimore to DC. Who knows, Larry might even offer to guide her down on his Messicek HiWheel!!
From DC, she will join Troy Bogdan and whoever else comes along for the DC to Pittsburgh C&O Canal run. And from Pittsburgh, Don Loomis will be outfitting her with the route he used last year to get to us here in San Francisco !!
F) For her ride for us, Concetta needs a Digital Camera. Might there be anyone out there with an extra one they can loan her??
G) Since a lot of our riders and readers are HiTecch minded people, I asked Concetta to send me her job background in that industry so I could put it at her bio. Here is what she replied with:
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In high-tech I was a Network Administrator for 8 years. I also co-founded an internet cafe that sells vegetarian hotdogs to the masses. www.cyberdogs.com . I pulled out of this venture pretty early on but I did create the name, the slogan, "A brave new taste", the logo and most of the menu items. Very interesting veggie dogs.. I did also help wire the cafe. I am basically a Windows Guru and am also very proficient in building PC's. I have the following certs. Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, A+ Certification, Solaris Admin I, Network + Certification, and Microsoft Certified Professional. Please sell me to a high-tech company that pays lots of money! :)
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H) Jeff Reser, our brilliant Mayors' Ride logo artist and 2003 Chicago to Des Moines rider, is thinking about filling the gap from Knoxville to Cincinnati. A new dad with a boat load of chores, he tells us he finds himself daydreaming about making such a ground breaking ride. Wouldn't that be amazing !!
I) If having a Ride Partner would make it easier for you to join us, try placing an ad at our classifieds
http://www.bikeroute.com/ibrd_cgi/Classifieds/class_ad.cgi?database=personals.setup . We get a million + unique visitors a month at our site so you may very well have good luck!
J) You can help us get NBG Day known about. Faye Saunders went out and placed the following listing at http://Craigslist.org in the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Berkeley, Boise, and Boston but then she ran out of email addresses. To curtail the efforts of spammers. Craigslist sends your post back to you and asks you to click on a link to then get it published. So all you need is an email address and couple minutes of your time to let your closest Craigslist community know about our event! Here's the post:
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Show your support for cycling in (city)! Be at (city) City Hall, with your bike, to help us receive the (city) NBG Day proclamation from Mayor (name). Press coverage not guaranteed but commonplace. Date ____ Time 12-noon, unless otherwise noted. Details & Schedule: bikeroute.com. Contact: Faye Saunders mercurialone@google.com
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Do let me know if you can help!!!!
K) Can you also complete the above and send it in to you bike club newsletter if as per our schedule, you are getting an NBG Day??
L) I snail mailed the following ad for placement in the Wheelmen newsletter. Rolling an average of 500 miles a month on my HiWheel now, I just joined this national club made up of mostly owners of Antique HiWheel bikes. Hopefully, we can get a few of them out for our NBG Day events as they take place in cities across the US next summer:
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Hi wheel presence wanted for 4th Annual National Mayors' Ride. History Pedalers needed at 50 different big city Mayors' receptions in cites across the us starting on April 15. Come with your bike and period wear to any of the cities on our schedule to help us promote an interstate for bicycles, the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG). You can even ride with us from Folsom to Davis on July 24, more info at www.bikeroute.com or contact NBG Director and Wheelman, Martin Krieg at NBG@bikeroute.com or Cycle America, POB 60355, Palo Alto CA 94306
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M) If you are riding with us this summer, shoot an email to the SlipNot people c/o Kevin at Kevin@slipnoteyewear.com. Send them the URL for the schedule page with your name on it along with your physical mailing address and they'll send you a really cool pair of sunglasses for your ride!! I love mine! Here is the review we did for SlipNot: http://www.bikeroute.com/Recumbents/News/Archives/000068.html
N) If you are riding for us this summer, you also get handsome business cards that you can start passing out NOW! Send me an email and I'll reply with a pdf of the handsome NBG Scout business card that Faye Saunders will have created for you. It has the NBG logo, the graphic Adam Krohn created for us for our Cycle America 2000 ride, your email address and the URL for your NBG bio. If you want us to publish your cell phone number, reply with that as well!! Once you get the camera ready copy from us in the mail (make sure to include your physical mailing address), all you have to do is buy some ink or laser jet business card stock, about $15 at most office supply stores, stick it in your printer and presto you have NBG Scout calling cards. Kinkos can also use this our template to make cards for you but for added dollars.
Here is a small thumbnail example card: http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2005/BizCardThumb.jpg
O) Don Loomis just has not stopped since his ride across America for us last summer. Besides changing jobs, buying a new house and sorting thru the acres of footage from his ride to create some pretty awesome video, he's 1/3 of the way through, not to mention all of the other loose ends he has had to attend to since he finished last August, he is also working off the copious notes he took to get us a route. All the way across America!! Makes me tired just thinking about it.
And if the Mayors' Ride Route Across America that results is like anything else he does, it will be first rate of the highest accord. A route that we will be using for many years to come, as, in time, it is brought up to the standard we envision for the National Bicycle Greenway!!
P) February Birthdays:
Concetta Curtis Feb 11th (it just happened!)
Don Loomis Feb 26th
Southeast Flank
A) The Backsafer http://www.backsafer.com recumbent people are offering one of their bikes for free to the first person who qualifies to carry the NBG torch from Miami NBG Day on 4/15 to Tampa NBG Day on 4/20 a distance of 280 miles. If you are interested, learn what is involved at http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/getstarted.php
and fill out the questionnaire that you see there. Send it to us and if you qualify, you may be riding a new bent this summer !!
B) Organic Engines, http://www.organicengines.com American made bicycles for transportation, has come on as the sponsor of Tallahassee NBG Day! A new city this year, Tallahassee takes place on April 25.
C) Fred Fox who posted our need for riders throughout the South has already located Paul Dockins for us. Just to give you an idea of how well Fred blanketed the Southeast with our mission, look at all the bike organizations he posted to:
Silver Comet Trail + Chief Ladiga Trails (rails to trails trails) (www.TrailExpress.com via the Trail Forum at http://pub68.ezboard.com/bteammaniacsilvercometforumremain9914)
Southern Bicycle League (Atlanta Based) (www.BikeSBL.org) These are the folks that basically sponsor Bicycle Ride Across GA each year.
South Appalachian Bicycle Association (www.sabacycling.com)
Bike Atlanta http://www.atlantabike.org
BikeForum.net (www.BikeForums.net)
Phred.org.(www.BikeLists.org)
Smokey Mountain Wheelmen (www.smwbike.org ) - a Knoxville, TN club
Chattanooga (TN) Bicycle Club ( www.chattbike.com )
North GA Bicycle Dealers' Association ( www.bike4fun.com )
Georgia Bikes ( www.georgiabikes.org )
Adventure Cyclists Association ( www.adventurecycling.org
International Christian Cyclists Club ( www.ironclad.org )
D) Talk about another powerhouse, Paul Dockins, who is going to ride Atlanta to Knoxville for us is also a total Mr. Can Do. A telecommunications consultant, he already has his route all dialed in and wanted to know, as per E below, how else he can help. Her is his bio:
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios/paul-dockins.php
E) When I let Fred know that he had helped us find Paul, he asked for his contact info so the two of them could meet. Nor did they waste any time. I was running errands on my HiWheel last Thursday when Fred called to say that he and Paul were meeting as we spoke and that they needed a better definition of what we foresaw as being the duties of our regional reps. It was then that I had to admit to them that we had had to abandon that program because, being a volunteer organization, those who had begun it, had moved on. Fortunately they understood. Taking that a step further, they outlined for me what they were willing to do in the Southeast:
1. Get a rider or riders to pedal the southeast legs from Miami to Tampa, Tampa to Tallahassee, Tallahassee to Atlanta, Knoxville to Roanoke and Roanoke to DC!!
2. Help us identify a safe route to Atlanta City Hall for riders coming in from Tallahassee
3. Help us identify a safe route from Atlanta City Hall to the quieter back roads that go to Knoxville
4. Hopefully get representative members from the Atlanta bike ctty out for our 12 noon NBG Day on 4/29
And I know we are in good hands as we open up the Southeast. These guys full on walk their talk!! WoW!!
F) Who can help us identify safe routes from the Miami, Tampa, Tallahassee, Knoxville and Roanoke City Halls to and from the quieter back roads that surround them as they connect to one another as per our schedule?
Northeast Flank
A) Needed: Safe routes to and from the Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore City Halls to and from the quieter back roads that surround them as they connect to one another as per our schedule.
East to West
A) Skot Paschal, the popular middle school teacher, with somewhat of a cult following in the Santa Cruz area, and the man who keeps bringing us epic slide shows of his rides for the NBG, here is Arcata to Napa: http://nbg.bikeroute.com/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=Arcata2003
and last summer's Boise to Salt Lake: http://nbg.bikeroute.com/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=Boise-SLC2004has
just penciled himself in for Boise to Eugene. WoW - this guy meets the most interesting people and takes the most amazing pictures.
Having made the Eugene to Boise connection myself, all the way back in 1979, I can't wait to see what Skot comes up with from his ride. As he makes this run next summer, because there will be so much natural beauty, he won't have to work so hard to find it......
How can anyone not want to tour on two wheels after they see what he creates.
B) Heard from the 2003 NBG Scout Fred Kirchner and he's coming back to ride for us once again. As a poet! He just sold a bunch of his poetry to a book publisher. As such then, he joins our Haiku Master Skot Paschal, whose words from the road are always measured in rhyme. Here is Fred's bio:
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios/fred_kirchner.php
Here is what Fred sent me last week:
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good news: Breakaway Books is publishing a collection of cycling poetry this Spring. The editor of the book just took two of my poems for the book! Maybe I'll sell zillions of copies at the NBG days. Hoping to ride from Columbus to at least Indy... maybe Chicago.
have a new Klein on which I can really fly...
Yours,
Fred
Fred Kirchner
pedalin_poet@yahoo.com
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C) Heard from Steve Shaw, the former Mayor who last year, helped us bring Cincinnati into the Mayors' Ride program. Last year, Steve rode and documented his Columbus to Cincinnati and Indianapolis runs with photos and reports you can see at our blog and photo galleries at http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com . Steve tells me he plans to at least do the Columbus to Cincinnati once again and that he is trying to get vacation time so he can ride some of our longer relays. He has his eye on some of the western legs! Steve's bio:
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios/Steve_Shaw.php
Northwest Flank
A) Heard from the dynamic Scott Marlow from the Cascade Bike Club up in Seattle. And sadly he tells me that he is moving on. However in our exchange I did find out that he is involved in helping the club find a replacement for himself. And that he will be sure to advise the right people about of our being at the Mayor's office on the day before their Seattle to Portland Bike Classic weekend begins on July 11. In enough time that we can work together. And when Scott Marlow talks, people listen!!
Southwest Flank
A) Palo Alto City Councilwoman, Yoriko Kishimoto. called to volunteer for one of our Bay Area relay legs this year. And this woman is big power where bicycling in the SF Bay Area is concerned as she has taken over where famous former Palo Alto City Councilwoman Palo Alto City Councilwoman Ellen Fletcheer left off. Here are the two posts I sent her this last week:
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What follows is the route we used last year. A most peaceful route indeed! It needs to be signed as the "Palo Alto to San Jose Bike Route" and maybe you and city officials from Santa Clara Country jurisdictions along the way can join you on our ride on July 29 that could also include Mt View, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale NBG Days!!
http://www.bikeroute.com/ConnectingRidesFolder/CA-PA-SJ-Flat.html
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Hi Yorriko
It was great hear from you on Monday and to learn that you want to ride one of our relay legs with us. Maybe even a hundred miles worth somehow!
Toward that end, can we officially put you down for the
I much look forward to being able to brag about your being the chair of the SVT and also all those victories you have achieved for cyclists here in the Silicon Valley!! It would be great if you could document them with a completed bio!!
In addition, your having an NBG bio would help you sell the above relay leg to those colleagues that you might like to have join you on Friday, July 29. Hmmmmm, I'm thinking that maybe we can set up Palo Alto for a late afternoon program so more people can be involved. We can maybe even get some of Palo Alto NBG Day catered.....
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B) Cycle America 2000 veteran, Joe Richey, just signed on to ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco! Do get a look at this guy's bio. At 62, he just keeps getting stronger and stronger:
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios/joe_richey.php
C) And Joe is riding with his friend Larry Twedell
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios/larry_twedell.php
Larry, at 66. is another age defying powerhouse!!
D) Doug Huskey & Tim Mcloskey both active members of the Santa Cruz County Cycling Club (SCCCC) signed back on for the Santa Cruz to San Jose relay, a somewhat difficult run that climbs to 2600 feet from the ocean over the Coast Range before it heads back down to sea level and the south end of the Silicon Valley. Fraught with switch backs and tight windy roads, this connection leaves the cars and lights and traffic of Santa Cruz for the quiet and relative desolation of its mountains, where most of the riding takes place, only to slide through even more vehicles and congestion before it then reaches San Jose City Hall.
And Doug and Tim want to get their bike club more involved. They want to get it listed as a club ride to see if they can get more of its riders to undertake this challenge with them. And they want the SCCCC to make a show of force at Santa Cruz NBG DAY. And it can only help that Tim happens to be on the SCCCC's Board of Directors!
E) Last week, Tim and I also talked about the possibility of making the Monterey to Santa Cruz relay a SCCCC club ride as well. I broached the idea of sending riders out on a morning ride from Santa Cruz along the coastal bluffs of south Santa Cruz county to its agricultural lands. At which point the riding would then give way to the vast artichoke fields and the epic bike paths of Monterey County that course through massive white sand dunes filled with unmatched ocean vistas. All of which would connect these cyclists with Monterey City Hall. A distance of 45 miles.
After they then partake in the Monterey NBG Day proclamation ceremony, they could glide over to the nearby Monterey Wharf for a lunch on the water before they make the ride back to Santa Cruz. Add five miles to either side ad call it the Monterey Bay Mayors' Ride Century!! What a way to spend a summer's day on the Monterey Bay!!
Hopefully this will become an annual SCCCC Club Ride as well!!
btw: Before I made my last ride across the US, this was a regular training ride for me. It gave me a widely varied terrain that even to this day comes to instant recall when I think of some of my favorite rides.