May 02, 2009
Driver(s) Needed for Cross X Bike Ride
Driver(s) Needed for Cross X Bike Ride
Well I am excited to say that we have a vehicle, the driver I had for it had some things change and needs to get back to his destination on the East Coast sooner than he had anticipated. That said, we now need someone with an adventurous spirit who might like to see America at 50 miles a day, If that describes you, you have a good driving record and you want to help make our SF to Boston 7th annual Mayors' Ride a reality at http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2009 , please reply at hiwheeler@gmail.com
THX 4 all of U!!
btw: I need someone ASAP. If U can drive for a few days starting Wed 5/6 till I locate someone who can go all the way that would be awesome. Worst case, I will need a driver by 5/11 in Folsom when I then hit the Sierras
May 01, 2009
April 29, 2009
Red Alert: Still Need Vehicle & Driver
As per the following article that Jason Green created for us at the Palo Alto Daily News, we still do not have the most crucial component needed to making this effort an exciting success. We still lack a vehicle.
Here is the above story in an easier to read PDF format:
http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2009/PANewsMain4-28-09.pdf
http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2009/PANewsPgTwo4-28-09.pdf
What's more is that I just completed an interview with Kristen Sze of ABC 7 TV. It will air Friday morning. And as I demonstrated the bike for her on the Bike Blvd and as people and cars stopped and wanted to know what was going on, Kristen kept thanking me for all the excitement that was at hand. This historic bike is the most sensational machine I have ever traveled on. Yes, it turns more heads and creates more electricity than the Busycle which may or may not accompany us (see blow)..
Come on friends. I know there are many people out there who are in a position to help. If you have a vehicle no matter how big or small that you can drive for a hour a day that I can base this ride out of, please, please help me bring hope and the message of a National Bicycle Greenway to the nation at large. For that matter, if want to donate $3000 a month, I can rent a new camper and can likely more easily locate a driver. That is unless you know a cheaper way.
And if towing the Busycle has held you back, we can leave it behind. We can get it back to Boston another way. But the Eagle and I absolutely have to go. I can make it as far as Folsom on 5/10 without such support. After which I will NOTT be able to administer the Mayors' Ride unless I have a gas (bio diesel!!??) powered office......
I know many of you agree this is getting pretty ridiculous. Are we going to let something as huge and historic as http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2009 fall by the way side over something that most of us take for granted? Something that normally makes trips that just add to the planet's problems - a motorhome or camper truck or van?
THX to all of you who have donated to this ride. Now we just gotta keep the cash flow coming in as supported by a car and driver!!
hiwheeler@gmail.com 415-240-4712
THX 4 all of U!!
April 28, 2009
Get Paid to see the US (if U have a camper or motor home)
We just recently lost the main sponsor for a bike ride across America that I have been building toward for the last 6 years. I even completed a 366 page book this winter that I was supposed to be touring it with. When business fell through the floor for the company that had committed its staff, money and other resources to our 7th annual National Mayors' Ride, a ride that I myself will be doing this year on an 1891 bike, it knocked me to my knees. And yet I refuse to give up. And that is why I am on my knees asking for your help .
As the author of "Awake Again ,all the way back from head injury", this, my third bike ride across the US will bring hope to Americans on lots of levels. If I can come back from two months in a coma, right side paralysis and clinical death to now be able to ride the only bike of its kind in active use in the entire word, then my desire to connect the coasts with a National Bicycle Greenway should be eminently doable.
So it you have a camper or motor home and want me to give you $1000 a month (which I am hoping we can raise with donations here ) for the use of your vehicle and your driving services as per this schedule: http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2009 , let's make something very fun and very huge happen for the planet!!
We leave soon! The first night I will need a roof over my head is Thursday May 7 in Napa, CA
THX 4 all of U!!
415-240-4712 | hiwheeler@gmail.com
btw: You will be driving 50 miles a day, so if you have other rods in the fire that can be handled while you are on the road, this could be a great way to see America, while helping to impregnate the national consciousness with the need for better biking infrastructure and the National Bicycle Greenway !!
btw2: If U are retired and have a motor home that U cannot afford to drive, this is a great way to improve your cash flow as U might even be able to make your residence available as a vacation rental during this period of time
btw3: HERE is today's ride on the Eagle
Notes
Lots of wind when I got out and rode today. But before I did, it started to become very clear to me that it all begins next weekend. I was struck with this thinking as I spent time with Fango, Faye's dog that I have fallen in love with. While trying to snuggle with him on the lawn (he wanted to play ball), I started to miss all the sounds I take for granted now. The lawn mowers off in the distance, the planes far up in the sky, and the kids playing and people talking all took on a special quality. Along with the trains and the wind chimes, I though about how I am gonna miss this place and Faye Saunders who has been so supportive of me and this mission when a lot of the spiritual work I have done reined me in. None of this is ours to keep or hang on to. Nothing of this world of form is real. The only thing that is real is Love and our ability to awaken that in one another. It wasn't long before I wanted to spread the message of hope that my vision and my story will bring to America .... THX 4 all of U!!
1 1.57mi PO
2 2.99mi Had to climb a hill
3 3.52mi My favorite bike path secret
4 3.69mi Barron Park paved Trail
5 4.32mi Begin Gunn HS playing fields
6 4.69mi Dangerous left turn for cyclists as there is a right turn lane right there with no shoulder
7 4.74mi Enter Los Altos Bike Path
8 5.96mi Grain sweetened ice cream at W foods here
9 6.41mi Fabric Store - spend 40 mins there picking out iton letters for my packs that read bikeroute.com
10 6.64mi Enter car road
11 6.77mi Begin overpass - felt safe tho it was not a bike friendly place to be
12 7.07mi I could not believe my eyes. The giant trees that once shaded this road were all gone!! The entire left side of the road was under construction! I had not known this had occurred bcuz it is car road. From Briarwood to Ferne, however, does have a frontage road that was made pleasant by the enormous trees. But they are all gone :( Looks like they are trying to make it faster for cars ...... Ugh...
13 7.88mi The bike unfriendliness of the roads in this part of the city continued. Seems the bike planners of the day were only interested in getting kids to school and in some cases people to work. The thought that people would like to shop on a bike never seemed to have occurred to them, Certainly this was pre-bike trailer thinking but baskets have always been around. Hmmmm....I mean there is a Costco, REI, OSH and lots of other businesses out here that are veery hard to get to on a bike
14 8.22mi REI - buy 100 oz Camelbak bladder for my buttpak. Definitely gonna need it come Mormon Immigrant and Hwy 50 across Nevada (the Loneliest Hwy in America)
15 8.50mi Coscto is to my left here
16 10.33mi Drop Stuff off. Chris Llewellyn come by and ride with me to Country Sun where I bgt dinner items. On a fixed gear, he rode wheelies most of the way
End 14.05mi
April 27, 2009
Final Training Days on the Books 4-27-09
John Dohner, who bought several of my soon ahead days on the road is a major
winner on many levels. Almost 60, he is still a respected force on the football field, he and his wife,
Kathryn, built the fabulous home in which they live and he just completed his own bike ride across America
when he dropped his boy off at Dartmouth college !
I had a full day today interacting with Mayors, their staffs, Mayors' Ride cyclists, motorhome prospects and the local newsaper with which my ride will be featured on tomorrow's front page. So as such, I don' get on the road till 6PM.
Winding down my training since I now know what I can do and so I don't burn out for next week when I leave .. |
You've seen me head for the hills. Here is what Page Mill looks like coming back in to town......