2010 Eagle HiWheel Bicycle Mayors' Ride

Worthy Camper Living Essentials Needed for NBG San Jose to Boston Bus

2010-10-17T04:26:00.001-07:00

Our 9th Annual National Mayors' Ride which leaves May 2, 2011 from San Jose, CA per this schedule, will feature the first backwards facing Hiwheel to cross America and the 15-person Busycle. All of which will be supported by the 40 foot "Rock Star" bus you see pictured here.

Despite the fact that our bus runs awesome and looks amazing, it still needs a lot of help inside to make it worthy of the press and the people who will visit it at the shopping centers, city halls and book stores ahead of us.

While it has a hardwood floor and tinted windows and we will be dedicating a fair amount of space inside to the public for the on board museum it will feature, we still need the kind of facilities that will help us roll from one venue to another. These include a:

- Propane refrigerator

- Propane or white gas stove

- Shower

- Toilet

- Beds/bunks

If you have camper shell or motor home, etc, that perhaps has a beat up appearance but most of these items are still in good working order, can we take it off your hands? And give you a tax write off from our nonprofit National Bicycle Greenway in exchange!!

Here's to the crazy ones.

2010-10-11T00:32:00.001-07:00

Narrator = Richard Dreyfus

Here's to the crazy ones.

The misfits.

The rebels.

The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.

And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,

disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.

They explore. They create. They inspire.

They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?

Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?

Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think

they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Chiat/Day copywriter, Craig Tanimoto for Apple Computer, September 28, 1997

Book Excerpt - NBG in its Highest Art Form

2010-10-09T03:33:00.001-07:00

What follows comes to you from the re-write I am doing of "How America Can Bike and Grow Rich". It is an almost final draft excerpted from the American River Parkway section. The Lynn to which these words refer, is Lynn LePage, the recreation manager for the city of Folsom.

NBG in its Highest Art Form

Handsome and fit, with a large view of the future, Lynn also saw the big picture of the National Bicycle Greenway. As an enthusiastic supporter of our mission and our yearly trek up the American River Parkway, he saw the NBG in its highest art form; what will happen once we get all of America’s bikeable roads and paths interconnected.

He and I have spent many hours talking about the NBG over the years. Lynn envisions a corridor similar to his Parkway that celebrates the natural, as well as the urban wonder of each of the areas though which it passes to connect the coasts. From his Parkway, he foresees rail trails joining hands with old logging roads and abandoned highways and the like to explore America’s forests, mountains, lakes, and even deserts as it moves across the West.

In his mind’s eye, he saw, as the Lincoln Highway people did back in 1912 (see appendix), the reality of a red line on the map calling for a travel route from ocean to ocean. While the dream they fulfilled was for cars, Lynn knows the right of way from San Jose to Boston our annual Mayors' Rides are helping us determine, will one day make quiet, vehicle free cross county trips possible. This as we extol all the natural and man made simplicity and wonder that meet our path.

Interpretive in nature, the historical background of mountain passes such as the Mormon Immigrant Pass (discussed in detail later in this chapter) ahead, as well as those found in Nevada, the Rockies, the Appalachians and etc, will all be marked with tasteful signage that will make them fun to experience for those moving slow. The wonder of America’s bread basket will be explained. Even the Platte River Basin’s contribution to taming the West (talked about in the Omaha chapter), instead of being thundered through at interstate speeds, will be greatly savored by all those who use their own bodies to travel. The natural features we want to celebrate on the route we foresee are endless

Where the NBG passes through all the urban areas in between wide open America, there would be wonder at hand there as well. Once again, signage and information kiosks would be hard at work. In populated areas, they would tell NBG bikeway users where to go for food, lodging, fun and points of interest along the way. This as the route we will have chosen to most directly get across each of the cities in question will establish the character that sets them apart from one another. In order to do so, the National Bicycle Greenway will work to make sure our route will take in as much of the best each city has to offer as we can. This in the way of attractions, parks, neighborhoods, traffic tamed shopping villages, places of learning, and whatever natural assets there are to be discovered, etc.

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The 2011 Mayors' Ride schedule is due out soon....

Writing retreat reveled

2010-09-28T01:25:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I told you I was headed off to a writing retreat to update and rewrite the book , "How America Can Bike and Grow Rich", that was supposed to accompany my ride this last summer. Well far more than a place to author a story, I have returned to the delicious quiet of Ireland where I am blessed with close proximity to the services of the book's editor, my fiance, Virginia.

All this as I get to ply my craft in a country where the modern day wordsmith is much honored as well as respected. In joining the ranks of Irish writing giants I have long much admired, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw, indeed I feel much inspired.

Chapter Excerpt - Eagle Crash

2010-09-27T01:24:00.001-07:00

The following excerpt comes from Martin Krieg's new book, "How America Can Bike and Grow Rich" http://bikeroute.com/HBGR/OverviewHBGR.php , due March 2011.

The miles of bike lanes on lightly traveled neighborhood streets continued all the way to the border of Palo Alto. There the Wilkie Way Bridge carried us alongside a creek into our next Mayors' Ride city. Fully enshrouded by massive oaks and other trees, it is a piece of engineering mastery. In order to construct a bike way at this location, concrete pillars had to be sunk deep into the ground at the edge of one side of the creek. In such a way a ledge could be hung off the backyards the stream passes through. It is on the five foot wide path that resulted that an important bicycle transportation corridor has evolved. Through here great numbers of cyclists pass everyday on their way up and down the San Francisco peninsula.

It was also nearby, on my way to it, that my hopes to become the first to cross America on the Eagle were put on hold. Having just set out on a training ride on my way to the bridge, I wasn’t but a few blocks away when a car made a left turn in front of me. All I could do was turn with him when he clobbered my wheel so hard, I flew off the back of the bike.

Two things were working in my favor when all of this happened. First of all, I was on an Eagle, so instead of getting my head launched into the asphalt for certain catastrophe, I landed on my butpak. Second, if I had been at regular bicycle height, his bumper would have crushed my legs and probably even done severe damage to my internal organs.

At any rate, I survived well enough to walk my destroyed bike back to the bus. The wheel had been almost folded in half. Nor would we be able to assess how much damage had been done to the bike’s heart and soul, the hub, in enough time to keep our ride on schedule even if we did get the wheel rebuilt. This was so because the only expert, Jim Spillane, the man who had painstakingly re-manufactured this machine, lived in Connecticut, on the other side of the US. All of which brought the ride to this year.

Chapter Excerpt - Why I Ride an Eagle

2010-09-26T13:42:00.001-07:00

A group of fixed gear cyclists waited. One of the riders was holding a trackstand, a maneuver where the cyclist sits on his bike seat and keeps it upright and balanced. Since our bikes were also fixed, the original version where the pedals connect directly to the wheel without a chain or sprockets in between, the trackstand on a HiWheel was once an important skill to learn. Though few present day HiWheelers take the time to master being able to do so, I found this ability important to my being able to enjoy a Car Free lifestyle on my Ordinary (another name for the traditional tall wheel).

Learning to trackstand gave me a better mastery over my high bike in crowded areas. Some examples of this include gridlocked streets, busy shopping districts, even the Critical Mass or San Jose Bike Party rides that I like to attend. With what looks like a trick to most, I did not have to get off and on the bike at traffic lights or for whatever other stops the congestion in my path could otherwise force me to make. I could also stop and hold a stand to have a brief conversation with those people along my way.

I had spent many hours learning to trackstand. In doing so, I had had to endure a lot of bumps, bruises and cuts, even many embarrassing falls. But just as I was getting more and more confident and better, the Eagle appeared While rumor has it that a trackstand is possible on one, I suspect that I will always be so consumed with looking for ways to get places faster or more efficiently on the Eagle, that I may not even try to see if a controlled stall is even possible on one.

The few dozen times I did try, I always went off the back end once I got the bike delayed. This is because in order to keep from getting launched into the sometimes fatal header that made conventional HiWeel bikes so dangerous, the Eagle's center of gravity was placed behind the rider. As a result, the Eagle cyclist is always in a gentle struggle to keep the front wheel from popping off the ground. If that were to happen, if his mind were to wander from the task at hand, for instance, he could easily slide off the rear of the machine and probably crash.

I also can’t seem to ride with no hands on the Eagle. Nor is such a skill set all about show when one is in the tall wheel saddle for any length of time. Since it is useful to be able to get both hands free while still pedaling, not having to stop to put on or take off a jacket, adjust a helmet or sunglasses or peel the wrapper off an energy bar, for example, all become little pleasures that add to the joy of being on an Ordinary. The on the road performance of an Eagle, however, makes it easy for me to overlook some of the smaller things I can no longer do on it.

The Eagle, for example can climb hills with fervor. Unlike the traditional HiWheel cyclist, long known to have walked both sides of a mountain, the Eagle rider can climb out of the saddle to get up inclines. In being able to jockey the bike back and forth while ascending, besides being able to add leverage, he also won’t find himself sitting on a wheel that burns rubber as it goes nowhere. When riding the typical tall seat of the 19th Century, I always found the steeper the pitch, if I was even moving at all, the more the wheel used to slip out on me.

Once the summit is reached, the Eagle can also be used to descend in style as well as comfort. Since the pedals never stop on a Penny Farthing, being able to cross one’s feet in front of the steer tube is easy to do when descending on an Eagle. It is also a great way to relax. On the traditional HiWheel, however, one must get his legs over the top of the handlebars in order to be free of the spinning pedals. A difficult position to get into, it also puts its rider in a dangerous position that is then hard to escape from should the need arise.

When I Eagled from San Francisco to Salt Lake City in 2009, in climbing the Sierras and across the most mountainous state in the Union, Nevada, for example, I was in and out of the saddle many times - on both sides of most all the peaks I transcended. This explains why mine was the first high bike to ever have been actually pedaled over these Ranges.

Even on the flats, the Eagle is far more efficient than the traditional HiWheel. Because the Eagle cyclist does not pedal the same wheel he is steering, like one does on the normal Penny Farthing, he can ankle. What this means is that he can take advantage of the full pedal stroke by pulling up as well as pushing down on the pedals. This also means, not only can more force be generated but that the steering itself is not affected by what the stronger and far more powerful legs are doing. To illustrate, if you are riding no hands on a standard HiWheel, how straight you go is in direct proportion to how well you only push down on the pedals. By pulling up on them, you involve your arms as they fight to make those corrections needed to keep you on course.

There are certain actions that make the Eagle exciting to be around. It is always easy to get a crowd together to watch me start. While my climbing out of the saddle to accelerate also turns heads, if I really want to hold people's attention, I can jump off the back of the bike to make it stop. In doing so, the smaller front wheel shoots six feet above the street. This as I do a wide plant with my feet while holding the handlebars at shoulder height.

A bike that came about during the last two years of the HiWheel era (1869-1892), the Eagle is likely what we'd all be riding if the pneumatic tire and refinements in the chain had not made the smaller wheels of today possible. Blessed with the honor of riding Jim Spillane's celebrated and near exact re-creation of the 1891 Eagle, regularly affirms for me why I feel the Eagle was the highest art form of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the America we know.

The Big Picture - How the NBG will become Real!!

2010-08-16T10:34:00.001-07:00

From my personal home page - http://www.bikeroute.com/MartinKrieg.php :

I took the 2007 Mayors' Ride season off to devise a fully interactive Google mapping system that runs like a game while building community to let users calculate, request, plan, utilize, store, display and vote on bike routes. I did this all toward the end of showing how, in our increasingly crowded world, the internet can now make the bicycle the superior way to move one's self about. Once my cross X rides are complete, it will be this program I will work to make real so we can connect the principal roads and paths we identify for safe intra city travel with those those that connect cities. And as this happens, coast to coast bike travel will become possible on the National Bicycle Greenway heaven I know will soon result.

Manny Garcia to Spearhead NBG Bus Conversion

2010-08-15T20:22:00.001-07:00

Former long time bike shop manager and passionate two wheel zealot, Manny Garcia, has agreed to do the build out that will be required to make our bus one we can live in on the road! And this man is all about Can Do!! If you followed my Eagle HiWheel ride to Salt Lake City in the summer of 2009, you will recall that Manny rode 400 miles of Nevada, the most mountainous state in the Union with me. What's wild is that in order to do so, he had to double whatever I rode so he could go back and get his vehicle allowing him to have it wherever it was that we lodged for the night. As in afternoon headwinds and re-summiting innumerable mountain passes to do so, whoaaaa.......

To the degree I can supply him the resources, money and new and used hardware, Manny will be installing everything from toilets and showers to fold down beds, cupboards and other forms of storage, even insulation, while I am away getting my books rewritten and ready for the 2011 season. The perfect man for the job, he knows how to get a result with often times much less than perfect materials. This is so because he grew up in a large family in Mexico City where he learned that if he wanted any of those things most American kids take for granted, that he could mix and match new, used and discarded items to create a worthy facsimile of that which the kids north of the border were enjoying.

That said, I will be using my afternoons to bring on more advertising support (to buy supplies for Manny) for my San Jose to Boston Eagle ride as well as scour Craigslist and other want ad boards for camper shells with worthy insides we can cannibalize. As well, if any of you want to come by Park Automotive here on Park Ave in Palo Alto to help Manny, we need you!!!

Here is what we foresee:

GMC Bus

THX 4 all of U!!

Martin Krieg "Awake Again" Author

2011 w/"How America Can Bike & Grow Rich"

BikeRoute.com

'79 & '86 TransAmerica Bike Rides

Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death Survivor

NBG Founding Director, HiWheel Cyclist

Riding only active Eagle in world

Fall Author Tour Yields to New Excitement & Possibilities

2010-08-13T10:55:00.001-07:00

As I worked here on the phone to build my Author Tour of "Awake Again", in moving east along the Mayors' Ride route, I discovered that, in its present condition, the economy was having a very hard time supporting my book journey. Offices, for example, that had in the not too distant past suggested that maybe I could bring hope to their head injury patients (they call them clients) with a book tour during the bicycle off season, reported back to me when I called. that they did not even know if they were going to have jobs themselves.

Fortunately, however, an opportunity I am very excited about has presented itself to me that I can not ignore. I have been offered a place where I can work on the completion of some or all of the books I have noted below!!

As such, instead of touring our Mayors' Ride cities as a promotion for my San Jose (read the nation's 10th largest city and proactive in its plans for cycling) to Boston Eagle ride with just my autobiography, "Awake Again", since they are all almost complete, I will now be able to do booksignings with several of the other tomes that will soon result . Since I can also use my writing "retreat" to invite more sponsors to come forward with ads on the people mover John E Cabrera donated to our organization, I can commission one or several of the people I have identified as willing to help, to build out the interior so that I can live in it when I tour the US with the product of my soon ahead writing efforts.

Nor had I allowed the depressed state of the world's affairs take my eye off the prize of using my story and our national Mayors' Rides to promote the coast to coast National Bicycle Greenway we foresee. I renewed my driver's license so I can drive the bus Park Automotive Don is going to teach me how to drive!! After 21 years of not owning or driving a car, I had to really hunker down to get cleared to legally operate a vehicle. Because I had originally needed this DMV document to get a passport so I could go to Ireland, with no study, I flunked the written part back in May. On the second try, however, after hours of study I was golden! And not only did I learn a lot about all that has changed in my time away from the wheel, but I am a better cyclist because I better know what is expected of cars.

Until I soon leave then, I will keep working on the bus. The photo above, for example, is of MrLettter.com's 'Not For Hire' sign that I loaded on to the bus. I did that yesterday at Park Automotive, where owner Don Armstrong has gone far out of his way to be supportive of all that I am doing. So much so, that as the true car doctor magician that he is (he's even married to a doctor, an esteemed PhD who teaches nurses), when I rewrite, "How America Can Bike and Grow Rich", he and his Park Automotive will become a part of the story that I tell.

THX 4 all of U!!

Martin Krieg's Work in Process Books:

"How America can bike and Grow Rich"
"Awake Again" in paperpack, audio and for the iPhone and Kindle Reader
"How to Bike America"
"How to Move Mountains with Love".
"Cycle America 2000 Anthology" - a distillation of the weekly newsletters I put out for 3 years when I brought thousands of cyclists to Washinbton DC for the millennium.

Busycle Hears the Stones

2010-08-08T04:21:00.003-07:00

We took the Busycle out tonite on a Thank You ride. I had initially staged it to express my appreciation to all those who had helped to move it into Gerrry & Dana's driveway while I was in Ireland a number of weeks ago. Well as it turned out, when it came right down to setting a time and a date, Gerry and Dana were the only ones around, no one who had volunteered their time was available. Steve Branz and Jill Cohen replied to let me know they were out of town. George Bradshaw never saw my email and Ashook did not show until were were actually rolling.

And yet, Ashook and his friend, whose name I keep forgetting, were a big addition. But the hardest part, doing a three point turn out of the driveway, was done by just seven people. Gerry and Dana were joined by Anna DeCosta and her niece Nicole and friend Roz. I also managed to recruit a suited out cyclist with a Russian name I can not recall, from the nearby bike boulevard. This crew was joined by the man who would be this evening's powerhouse, Manny Garcia.

And as we moved the 9/10 of a mile distance to nearby Mitchell Park, we got faster and faster as we picked up more and more people along the way. John E Cabrera even caught up with us not far into our journey! We arrived to a park that was filled and alive with the sounds of the Unauthorized Rolling Stones.

Nor was it long before every seat was filled by kids as this evening's Busyclists all went off and got closer to the stage. I stayed behind and kept an eye on our machine which for me was like old home week. Friends from the nearby neighborhood where I used to live, who had not seen me for several years, kept coming up and saying hi. This as many dozen of little ones took their turn at sitting on the seats and trying their luck with the pedals.

When the music ended, we were a Busycle of kids and their parents on our way back to Gerry and Dana's. This was so because for every kid who asked to ride, I told them that there had to be one adult. And it worked so well that Manny did not have a seat. And of the original crew all that was left for the ride home were Gerry and Dana.

And it was a good thing that Manny did not have a seat. When he was not sitting on the Busycle gearbox, a maneuver I frowned on that required him to jump aboard while were moving, he was behind the Busycle pushing us up any rises in the road that slowed us to a crawl. His power, the three times this happened on the way back, was huge!

We pulled into the Busycle driveway as the dusk like conditions were giving way to a darker and darker evening. Soon the beautiful cover that Empire Covers donated was on and mounted and another Busycle ride was on the books!!

If you want to Busycle with us next Saturday to hear Fotia, a Greek folk and blues band, at Mittchell Park, reply accordingly. If I get enough interest, I will get a ride together.....

Pictures soon!!

THX 4 all of U!!

Busycle Hears the Stones

2010-08-08T04:21:00.001-07:00

If you want to Busycle with us next Saturday to hear Fotia, a Greek folk and blues band, at Mittchell Park, reply accordingly. If I get enough interest, I will get a ride together.....

Pictures soon!!

THX 4 all of U!!

John E Cabrera's Powerful Donation Brings about new Direction for NBG!!

2010-07-12T11:31:00.001-07:00

Actor/businessman John E Cabrera, donated the 40 foot bus to our organization for permanent use!! He had already made it available for us to use for this year's Mayor's Ride campaign. This development is as powerful as it is exciting. As in, it expands our possibilities to a whole new before unthought level.

Sensitive being that he is, John E originally bought this epic machine when he did last November (on my birthday no less) because he felt it was the part he could play in making something much bigger than all of us real, the National Bicycle Greenway.

And now that he has, a sea change will soon be the result. Since it is now a vehicle we can use year round, we can make the Busycle available to communities all over the region and the Nation. This will give me more recovery time from my accident, help me make up for all the training my broken wheels have cost me and let me get the bus better outfitted.

As such, we will be using what is left of this summer not to focus on my Eagle HiWheel ride to Boston but to do a San Jose to Boston Mayors' Ride tour that will spread the joy from one coast to the other of our 15 person smile invoker, the Busycle !!

Watch this space for a revised Busycle only Mayors' Ride schedule as well as all the other appearances we will be able to make with the Busycle, as my book "Awake Again" also helps us spread the National Bicycle Greenway word!

As well, after I rewrite "How America Can Bike and Grow Rich" while I am in Ireland this Fall, Virginia and I will then be able to use the bus to call attention to my next summer's Eagle HiWheel crossing of America.

Since this year's Busycle Mayors' Ride tour of America will start with a ride on Sat, 7/31, sponsored in part by the City of San Jose from from San Jose City Hall to Palo Alto City Hall (to sign up) and be followed the next day (8/1) by our annual tour from Sacramento to Folsom (to sign up) on the epic American RIver Parkway, all of the advertisers you see listed at the end here will be getting two years for the price of one.

Anyone interested in advertising their business on the bus on the limited space that is left can come aboard for a two year run at no extra cost, by contacting me at the earliest date AwakeAgainMartin@gmail.com

Thank you John E. This is beyond what words can describe!!

----------------------------------------------------

Advertisers on 40-foot rolling billboard with the

two most photographed vehicles in the world

Sponsors:

HONOR ROLL

City of San Jose - National Bicycle Greenway Invite you to 7/31 Kick Off Event

2010-07-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

Details

test

2010-07-05T15:00:00.001-07:00

test

Jeff Kistler gets Eagle Wheel on Road Again!!

2010-07-04T17:54:00.001-07:00

The one two punch of Jeff Kistler and Jim Spilllane got my Eagle wheel back on the road!! After Jim located a rim from his stock of old bike parts back there in Connecticut and then got it shipped out to us, Jeff went to the work of lacing it all up. It did not end up in complete mode on the first pass, however, because Jeff kept discovering spokes that needed to be replaced. For which we had to rely on Jim to send us even more spokes.

It was a good thing I was in Castlebar, Ireland while this whole painful process was played out because I did get the bike back until yesterday. And even then I still can not go the distance on it until the replacement bike shows up as this video shows.

A Partial History of San Jose's rich bike history

San Jose Replaces San Francisco as New Mayors' Ride Start City on 7/10

2010-06-25T03:06:00.001-07:00

Well, it's official, the City of San Jose is now the bona fide start of the 8th annual, 2010 Mayors' Ride. San Jose Transportation Director, Hans Larsen, who Carlos Babcock introduced me to at the concert San Jose joint ventured with the San Jose Bike Party last month, pulled together the principals needed from his city to develop the excitement that will you soon be seeing. Toward that end, we will also be working with the San Jose Bike Party, Lance Armstrong Live Strong and Silicon Valley Bike Coalition (SVBC) people to help San Jose fulfill its goal of being known as America's top bike city.

San Jose, 15th Best Bike City in USA on Street Films

(a must see video for those wondering about the commitment level of SJ city fathers)

Nor will it be difficult for San Jose to become the Number One biking city by which others are judged. All the variables are already in place. San Jose has exquisite weather, it has a fast growing number of bike lanes and pathways and most of the riding turf is flat. Separated from the ocean by the Coast Range on one side, and the epic Mt Hamilton and all the hills that flank it on the other, it has a delicious smorgasbord of mountain roads one can easily get lost in. Along with its rich century old biking heritage, here is some information about San Jose that will show you why we have chosen them over San Francisco as the starting point for our ride to Boston:

News Flash:

After receiving a staff report and public comments in support of the plan, the San Jose City Council unanimously approved Bike Plan 2020. The new bike plan adopts a vision of building a community where bicycling is safe, convenient and commonplace. The plan identifies five broad Goals – including completion of a 500 mile bikeway network – as well as several individual Strategies and Actions to accomplish the Goals. Click on the following links to view the plan - more

Bronze Bike Friendly Community Award (many of those cities with higher rankings have spent more time on presentation than on actual infrastructure and the like)

San Jose Trails Program

Hans Larsen

San Jose Bike Party

Silicon Valley Bike Coalition

So Exciting!!

THX 4 all of U!!

btw: I will be coming back from the heavenly bike roads of Ireland next Tuesday. Here is some of what I have been enjoying

btw2: In case U missed it, I am still waiting for the insurance to settle the wreck of my Eagle

Exploring the Irish Countryside in Lieu of the Eagle

2010-06-10T05:54:00.001-07:00

Exploring the Irish countryside with my host, Virginia Heneghan, on what have to be the most beautiful bike roads I have seen anywhere.

Even on what I am told are "plain average" roads, where there is not a lot to wonder at, there is still green everywhere. It presses hard against the edges of the asphalt pathways. As it makes its case for the joy inherent in simplicity, the quiet and the peace make it possible to revel in the bird song that is a frequent companion to one's travels out here.

The horses are tame too!

The only thing missing from all this two wheel perfection, at least for me, is the Eagle which Jeff Kistler is busy repairing for me. This, of course, THX to the beautiful rim that Jim Spillane built to replace the one destroyed when I got hit by a car on April 29th.

We still don't know if Jeff will be able to make my Eagle cross country worthy, but until he is done and the insurance settles, I am going to spend a little while longer in this true bicycle nirvana.......

Larry Magid Documents Rare Steve Jobs Interview

2010-06-09T06:29:00.001-07:00

Here is a rare interview of the man who has been the crucial force behind the creation of a lot of the tools many of us take for granted today. The iPhone, for example, was a huge part of my last summer's ride to Salt Lake, while the iPad that Steve Jobs also helped usher into form, could very well be a big part of my upcoming journey to Boston. See the interview and read what else Jobs has catalyzed at the link below: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-magid/steve-jobs-is-a-national-_b_605444.html

Amazing Sculpture Art by 2010 Ride Savior, Shawn Raymond

2010-06-08T14:41:00.001-07:00

Armed with a small bit of time as I wait for the insurance to settle before the Summer of 2010 fully consumes me, I present to you this video representation of what Shawn Raymond's fully astonishing sculptture art looks like on YouTube. That's right, sculpture art. An integral part of our SF to Boston effort, Shawn not only is a respected, precision level car mechanic, as well as a cutting edge bicycle wizard, he is also astounding the art world with the bronze piece he created below:

More beautiful sign art for the bus by Mrletter.com

2010-06-04T20:15:00.001-07:00

Of note is the fact that the empty panel to the right of Sunfood, is being saved for an ad that expects to soon have added horsepower from the Irish Dept of Tourism.

Jasen Levoy w/his tall bike & goggles he made

2010-05-30T19:22:00.001-07:00

At Stanford in White Plaza

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

Martin Krieg
"Awake Again" Author
'79 & '86 TransCon cyclist
2010 on Eagle w/Busycle & Book
http://www.BikeRoute.com/HBGR
Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death
Survivor. NBG Founding Director
HiWheel Cyclist

Augmenting the Flat Eagle Roads

2010-05-29T17:00:00.001-07:00

Not the stationary bbikes. But pumping the metal (not shown)...

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

SF to Boston Bus Host, Park Automotive, Webbed

2010-05-29T13:17:00.001-07:00

Finally had clear skies this Saturday morning, where Park Automotive was not covered with cars. The result: a worthy picture for their web site

Also caught up with owner, Don Armstrong, when he came in to do some bookwork.

And talk about a community asset, from seeing how much time and money this guy regularly saves his customers, Don is without question a man whose honest ways have made him a Park Avenue fixture to truly be honored possibly for the ages.....

Stuck in the Flats with the Eagle

2010-05-28T23:56:00.001-07:00

Since my foray into the hills ended on Wednesday with even more broken spokes, I determined that I had to stay closer to home where the roads are flat and friends are easily found or made. I started Thursday out, "making" spokes. By working to up the spoke count, as a result of my splinting spokes pieces together with a torch and silver solder, I am now only missing two spokes. And yet since too many spokes would stand between this pair (one spoke is two) as a result of all the mixing and matching I have had to do, I will need to wait until a new rim and spokes become available .......

Finally got the beautiful NBG logo art that MtLetter.com, some while created for us on to the front of the bus. And the way that Scott Campbell created the URL below it, the bus looks like it is smiling at us.

Gerry Gras called me say the beautiful cover we got for the Busycle from Empire Covers kept blowing off. I went over there today and snugged it all up with the clamps we got from Tom Kabat and Matin of shelter-systems.com. These things are revolutionary. And yet not many people, I'm disccvering, know they even exist.

In fact I had somewhat forgot that Rich Willits had installed the male part of the coupling on to our Busycle a few years ago, And that is why I was talking so painfully much time tieing rope around our tarps to keep them on.

-----------------------------------------------------

From shelter-systems.com:

Grip Clip™ Tarp Fasteners
That which holds it all together, Grip Clip™ tarp fasteners were designed to make our Yurt Domes but can be put to many other uses. If you decide to make your own floor out of a tarp, use 12 of the Light Fabric Grip Clips to secure the tarp to the walls of your Yurt Dome. This will keep the floor from sliding around. The General Purpose Grip Clip tarp fasteners can add more wind stability to the our standard Sun Shades. If you one or two Grip Clips with cords to the mid edge section of your Sun Shades and tie these out your Sun Shade will flap less in the wind. You can also make your own shelter tarps, canopies, sunshades, and windscreens instantly from any plastic sheeting or fabric. They can be used for joining panels of material together and/or for attaching anchor lines, without perforating the tarps or sheeting. They "button" on quickly and securely, yet can be removed and repositioned as you like. You will find endless uses for them about your Yurt Dome, at home, in the garden, while camping, and at construction sites. Almost indestructible and at times indispensable™, Grip Clips will help you create what you need.

----------------------

The amazing Grip Clip. Here the female sits on a nob that is covered by the blue fabric you see pictured here

Saw Inventor an genius, Dan Bartsch, at the Post Office today. And he and I did not get a chance to really talk as one of his fans, Dr Franklin showed up as did Cathy and Wayne, You can see all five of us if you drill into the next picture in this micro gallery.

Steve at Mollie Stones Grocery store always makes me laugh. He remembers every cartoon series that played on TV in the 50's and 60's so well that he can tell you who most of the characters were and often knows many of the theme songs so well, he can sound them out with authority......

Daniel Bartsch surrounded by Cathy, Wayne, Franklin and me

2010-05-28T17:44:00.001-07:00

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

MrLetter.com Helps Showcase the Fuel I Neeed

2010-05-27T23:42:00.001-07:00

Soon, I will be able to represent two companies I feel honored to be able to work with. While Sunfood is raising the bar for what I can expect for this ride, it is the work of MrLetter.com that really makes Sunfood and the rest of our advertisers really stand out. And I'm talking crystal clear images that look great when looking at them from far and near!

The jumbo Sunfood logo that will soon replace the one you see above did not lose a thing when it grew in size. If anything, its beauty is even more striking....

And just as Sunfood is worth it, so too are the other other food and drink providers who, THX to MrLetter.com, also have a beautiful presence on the bus. As I condition my body for the colossal workload ahead, I have been using Amy & Brian Coconut Juice as the foundation for my energizing Sunfood smoothies. Amy & Brain will be am important partner when the deserts and heat ahead up my need for quality electrolytes.

And it has been Maine Coast Sea Vegetables that has gotten not only the highest grade of sodium into my system (awesome seaweeds) but I have been feasting on their excellent Kelp Krunch bars and seasoning my rice with their tasty and nutritious spice like condiments. This as my fun food is not only delicious but it is good for me. As a day comes to a close, I make sure to savor every bite of the GoMacro.com bars and cookies. Phenomenal stuff!!

THX 4 all of U!!

Creek Dr - seconds from Stanford

2010-05-27T14:37:00.001-07:00

The trees at the left shield a view of the massive, river like San Francisquito Creek, which serves as the property line dividing Menlo Park from Palo Allto. So few cars use it, it feels almost rural. This as busy Page Mills Rd, which connects El Camino Real with I-280, less than a hundred yards away is also hidden from sight by the trees....

A lazy,meandering several mile road, it is a great warm up for the hills of the Coastal Range.......

Martin Krieg

"Awake Again" Author
'79 & '86 TransCon cyclist
2010 on Eagle w/Busycle & Book
http://www.BikeRoute.com/HBGR
Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death
Survivor. NBG Founding Director
HiWheel Cyclist
HiWheeler@gmail.com

HiWheel Fun at San Jose Bike Party (in pictures)

2010-05-26T23:14:00.001-07:00

Band-Aid for the Eagle - Making Spokes

2010-05-26T22:21:00.001-07:00

Since I had not broken a spoke in three days of more and more brisk flat riding, I headed for the hills to do some gentle climbing. Well, I didn't get too far above Stanford, on Junipero Serrra, when almost to Sand Hill, I had a pretty vicious spoke break. On a gentle ascent, just above the golf course, I heard the metal ping as the broken spoke started thrashing my legs.

This was brand new for me on the Eagle, as the broken spokes before had all been ones where the tie and solder connection was still in place. However, with the random way I've been trying to augment Jeff's work by getting spokes to just fill the gaps, the cross pattern is not consistent so I have not ben tieing them off. Hmm, maybe I will now.....

As such when I got back, I silver soldered the broken spoke back together using a modern bicycle spoke as a splint. And then having found some extra nipples, I decided to make a another spoke from the stock of broken ones I've ben accumulating. And now I am down to only two spokes missing. I may build them up tomorrow, And in lie of tieing and soldering, I will just use zip ties!

Truing the wheel was next. And as I am able to fill in more of the gaps, the wheel is actually getting straighter and straighter!! It will never hold up to either side of an 8 to 11K foot mountain pass, but I can train on it locally with hopefully light hill work until something better develops.......

You see until the insurance gets me into something cross country worthy, this is what I have to work with, And I'd like to do the SF Critical Mass on Friday where hills are San Francisco.......

If I can make this work, 'ain't nothing mechanical 'gonna stop me from getting to Boston.......

THX 4 all of U!!

On my way to the hills - the Stanford Quad

2010-05-26T17:57:00.001-07:00

On may to the foothills of the Coast Range that separate the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, I often pass thru Stanford. Here is a view of what is called the Main Quad that serves as a worthy introduction to the university,

Martin Krieg
"Awake Again" Author
'79 & '86 TransCon cyclist
2010 on Eagle w/Busycle & Book
http://www.BikeRoute.com/HBGR
Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death
Survivor. NBG Founding Director
HiWheel Cyclist HiWheeler@gmail.com

Parallels with NBG & the First US Coast to Coast Hwy

2010-05-26T13:06:00.001-07:00

Had an amazing conversation yesterday with Lynn LePage, an official with the City of Folsom and one of the powerhouse behind the

American River Park way (ARP) that we will be biking on July 11. A Big Thinker, he agrees that there is no reason why the ARP that I also talk about in my new book, cannot be adapted to fit the different geographies between here and Boston. We also talked about the Lincoln Hwy which passes through Folsom as yet another model we can stand behind to the make the National Bicycle Greenway real!!

Appeal to Patriots: The Lincoln Highway & National Bicycle Greenway A draft excerpt from "How America Can Bike And Grow Rich, The NBG Manifesto" In getting from one coast to the other here in America, as we showed you when we talked about Omaha's significance in the opening of the West, a route was first pioneered by the Lewis and Clark expedition, it was refined by the hundreds of thousands of pioneers who sought fortune in the West via the Oregon Trail, made more direct to California by the Lincoln Highway and fully brought to maturation in the form of I-80. Of these connections, none titillated the nation's imagination more than the Lincoln Highway. No more than ruts in the grass or a "red line on a map connecting all the worst mudholes in the Country" as it was referred to by many once an official route had been chosen, it was begun by those who dared to think big. This as the courage of its early drivers was equally as large. And yet it would go on to impact the culture of this continent in many ways similar to how the TransSiberia Railroad and Silk Road across Asia redefined those lands. In the end, though it was never one road but made use of many, it still changed our geography, increased the size of our thinking, enlarged the scope for what was possible and began to show that strangers are only friends one has not yet met. Long is this how I have foreseen the impact that the National Bicycle Greenway can have for America. Soon, largely because of the way in which we have squandered oil, the conditions of the world, terrorism, climate change, and peak oil, etc, will force us to look for solutions in a radically different frontier - another world also only explored initially by the adventurous few. A frightful place for most, the wilderness to which I refer is the inner self each of us knows so very little about. And yet as we bring the light of understanding to the darkness within, when we don’t need distraction from externals to be happy and content, we will transform the geography in a before unthinkable way as we make for a true wonderland of joy. Toward this end, as we move in the direction of a more sustainable way of conducting the business of life, the bicycle, where modern transportation all began, will emerge as an important tool. When glass and metal no longer separate us from our brothers, when a radio or the steady drone of an engine does not drown out bird song or the sounds of the city and we can feel the wind, even the wet of rain on our face, it is then that we will know what it is to be a fully alive part of the human family. As this experience teaches us that we need nothing or no one to be complete, we will become aware that conflict can bring us nothing of value. Even though the government funded our interstate system for defense purposes, a time will soon come when none of our long distance roads will be seen as ways for us to escape an enemy but as ways for us to more fully explore the love that is our connection to one another and to the planet itself. Using the Lincoln Highway as an example, then, I will show you how we can can go inside to create just such a heaven on earth with the National Bicycle Greenway. But first I have to help you better understand this nation’s first coast to coast road system and how it went about changing American consciousness the way it did. Fomented by Carl Fisher, the man who built the Indy Speedway, and later the Dixie Highway and Miami Beach, the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) came together in 1913. However because they could not raise the millions needed back then to actually build a coast to coast car connection, they quickly turned to promotion. It had become apparent to them that in order to create a wide cross section of support for their dream, that they first had to convince Americans that they needed roads. Toward this end, late in 1914, when their "highway" was formally announced, after almost two years of teasing the public with the adventure calling to them from California, they devised a way to make it seem un-American to not support what they had created. They called their offer to drive the collection of roads they had assembled an “Appeal to Patriots”. Add the name Lincoln to it, and motoring on the course they had selected would somehow make you a better citizen. Run by automobile manufacturers, the LHA knew that in order to create demand for its machines they had to have roads, lots of them. And as history has shown us, from the systematic deconstruction of passenger rail to the demolition of whole neighborhoods and historic buildings they would go on to stop at nothing to make people feel like they needed paved thoroughfares. Car makers began with an uphill battle. The possibility they had proposed came at a time when the price of a car rivaled that of a home. For that matter, the cost of one tire, of which many were needed on longer trips, could be measured in the form of several week’s worth of the working man’s wages. The LHA had to convince America that the Lincoln Highway they envisioned was more than the "peacock alley" many referred to it as. Especially in a Nation that was still largely driven by the needs of the farm. In 1913 when Carl Fisher set out with 19 others cars on the 34 day Hoosier Tour (also called the Indiana–Pacific Indiana Automobile Manufacturers Association tour) from Indianapolis to San Francisco, all but a few of the roads west of the Mississippi were hard to recognize dirt paths. For that matter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, established with the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 to make America’s National Parks more accessible, only 8% of the roads in American had improved surfaces of gravel, stone, sand-clay, brick, shells, oiled earth, or bituminous. Fisher also left on their 1,700 mile caravan at a time when filling stations were rare in America and none would be found anywhere between Indianapolis and San Francisco. Nor did the road map that we take for granted today even exist. Gulf Oil would not issue America’s first ever road map, a map that would cover the area in and around Pittsburgh, PA, until the end of 1913. And yet perhaps it was no coincidence that by the time Fisher’s much publicized journey was complete, car production exceeded the manufacture of carriages and wagons in the United States for the first time in history. Because of Fisher’s bold vision, a shift began to take place in the way Americans thought about travel. As the LHA took the data he had collected and continued their work of configuring an official route, a great number of cities all across the country set up committees to try to lure the Lincoln Highway to come their way. And even after the roads that would be used were announced, some of those that had been bypassed, continued lobbying efforts that would ultimately become futile. And yet as they continued to promote, they added to the voice that clamored for roads. Some of those that had been ignored, Denver, CO, for example, even went on to establish connections to other highway systems that had begun to rush in to fill the void . One such route was called the Midland Trail. Transcontinental, it ran from Washington DC to Los Angles. Other shorter connections such as the Dixie, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Spirit Lake and Sioux Fall Highways began to form at this time as well. Much of this was put on hold as America fought in World War I. However, when it ended in 1919, the LHA rallied a sense of patriotism for their road once again. It sold the US Army on the fact that they needed to use its "highway" to test the reliability of their vehicles. As such, a convoy of 72 vehicles, most of them heavy military trucks, and 297 men, paraded across America for two months that summer. Everywhere their machines went, sometimes with great difficulty, they were worshipped as heroes. One of officers who traveled on this tour was Dwight D Eisenhower, the same man who 38 years later would usher the Interstate system into law under the pretext of defense preparedness. The road building frenzy that had been blessed by the Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy gave cars more and more places to go. Soon, creating more automobiles and place for them to drive would became America’s preoccupation. Any yet maybe if Fisher’s original dream of connecting communities to one another hadn’t been obviated by Henry Joy’s engrossment with the most direct route, later road builders would have had more respect for people, the buildings that housed them and the land itself. As the president of both the Packard Motor Car Company and the Lincoln Hwy Association, Joy was far more interested in reaching San Francisco than he was in visiting any of the sights or residents along the way. It was this mindset that carried over as technology then enabled construction engineers to more and more conquer the country as they mowed through whatever was in the way. This psychology continued unabated into the 50’s and 60’s. It was not until Jane Jacobs led a movement to stop Robert Moses, who had already displaced nearly three quarters of a million people in New York CIty with his insatiable thirst for roads, that any of this was finally called into question. And yet there again, the early transportation pioneers of the last century could not have foreseen the downward spiral that the automobile would ultimately take us down. The health and social costs and the cost to the planet are only now forcing us to rethink the once unchallenged sacredness of the car and all the space it needs to do its work. From roads to parking places and the orientation of buildings, etc, we are only just now beginning to call any of the automobile’s insatiable appetite into question. Just as the father of the Lincoln Highway, Carl Fisher, began life as a bicycle mechanic and racer, indeed we have come back to the very point where modern transportation all began. As we reverse engineer our cities so that people can move about, free also of noise and smell, it is the bicycle that is making our population centers more livable once again. Besides getting us out of gridlock., the bicycle also speaks to the overweight epidemic that is gripping America today. If there ever was a war that could justify the expenditure of federal dollars here in the US, it needs to be fought right now. The battle we need to engage in is against the direct cause of skyrocketing health costs - obesity. Investment in safe infrastructure for walkers, joggers and cyclists would drive this expense down as it made all of America healthy and virile once again. So from a profit and loss standpoint alone, the numbers could easily justify a new "Appeal to Patriots", the building of the National Bicycle Greenway. And yet just as back when Mr Fisher awakened the spirit of reaching unexplored lands in our fore parents, as exercise in fresh air awakens the fullness of our being, as we said above, we will arrive at the only place left yet still to discover - the world within. While those who ventured to go long distance in a car had to rely on instinct and the goodwill of others, those who go long distance on a bike today can measure the quality of their ride by how well they are able to listen to that silent voice inside. Since the cycle tourist cannot carry as much as a car in the way of supplies, they often find themselves trusting that their intuition will locate the food and water needed to keep their legs moving. Whether it is a road they feel called to pedal, a stranger they feel compelled to talk to, or a trip guide they feel guided to consult, they know their needs will always be met if they trust. For that matter, while the long distance cyclist of today can still get to know himself pretty well through the nothingness of deserts and wide open prairie lands, his mental fortitude can still also tested by break downs. Consider the equipment that was required of all vehicles on the 1913 Hoosier Tour we talk about above: - a pick or mattock - a pair of tackle blocks - six hundred feet of three-quarter-inch rope - a barn lantern to be hung on the rear tire carrier in case the car’s regular lights failed - a steel stake three feet long to use as an anchor to pull the car out of sand or mud - twelve mudhooks - a full set of chains - a sledge - chocolate bars in cans - beans and other canned food - a 4’x6’ tent West of Salt Lake City: - four African water bags filled at all times Considering the difficulty level facing those long distance car travelers of the early 1900’s, one can’t help but know that such journeys built character. Without tow trucks or phone lines or any of the safety valves the modern motorist has at his or her disposal, car voyagers back then had to make a lot of it up as they went along. In many ways, their treks were a waking meditation. Without radio, billboards or road signs to distract them, they had to go inside for information and entertainment as they also bonded with their machines. Just as the transcontinental cyclist can get to know himself pretty well on the open road and is attuned to any new sound his bicycle may happen to make, early motorcar adventurers faced the same set of challenges. At a time when a car trip to the Pacific Ocean lasted one to two months, those hearty souls who undertook such a trip were forced to become not only their own best friend but they also knew that as uninvited guests to an unfamiliar land they always had to be on the lookout for help. Entering a frontier where no services for either their vehicles or themselves existed, they could not afford to alienate anyone in the event there was any kind of breakdown. From directions to health matters and broken parts, the smarter excursionists knew they needed each other out there. Unlike car drivers of today, this awareness forced them to be friendly with other motorists. Since travel was bidirectional, they never passed up a chance to exchange information about the condition of the road itself as they moved into new turf. In addition to one another, just like the NBG assists its scouts today, from 1913 to 1928 Lincoln HIghway travelers were assisted by the home offices of the Lincoln Highway Association. The LHA helped its travelers get on the way with routing and gearing recommendations. Though the actual “road” assistance the LHA provided could hardly be described as timely, especially by today’s standards, once word did get to them that someone was stuck, they still were able to get help out to them. ======================================== To be continued with parallels between the Lincoln Highway and the National Bicycle Greenway including: - The LHA radio shows = NBG Podcasts - LHA caravans and tours = NBG Mayors' Ride - LHA road markers = NBG approved road signs - LHA road spec = NBG road spec - LHA "seedling miles" = NBG demonstration sections

After the Rain

2010-05-25T22:33:00.001-07:00

View from the Eagle in Mtn View, Ca, going up Castro toward the hills..

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

2010 Mayors' Ride May Start 7/3 in San Jose

2010-05-25T10:27:00.001-07:00

The car the crashed into my Eagle on April 29, has not only caused us to have to change our start date, but we may be changing our start city as well. On Friday, I had a long talk at the City sanctioned concert that preceded the many thousands strong San Jose Bike Party that started from it with San Jose Transportation Director Hans Larsen. A zealous cyclist, he and I talked about all the great things that are happening for San Jose cyclists. And that they plan to see 15% of the trips people take there to be done on a bike in 30 years time. And because his city sees the importance of the bicycle as a part of the transportation mix, they have a very good relationship with the San Jose Bike Party.

Hans Rode the Bike Party with us!!

We also touched on the rich bicycle history San Jose has enjoyed. With its superb weather, San Jose's bike roots go back to the turn of the century with racing teams, velodromes and associated culture and continues even to this day with some of the biggest names in bike manufacturing having started in San Jose or still calling it home.

With that in mind, and with its almost 200 miles of bikeways, on Saturday, July 3rd, we may be starting the 2010 Mayors' Ride with a ride from there to Palo Alto, the home of our National Bicycle Greenway and arguably one of the top bike cities in the USA

Do stay tuned!!

brw: The Eagle is still hobbling along as I wade thru the insurance waters that will result in a cross country worthy machine once again!!

Quick Video of Busycle Sixhi

2010-05-24T10:09:00.001-07:00

This is what the crew looked like as we were starting out yesterday morning, Nor would any of this been possible w/o Lisa Knox who recruited most of the riders. From of all places, Facebook!!

btw: Now I know why the annual Green Meadow 4th of July parade is so successful.....

Park Automotive Home of the NBG 2010 Support Bus

2010-05-23T23:05:00.001-07:00

I was finally able to get a picture of Park Automotive on Park Ave here in Palo Alto, CA, next to Fry's when the parking lot was not filled with cars,

And here is the web page result I drew up for it:

http://web.me.com/hiwheel/Site/Park_Automotive.html

Do note ** this a draft**. But it does give you some idea of what Don Armstong's amazing operation is all about.....

Busycle Caretakers (again)

2010-05-23T14:37:00.001-07:00

Gerry Gras & Dana St George welcome the Busycle back to their home in s Palp Alto Danna even said we can put in their driveway if we get cited for being parked on the street !

As for the ride, the job was fast. Thank U so much John Edward Cabrera, Stephen Branz, Anna da Costa & Maria, Ken Knox, Michael Green, Lisa Knox, Penelope Low and kids, and Brice. Yahoo!!

Eagle Wreck Witness!

2010-05-22T22:17:00.001-07:00

This guy was at the Maker Faire. He was in the car behind Larry when he turned in front of me. Said he could not believe the guy did not see me.. He gave me his card...

Maker Faire 2010

2010-05-22T21:53:00.001-07:00

Name unknown

Help move the busyxle 9am sunday from 2045 Alma

2010-05-22T09:13:00.001-07:00

5/23 tomorrow - one hour...

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

Adidas & Palo Alto Eyeworks Buy Logos on Bus

2010-05-21T22:21:00.001-07:00

Robert Martinez hands me the check and sunglasses that Adidas Sportswear contributed to our ride. Arguably the best sunglasses money can buy, I cannot believe how brilliant, crystal clear the world looks through them Now I understand why R is so excited that his store, Palo Alto Eyeworks, has been selected to carry them!!

Wayne & Cathy buy a $200 Day

2010-05-21T22:08:00.001-07:00

Wayne & Cathy Douglass stopped by the bus just as I was getting ready to go down to the San Jose Bike Party with a genuine surprise. My guardian angels, who are always there when I need a lift, they donated $200 to our ride to Boston!! Wow wow wow!!!

San Jose Bike Party

2010-05-21T20:53:00.001-07:00

Google Crushes Historic Bike Ride

2010-05-21T11:50:00.001-07:00

The decade and half long history that has watched me build the upcoming ride from San Francisco to Boston that I now have straight ahead in my cross hairs has vanished. The six or seven blogs I run at Blogger.com, many of which were in place long before Google took them over, have been eviscerated from the web.

Last summer when I Eagled to Salt Lake (a blog I can no longer point you to), under Google, my blogs had become a nesting site for Cialis sales. And the fix for that was not made by anyone at Google. But by a few angels who appeared to help me at the forum Google runs to help people get their problem solved.

However, there has not been anyone at these discussion boards who can help me solve the Google password problem (it keeps getting changed on me and I run Google Tasks, Mail, AdSense, Books, Calendar, Spreadsheets, etc) I have had for months now. Nor has anyone from Google intervened such that it has now escalated to this.

Unless a real person from Google located just three miles from where I compose this (they may as well be on the other side of the world) steps forward, the hundreds of thousands of words I used to have on line may be gone forever. This disaster would not be so traumatic if I didn't have so many links for my upcoming ride that reference these blogs.

Unless Google steps forward, can anyone see any other way around this tragedy? I used to truly love Google but now I feel as tho they have tried to crush my dream of a coast to coast bicycle highway.......

I am so saddened by this :(

per http://2010mayorseaglebus.blogspot.com/2010/05/car-kills-eagle-busycle-faces-tow.html

Busycle Still Faces Tow Threat - Still Need Riders as Must Move Again :(

2010-05-20T22:19:00.001-07:00

For the first time ever, Facebook actually delivered! It found us five riders for Sunday!! But we still need nine more of you. We can make this quick work if we have a full bus. And do know it takes seven just to move it.......

We are taking it to the home that MIT educated mathematician and TransAM vet, Gerry Gras, shares with Danna St George less than a mile away. This photo you see of Gerry in his garden below, can be found along with some of the other bike color I blogged today at what I call "The Bicycle Face of Palo Alto". And I am seeing a lot more of our Tall Tree CIty because I cannot head for the hills on my broken Eagle any more. Until the insurance gets my bike fixed or replaced, I will be staying on flat roads not too far from Park Automotive (next to Frys) where the Eagle roosts..........

In case U missed it, here is why the Busycle has to move -

Car Kills Eagle - Busycle Faces Tow Threat - Must Move Again :(

Even though this will mostly be seen by the nearly 1400 Facebook and Twitter friends I have, I am still only offering it not expecting much. I know by most, it will be seen as no more than entertainment, especially by the ones far from Palo Alto. I am however passing it along in the hopes there is one of U who might like to be a part of history, our 2010 SF to Boston ride that is going to soon be the talk of the land.

Bcuz my ride got postponed by the car that destroyed my Eagle, instead of leaving last Sunday as I had planned, my trek has been pushed back to July. And the space it is in requires, for a number of reasons, that we move it ASAP. The car trailer I recently reserved for it to live on behind our bus is having a hard time getting down here from Chico. So if we can just get the Busycle moved, I won't be so hard under the gun to have to rely on that far away pulling device (the deposit is refundable).

And why not give my friends one last ride on it anyway as we save it from the towing yard?? Nor have I ever asked a one of U for $ and this machine has brought a ton of smiles and joy to many of U and to this community.

So who can be at 2045 Alma (near Santa Rita) this Sunday the 23rd at 9AM for a less than one mile Busycle ride?

THX 4 all of U!!

btw:

I hope there is one of you who can give an hour of your time to pedal the Busycle the last time it will move on Palo Alto streets

The Bicycle Face of Palo Alto

2010-05-20T12:49:00.001-07:00

Meeting of the geniuses. Shawn Raymond and Jobst Brandt stopped by the bus and talked matters mechanical that required encyclopedic knowledge

This is an example of a splint. Now when a spoke breaks, until I replace the rim. since I have no more spokes, I silver solder two together to do the job

MIT educated mathematician, Gerry Gras, in his garden. He and Danna St George will be hosting the Busycle for the next 5 weeks until I go ...

Seen in Palo Alto! On Park Ave, a street where the homes often command one million dollars.......

Same street, this Stanford prof was on his way to work, Can you see the pipe he is smokin

Car Kills Eagle - Busycle Faces Tow Threat - Must Move Again :(

2010-05-18T23:50:00.001-07:00

So who can be at 2045 Alma (near Santa Rita) this Sunday the 23rd at 9AM for a less than one mile Busycle ride?

THX 4 all of U!!

btw:

I hope there is one of you who can give an hour of your time to pedal the Busycle the last time it will move on Palo Alto streets

Two Worthy Eagle Mount and Dismount Quick Videos

2010-05-17T09:04:00.001-07:00

Krishnamurthy Iyer, an engineering student at Stanford, captured these two videos of me starting and stopping the Eagle. I was in the massive brick courtyard built around the Stanford church. While I can't go long distance on the Eagle, I can at least show locals what the best 1891 technology was all about..........

Yahoo Krishnamurthy

THX 4 U!!

See the full gallery on posterous

Jean Quan receives 8th Mayors' Ride 2 of 2

2010-05-16T23:04:00.001-07:00

On the Bay side of 880, we stopped at the historic log cabin that Jack London wintered in up in Alaska when he collected a lot of the material for his wildly successful books.

Oakland Vice Mayor and front runner for the 2010 Mayor's seat in November.

She, Frank and Ron, posed with this artist who drew a picture of the Eagle and I as I stood with it.

Also at JL Square, the Chair of the Walk Oakland Bike Oakland coalition, Carli Paine was there. Ron introduced me. We took a picture,

Our ride ended at the Actual Cafe, on San Pablo in Oakland, where Sal Bednarz is a real bullets cyclist who even rides the 38' Coker unicycle you see him pictured with below! His restaurant and nite spot even has a whole wall for bike parking!! And he might even let the world know about his awesome bike friendly eatery with an ad on on the bus!

The Oakland proclamation

Ron Bishop, the man, who, with Frank Flynn, made today the magic carpet ride it was!!

THX 4 all of U!!

Oakland Vice Mayor Jean Quan Receives 2010 ride at Jack London's Cabin 1of2

2010-05-16T22:19:00.001-07:00

Oakland, CA Vice Mayor, Jean Quan, received the 2010 8th annual Mayors' Ride pre-ride at the famous Jack London cabin in Jack London Square. The front runner in the November race for Mayor, it is easy to see why she is so well liked. She came at the bequest of Oakland Bike Mayor, Ron Bishop, and after hearing how much she knew about a myriad of different eco matters facing her city, I know it will be in powerful hands with her at the helm. She corroborated this for me when she told me she enjoyed working with zealous environmentalist and former Palo Alto Mayor, Yoriko Kishimoto, who is now running for state assembly, on a regional task force.

Since my Eagle is hobbling along after it was enfeebled by a car on April 29, the Palo Alto to Oakland part of the ride started in Frank Flynn's driveway

Nor could I pass up the opportunity to take a picture of one of his kid's trikes with the Eagle:

And as we were wrapping up getting our bikes loaded for the 45 mile trip, one of Frank's neighbors, John Richards, stopped by on the way to a ride of his own:

Once we got on our bikes in San Leandro, it amazed m to see what has taken place with a lot of the former backwater lands along a lot of the east Bay Area's waterfront. The recently dedicated Bill Lockyer bridge that you see here crosses over a slough to connect the Oakland Airport with the the beautiful trails that wind througgh what used to be a municioal dump.

See the full gallery on posterous

And we left that very pleasant riding turf to soon find ourselves pedaling along another wasteland turned bicycle heaven, the estuary trails that separate 880 from the Oakland Airport.

continued..........

The Amazing People the Eagle Finds!

2010-05-15T22:29:00.001-07:00

THX to Spoke123.com (Jeff Kistler), pictured below, I had the Eagle out today, not for a training ride, because I can't ride this damaged wheel very hard, but more for a see, thank and remind the locals here in Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Mountain View, that we are still here.

But not before I washed the bus. But to do that I had to repair the leak in the 100 foot hose I found headed for the dumps while riding behind Stanford and then asked John E Cabrera to retrieve. Well, Park Automotive Don suggested some 5/8" pipe and his friend Tim, who was visiting, cut me a piece of copper pipe from the plumbing portion of his general contractor's truck. After Don supplied a couple metal hose clamps, I had a working hose.

But Don was not finished. He asked me what I was going to use to do wash the bus. When I told him I had rags, dish soap and a pot, he whipped out a bucket, car wash soap and a soft brush affixed to a long pole. Armed with the right tools I was done in an hour instead of three. WoW. Don has such a huge heart. No wonder his customers have been with him for decades.

The road and my repaired Eagle were calling out to me. Even tho I stayed within a five mile range I still got a slow 20 mile ride in. And it was fun and marked by my giving out lots of flyers and meeting many interesting people.

Carol, below, for example, was walking along with a hula hoop spinning around her waist. I said hi and asked her how long she'd been doing that. When she said an hour, I stopped and got some other students to take the picture below.

The object of countless photos, here is some video that was taken of me getting on and off the bike in the Stanford Church courtyard -

Click here to download:

IMG_0447.MOV (3036 KB)

I popped a spoke on the way home and here is the silver solder job I did to repair it -

And Jeff gave me a few galvanized spokes with nipples to use as splints so I was also just now to fill in some of the gaps where they are missing until we figure out what the insurance is going to do -

While that was today. On Friday, Robert at Palo Alto Eyeworks, not only bought a logo on the bus but he convinced the people at Adidas Sportswear that they need to be there too!! Wow, an international advertiser to join Greenquest, another business concern that sells its services to the world. Soon, I will have a lot more to say about that exciting company too.

As for Robert, he cycles to his shop on California Ave, from Redwood City, a worthy ten miles away a few times a week. And his fellow optometrist Dierdre McMahon rides in every day, year round from Sunnyvale, CA about 13 miles away. She is amazing and I want to do a whole podcast show on her commute cycling efforts when my ride is complete. She is that remarkable.

While I am on the topic of amazing people, like all those you see here, last nite Shawn Raymond helped me figure out what I need to communicate to the insurance people so I can not only get my bike fixed but how I can quantify and document the hardship this has caused both me and a ride that I have lived and breathed for the last three years......

Nor is Virginia Heneghan, my new riding and future life partner a slouch. Among the many other behind the scenes tasks and cycle training she is doing there in Ireland, she got the trike that T-Ryx.com donated for our ride loaded into an EBay auction, HERE it is.......

Spread the word!!

Too awesome!!

THX 4 all of U!!

Say U like it or Buy How to Bike the US - toward thinking bigger thoughts - 5 bux..

2010-05-14T11:45:00.001-07:00

How to Bike the US Introduction
From the Intro

Welcome! You have volunteered yourself for a transformation of a most indelible nature. To TransAm on a bicycle separates you from the crowd. It's an achievement that will be with you every day of your life and will be the benchmark by which you judge the ease or difficulty of any project which presents itself to you. Soon, you will speak a different language and inwardly walk a different walk as those TransAm vets amongst us know that the sky is literally the limit!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/How-to-Bike-America-toward-thinking-bigger-thoughts/112886432072816?ref=ts

T-Ryx to help Raise our Ride from the Ashes

2010-05-12T07:57:00.001-07:00

Back on April 19, I talked about T-Ryx, this nation's largest trike dealer, and the amazing donation they made to our effort HERE.

And just as we were getting an auction set up to generate some cash to fuel our effort, ten days later, the Eagle and I got taken out by a car (in case U missed it - here). Well the ride's on again as you also saw here recently and look for an announcement soon that we will have the beautiful machine pictured below at Ebay for you to bid on!

Yahooo!!

Thank you (San Diego area) T-Ryx!!

THX 4 all of U!!

btw: If you've never ridden a precision built adult racing trike before, this is w/o question the highest art form of joy!!

Palo Alto to Oakland Ride

2010-05-11T08:02:00.001-07:00

Rode what amounted to 100 miles (c/o a few wrong turns) from Palo Alto Oakland and back yesterday. With half of the ride in the rain :( The ride up was a big joy only slowed by the morning commute thru Union City, Hayward, San Lorenzo, and San Leandro. On the way up, I was at full throttle, feeling unstoppable thanks to Sunfood.

Granted I was on my S&B Recumbent, but I know I have never ridden it for as far for anywhere near as long with such strength. I am trying not to sound like a commercial, but once long distance and performance cyclists start discovering this Sunfood rocket fuel, it is going to to make much of the energy foods that are out there, seem like no more than two bit candy....

What made yesterday additionally noteworthy in terms of the physical demand of the ride, was that I ride with wet clothing on wet roads almost the whole way back. I kept hoping for the wind and the cold to change, which it did for a few miles once or twice, but I had no choice but to ride. And hard. Again, I was buoyed by Sunfood, Whoaaaa....

Here is what it looked like out there:

Coming off America's worst bike road, the Dumbarton Bridge miles long access road that feeds Newark, CA, that's Mt Hamilton ahead..

Northbound after crossing the Bridge freway

Traffic kept the camera off until I reached the beautiful trails between 880 and the Oakland Airport

BART tracks dominate the skyline along 12th Street

My destination, the County Recorder is not far ahead.

12 sec Video of Eagle Wreck Audio

2010-05-09T22:40:00.001-07:00

Big Developments in Resurrected Ride to Boston

2010-05-08T00:40:00.001-07:00

Instead of a gym workout this Friday nite, I had two propitious developments occur today that, in the interest of momentum, I feel much compelled to tell you about. To begin, I spoke with Jim Spillane this evenig, and after he spoke with his dad, they both came to the conclusion that the Eagle I am riding is likely totaled for the purposes of a coast to coast ride. This is so because for the force of the collision to have pulled spokes out of the rim, means that the hub likely suffered damage as well. And just the disassembly and reassembly so it can be inspected could put the price tag for that inspection alone, with all the shipping and labor involved, at very near 1000 dollars. And that is before the wheel or the bike even gets rebuilt. Ugh......

He does have a replica Eagle he will reluctantly sell for almost $9,000, but will insurance pay that amount, and then how fast the bike can get here is unknown. And even if they only want to repair the broken one, we're talking at least a month before I am back on the road again. As a band aid fix, Jim exhorted me to get a few guys together and use brute strength to straighten it.

Well at 240 lbs, Don with his massive might, was all I needed to make the wheel look like a wheel again. We used the blocks of wood, Don instinctively pulled out from behind one of his giant tool boxes to anchor the wheel as he applied force. Jim had suggested that we do so, but Don had not known this. He just did what he does best - let his intuition solve the many problems he so expertly solves day in and day out.......

Twenty or so minutes later and I had a wheel that now Jeff Kistler thinks he can work with. While I don't think I want to roll off 6 to 12,000 foot mountain passes with it, I may soon have a machine I can at least train locally on!! This as I reinvent the buzz for our ride that was starting to take place around here. Big whoaaaa!

And then as I reveled in all the what ifs of being back on Eagle again, Lynn Lepage called me at probably 8 in the PM. Still at work in the city of Folsom, where he is a high power recreation manager, he and I had a lot to talk about. In fact, we hadn't spoken in probably almost a year because, unbeknownst to me, he had lost my phone number. I had sent him lots of email but forgot that he had a deformed hand that kept him from replying to any of the stuff he had been seeing. I just figured he was consumed by other stuff It wasn't until we neared his precious (and rightfully so) American River Parkway http://www.arpps.org that he got one of his secretaries to let me know that he applauded my progress and that the Friends of the Folsom River Parkway were not only going to receive our ride with gusto but that they were going to donate $500 to our effort.

I told Lynne that I would like to use that money now as a down payment on the trailer that Shawn Raymond found for our Busycle!! And instead of presenting it to me when we arrive, he thinks he can get it to us right away so we can haul the Busycle to Sacramento for their amazing Bike to Work Day event at the State Capitol on May 20. We can also get our bus/Busycle to the Maker Faire at the San Mateo fairgrounds on 5/22-23. And as we do, we will be able to put our operation through the crucially needed shakedown cruises that are much required before we set off for Boston......

In addition, the tow hitch came in yesterday!! Who can come over here to Park Automotive and help me install it??

THX 4 all of U!!

Straightening Eagle Wheel w/Park Automotive Don

2010-05-07T17:47:00.001-07:00

Look like a temporary fix might be at hand!!

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

Ride Postponed for 6 weeks

2010-05-06T11:30:00.001-07:00

Dues to the unforeseen turn of events caused by the car that turned in front of me while I was on the Eagle, our ride to Boston will be pushed back six weeks. This extension will be needed to not only repair or even replace the damaged HiWheel but so we can do the best possible job of communicating our vision to America and the world. Since this historic ride will take place only this one time, we need to put our best foot forward in showing this Nation why we need to connect San Francisco and Boston with a Greenway so all of the rest of America will feel called to interconnect to it.

As I wait to see what needs to happen with the Eagle and how much money Larry's insurance can supply to help get us back on the road, I have been busy flow charting those tasks that will make the bus a dependable showcase of comfort, as well as what we have to do to fine tune the Busycle and trailer system that will pull it across the USA. These were jobs we could not do in the rain and cold of this last winter and spring.

In addition, a lot of our on line systems got roughed up when I rode the Eagle to Salt Lake City last summer so while I'm waiting they can be cleaned up. During the month of June, I will be bringing my fiance up to cross country speed. Virginia Heneghan has done a lot of behind the scenes work for our project during the long deprivation training I have endured for the last year to make this ride real.

As such, with the help of our sponsors come 7/3, the Eagle rides again! And as this ride once again soars, not only will Virginia be helping to build a much stronger foundation for our journey, but she will be riding with me too.

Too excited!!

Eagle Destroyed - Car Turns in Front of Me - Yikes @#)

2010-04-29T20:11:00.001-07:00

With 14 days to go, things have gotten very interesting. About a mile into a training ride, feeling strong and ready for maybe a thirty miler, a car turned in front of me at Wilkie and Chatleston here in Palo Alto. Though bumped and bruised, I am OK. I even walked me and the broken Eagle back to the bus. However the wheel that many of you saw us so painstakingly rebuild, is destroyed. Ugh.......

To make matters even more odd, I knew the guy. Larry and I used to study the "Course in Miracles", a spiritual teaching, together. He was visibly upset until I told him my last name. He then told me was going to be calling me soon to invite me to come back to the study group he belongs to. Seeing that I was OK, we both laughed. And we agreed to give it to Spirit to sort out the details. So now it's all about hmmmmm....

What to do?

He will get his insurance to pay for the damage, but I need to be out of here in just a couple weeks time. Tons of 'what ifs' are now before me. Do I just take the Busycle and make a shorter Mayors' Ride campaign this year. And maybe do the Eagle as a stand alone ride next summer where I can really showcase the power of this Sunfood rocket fuel? Do I see if I Jim Spillane can come up with an entire 50" Wheel that he can get reimbursed for not right away but once the insurance dust settles?

Hmmmm......

Larry is smiling bcuz I am OK and stuff can be replaced ......

Something good will come of this!! And Larry great to see you again but did it have to be so dramatic?

THX 4 all of U!!

btw: Good thing I was on a HiWheel. All that wheel destruction you see would have been crushed legs and probable organ damage

Ride imperiled - hit by car - wheel destroyed

2010-04-29T18:18:00.001-07:00

Thankfully I am ok. And the guy who turned in front of is a friend.. We used to study the Course in MirAcles together...

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

Shawn Raymond Saves the Eagle Again!!

2010-04-29T00:00:00.001-07:00

For several weeks now, I've been training on an Eagle wheel clearance time bomb. Because the steer tube had gotten bent from maybe hitting a curb or from all the pounding it endured with a 40 lb load last summer when I rode to Salt Lake, the front and rear wheel were running so close I could not put new rubber on and the next bump it hit could cause them to hit each other.

Well, trying to avoid some people, I hit a small 3 inch ledge today and the small amount of clearance you see above, went down to none at all in the one high spot we still have to tune down. And 6 miles away from home, my pedaling became very labored. I called Shawn Raymond. He and I had been talking about this problem for as long as I had been back on the road

While I talked to many engineers and mechanics and the possible fixes were many and often complex, Shawn stood by his two by four fix and said he would come right over after he finished his dinner 20 miles away to show me. He actually believed that we could build a lever strong enough with wood to bend steel. I did not believe it was possible.

Well as the pictures below show, Shawn once again saved the day!!

The job was done in 15 minutes! This guy is a full on mechanical genius...

Too awesome!!

Too exciting!!

So much going on all at once - 15 days...................

Historical Ride Needs Bus Driver - Original One Takes New Job

2010-04-27T16:00:00.001-07:00

Per http://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010 , we need a class A or B driver. If this describes you please reply accordingly. Here is the ad we just placed at Craigs:ist http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/vol/1712867469.html (volunteers)

------------------------------------

We got notice recently that the guy who was so excited to drive our bus and who we were hoping would commit to driving it to Boston is no longer available. He took a new job. So a new God Job must begin:

With 17 days before we leave, we need a driver for our 40 foot bus. A Class A or B license is required. And you wiill need to be comfortable with towing another vehicle, our 15-person busycle at http://www.bikeroute.com/BusycleWestCoast .

We can pay you a small stipend if you want to make history with us by being a part of our 8th Annual National Mayors' Ride at http://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010

415-606-5043 hiwheeler@gmail.com

---------------------------

We are also taking apps for two to three cyclists who might like to join us (3). If U want to bike across the US in style and be a part of our 8th Annual National Mayors' Ride , we need to hear from U asap!!

THX 4 all of U!!

btw: Follow us at http://2010mayorseaglebus.blogspot.com/

18 Days of Yikes Left!!

2010-04-26T01:07:00.001-07:00

We have reached that point in time where the foundation we have laid will hopefully make the next 18 days a powerful flow that bears strong results and not out of control frenzy. I will have the admit that next to the Eagle which ThX to Jim Spillane, Shawn Raymond and Jeff Kistler and many others, is running like a top, the cornerstone of the ride ahead has become Sunfood. If I would have it last year, I could have probably beat all the rain that swamped my ride, But this year is a different story. All of my training miles are strong, very close to full tilt....

I, however, didn't ride more than 30 or 40 miles this w/e as I was busy getting ride flyers out to all the peopled places I went to. Today, for example, I went to two different Farmers Markets, Mountain View, where I was a big celebrity and Palo Alto where I renewed old networks and kept my ride before a lot of those who know me. I also rode a couple of downtowns, Menlo Park and PA's University Ave downtown.

After all my riding was done, I got my packs looking black again. Not new, but black. Since they are both perfectly useful and are the result of several years of trial and error research. and I cannot run out and buy adequate replacements, here is what they now look like:

I was asking to Don at Park Automotive if they still sold car interior spray paint, when he got on the phone to one of his car parts suppliers and said let's find out. Sure enough, they still did but only in black. He ordered a can. It was at the bus the next day!! And the above paks will look great once I re-letter them and they get some sun on them as well. They'll look old but not faded......

Also put on a few more of the beautiful signs that MrLetter.com keeps pumping out for this journey. And we are talking so crystal clear that each time I pull off the protective coating I am inspired!!

Working backwards the weekend started with what I think was the last ride the Busycle will make in Palo Alto. We rode it over to David and Kara Bajots place, We put on its Empire Cover and don't expect it to move again until we roll it on to a trailer. Kind of makes me sad that a machine over which this city once bubbled became yet another throw away to be ignored and otherwise forsaken. Or is that just life? Well at least there is all of the rest of America to still discover the joy and fun that this thing is all about.......

Show & Tell - 21 Days Left.........And..

2010-04-23T23:56:00.001-07:00

Rode to and then on the Mary St Bike Bridge in Sunnyvale (it crosses 280) ten miles away as cameras clicked and kids looked on in wonder (there were a lot of people out on this beautiful evening) A better picture of me and 103 yo Doris at the famous Bide-a-wee bench in Menlo ParK

The yellow wire you see here keeps the straps on my paper light back pack from slipping off..

This sign from the 60's hangs in Don's Park Automotive garaage

What the roads of the loop look like (once inside this gallery, you will see the entrance to the Dish, the famous local hiking trail)

Mr Baggy as I leave the gym after my Friday night ride

We gotta work this next. Because the steer tube got bent, I am not sure if I cam put new rubber on without running into clearance issues....

THX 4 all of U!!

btw: Just had a 27 foot fully outfitted camper trailer donated!! Can anyone tow it to the bus??

http://www.pingg.com/rsvp/cs4cp2rgxrpz8nzki

Please!! Help us Move the Busycle Sat Morn!! Last Chance to Ride it!!

2010-04-23T12:54:00.001-07:00

It shouldn't be that hard to get at least half a dozen people together to move our Busycle, but for some reason it is :(

So far all we have committed to help us at 9AM tomorrow is JohnE Cabrera. Please step forward and give us an hour of your time. Sign up here:

This is most probably the last journey it will make here in Palo Alto......

A Cyclist's View of the Eagle from Behind

2010-04-23T08:20:00.001-07:00

Hi,
We just met and here R the pix I took of you! Great stories, thanks for the chat. And good luck with riding this "bike" to Boston in May! You sure blew my mind away!
Peter

Two Openings for Cross X Cyclists Appear on NBG SF to Boston Bus

2010-04-22T23:52:00.001-07:00

In these lean times, we thought the ride we've had on the books for almost ten years had to move forward as a bare bones operation. However Don Armstrong at Park Automotive reminded me that we can always gut a camper to get some of those basic living necessities that we would do work arounds for if I am the only one riding. But we've got this great support vehicle and as the author of "How to Bike America", it would be an honor to help 2 or 3 other people experience for themselves the transformation that issues from a two wheel coast to coast accomplishment .

If biking the US as a part of our 8th Annual National Mayors' Ride at http://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010 interests you, if you can pay your share of the diesel, this might be a way for both of us to make our dreams real.

Supply your own air bed or mattress, solar shower and food, and your share of the fuel, and we will give you ten weeks of lodging free!! We'll even help you blog your rode at http:NBG.BikeRoute.com as well give you an NBG Bio like one of these http://nbg.bikeroute.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios

Contact me as soon as U can if interested - hiwheeler@gmail.com 415-606-5043

Martin Krieg "Awake Again" Author
'77 Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death Survivor
'79 TransCon Upright, 86 TransCon Recumbent
2010 first to pedal Eagle HiWheel TransCon
http://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010
National Bicycle Greenway Founding Director

Get Tax Deduction: Donate Good Guts Camper to NBG Ride

2010-04-22T22:50:00.001-07:00

Remove

I posted this on Craigs List"

Our 8th Annual National Mayors' Ride athttp://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010 leaves in 22 days time now and we can invite cyclists along the way to join us if we had better facilities such as a propane refrigerator, stove, shower toilet, even bedding. If you have camper that perhaps has a beat up appearance but most of these items are still in good working order, can we take it off your hands? And give you a tax write off from our nonprofit National Bicycle Greenway in exchange!!
415-606-5043

Historical Ride Needs Bus Driver - Original One Takes New Job.

2010-04-22T10:50:00.001-07:00

We got notice today that the guy who was so excited to drive our bus and who we were hoping would commit to driving it to Boston is no longer available. He took a new job. So a new God Job must begin

With 22 days before we leave, we need a driver for our 40 foot bus. A Class A or B license is required. And you wiill need to be comfortable with towing another vehicle, our 15-person busycle at http://www.bikeroute.com/BusycleWestCoast . We can pay you a small stipend if you want to make history with us by being a part of our 8th Annual National Mayors' Ride at http://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010

Lori Yung gives our ride a New Face - New Go Power!!

2010-04-22T08:05:00.001-07:00

Lori Yung the woman who has bailed me out of almost every tough web publishing scrape I have faced over the years, including resurrecting NationalBicycleGreenway.com (now http://NBG.BikeRoute.com) added the below to all of our web pages:

At first blush. one may say, what's the big deal? That looks like it should be there. And yet that is the point. It was Not and Has Not been on any of our pages over all the years we've been doing Mayors' Rides. Now, anywhere in our massive site, almost 2000 pages, one can always know where we are dedicating all of our resources - to the National Mayors' Ride - where it's going and where it stands. And make a visit!!

Even if they come in from a different portal, say a web search for a recumbent trike or any of the pieces I have authored about bike trailers, or TransAm cycling or from any of my books, even our free classified ads, etc etc, they will feel drawn to take a look at the also beautiful transformation that Lori is bringing about with our Mayors' Ride schedule that all this points to!!

WoW this is all too powerful and exciting!!

THX 4 all of U!!

Steve Saeedi Snaps Shot of NBG Rock Star Bus

2010-04-21T12:53:00.001-07:00

Steve Saeed, who works at nearby Ebrary, a hopeful new supporter of our ride, stopped by the bus and took a picture indeed worth sharing!!

Rhoades Car gets on Bus w/Sleek New 2-Seat Bike

2010-04-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

In now taking aim at a new market, the Baby Boomers of this world, the all new Rhoades Car under new ownership, is no longer just your retired person's 4-wheel bike. The windscreen on the bike you see pictured below, is UV and glare resistant and the bike has an electric assist that will do just under 15 miles an hour. in carrying on the tradition of supporting the NBG by getting on the bus with a logo, they also want bike people everywhere to keep an eye on all the new machines they have up their sleeve!!

Thank you Rhoades Car!!

Appeal to Patriots: The Lincoln Highway & National Bicycle Greenway (from my book)

2010-04-21T09:48:00.001-07:00

Appeal to Patriots: The Lincoln Highway & National Bicycle Greenway
A draft excerpt from "How America Can Bike And Grow Rich, The NBG Manifesto"

In getting from one coast to the other here in America, as we showed you when we talked about Omaha's significance in the opening of the West, a route was first pioneered by the Lewis and Clark expedition, it was refined by the hundreds of thousands of pioneers who sought fortune in the West via the Oregon Trail, made more direct to California by the Lincoln Highway and fully brought to maturation in the form of I-80. Of these connections, none titillated the nation's imagination more than the Lincoln Highway.

No more than ruts in the grass or a "red line on a map connecting all the worst mudholes in the Country" as it was referred to by many once an official route had been chosen, it was begun by those who dared to think big. This as the courage of its early drivers was equally as large. And yet it would go on to impact the culture of this continent in many ways similar to how the TransSiberia Railroad and Silk Road across Asia redefined those lands. In the end, though it was never one road but made use of many, it still changed our geography, increased the size of our thinking, enlarged the scope for what was possible and began to show that strangers are only friends one has not yet met.

Long is this how I have foreseen the impact that the National Bicycle Greenway can have for America. Soon, largely because of the way in which we have squandered oil, the conditions of the world, terrorism, climate change, and peak oil, etc, will force us to look for solutions in a radically different frontier - another world also only explored initially by the adventurous few. A frightful place for most, the wilderness to which I refer is the inner self each of us knows so very little about. And yet as we bring the light of understanding to the darkness within, when we don’t need distraction from externals to be happy and content, we will transform the geography in a before unthinkable way as we make for a true wonderland of joy.

Toward this end, as we move in the direction of a more sustainable way of conducting the business of life, the bicycle, where modern transportation all began, will emerge as an important tool. When glass and metal no longer separate us from our brothers, when a radio or the steady drone of an engine does not drown out bird song or the sounds of the city and we can feel the wind, even the wet of rain on our face, it is then that we will know what it is to be a fully alive part of the human family. As this experience teaches us that we need nothing or no one to be complete, we will become aware that conflict can bring us nothing of value. Even though the government funded our interstate system for defense purposes, a time will soon come when none of our long distance roads will be seen as ways for us to escape an enemy but as ways for us to more fully explore the love that is our connection to one another and to the planet itself.

Using the Lincoln Highway as an example, then, I will show you how we can can go inside to create just such a heaven on earth with the National Bicycle Greenway. But first I have to help you better understand this nation’s first coast to coast road system and how it went about changing American consciousness the way it did.

Fomented by Carl Fisher, the man who built the Indy Speedway, and later the Dixie Highway and Miami Beach, the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) came together in 1913. However because they could not raise the millions needed back then to actually build a coast to coast car connection, they quickly turned to promotion. It had become apparent to them that in order to create a wide cross section of support for their dream, that they first had to convince Americans that they needed roads.

Toward this end, late in 1914, when their "highway" was formally announced, after almost two years of teasing the public with the adventure calling to them from California, they devised a way to make it seem un-American to not support what they had created. They called their offer to drive the collection of roads they had assembled an “Appeal to Patriots”. Add the name Lincoln to it, and motoring on the course they had selected would somehow make you a better citizen. Run by automobile manufacturers, the LHA knew that in order to create demand for its machines they had to have roads, lots of them. And as history has shown us, from the systematic deconstruction of passenger rail to the demolition of whole neighborhoods and historic buildings they would go on to stop at nothing to make people feel like they needed paved thoroughfares.

Car makers began with an uphill battle. The possibility they had proposed came at a time when the price of a car rivaled that of a home. For that matter, the cost of one tire, of which many were needed on longer trips, could be measured in the form of several week’s worth of the working man’s wages. The LHA had to convince America that the Lincoln Highway they envisioned was more than the "peacock alley" many referred to it as. Especially in a Nation that was still largely driven by the needs of the farm.

In 1913 when Carl Fisher set out with 19 others cars on the 34 day Hoosier Tour (also called the Indiana–Pacific Indiana Automobile Manufacturers Association tour) from Indianapolis to San Francisco, all but a few of the roads west of the Mississippi were hard to recognize dirt paths. For that matter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, established with the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 to make America’s National Parks more accessible, only 8% of the roads in American had improved surfaces of gravel, stone, sand-clay, brick, shells, oiled earth, or bituminous.

Fisher also left on their 1,700 mile caravan at a time when filling stations were rare in America and none would be found anywhere between Indianapolis and San Francisco. Nor did the road map that we take for granted today even exist. Gulf Oil would not issue America’s first ever road map, a map that would cover the area in and around Pittsburgh, PA, until the end of 1913. And yet perhaps it was no coincidence that by the time Fisher’s much publicized journey was complete, car production exceeded the manufacture of carriages and wagons in the United States for the first time in history.

Because of Fisher’s bold vision, a shift began to take place in the way Americans thought about travel. As the LHA took the data he had collected and continued their work of configuring an official route, a great number of cities all across the country set up committees to try to lure the Lincoln Highway to come their way. And even after the roads that would be used were announced, some of those that had been bypassed, continued lobbying efforts that would ultimately become futile. And yet as they continued to promote, they added to the voice that clamored for roads.

Some of those that had been ignored, Denver, CO, for example, even went on to establish connections to other highway systems that had begun to rush in to fill the void . One such route was called the Midland Trail. Transcontinental, it ran from Washington DC to Los Angles. Other shorter connections such as the Dixie, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Spirit Lake and Sioux Fall Highways began to form at this time as well.

Much of this was put on hold as America fought in World War I. However, when it ended in 1919, the LHA rallied a sense of patriotism for their road once again. It sold the US Army on the fact that they needed to use its "highway" to test the reliability of their vehicles. As such, a convoy of 72 vehicles, most of them heavy military trucks, and 297 men, paraded across America for two months that summer. Everywhere their machines went, sometimes with great difficulty, they were worshipped as heroes. One of officers who traveled on this tour was Dwight D Eisenhower, the same man who 38 years later would usher the Interstate system into law under the pretext of defense preparedness.

The road building frenzy that had been blessed by the Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy gave cars more and more places to go. Soon, creating more automobiles and place for them to drive would became America’s preoccupation.

Any yet maybe if Fisher’s original dream of connecting communities to one another hadn’t been obviated by Henry Joy’s engrossment with the most direct route, later road builders would have had more respect for people, the buildings that housed them and the land itself. As the president of both the Packard Motor Car Company and the Lincoln Hwy Association, Joy was far more interested in reaching San Francisco than he was in visiting any of the sights or residents along the way. It was this mindset that carried over as technology then enabled construction engineers to more and more conquer the country as they mowed through whatever was in the way. This psychology continued unabated into the 50’s and 60’s. It was not until Jane Jacobs led a movement to stop Robert Moses, who had already displaced nearly three quarters of a million people in New York CIty with his insatiable thirst for roads, that any of this was finally called into question.

And yet there again, the early transportation pioneers of the last century could not have foreseen the downward spiral that the automobile would ultimately take us down. The health and social costs and the cost to the planet are only now forcing us to rethink the once unchallenged sacredness of the car and all the space it needs to do its work. From roads to parking places and the orientation of buildings, etc, we are only just now beginning to call any of the automobile’s insatiable appetite into question.

Just as the father of the Lincoln Highway, Carl Fisher, began life as a bicycle mechanic and racer, indeed we have come back to the very point where modern transportation all began. As we reverse engineer our cities so that people can move about, free also of noise and smell, it is the bicycle that is making our population centers more livable once again. Besides getting us out of gridlock., the bicycle also speaks to the overweight epidemic that is gripping America today.

If there ever was a war that could justify the expenditure of federal dollars here in the US, it needs to be fought right now. The battle we need to engage in is against the direct cause of skyrocketing health costs - obesity. Investment in safe infrastructure for walkers, joggers and cyclists would drive this expense down as it made all of America healthy and virile once again. So from a profit and loss standpoint alone, the numbers could easily justify a new "Appeal to Patriots", the building of the National Bicycle Greenway.

And yet just as back when Mr Fisher awakened the spirit of reaching unexplored lands in our fore parents, as exercise in fresh air awakens the fullness of our being, as we said above, we will arrive at the only place left yet still to discover - the world within. While those who ventured to go long distance in a car had to rely on instinct and the goodwill of others, those who go long distance on a bike today can measure the quality of their ride by how well they are able to listen to that silent voice inside. Since the cycle tourist cannot carry as much as a car in the way of supplies, they often find themselves trusting that their intuition will locate the food and water needed to keep their legs moving. Whether it is a road they feel called to pedal, a stranger they feel compelled to talk to, or a trip guide they feel guided to consult, they know their needs will always be met if they trust.

For that matter, while the long distance cyclist of today can still get to know himself pretty well through the nothingness of deserts and wide open prairie lands, his mental fortitude can still also tested by break downs. Consider the equipment that was required of all vehicles on the 1913 Hoosier Tour we talk about above:

- a pick or mattock
- a pair of tackle blocks
- six hundred feet of three-quarter-inch rope
- a barn lantern to be hung on the rear tire carrier in case the car’s regular lights failed
- a steel stake three feet long to use as an anchor to pull the car out of sand or mud
- twelve mudhooks
- a full set of chains
- a sledge
- chocolate bars in cans
- beans and other canned food
- a 4’x6’ tent
West of Salt Lake City:
- four African water bags filled at all times

Considering the difficulty level facing those long distance car travelers of the early 1900’s, one can’t help but know that such journeys built character. Without tow trucks or phone lines or any of the safety valves the modern motorist has at his or her disposal, car voyagers back then had to make a lot of it up as they went along.

In many ways, their treks were a waking meditation. Without radio, billboards or road signs to distract them, they had to go inside for information and entertainment as they also bonded with their machines. Just as the transcontinental cyclist can get to know himself pretty well on the open road and is attuned to any new sound his bicycle may happen to make, early motorcar adventurers faced the same set of challenges. At a time when a car trip to the Pacific Ocean lasted one to two months, those hearty souls who undertook such a trip were forced to become not only their own best friend but they also knew that as uninvited guests to an unfamiliar land they always had to be on the lookout for help.

Entering a frontier where no services for either their vehicles or themselves existed, they could not afford to alienate anyone in the event there was any kind of breakdown. From directions to health matters and broken parts, the smarter excursionists knew they needed each other out there. Unlike car drivers of today, this awareness forced them to be friendly with other motorists. Since travel was bidirectional, they never passed up a chance to exchange information about the condition of the road itself as they moved into new turf.

In addition to one another, just like the NBG assists its scouts today, from 1913 to 1928 Lincoln HIghway travelers were assisted by the home offices of the Lincoln Highway Association. The LHA helped its travelers get on the way with routing and gearing recommendations. Though the actual “road” assistance the LHA provided could hardly be described as timely, especially by today’s standards, once word did get to them that someone was stuck, they still were able to get help out to them.

========================================
To be continued with parallels between the Lincoln Highway and the National Bicycle Greenway including:

- The LHA radio shows = NBG Podcasts
- LHA caravans and tours = NBG Mayors' Ride
- LHA road markers = NBG approved road signs
- LHA road spec = NBG road spec
- LHA "seedling miles" = NBG demonstration sections

The Propane Reefer we Need!!

2010-04-20T16:22:00.001-07:00

Can anyone help with a 3 month tax deductible loan for our ride ?

THX 4 all of U!!

Buy a New Trailer for our Ride - Yours to Keep??

2010-04-20T15:47:00.001-07:00

From Able Trailers in Davis on i-80

It's 16' long and has a 2-5/16" ball hitch. Out the door registered with the DMV, even, for $2600!!

Might there be anyone out there who needs a trailer than be readily modified to do all kinds of things? And also get a write off using our nonprofit number? If they can let us use it to haul the Busycle for our 3 month journey?

24 days.......

We can do this!!

Un-replaceable Faded Butpak - Can it be Dyed?

2010-04-20T10:23:00.001-07:00

I used the butpak pictured below last summer when I rode to Salt Lake. I had spent a fair amount of time researching this on line and after a few send backs, this was the most very worthy result. However, even though it still works just great, it is faded. And I can not go out and buy a new one as Marmot stopped making this model.....

As such, does anyone here know if this can be dyed? And if so, if anyone knows who does such a thing?

Draft - 2010 Berkeley NBG Day Proclamation

2010-04-19T23:32:00.001-07:00

National Bicycle Greenway Day

May 16, 2010

By virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Berkeley, I do hereby issue this proclamation honoring

NATIONAL BICYCLE GREENWAY DAY

May 16, 2010

WHEREAS, the bicycle was the first personal transportation vehicle and a century ago was an important part of American culture; and

WHEREAS, in 1884 Thomas Stevens rode a HiWheel bicycle through Berkeley on his way to Boston where he completed the very first bike ride ever made across America; and

WHEREAS, the city of Berkeley recognizes the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG) mission to build our city into its network of bike friendly roads and bicycle pathways that will connect Boston with San Francisco/Oakland; and

WHEREAS, NBG director and "Awake Again" author, Martin Krieg, daily spent hours biking the Berkeley hills as he rehabilitated from his head injury and prepared for his first bike ride across America; and

WHEREAS, the traffic calming that Berkeley long ago pioneered for the rest of America has contributed to the fact that 15% of the trips Berkeley residents make are done so on a bike; and

WHEREAS, the bike/ped bridge connecting Berkeley with its marina is a landmark piece of architecture that reminds the many tens of thousands of Interstate drivers who daily pass under it of the bicycle option.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, THE MAYOR OF Berkeley do hereby proclaim May 16, 2010 as "NATIONAL BICYCLE GREENWAY DAY" in Berkeley , CA

(signed)

Tom Bates

Mayor, Berkeley

Oakland 2010 NBG Day Proclamation

2010-04-19T23:04:00.001-07:00

National Bicycle Greenway Day

May 16, 2010

By virtue of the authority the National Bicycle Greenway has vested in me as Bike Mayor of the City of Oakland, I do hereby issue this proclamation honoring

NATIONAL BICYCLE GREENWAY DAY

May 16, 2010

WHEREAS, the bicycle was the first personal transportation vehicle and a century ago was an important part of American culture; and

WHEREAS, in 1884 Thomas Stevens rode a HiWheel bicycle from our city to Boston, making his the first successful bike ride across America; and

WHEREAS, the city of Oakland recognizes the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG) mission to build our city into its network of bike friendly roads and bicycle pathways that will connect Boston with San Francisco/Oakland; and

WHEREAS, NBG Director, Martin Krieg who was born in Oakland, used its beautiful mountain roads to rebuild his body for his first bike ride across America, and the quiet of its neighborhoods to write the story about his recovery from head injury and the two bike rides across America that followed; and

WHEREAS, Oakland has over 90 miles of on street bike lanes, hosted the first US city sanctioned Car Free Day as well as the first big city Bike to Work day and is the proud home of the transit based Fruitvale Bike Station.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, THE BIKE MAYOR OF Oakland do hereby proclaim May 16, 2010

as "NATIONAL BICYCLE GREENWAY DAY" in Oakland , CA

(signed)

Ron Bishop

Bike Mayor, Oakland

SFBC's Andy Thornley to Receive 2010 Palo Alto to San Francisco Mayors' Ride Kick Off!!

2010-04-19T17:53:00.001-07:00

Andy Thornley, the popular results getting man who has been partly responsible for growing the 11,000 member, San Francisco Bike Coalition that is changing the landscape of San Francisco cycling, has agreed to receive our kick off ride from Palo Alto. Date May 15!!

Details soon, but if U want to join our ride from Palo Alto City Hall to San Francisco City Hall, please join us here!!

Here is our schedule.

Too Exciting!!

THX 4 all of U!!

T-Ryx donates $8,000 trike to NBG SF to Boston Ride!

2010-04-19T16:22:00.001-07:00

T-Ryx, this nation's genuinely humble largest trike dealer, is contributing this gorgeous, polished aluminum, Hase Kettwiesel Fast racing trike to our effort:

And here is what Recumbent Bike Riders, the authoritative voice of the recumbent industry has to say about this epic machine:

Leave your rivals reeling: KettWiesel Fast. Fastidiously fast.

A purist delta trike with a powerful kick. Example: Shimano’s bar-end shifters are as small as they are ergonomic. Tune’s Fast Foot crankset is one of the lightest on the market. It holds a 52-tooth chainring and revolves around a Six Pack titanium bottom bracket. Mounted between the rear wheels are the high-end rear derailleur SRAM Force and the original Hase differential: Two driven wheels are more fun than one.

And the third wheel guarantees fun in the front, with only 16 super-light spokes. The rigid fork is made from fine carbon – as are the brake levers of the strong but ultralight Magura brakes.

What could fit better to a polished aluminum frame than the matt black of carbon? With its 15 kg (33 lbs), the Fast is the lightest trike, and its design alone will have your heart racing: Drop the seat back, click into the pedals, and zoom off!

full article

---------------------------------

So now we have to turn this amazing gift into money to pay our endless list of expenses. Who wants to help us make 8th Annual National Mayors' Ride real by buying this beautiful machine from us?

Located near San Diego, T-Ryx is chock full of trikes for every budget and need. Do check them out and here is why I am so excited about trikes. As such then, when this present mission is complete, I am going back to 3-wheel cycling!! I so miss riding them......

Perfect love drives out fear - John 4:18

103 year old Dorothy at her Bide a Wee bench in Melo Park

2010-04-18T22:29:00.001-07:00

And this woman is sharp! Her famous bench with a water fountain even, is near the bike bridge on San Mateo ave. I sit there and do planning work on my iPhone every month or so...

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

Draft of SF Bike Mayor Proclamation

2010-04-18T11:00:00.001-07:00

Proclamation

National Bicycle Greenway Day

By virtue of the authority vested in me as the Bike Mayor of the City of San Francisco, I do hereby issue this proclamation honoring

NATIONAL BICYCLE GREENWAY (NBG) DAY

May 15, 2010

WHEREAS, the bicycle was the first personal transportation vehicle and a century ago

was an important part of American culture; and

WHEREAS, while the ______ member strong San Francisco Bike Coalition (SFBC)

has been busy weaving the bicycle back into the lives of San Franciscans; and

WHEREAS, the SFBC has re-established the bicycle as an important user of the

roads America's love affair with the automobile covered the city with; and

WHEREAS, Awake Again" author and NBG Director, Martin Krieg will be reminding

America what brought about the first road building in America when he pedals an 1891

backwards facing HiWheel bike to Boston in this year's 8th National Mayors' Ride; and

WHEREAS, in 1914, San Francisco became the end point for the Lincoln Highway,

the first coast-to-coast car highway, the NBG, seeks to begin the first coast-to-coast

bicycle highway in San Francisco

NOW, THEREFORE, I, THE BIKE MAYOR OF San Francisco do hereby proclaim May 15, 2010 as "NATIONAL BICYCLE GREENWAY DAY" in San Francisco , CA

(signed)

Notable Cyclist here

Bike Mayor, San Francisco

Video of the Eagle Rolling Alpine Rd

2010-04-17T11:27:00.001-07:00

This video was shot by Thomas Chapple as he passed by me on a training ride of his own. Thomas, as I would come to find out after visiting his web, is the author of Base Building for Cyclists and an Elite Level USA Cycling Coach who worked as a Joe Friel's Ultrafit Associate. I mean whoaa, this guy has also competed at the national level in downhill mountain bike racing as well as regionally in road and track. THX Thomas!!

Click here to download:
IMG_3029.MOV (4119 KB)

San Jose Bike Party Rolls By NBG SF to Boston Rock Star Bus

2010-04-17T10:43:00.001-07:00

Thousands of cyclists from the San Jose Bike Party rolled by our NBG Rock Star bus yesterday nite, Friday 4-16-10. After riding part of the Palo Alto section, I brought this group that was lost and had gotten separated from the party, to the bus so they could re-unite with them -

Where I had the best seat in the house

And the SJBP streamed by for probably close to an hour!!

John E Cabrera had his headlights shining on the bus so it could not be missed

And they saw the Eagle too!!!

Watching San Jose Bike Party Pass the Bus!!

2010-04-17T00:30:00.001-07:00

Fan club at Roberts MArket

2010-04-16T15:55:00.001-07:00

Had a mileage question...

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

An afternoon Eagle Training Ride in Pictures

2010-04-16T10:21:00.001-07:00

What cyclists look like to me from above

A road far less traveled. At the top lies the Stanford golf course club house.

A left turn off Junipero Serra, I had never been up it before....... If you look hard enough, you can see Hoover Tower off in the backgroubd....

Hanover looking down, the thought of descending it used to terrorize me

Jeff and Raffa at Cardinal Bike check my bike out after the ride

We to visit 15 of the The 50 Cities Cyclists Should Visit Inbox X

2010-04-15T23:21:00.001-07:00

According to Bicycling Magazine - http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/home.html?cm_mmc=BicyclingNL-_-2010_04_16-_-slideshow-_-topbikefriendlycities

Our 8th Annual National Mayors' Ride at http://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010 will visit -

Mr Letter.com Delivers more Bus Art - Join Us!!

2010-04-15T13:21:00.001-07:00

Got some more signs on today!

And the images you see here are all crystal clear with brilliant colors. Get on the Bus now. We leave in 30 days!!

And here just for fun is the view from the bus looking out in Park Automotive

THX 4 all of U!!

Why the Dumbarton Bridge crossing id so grueling

2010-04-14T22:03:00.001-07:00

Steve Saeedi My commute home is very peaceful at times.

From Sunfood a new ride has emerged, OMG

2010-04-14T20:37:00.001-07:00

I just completed probably one of the briskest 25 mile training rides I have ever done on this very physically demanding Eagle HiWheel bicycle, and I feel excellent. Almost full throttle the whole way, I was trying to burn down the Sunfood super shake that had me so filled to the gills. And here now almost four hours later, after a very demanding ride, I still feel full!!

Before I went out today, Sunfood nutritional consultant, Eric Pasimio, spent a worthy amount of time going over all the products he had sent me to start working with. He gave me a sample recipe for the shake I still need a blender for. I stirred the concoction he recommended, sans the cashews and goji berries, all up by hand and drank it down. Too delicious and yes I was full. But I did not feel the jolt of energy after I also ate the nuts and berries on the side I was half expecting..

But you know what? The full stomach never went away. Even now, I don't feel hungry for anything. And for those of us who roll the big miles (25 on the Eagle is easily like 50 on a road bike) that is unusual indeed!! And if this keeps up, which I know it will, you are going to see an Eagle HiWheel ride across America that will set records never likely to be broken. WoW

Soon, as I better dial in the recipe at hand, I will be better able to tell you how I am using the Cacao powders, butters and oils as well as the Maca powders, their Sun is Shining sea vegetable drink, the mesquite, and etc, that Amy & Brian's coconut juice is holding together, as I snacked on Maine Coast Sea Vegetables dulses and tasty Kelp Krunch bars to set the stage for the Sunfood miracle I was about to experience!!

Yahooo!!

30 days to lift off, So excited!!

"How to Bike America" or overcome any large challenge - 5 bux!!

2010-04-12T10:11:00.001-07:00

If the undertaking you have before you is a large one, this book is for you! It will help to expand the size of your thinking and establish you in the place where all big accomplishment first occurs, the mind. And as reading this book or just select chapters from it vicariosuly builds for you the mindset needed to pedal long distances on a bike, you will have unlocked the door that keeps you from making other Big Magic happen in all areas of your life.

The bulk of this on-line book was written over a two year period for cyclists riding TransAm to Cycle America 2000 in Washington DC by two time TransAm veteran and "Awake Again" author Martin Krieg. It continues to be updated and edited online and reflects many contributions from the on line cycling community as we yearly cross America with our Mayor's Rides. Cost $4.95!!

Go to - http://bikeroute.com/HowBikeUS.php

Sponsor List & Back of the Bus Filling Up

2010-04-11T11:29:00.001-07:00

In between rain drops and the needed training I have to do on the Eagle, we have been able to get more of the beautiful sign art that MrLetter.com has been producing for us on to the bus. And indeed it is becoming a notable sight to behold which by the time we leave will becomes so major spectacular you will be proud to say you are a part. And there is no reason why U can't be. Details below the picture.

If you can help us with:

Labor:

- Help wash the bus - we'll be picking a date soon

- Sanding and painting on top of the bus at the trim

- Replace a leaking slave cylinder on the engine

- Mount hitch on the bus bumper for Busycle

Graphic art help:

- We need a jumbo sign we can place in the front bus window that announces our purpose

Items Needed (a 3 month loan is fine):

- Air beds (as many as four)

- Hammocks

- Car trailer

- Propane reefer

We can list you as a Day Sponsor on the bus. Reply to hiwheeler@gmail.com if U can help with any of the above. Or if cash is an easier way for you to get aboard you can buy a half day at $100 or full day for $200 or whatever amount is comfortable for you at this link

Here is who is on our 40-foot rolling billboard that will tow the two most photographed vehicles in the world across America in front of ten to 60 million people:

Sponsors to 4/8/10:

Legenday Chris Carlsson at the Green Fest in SF today

2010-04-10T21:11:00.003-07:00

Actually he was a speaker at the Anti-Consumer version. Chris has had more to do with keeping color and meaningful dialogue associated with the face of San Francisco than any man alive, He is also one of the fathers of Critical Mass which has become a world wide phenomena .

Here is the podcast he did with us in 2006

Real Bullets Train Conductor interested in my ride

2010-04-10T12:15:00.001-07:00

On my way to the GreenFest in SF w/the flyers he is holding, Ray and I tAlked local bike roads, my bike and my ride for a worthy while! A CalTrain cycle zealot!!

iPhone sent 415-606-5043

iPad to GPS route | Kistler pedal fix | Oleary's Hitch

2010-04-09T21:50:00.001-07:00

After my training ride, truncated by the pedal fix talked about below, I stopped in at the Apple store to take a look at the iPad. And whoaaa Holy Kowabunga Batman, I have to wonder why I've not been following closer. This thing is major hot. On my way over I was determined to ask them how I could track my ride w/o making my iPhone otherwise useless to me. In other words, they agreed that all the iPhone GPS software that was out there had to run in the foreground as Larry Magid also pointed out on my Facebook wall in his Huffington Post piece. And that that should change soon. But not before my ride.. And until it does, if I run a route tracker, I can't take voice notes, text message or run email or the internet .....

iPad to the rescue. At 1.5 lbs, and 10 hours of battery life, I can wear a light back pak as it tracks my route during the day. And then use it as a computer to capture all my iPhone pictures for the blog I will be creating at night . The 3G version that will let me do all this is due out at the end of this month!!

The iPad also has auto correct so that it picks up most errors and fixes them right as you type. Photos enlarge with finger tips, And reading books looks amazing. I predict that it will make all other readers look silly. I mean you can turn pages by dragging them with your fingertip. If U need the print bigger, you tap a barely visible icon. And there is no keyboard in the way......

This looks like a crucial tool for my ride. With it, there is no need for my glunky, power hungry a/c dependent iMac that will get thrown around on the bus as we move about.

Now I just gotta buy one. Anyone feel like being Official Tracking Mechanism Supplier of the 2010 Mayors' Ride? $499 :)

-------------------

For those of you who saw me talking Tow Hitch for the bus/Busycle, John Oleary hath reappeared with more of his magic. Look at this hitch idea and tell me this guy is not other worldly. John always hits the nail where it needs to be hit. With results producing traction. On the head:

He found this on the Internet -

Tow Hitch Installation

Here's a simple / easy / safe way to add a tow hitch to your RTS

The DrawTite Part# is 5350 - The Uhaul # is the same -

Find Hitch Here

$139

This a universal RV style tow hitch. It comes with adjustable side support arms that slide along the horizontial axis of the tow bar via a square bushing on the support plates. The 2" receiver tongue comes out flush from the horizontail tubing for 6".

I mounted mine by drilling two 3/4" holes 37" apart and mounted the horizontail bar directly under the two rear tow hooks. On all RTS's - they are extrememly strong. I used 3/4 pipe nipples to take up the slop in the big center holes of the tow hooks. Used 2 thick 3" big fenders washers and grade 8 bolts with nylock nuts. It is my understanding that all RTS's (96 & 102) rails are the same distance apart, the mounting brackets get flipped in the back when going to either width bus.

The adjustable side plates can be slid against the frame rails and holes drilled for mounting. You can use an installers trick of passing bailing wire thru the mounting hole and then out an open portion of the frame rail, wrap the screw end of the mounting bolt with the bailing wire and withdraw the wire back thru the new mounting hole. This will put the 2" square receiver opening directly under the bumper and about 2" behind the face of the bumper. Most hitches will work just perfect, if your hitch requires a longer tongue, just buy an extention.

--- note - Yep - it's comes out under the bumper - which is just perfect for my tow needs - exactly level with my load - do I have a problem scraping on driveways - Hasn't happened to me yet

P.S. - guess what the tow hooks are "NOT" dead center on the bus - don't be fooled like I was - the moumting holes that will be drilled into the tow bar should be off set to put the receiver dead center - or off set if that's what you prefer

-----------------

And Jeff Kistler helped me bend my pedal arm so that the inside of my right foot does not hit the crank as it goes around. It still grazes it, especially when my leg gets tired, but it is a lot better. Will have to keep tweaking...

Above is Paul Gregg who rode over there with me. Paul is our Busyscle escort and the man who saved my Acer netbook by putting Linnux on it...

THX 4 all of U!!

Perfect love drives out fear - John 4:18

Tow Hitch Mounting Possibilities Up Close (w/pic of monster engine)

2010-04-09T13:14:00.001-07:00

Park Avenue Automotive Don, Dennis and I took a harder look at the rear of the bus. Seems the plastic coasted bumper looks pretty stout. Looks like it a mount can be bolted to it! Any ideas out there. Sure would b nice if we could tow the Busycle down to the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey 4/17. And to SF Sunday Streets on the 18th. Earth Day events on 4/22 and etc.....

THX 4 all of U!!

Why Sponsor our Ride with your Logo - 200 bux......

2010-04-08T23:35:00.001-07:00

Now that the sun is out once again, we are starting to get some of our supporters on the bus......

Who Will see it?

Approx 6000 people are on my mailing list and that does not include the number of people on all the mailing lists (~10) I post to. I have almost 800 Facebook fans (with a large number of decision makers and influential people including city leaders and the like.....) and daily post to Fan Pages that have many hundreds more. I run 6 active blogs. My Twitter posts reach 500 people a day. And if my ride to Salt Lake last summer was any indication, my subscriber, twitter and FB friend requests will increase at 5-10% a day.... At http://BikeRoute.com and http://nbg.bikeroute.com we get 50K unique visitors a month now and expect that to easily quadruple this summer At present I can reach appprox 100,000 people. From past experience, I will be on TV one to five times a week where at least a million people will see me each time. This will place me before 10 million to 50 million viewers over the ten week trip..

E me at hiwheeler@gmail.com to get on the Bus!!

THX 4 all of U!!

11th Hour Busycle Movers Needed - Sunday 4/11 - 9AM

2010-04-08T22:53:00.001-07:00

Additional Notes:	We need help getting the Busycle moved to a new more convenient location less than a mile away. Can we bum an hour off of U? The Busycle is going back to Boston on 5/15 per (link)
Date:	April 11th, 2010, 9 AM
Location:	3125 Ross Rd
Address:	Call 415-606-5043 e-mail hiwheeler@gmail.com

Raffa upgrades Eagle flasher

2010-04-08T21:14:00.001-07:00

Jeff Kistler looks on approvingly at Raffa's flasher fix for my Eagle

iPhone sent 415-606-5043