May 26, 2004
Pollute to Work Week!!
This arrived in my mail box on Monday:
========================================
Well we finally got that Bike Week nonsense out of the way, now we can get back to the business of destroying the environment. So until Bike Week comes around again in the Fall, every week is Pollute to Work Week!
That's right, it's time to empty the ash tray, throw out the fast food wrappers, slap some fresh CDs in the changer, clean the windshield and go spew some hydrocarbons. We've got a world to ruin and with out your help it just won't happen. Call everyone in your carpool and tell 'em from now on it's just you and your Edsel. Go buy some gas, grab an Egg Mc Muffin and run over the neighbor's Kitty. Maybe even take the back roads and you could squash a possum. Somebody's gotta do it and it might as well be you. I know I can count on you. Don't even try to imagine what this place would be like if you fail to drive everywhere.
Now I know that despite my prodding to "Drive and Drive Often" some of you will fail. Some will continue to ride. Some of you will have been fooled by all that Fun, Fitness, and Concern for the Environment propaganda you were subjected to last week. You probably thought it all made such good sense. You might have even enjoyed riding you 2 wheeler. Bunch of tree hugging ninnies! If you are in that group here are some activities that may appeal to you:
See you in the Bike Lane
Gary M.
========================================
May 20, 2004
Speed Kills........
Driving in Germany
Advantages of driving in Germany:
1) Overall, the cars are in much better condition because of tough inspections
2) Licenses are much harder to get, with better driving training
3) The autobahn speed limit is "whatever's safe" up to 155 mph
Disadvantages of driving in Germany:
1) When you fly off the road at 120+ mph, you find out why Oak was
used as armor on ships.
May 16, 2004
Shopping Cart Bent!
The shopping cart is a soapbox derby racer. It is
gravity powered and has been in numerous races. It
was originally build for the Sand Hill Challenge, a
venture capitalist funded race in Silicon Valley. I
built it with a group of friends for mySimon.com . It
has working head and tail lights plus a horn which
plays Dixie hidden in the airscoop. The wheelchair
hubs were all from Phil Wood, the rear having disc
brakes. After the company moved I inherited the racer
and have since made quite a few modifications and have
raced a few times down Bernal Heights in San Francisco
at the SF Illegal Soapbox Society.
May 08, 2004
Tampa to DC Mayors' Ride rider needed
Our 3rd Annual National Mayors' Ride is set to kick off soon (May 14 from Seattle) and the excitement continues to pour in. From antique HiWheel riders to World Record holding unicyclists to a Mayor riding one of our legs to a movie star riding another to a musical entourage introducing our ride to cities along the way, etc, etc, we are filled to the top with firepower.
Many of our relay legs are covered by a lead rider but there a few key legs that need coverage as per our 2004 schedule http://www.BikeRoute.com/NationalMayorsRide2004 .
We need coverage in Tampa where they are really turning on the afterburners as a new participant, like Seattle, in this year's event. As the southeast send off point for the ride that joins Northeast riders coming down from Boston, NYC, Philly and Baltimore in Washington DC on July 2, they have devoted staff from their Greenway division to our ride. And these guys are all over it!
For example they have already gotten an enthusiastic commitment from mayor Pam Iorio to be at our celebration and have even asked us if there is any limit to the number of people who can be present for the ceremony. And it was already a good while ago now that they were asking for the NBG logo so they could run it on the t-shirts they are to producing for all of this!
Which brings me to a point. The rider we had felt pretty confident would take this leg just pulled out. Instead of building other riders around him, we are back to where we need a lead rider for this leg.
So if U have been thinking about doing a tour this summer but haven't located a group or for that matter a cause that could make you feel like your time was well spent, how about biking from Tampa to Washington DC ?
Like all of our rides you would be on your own for lodging, food, routing and your cycling needs but your ride will be much celebrated. As well, we will loan you a Pocket Mailer so you can chronicle your daily manuevrings as you head north. The distance to DC is approximately 936 miles. The Tampa NBG Day celebration is June 1. And if we hear from you soon enough, we can build your name into the Tampa NBG Day proclamation. You can leave whenever you need to after you show up on June 1 just so long as you are in DC on July 2 where Mayor Antony Williams will help send our riders west to Chicago.
Individuals and groups a re encouraged to apply but only one of you will get a Pocket mailer. Apply at http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Forms/newriders.php !!
BTW: We als0 need to get the Seattle to Portland leg covered. We had been hoping that last year's superstar, Mighty Jim Muellner would take that route as he had intimated he might but we couldn't get him to commit. We had thought he would surprise us as last year we never got a commitment out of him either. And even as he rode from Washington DC to San Francisco, we never knew from one NBG Day city to the next if he would continue.. Hey but I guess if you're 68 and independently wealthy there is no need to be on anyone else's schedule but our own.
That still leaves us with the need to get Portland to Seattle covered. So if you want to make a little bit of history with us, and want to ride the 172 mile distance on a route the Cascade Bike Club can supply while covering all your own expenses for a weekend ride please go to http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Forms/newriders.php
Seattle to Portland Rider(s) Needed!!
The National Bicycle Greenway (NBG) needs a cyclist (multiple riders OK) to get the Friday May 14 Seattle NBG Day proclamation down to Portland City Hall for Portland NBG Day on Monday May 17. Both events take place at noon and the Cascade Bike Club can supply routing information for this 172 mile connection. You can be a part of both ceremonies both of which usually result in media attention or you can just make it a weekend ride and pick the Seattle's document up anytime after 2PM on Friday from Angle Lake Cyclery and deliver it any time before 10AM on Monday May 17 at Coventry Cycle Works in downtown Portland. To find out more about the NBG go to http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com. To learn more about the exciting 3rd Annual National Mayors' Ride which will visit visit 24 west coast cities, 6 east coast cities, and 41 in all before it ends in Chicago on July 30, go to http://www.BikeRoute.com/NationalMayorsRide2004 . After the ride kicks off from Seattle, a new Mayors' Ride city this year, other relay legs will find athletes on Rowbikes, a unicyclist pedaling from San Francisco to the Windy City, Tampa FL creating a huge celebration send off of its own and antique HiWheelers turning heads in the SF Bay Area and along the Sacramento American River Parkway, etc, all as Claire Machado's band, C.A.M. Engine, prepares population centers from LA to Chicago for the riders' arrivals with music.
To join the ride, go to: http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Forms/newriders.php
May 04, 2004
Talk Radio Hosts Encourage Killing Cyclists
How much lower can we go? Each and everyone of of us must take action now. It's almost as if life has become disposable in Iraq so we can drive our cars and if you don't support that war for oil by not driving that your un-Americanism warrants death here as well. Who can reply with email addresses to WRKO and WNNX so we can bury them with our reaction? This is horrific:
TALK RADIO HOSTS TARGETING BICYCLISTS--AGAIN
Radio talk show hosts are targeting bicyclists again. Stations in three cities in the last two weeks have made disparaging, incorrect, and at times dangerous remarks about bicyclists and encouraged listeners to call in and share their views about bicyclists. On April 16, Howie Carr on Boston's WRKO-AM said, "They [bicyclists] are the biggest pain...if there is a sidewalk, I don't care what the law is, ride on the damn sidewalk, OK? You don't belong on the road. You don't. That's all there is to it. You belong on the sidewalk." Later on, he said, "I don't want to share the road."
On April 23, DJs on the Don Miller show on Atlanta's WNNX-FM (99X) repeatedly ridiculed bicyclists. One host said, "I can't stand them," and referred to cyclists as "bastards." Of the law giving cyclists the right to use the roads, they said it's a "horrible law" and that bicyclists should "get on the sidewalk where they belong." When a caller wanted to let the hosts know about Atlanta area cyclists who'd been killed in traffic crashes, the response was, "...and I wanna let you know how many people care about those cyclists." Most alarmingly, one DJ said he would "nudge them [bicyclists] right off the road into a tree." When challenged by a colleague that he hadn't done that, he said, "You've never done that? It's so much fun. Smoke a little weed, get behind the wheel...wheee!"
To hear the heinous 99X broadcast segments, for more details and to take action to stop this onslaught of broadcast harassment, visit http://www.bikeleague.org. None of the stations involved are owned by Clear Channel Communications. Last year, following a string of similar incidents, Clear Channel made it clear it would not tolerate such behavior on its stations. Visit http://www.bikemonth.org to hear radio PSA recorded by Clear Channel to promote bicycling and sharing the road.
To hear these broadcasts again: http://www.bikeleague.org/mediacenter/quickresponse.htm