Tour of CA Jack Castor Pre-Ride

Jeff Kistler's amazing slide show - 500+ photos!!

Jeff Kistler, Jack Castor & Martin Krieg

In 1984, Jack Castor rode across the US in 44 days on the HIWheel bike you see pictured here..

Podcast interview with Martin Krieg

Visit Jack's museum!

Jack arrives for start of ride

The Busycle Parade of THANKS!!

THX to Michael Abrams for coming over early, helping us to get ready, getting us to the park, and then offering to pedal more if we needed more riders even tho he did not feel up to the task on this day.

THA to Matthew Blain for powering thru his flu well enough to bring Unwheeldy (http://Unwheeldy.com) over for everyone to enjoy. And for guiding the efforts of the many, many people who tried his amazing machine.

THX to Steve Branz for coming over from his sick bed on the wrong day (the previous Saturday) and then getting well enough during his seven day reprieve to strongly pedal us from the park to downtown. We missed his wife Emily tho :(

THX to Johne Cabrera who called me on my cell phone while we were preparing to leave from downtown to ask if we needed riders. Soon he found us and rode almost the whole way home with us. He also came back to the Busycle garage afterwards, after everyone else had left, and helped me get the Busycle covered with its tarp.

THX to Jack Castor for coming over from Half Moon Bay to dignify our day as he escorted us on the beautiful 1887 HiWheel bike he rode across America on in 1984 while wearing his handsome Wheelmen club uniform for our ride. And for for also letting me ride his very special 1881 HiWheel.

THX to Gerry Gras and Danna for getting us to the start and then, in Danna's case, back to within a few block's from her home so she could (remarkably) walk the rest of the way to her home. Of note here is the fact that Danna was on her back for many weeks just a few days before our ride. She likely was inspired by Gerry, who like Jack Castor, rode a bike (not a HiWheel tho) across America, also in 1984. Gerry rode with us all day!

THX to Paul Gregg for his amazing efforts as our escort service, a service which he as turned into an art form complete with an antique car ah-oo-ga horn and industrial quality warning beacon, both of which are powered by a motorcycle battery.

THX also to Paul's "adopted" kids, Nathan - Benjamin & Nick for their also great escort help at corking intersections and making sure we stayed out of harm's way. Nick & Nathan also score high marks for the expert Busycle driving shifts they took.

Benjamin gets special commendation for having the first bike (and hopefully the last) to fall off the Busycle. Of which it not only fell off but its handlebars got caught between the bus's front tire and sub frame. We got it out and he rode home after the day was done with a bent brake lever.

Rich also gets an award for the shortest ride ever taken on the Busycle. We hadn't gone ten feet after picking him and his two boys up with their skateboards and scooters when we were met with our small disaster. Rich tried for a few minutes to help free the bike but then had to move on.

THX to Jyllia who got on board out of the blue and rode a good ways with us us to get the Busycle home.

THX to Dan Miley and his son Nicholas for answering the last minute call for riders to get us from the garage to the park. Nicholas is between one and two years old, but he was so entranced by all that going on, it was easy to see that this was probably one of the biggest days of his life

To Tom and Teresa for strapping their bikes on board and riding until, just before the Oregon Expwy, Tom, a bicycle frame builder who has studied with some of the greats in the industry, started catching too much grief from his knee.

THX to Jeff Kistler for riding with us form the garage to the park and then across town on his epic Bpb Jackson bike as took one photo after another, several hundred in all, that you will soon see when I web all this fun.

To Mark Linde for holding his bike over his shoulder and giving us a few blocks on our way home

THX to Micahel Louredeaux for coming over early just to help us get the Busycle to the start!

THX to Mimi for riding strong for us all day form start to finish. And for picking up Ron Wolf at the train station so he could join us for our start and the rest of the day.

THX to George Pierce and his wife Sylvie for all their pedaling help. George for giving up his regular Saturday of all day riding in the hills to power us first to Mitchell Park and then to downtown. And to Sylvie for letting us press her into service to get us to the park with also their two small children. Fully worked by the Busycle, George still headed for half a day of hill work after he got us to Lytton Plaza.

THX to Faye Saunders, the only person, besides our key operators, Rich Willits and Dave Hanzel, who I will trust to drive the Busycle without me sitting shotgun, for getting us downtown in expert fashion, She also walked my HiWheel so I could help with some of the Busycle pedaling on the way in. On the way back, she rode bikes so other people could help us pedal. Everywhere you looked there was Faye, all day long, making sure our ride was smooth and fun

THX to Rick Swent, Kathy Durham and Carol Anderson for filling Mitchell Park with cyclists, food and drink (bananas, bottled water, coffee and Hobees coffee cake) and goodie bags and for coordinating the police escort for them that left us in the dust (an easy thing to do if your mode of transport can exceed walking speed, hee hee).

THX to Christopher Wecks and Phil Lonardo, of Whole Foods, for making sure our pedalers were amply nourished for the ride home. And indeed we enjoyed a plethora of fresh fruit, energy bars and bottled water.

THX to Rich Willits for getting to the garage before anyone and getting a dead station back on line before he then helped Gerry, Mike Abrams, George and Mike Lourdaux get our new banners outfitted tp the bus. Rich's young son, Peter, was also a joy for everyone. Not only did he help his dad ride Unwheeldy some of the way but later could also be seen standing on a brace tall above other Unwheeldy riders as they rode with us across Palo Alto. Peter even walked a few people's bikes so they could ride the Busycle.

THX to Ron Wolf for being our first sign up for the ride and then taking the earliest weekend train he could to help us get to the park on time. And then for his enthusiastic efforts to get us across town.

WoW WOW WOW

THX so much 4 all of U!