Scott Campbell sent us this report on Sunday.. However, I have been so
covered up with excitement (some of which is detailed here at the end),
that I am not getting it sent to you until now. And in Scott's words
below, you will see that the Denver Mayor **knows** bicycling:
========================================
This is the day I had been waiting for since I started this epic
journey. Well, actually yesterday was the day I had been longing to come
up. That was the day my companion Pam Slocum was to join me on this
adventure. She arrived in Denver on June 22.
The following day we rode from our hotel to city hall to meet with mayor
John Hickenlooper. We arrived a little late after having to fix a
puncture on the front of my bike. We were met by a small group of people
including James Mackay, Bicycle Planner for the city of Denver, Steve
Stevens, high wheel rider, collector and historian, Paul Brekus, another
high wheel rider, Chris Krieg, artist, David Russel, artist and rock
climber, and a crew from the local TV station. Shortly thereafter, the
mayor walked up to the podium and started reading the proclamation that
he was presenting to us.
After making the presentation, the mayor told us all a story about his
bicycle that he purchased in the early 1970s. He would ride that bike
every where and he still does to this day. For example, he is planning
to ride it 14 miles on Bike to Work Day next week. The mayor was
interviewed by the TV reporter and talked about the feeling one gets
while riding a bike. He described the sense of being connected with the
earth, the people one sees on the street, and the wonderful smells you
get to experience while out in nature.
Then it was my turn to be interviewed. The reporter asked me, "What
would you tell people that are sitting in their cars?" My reply was,
"Get out of your cars, slow down and feel the wind on your face. Get to
know your community, see the world from a different perspective, and
arrive at your destination with less stress."
We said our thank yous and good byes and headed out into the city to
view some of Chris's murals (they can be found <http://chriskrieg.com>at
(http://chriskrieg.com)ed).
========================================
- On Monday, we caught up with Scott & Pam outside of Craig, CO. The two
of them had just powered over the Rocky Mtns. -- they pumped their
heavy bikes (Scott - 110 pounds, Pam's weighs in at 88) over the 12,000
foot Trailridge Pass. And here is Scott in his own words from the Nampa
River Campground talking about that ride and the road ahead:
http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/ScottCRoad6-27-06.mp3
- Because all our cyclists were so impressed with Mayor Hickenlooper, I
sent him this Thank You:
========================================
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:29:38 -0700
Mayor John!!!
On behalf of our organization, the National Bicycle Greenway, I want to
thank you for remembering your two wheel roots for us by making
yourself present for Denver NBG Day. As per the two short podcast
debriefings that we just did with our rider scouts below, it does sound
like you are a real bullets cyclist:
http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/ChrisKrieg6-23-06.mp3
http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/Stevens6-23-06.mp3
I look forward to meeting you next year when I come through on my
HiWheel with my new book "<http://www.bikeroute.com/HBGR.html>How
America can Bike and Grow Rich, The NBG Manifesto"
(http://www.bikeroute.com/HBGR)
THX 4 U!!
========================================
- If you do get to the podcast we did with Steve Stevens, noted above,
be forewarned that I am told the horn solo he did of Daisy Belle sounded
excellent in person and yet the cell phone that sent it to us, missed a
lot of the notes.........
- With just under 30 days left until we end in San Francisco, The City
is starting to really heat up for our arrival :
SF Andy Thornleu whose
<http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/SFBikingAndyT.mp3>podcast
about biking in SF
(http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/SFBikingAndyT.mp3 ) you can
listen to at our
<http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2006>schedule/scorecard
loaded the following awesome event listing to the SFBC newsletter,
inviting SF cyclists to ride Scott and the Busycle the last two miles to
City Hall
<http://sfbike.org/?chain#1367>Here is the link.
Here is the copy:
Escort the Busycle to City Hall
Fri., Jul. 28 | 2pm, Potrero Del Sol Park (Potrero & Cesar Chavez) *
National Bicycle Greenway (NBG) cyclist Scott Campbell has been busy
scouting a bike route from Boston to San Francisco since the end of
April - he'll arrive at San Francisco City Hall accompanied by the
head-turning Busycle (a reconverted Dodge van that's pedaled by 14 happy
humans) to receive a proclamation from Mayor Gavin Newsom endorsing the
NBG's mission to connect Boston and San Francisco with a safe bikeway (a
healthy green echo of the proto-interstate Lincoln Highway).
Be a part of this exciting story by helping escort Scott and the Busycle
to City Hall - meet at Potrero Del Sol Park (Potrero & Cesar Chavez) for
an easy two and a half mile ride to the Civic Center, where a short
ceremony will follow in which the Mayor and Board of Supervisor's
offices will declare their support for a safe bike connection from
Beantown to Fog City.
If you want to sign up to ride the Busycle in any of its five Bay Area
relays, contact NBG Director Martin Krieg [email hidden] more info
http://www.bikeroute.com - 415-240-4712
SF Jimmer Cassiol pumped out the 2006 San Francisco Mayor's
proclamation a month in advance so we can brag about it at our
<http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2006>site! It is a w e s
o m e - do click on the link to read:
http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2006/SanFrancisco/SF06Proc.JPG
SF There's so much going on at our
<http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2006>schedule/scorecard.
http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2006 Mona Caron's also
awesome Critical Mass poster can be seen in the San Francisco cell and
you can find the
<http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/MonaCaron6-06.mp3>podcast
(http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/MonaCaron6-06.mp3) we did
of her there as well. In it we talks about what it's like for her to be
Car Free and ride a bike in San Francisco. Here is her beautiful
Critical Mass poster:
http://www.mpegtv.com/~mona/images/html/cmp_poster.html
SF Also at our schedule/scorecard is the podcast we did of
author/speaker judy b. and her experience of rolling the streets of San
Francisco. Click here
(http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/judyb6-06.mp3) to hear her
speak:
SF Frank Chan, also a San Francisco Bay Area native like myself (we are
a quickly shrinking minority), who also went to the same Catholic high
school as I, Moreau, in Hayward, CA, spent some time talking about
biking in San Francisco with me. As a man who regularly powers up 31%
streets, some of the steepest in the world, he does have a thing or two
to say about SF cycling. Until we get his podcast produced, do get a
look at his site and the movie there that documents the amazing climbs
he undertakes. Click here to see his movie
(http://www.russianhillroulette.com/)
<http://www.russianhillroulette.com/>
- Jack Martin of <http://www.gomb-er.com>Gomber Hydration Systems, aka,
Captain Hydrate (he'll be towing the trailer filled with ice cold
drinks), sent us some photo of his bike commute to whet our appetite for
the Folsom to Sacramento and West Sacramento run we will be doing on
Sunday July 23 . Go to our schedule/scorecard .
There will be over a dozen HiWheel bikes from yesteryear making the run
along with all manner of different bikes. If you want to join us, go to
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Forms/newriders.php . And it is
starting to look like the American River Trail community and elected
officials up there will be out in force at all of the stops we make on
this world class bike trail. It is easily one of the finest I have ever
ridden anywhere in the US!!
- And once again Reno Wheelmen bike club president,
<http://www.nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios/mike_damo
n.php>Mike Damon, will have ridden in from Reno, NV to join us!. Only
this time he has a longer route planned - 200 + miles. All over the
Sierras!. And he plans to do so in ONE DAY!
- Due to bandwidth overload, we have had to move some of our more
popular on lines movies to a different server.
You can see our 2006 Boston send off at:
- The Mount Rainier 2006 NBG Day is at:
http://revver.com/video/31960/
- The amazing down hill, feet over the bars, HiWheel crash that Jack
Castor lived to talk about is at:
Jack's crash will truly blow your mind if you have not seen it. And all
of them now load faster and run w/o interruption!! Yahoo!!
Too much excitement to manage --- Yahooooo!!
THX 4 all of U!!
54% of New York City households do not own cars
Martin Krieg "Awake Again" Author
http://www.BikeRoute.com/MKRIEG.HTML
'79 & '86 TransAmerica Bike Rides
2007 w/"How America Can Bike & Grow Rich"
Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death Survivor
NBG Founding Director, HiWheel Cyclist