Nevada Stateline

I am in S Lake Tahoe without WIFI yet again. It's 37 degrees so I will wait for warmer weather  as I have a lot written on my laptop that I am anxious for you  to read. My Twitter and Facebook followers (with pix) know I got my 80 pound 1891 one-speed pedaled up and over 8,000-foot Echo Summit. Become my friend at Facebook. Follow me at Twitter. This post is from my iPhone

Placerville Love Continues and Big Change in ride 5/24

¸A couple of pretty big developments took place today after I left the love Marilyn Ferguson and her daughter Sue Hayes blessed this ride with. I will tell U about that in a bit. But before I do I gotta tell you about big change that took place and why.

First of all, I stopped riding at noon today on US 50. Second of all I am on US 50. Why this is notable is because I had fully planned to be either on or at the base of Mormon Immigrant Pass today at this time but I am here at a campground right on the old Lincoln Hwy where just as I was developing this thought, Greg from the campground next to me just walked up and handed me a plate full of salmon covered crackers. He invited me to dinner at his and Liz’s camp site later when they eat and then he excused himself so I could get back to this!!

He had earlier come over to ask me about my bike। Whereupon I found out he is a classical guitarist from Sacramento. They are up here next to the fast flowing American River for a couple of days doing some R&R.

Coming back to 50 and here and the importance of why all this is so, let me begin by telling you about the pass I have elected not too ride. It became clear to me when I left this AM and had ridden for well over an hour and had made little progress and had been forced off the bike by a few uphill surprises that fooled me as I entered a couple of turns, that I was going to have to return to the formula that worked for me in 1986. 

Then, I pedaled a 13 foot long rig that weighed in at over 150 pounds। On that ride, I quickly realized that the roads cyclists like to train on or use for recreation were not going to work for me if I was going to stay on the public speaking schedule I had set up with the National Head Injury Foundation. In 1986, I would not have reached the 40 million people that I did if I had spent my days going up and down over hills. You see, roads in the US Hwy System are graded which means that you either go up or go down for long periods of time at a manageable per cent grade that does not destroy you or your bike. When I encountered Hwy 50, I remembered all this. 
 

It was then that I saw a delicious shoulder and a smooth road surface। The roads I had just been on had poor surfaces, little room for me at their edges and undulated sometimes ferociously.  In an instant, I left the six years of mental training I had built up for Mormon Immigrant Pass behind, all in one left turn. And as I rode, I continued to rationalize. The Mormon ascent I had had in my mind was not intended for a bike that was loaded down with gear but the sporty, lively machine that the Eagle would have been if a sag support had been carrying all my stuff.

I began to realize that even though I wrote about Mormon Immigrant and the soon ahead Loneliest Highway that I had researched for my book, I had visualized a journey that would be a supported one। That said I am going to take Steve Stevens sage advice and pedal I-80 across Nevada and am now headed for Lake Tahoe where as a bonus I might be joined for a while by Ron Bishop’s cycle zealot daughter, Camille. I also already heard back from Mike Damon and I can stay in Reno on Tuesday and will also get to meet Reno Mayor Bob Cashell on Wednesday.

My camera and voice recorder also returned on US 50। I had been working so hard on all the hilly roads that paralleled it that I could barely take my hands off the bars long enough to do anything more that keep the front wheel going straight॥ And besides, there is a greater chance of being hit by a car going 45 on a winding road where there is no shoulder than there is in being hit by one traveling 65 on a US Highway. Federal roads were built with sight lines that give cars more reaction time once they do see you.

Even though the riding conditions were much improved once I hit what was once the first coast-to-coast highway in the US, the Lincoln Highway (described in  "How America Can Bike and Grow Rich, the National Bicycle Greenway in Action"), I did have to call it a day at noon। Being a holiday weekend, the number of cars passing grew and grew until I chose a noisy river over noisy cars. I also want to be fresh and alert for the 8000-foot pass, Echo Summit, that separates me from Lake Tahoe.

In the case of Marilyn and Sue last night and even this morning, the wow is just more than I can adequately describe। Before I went to sleep on her outside deck, Marilyn washed my clothes as her high energy daughter, a talented wildlife artist, who was about my age, was busy cooking me a delicious and huge mountain of spaghetti! And before Sue did that, she had gone to the store and brought back a bag of groceries based on the kinds of things I had told her I like to eat!! That both surprised and astounded me.

And if that was not enough, there was more। She got up at 4 AM the next morning and cut a fresh supply of the business cards Ron Bishop had created for me on her paper cutter. Artistic wonder that she is, she painted the white letters that had fallen off my butt pack and handlebar bag. I use it to carry my Camelbak, but it had holes in it that were getting bigger and bigger. She sewed it back together.

As I was packing things they kept giving me things. From matches to bungie cords, I could not believe how much they wanted me to do well. Marilyn, the docent for the Placerville History museum from whom I learned a lot, even told me from where he city got its name. Placer, is a type of gold, a gold that is found by washing it away from the other sediments within which it is mixed.

She also told me that the beautiful two-story house that she, Sue and her friendly husband, Wesley, live in, was built not long after the discovery of gold not far from here in 1849. Marilyn and her husband, who has since passed on, bought this dwelling in 1964 at a time when US 50 below her was a quiet road that they could usually walk across into town with hardly a problem॥ Now it is a fast, four-lane mountain highway with a signal and a pedestrian overpass under construction.

Upon leaving the wonder of Placervile behind, the hills got bigger and the shoulder became less consistent…

More soon!

THX 4 all of U!!

Lynn LePge's Folsom to Placerville 5/23 (wifi finally)

The magic of this ride powered me into the early evening here in Placerville, CA. It began for me at a little before 6 when I awakened in Folsom. I went into the kitchen and Lynn LePage (at left), the recreation manager for the city of Folsom, was busy preparing a morning breakfast for me and my ride. There was oatmeal and hard boiled eggs. and even six or so different toast options ready for me to try, along with a pile of cut up fruit and several different bottles of juice.

As he exhorted me to fill up, we overviewed the ride ahead for me yet again and 50 minutes later we were off. He got on his Mountain bike with no more than a small water bottle and wearing a t-shirt, baggie shorts and tennis shoes. From there a profound lesson in politics and area history began for almost the whole rest of the way. But not before Will Kempton , a friend of Lynn's and the #1 man at Cal Trans who I had met the day before in Sacramento, slowed his car down to say hi, near the small town of Rescue, maybe 10 miles into the ride. He was on his way to play golf.

And indeed, Lynn is well connected. And indeed I was actually making real the ride I have dreamed about for 6 years. I was pedaling my way over the Sierras! Of which I pedaled all but less than a 100 feet of today! If I was more familiar with the new rack Peter Wagner made for me, the two, short 14 % grades that came out of nowhere to knock me off might have been doable. 

While it was hard on the bike, and did make the riding more labored, the old rack mount did seem not to bother my hill climbing. In fact the weight of the bars as they slung back and forth did seem to create a momentum that I lost when we improved my gear carrying abilities.. But how well the original design that got me on the road would have played out on those two short ascents that beat me, will always remain a welcome mystery. I'm loving the way the bike rides now!!

We covered the 35 miles in about 4 hours. And I was in Placerville well before noon. We stopped at a place called the Cozmic Cafe where they have a great vibe and Wifi. Even though he had a long ride back home ahead of him, Lynn went to the Farmers Market across the street and returned with a pile of fruit for me. And he then came back from inside the Cafe with the two iced teas he bought and the two muffins they wanted me to have. With a table full of food we sat down for the next few hours and watched the Placerville world go by as we also talked with some of those who walked past..

No discussion of this amazing today could ever be complete without telling your about some of the things I remember that Lynn told me. Because I was working so hard, I couldn’t take my hands off the bars to record them, so here is a partial list

- Folsom used to be called Granite City
- The Folsom power plant, the first long distance power plant, was formed by the Livermore brothers from whom the Contra Costa County city takes its name. It was from this spot also that the mammoth Pacific Gas and Electric, PG&E, began.
- Folsom prison began as a way for the power plant people to get cheap labor to build the dam that would drive its turbines
- The Olympic pool that Lynn championed for his city, was passed by one council but almost went down in flames with a new one until Andy Morin got involved. The success Andy enjoyed here then got him interested in Folsom politics.
- Lynn grew up in Folsom and graduated from Sac State
- During his 23 year career as the Folsom Recreation manager the city has grown from 2 parks to 28, including a world class sports complex
- Lynn even knew why his city went from 7 to 70 thousand people, most of whom came during the Folsom building boom of the 80’s. A second little heralded gold rush took place during that time. The city contracted with developers who offered to create homes and schools on land that could be cleared by crushing the giant rock mounds that covered it and using that for fill. Well, what is little known, is that while doing so, they utilized a process that extricated the gold that was still inside the rocks and boulders. And word has it that they did quite well in so doing.

As a postscript, as Lynn and I talked and got to know each other, it made me happy to know that he knew he was blessed to have such a great wife, Jenna, and three high achieving, student athlete teen age boys. Lynn learned to appreciate at a very young age. Born with a deformed left hand, he spent enough of his youth in hospitals surrounded by kids with problems far worse than his to feel grateful for just the miracle of life. So much so that he gives no power to limits. While getting Folsom its 50 meter pool is a more recent example, in high school and junior college he shot well enough with both his bad hand and his good hand to make him a varsity level basketball player starter who also cranked top grades. And if he has his way, it won’t be long before the rail right of way that Folsom bought all the way to Placervillve will soon become a recreation highway that will grow to connect Lake Tahoe with Placerville, Folsom and Sacramento as per what Lynn sees in his crystal ball.

Nor was Lynn finished when he left at 3Pm to ride home. Before he did, he went down to the Historical Society down the street and told the docent there that I was in town. Marilyn Ferguson got on the phone right away and called the newspaper and Mayor. Being a holiday weekend, no one was home. But this 78-year-old powerhouse took care of me in grand style as I will show you in my next report…………

THX 4 all of u!!

American River Trail Heaven - Sac to Folsom!!

Rode an amazing 30 miles along the Jeddidiah Smith River Trail that follows the American River from Sacramento to Folsom today. After Ed Cox escorted me to the trail head, I was blessing Peter Wagner, the Mr Bicycle of Davis, the whole way. Peter took the idea that Jacques Graber had of getting the weight of my load off of the steer tube to a whole another level. As I rode, I thought about how he had melded the discarded items of the modern day world into that which lived at the cutting edge of 19th century technology, the Eagle, in a way that added a whole new level of killer performance to this machine. Outfitted now with the hack sawed off back end of a dead mountain bike, this farthing penny (not a penny farthing where the wheel configuration takes its name from the English denomination of coins where the penny was the much bigger of the two) rides now almost as good as it ever did!!

And this trail that the people up here get to enjoy is so amazing, that it does a great job of emulating the highest art form of the SF to Boston greenway I have long foreseen. Aware of the fact that most cities cannot achieve what has taken place with this corridor, I still maintain that we can use this as a model to start to move in this direction with an inter-connected network of bikeable roads and paths that connect the coasts .

To give you an idea why the Jedidiah is 21st Century bike path perfection, I will try to run you through some of what I saw. To begin, there are signs stenciled into the the beautifully paved, smooth asphalt that tell people on foot that they are to move against trail traffic on the dirt that lines its edges. This did not seem to be a problem for the peds as they all appeared to be content to move along at their slower speeds.

Every mile or so there are tastefully designed signs that read, "Adopt the Parkway" . A box at the top tells you who has volunteered to keep each section orderly while another box below it tells you who the paying sponsors are. The trail also looks out on the river on one side and fields and rolling hills on the other. It passes through a few beautiful parks with sprawling lawns and as I've written in year's past, it does not let you know there are busy cities and freeways over the ridges beyond. All signs of humanity are hidden from view.

Wow!!

This is what I enjoyed as I "sped" along until almost the end where John Holmes slowed down to ask me a few questions. It wasn't long before he took me to Karen's Bakery and he bought me an ice tea and a fruit cup. We talked for a while and he rode back to his afternoon work as a family therapist.

This as I stayed around and enjoyed their a/c power to recharge my iPhone and this computer while I also created this blog post. Soon, I will be joining my host Lynn LePage, the recreation manager for the city of Folsom, to enjoy a covered bridges exhibit near City Hall where he works.

More later.

But right now WoW WoW!!

As a postscript, as I was heading to City Hall to meet Lynn, one of my very good friends from 30 years called out to me from his car. It was Greg Roseblum! Whoaaa, we played a lot of whiffle ball, table tennis and basketball together. And we both studied accounting at Cal State Hayward. He still works as an accountant and lives now in Folsom. Too wild!!

New! Photo gallery from today

Sacramento Rox my Ride & Kicks Bike Butt!!

At left is Will Kempton, the director of all of Cal Trans!

News Flash These photos just in from Paul Guttenberg of Davis!
What another incredible day filled with even more magic!! But before I get there let me continue from where I left off last nite. Yesterday, Ed Cox drove me over to Costco where I took a leap of faith and plopped down $350 for this, an Acer Computer, that weighs 2.8 pounds, is small and has not only big power but a a big enough keyboard that I can better tell you how much love there isin our world. I also plunked down another $99 for an Olympus digital camera, the FE 20, that I discovered I can offload its pictures to the web through my new little Acer .

I was up till probably one or two in the cool little 120 square foot studio Ed built in his backyard , configuring these two little devices so I could use them today. Four hours later I was up with batteries थेंcharged getting more configuring done. Ed was chomping at the bit to get his very big day started and he and I left to go meet a bunch of lawmakers, including state assemlblymen Tom Torlikson and Wes Chesbro (sp?), who were riding their bikes in from 30 or so miles away

A few state senators and even Andy Morin and Steve Miklos, the two Folsom elected officials who have received our NBG in the past, were part of the group that stopped at the Tower St. Bridge that led to the capitol. We rode with them to the State House.

It wasn’t long before the Capitol itself became a hub bub of activity as bikes and club rides and vendors streamed in for a gala event , called Bike Fest, that ran from 11-1. The bike giants were everywhere. I met the and joyfully echanged with the number one and numer two people at Cal Trans Will Kempton and Ken McGuire, the head of the bike facilities unit and a sports coach who I had fun talking to . They were even very knowledeable about the Yolo Causeway and explained why it is what it is.............

Don Saylor, the mayor ProTem of Davis was there. As was Folsom Recreation Manager,, Lynn LePage, who offered to put me up at his home in Folsom tomorrow and then get a posse together with Daryl who also rode in from Folsom to help me get over the Sierras.

Jacques Graber came by from his nearby office to see how I was doing. And told me in no uncertain terms that I had to do something about the rack. He sketched out a design that the amazing Peter Wagner, who was there demoing his zany bikes, not only approved but even more embellished. And Peter is going to throw something together today and bring it by tonight on his way back to the hospital where his young son Sam is getting some surgery work down.

This after Lynn, and his friend Daryl had already offered to deputize one of their Folsom friends to do the work once I got there. Since it is a bit uphill to Folsom and Peter Wagner had offered his magic, I chose to get the work done sooner than later.

Legendary HiWheel cyclist, Robert Howe came by to bless my ride and then I saw Lori Yung. For the first time in 14 years! Lori helped me learn html years ago and she offered to help me keep Bikeroute.com current while I am out there on the road! And Lori is over the top, beyond magic where pushing pixels is concerned. How exciting!!

At the event, Ed Cox was honored with a beautiful framed picture for his role in elevating bicycling in the Sacramento area to the new exciting level it now enjoys. I asked for the mic and told the crowd, how Ed was a founding member of SABA, their bike coalition as well as the California Bike Coaltion, which bird dogs all legisltion that affects cyclists at the state level. I told them that it was becasue of his tirless efforts, the fruits of his labors are not more buildings, he is a trained architect, but many of the beautiful bikeways they get to enjoy.

Oh and I forgot to tell you about the Mexican dinner he bought me last nite.. When we left, Ernesto's, the whole restaurant was out on the sidewalk cheering as I prepared to ride off on the Eagle. His downtown Sacramento neighborhood is filled with cool people and bikes and even has its own Bike Kitchen, a bike co-op where many of those on two wheels hang out. WoW!!!

And I go to bed tonight with what feels like new wheels. Peter Wagner went home after the Bike Fest and concocted an amazing bike rack made up of the rear end of a mountain bike, some nuts and bolts and plumbers tape. Ed and I met him at UC Davis hospital where his little Sammy was getting his head reshaped, and in less than an hour later, I had what felt like a new bike.

No longer do I have to turn the 20-pound load I carry when I steer. It is independent of my handlebars! As well, my arms won't be having to make all of the micro adjustments they do when hill work is required of me. Or in sum, I will be riding a much safer machine in the rest of the US ahead. Hail to Peter Wagner, one of the many patron saints that keep blessing this ride with their talents and love!!

Folsom tomorrow!! Yahoo!!!

THX for all of U (with a little bit extra for Peter, his wife Jeri and little Sammy who all gave to this historical ride)

Davis to Sacto - Michael Washington appears!

After a needed day of rest and regrouping at Paul Guttenberg's house, the two of us did a casual ride to Central Park in Davis for their Bike to Work day. And indeed it was a propitious use of my time away from bagging the miles. For me, the highlight of the morning event was seeing Michael Washington there! And this guy is the real deal and then a whole bunch more. So much so that in 2003, the last time I saw him, I created a web page for him: http://BikeRoute.com/michaelwashington .

Car free since 1958, he has over a million miles in his legs. He has biked from coast to coast across every continent sans the North Pole. His north to south crossing of Australia is the only one ever made by anyone on foot or bicycle. In addition, he invents and makes many of the bike parts he uses. And on and on and on.

So when cycling champion Mayor Ruth Asmundson, Michael, Paul and I posed for a group photo, there was arguably more bicycle horsepower assembled in the form of four people than anywhere ever. While the city of Davis has remained a bicycle leader in large part because of Ruth, Paul has also been busy rolling the miles as I noted in a previous post. He also works innumerable bike events and regularly hosts long distance bike tracelers in his beautiful home.

In Michael W's rarefied air sits Paul Guttenberg, who I also want to do a web page fo......

Napa to Davis Death Riide

After my late night and long day in the Napa heat on Sunday, I made the crucial mistake of not asking Sandy and Rich what their plans were for Monday. I was just too tired and I couldn't summon the energy to ask them if I could regroup at their house on Monday. I mean Sandy had already given up her whole Sunday afternoon to attend to the needs of my Napa City Hall arrival. And then figured out a bullet proof fix with Rich for my rack until late late Sunday nite, so I figured I'd give it a day before I asked.

Well 6 AM came and I took a chance. Instead of leaving I got to work on this blog and on uploading pictures from my iPhone to the photo galleries I have set up at our Mayor's Ride Schedule at Bikeroute.com. I got so carried away that it was 10AM before I let Sandy know what I had in mind. And instead of troubling her to find other Napa lodging as she had offered. I decided to take John Young up on his offer to use his escort services whenever I was ready.

Rich graciously rode me the 6 or 7 miles to meet John Young on his Easy Racer recumbent, near Napa junior college. By the time John and I had detoured back into town to get me energy bars and water for the ride to Davis, it was close to noon. And hot. It would get up to 98 degrees in some parts of busy Jamison Canyon ahead. Ugh.............

This was a connection I long had dreaded. And yet it wasn't as bad as I had envisioned. Until we hit Winters. From there the miles ahead leave one with no real goal in sight. Now that's what I call genuine ugh............

And yet for all the years I've sat in a car on the freeways that look out on the Napa to Davis stretch and have felt sorry for the people who live out there, yesterday it was the cars I felt sorry for. Up until agriculture then tamed these lands in Winters, this stretch was all fairly pretty country.

After Rich  biked me to the edge of town, where I met John, a delicious tail wind  blew us out of Napa. But for the most part, the shoulder was adequate, and with the exception of busy Hwy 12, passing cars were not a problem.

And John was awesome. On arguably the world's fastest production bike, an Easy Racer recumbent, he waited for me whenever the road curved or turned and I could not see him. A 64-year-old grandfather of three, he is leaving for his own TransCon ride on June 23. So for him, this was hardly even a training ride. Just a helping hand from a gentle man, with a great laugh who is a retired school teacher.

And yet since he does this ride all the time, he before had not been interested in any of the short cuts that would have made the ride shorter. And yet there again ultra marathon cyclist Paul Guttenberg, from whose computer I am writing this in Davis, did say that that not many people, even in Davis, know some of the short cuts that exist.

It was 7:30 PM when Paul finally met up with us and rode us the rest of the way into town. John and I said good bye near B&L Bike Shop where he rode off to his daughter's house. Paul, an airline pilot, who knows distance cycling took me to his house where he fed me bowl after bowl of miso soup and other plentiful food and drink. I mean this guy knows how hungry the road can make you.

It wasn't long ago that he rode across the US. His TransCon was a 4000 mile journey that he did for his pilot and flight attendant friends who died in the 911 disaster. He did so in an astonishing 30 days!! As well, he regularly rides Davis to LA in 3 days time. That's 600 miles one way!!

This guy is an animal and I feel like he has taken me under his wing to help me regroup for the many miles ahead!!

THX 4 all of U!!


btw:I rode over 70 miles today and yet I cannot be any more exact. I am also too wasted to load the roads I used to our maps at bikeroute.com/brdc . Anyone out there with a Garmin Edge they are not using that I can borrow for a few mon

Berkeley to Napa - everyone loving and giving to this ride!

Last nite a call came in while Tom and I were busy chatting away that I did not take. It was Shawn Raymond. He had already seen the blog I put up about my brake issue. I replied early this AM with a text that he followed with a phone call. An hour and a half after we had spoken,  he was in front of Berkeley city hall with a hack saw and the shoes I had asked him to bring that long had proven to work with the Eagle. Wow!!

Soon he was busy grinding and tweaking as Ron Bishop was also hard at work cutting the business cards he had made for my ride! The magic had already begun. This and more after Tom and Lucy had already filled me up with pancakes before he escorted me from their beautiful home high atop the Berkeley hills. In fact, as Tom played guitar on his deck and I sipped the freshly squeezed OJ his wife had made for us that morning, while looking out on his "backyard", miles of watershed and beautiful open space, Wildcat Canyon, I knew the ride ahead would be filled with even more love and miracles.

Shawn worked my front rack some more after the brake fix and we rolled into a day that would reach 99 degrees at 9 AM. Ron, Tom and I were joined by John Young and Diane Lee, both strong pedalers. After Tom and Ron guided us thru the Ohlone trail network, much of which traveled under the elevated BART tracks, strong legs were needed for the giant rolling hills of the I-80 bikeway ahead. Pleasant and lightly trafficked, the route did require some navigation slow downs but we made it to the vista overlook feeling excited to have conquered this northern finger of the SF bay before we then rolled over the Carquinnez Bridge.

The Vallejo side started out in heavenly fashion. Tame wide roads with newly striped bike lanes, the path to the wine country looked like it would be a golden one. Then we hit Hwy 29 at a point where we had to make 13 miles in an hour in the hottest part of the day. with stoplights and hundreds of cars passing us.

This was big challenge for me because holding 14 to 15 mph in these conditions, with gear, demanded a lot from me. But we made our meeting with Napa Vice-Mayor, Juliana Inman, on time!! Her husband, John, a cyclist, was there. He took a lot of pictures. Soon Clark Smith, of Penny Farthing Wines showed up with his wife, Sue. And then Ron Bishop and Diane Lee. In a pick up truck. Diane had flatted.

We assembled for group photos then adjourned to the nearby Ace Hardware where Ron had an idea for how to rig me a new rack to carry my gear, a sleeping bag, some tools, clothes and a tarp. Well a few hours came and went. Several of the employees got involved, as did Clark. We missed the chance for a group meal as they kept sawing and measuring when Sandy Houck, who had biked over from her house where I would be staying the night, realized the last bus to Berkeley was about to leave.

The project ended. A fix for the rack did not result. Everyone said good bye and soon I was biking to Sandy's house about five miles away. There her bicycle crazy husband, Rich, felt challenge. He pondered and pondered. Then he sprung into action. With Sandy's capable help, they concocted a mounting system that seems bullet proof! All with the nuts and bolts and other fasteners they had on hand! They were at it till 11pm!!

Of course, there again, in all my five decades I've never met a couple more bike-centric. There are bikes and bike posters and bike gear tastefully positioned everywhere you look in their home. Too exciting. Wow!!

Car free restart - Palo Alto to Berkeley

Left Palo Alto, not at 5 like I had been threatening, but at 6:20.. I rolled toward the Dumbarton Br in cool morning air with a brake that rubbed. And rubbed. And rubbed. A genuine slow down to my travels I thought it would go away after a few miles. Not so. Or after an overpass downhill. Nope. Or the back side of the bridge. No siree. Not even after I pedaled while holding it's lever.

20 miles later, in San Lorenzo, CA, I couldn't take it anymore. I used my small crescent wrench to turn the edges of the spoon that presses against the top of the tire, up. It worked. Until I bought 2 liters of water for the Camelbak that I wear around my waist in a buttpak. The binding grew worse and worse as the sun got the road hotter and hotter. All the way to Berkeley.

I sit now outside at a Whole Foods charging my phone as I write this. Since my solar charger is not strong enough to also let me do work, I have to alternate between charging and writing....


The ride hath begun!!

Blogger.com returns from NationalBicycleGreenway.com

From here forward,

all posting activity for our 7th annual National Mayors' Ride

will take place here until we locate staff  so we can send it back to

NationalBicycleGreenway.com !!

Here now in the absence of a vehicle and major sponsor support, I am running Car Free and lean and hopefully not mean :)