The Eagle - Bus - Busycle and I .......

Nor would any of this be possible without you. With special THX to John E Cabrera, Lori Yung, John OLeary, Virginia Heneghan, Paul Gregg, Ron Bishop, Cathy & Wayne Douglass. Jeff Kistler, Chris Llewellyn, Linda HeDone, Jim Spillane, Tom Schoeniger and Kelvin Clark..

See when we will be in your city at http://bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2010 

           THX 4 all of U!!  

Posted via email from HiWheel's Posterous

2010 SF to Boston Flyer Updated

We're probably going to be running these as color. Do look for them on the streets!!

With special THX to Don Loomis for helping me to get the .Pages software  to run them..

   THX 4 all of U!! 

Posted via email from HiWheel's Posterous

2010 SF to Boston Bus Arrives on my Birthday! Complete with Mini Adventure and Pictures,,,,,,,,

\At 6 o;clock on Friday nite, after John E's original driver bailed on him, he and I started working the phones. It wasn't until we surrendered to God thinking that if it was His will for us to wait another day, we could do so that Romido, a Class A truck driver, all the way down in Morgan Hill, 40 miles away, showed up. John E found him on Craig's List and we were both astounded at his excitement and how bad he wanted the work. In the let's get it done, right N O W !!

Here he is driving the bus over the Dumbarton Bridge. Indeed, Romido was loving life. 

He said the bus was fun for him to drive and that it was a real runner!!

Nor could we have done the job without him. Besides driving it the 20 or so miles that he did, he helped us get it started and knew what was involved in getting the air brakes filled, even the 80 dollars worth of diesel it cost John E to  fill a small part of the gas tank. The other gotchas of getting this beautiful machine over to Philz Coffee so we can show it at today's Busycle ride were innumerable. And once we got there, just parking it on the street was a large undertaking....

After one hundred more dollars for his work, all of us were happy

And we loved Romido who was a spirited and fun guy for the God Job he did for us!! He's even an X-Games prospect who is 

ramping up to learn how to do a full somersault off a ramp on a motorcyle!!

Too awesome!!

       Thank you Universe! One adventure down, countless others to follow.

                      THX 4 all of U!!  

Posted via email from HiWheel's Posterous

John Hayes Busycle BD ride from Philz Coffee

Longtime (30 years) Santa Cruz Mercedes Benz auto mechanic, John Hayes, enjoyed his birthday, with his two kids. Kachina and Emerson, on the Busycle yesterday. He even drove most of the day (he is pictured at left) and helped us answer a question that crops up every now and again - why does it feel like the clutch (of which there is not one) is slipping sometimes when we pedal?

The answer - we. if you can believe this, were pedaling faster than the gears in the transmission could spin or as John O'Leary, who was also there, later qualified, "it's like going down hill in first gear".

Besides John's revelation, we also learned a little secret about why the Busycle helps to promote a healthy back. Lisa Maloney TOLD US why her back always feels great after a Busycle ride. Such good news!!

As added testimony to how the Busycle is as much about bringing people together as it is a mechanical marvel, Anna da Costa was even there with her friend, Rozanne Shackelford and sister, Maria da Costa who came with her boyfriend Albert. And here is the kicker. the last time I saw Anna was the weekend before my car wreck more than 30 years ago. We were just getting to know each other then. And she bought my book so she can catch up some of what has taken place during all those missing decades!!

Because I am now down here in Aptos at John Oleary's beautiful beach house and have been since last week, I was unable to work with the fun people at Philz Coffee in making this a ride worthy of the value they have added to the Loma Verde and Middlefield neighborhood. Because of them and employees like Brianne Kinney who made us feel like kings when we brought them the Busycle a few weeks ago, to Tess Christy, Doug Carlson, and Suzzanah who kept driving out the love for us on Sunday, that corner section of Palo Alto is teeming with activity. Hats off to Jacob, and his dad Phil Jaber, for their chain of businesses which are fast becoming far more than just coffee houses.

Though we didn't go far or do a lot of rides. it was a great chance to do a Busycle regroup. We also have the interest of not only the amazingly clever, John Oleary, but his friend, John Hayes also wants to help us take the Busycle to the next level. The two of them have a ton of ideas and since John H is a cyclist who makes a living working on one of the most sophisticated vehicles on the planet, the Mercedes, the two of them bring a lot of horsepower to the Busycle effort as it ramps up for SF to Boston next June

Since I have been staying with Johnny O, I have had the opportunity to learn more about some of his wizardry. A strong HiWheel cyclist and union electrician, he is one of the highest ranking wire techs anywhere to be found. Far more than a new home or remodel electric man, he is regularly called upon to wire electronic data storage centers and jobs that fall within in that realm for clients such as MCI, Google, SGI, HP, Nortel Networks and the city of Santa Clara, etc. He has even consulted on the wiring for movie sets where he has rubbed elbows with George Lucas, Steve Landis, Eddie Murphy, Ted Danson and even McCully Colken (sp?)

Paul Gregg was there with his forklift beacon to add authority to an event that had all the many car drivers who passed us smiling, waving and taking photos of all the color that we were all about. Look for another Busycle event soon and in the interim, if you want to stay positive, you can follow my Affirmations of Note blog HERE.

THX 4 all of U!!

Lisa Knox

I'm diggin' the colorful flags on the busycle. Sorry I couldn't make this one, but I am DETERMINED to get friends and family out for the next one. Missing this one was a double whammy since, not only do I love the busycle, but I LOVE PHILZ COFFEE!

Our fun ride to Philz Coffee 9/12/09

Our ride to Philz Coffee hardly took any time at all and we had an overflowing bus. Gerry Gras (pictured below), the TransCon cycling veteran who lives with Dans St. George, the cheery woman who let us keep the Busycle in her driveway after the city red tagged us a little over a week ago, expertly drove for us the whole way. He even had Dana and Sharon Trost, the high powered, nationally certified nurse from Kansas, helping him with the size of our berth. They kept him appraised of how far their legs were from the parked cars. But that's getting a bit ahead of the story.

As we were setting up, Lisa Maloney arrived with not just her 10 year old son Quinn, but two other women and two more kids. Wow. And David, the retired fireman, who had stopped to help us move the Bus just a few days before, was not only there but he told me he was friends with Paul Gutenberg, from up in Davis! It is some of Paul's cheers we use even today. Cheers that Dana led today from the Busycle megaphone.

But back to Paul. He and I had just finished talking on the cell phone when David arrived. Paul had wanted to know if we needed help as he was on his way down from Davis. Paul is the airplane pilot I talk about in the Napa to Davis part of my my SF to Salt Lake blog who "nursed' me back to health after I was peeing blood from drinking toooo much water (I would not discover the cause for my red urine until I reached Elko, NV) . He let me stay in his beautiful home next to a bike path for a day of rest as he also cooked me a great dinner and let me eat what I wanted from his kitchen and shower myself and also use his washer and dryer.

What's more, is that Paul knows the long road. It wasn't long ago that he power pedaled 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!!

He also knows that to do long rides in a way that gets worthy promotional exposure, healthy chunks of dough are required. Toward that end, Paul is helping me to get the auction together for three beautiful life size bicycle art pieces, one of which looks like this.

What has stalled this project is our inexperience with on line auctioning. Is there anyone out there who knows EBay well enough that they can help us in this regard? Or for that matter, we are also wondering if there is a better way/place to conduct this exchange of goods?

There was one tiny driving snafu. Gerry made a left where he didn't hear me ask him to make a right. And because of this, a few people couldn't find us. Sorry Dierdre, JohnE, Catherine and Kelly. They had the route I had given them and were going to meet us along that way. But as serendipity would have it, we did happen upon a really huge and fun garage sale where we stopped and browsed around. And a few of our riders were excited to find and buy treasure.

This as Dan Kotke's (Apple employee #1 who still comes and rides the Busycle with us) friend, Greg entertained everyone with his mastery of the Segway scooter that he brought along. He showed us some of what those things can do and how they are not just walking aids for the commuters of this world. He was ripping up on that thing with zigs ad zags and tilts and spins that were fun to watch. I wanted to wonder at his tricks too but I had a Busycle to watch over and a HiWheel bike that always demands that I pay her strict attention.

Indeed we must have been quite the sight. I was on my Eagle HiWheel, John Oleary was on his Rideable Replica penny, Greg was on his Segway and we had as many as 4 and 5 people walking along as they waited for someone to want a break from the Busycle. And we even saw Emily Young twice today! Once when we stopped at her house and she heard 15 of us calling. "We want Emily!" and once again at Philz when she came to pick up her husband Steve Branz (pictured second from end in the picture just above), the hard driving road biker who rode with us who also happens to be one of the deans at San Jose State.

Arnold didn't hear us when we called for him at his house. But he must have heard us all the way over in Mountain View as he was there at their Art and Wine Fest when we stopped at his residence. In his 70's, Arnold, who doesn't bother with the internet, still figured out that there was something going on at Philz! Even though it was not on his way back home, he still came by to say hello once we did arrive! And when he did, he was surprised to hea

r we had been looking for him!

Below, you will find some of the video that John Oleary shot of our ride. And once we did arrive, the Philz Coffee people welcomed us with open arms. After everyone stayed aboard to help us jockey the Busycle into the one parking spot we took up in their parking lot, Brianna came out and took our drink orders and then when they were ready, she brought them out to each of us individually. The tea I ordered was probably the best iced tea I have ever drank. And I heard many others say that their tea or their coffee was unique and tasty. All on the house!!

Thank you Philz We look forward to doing a bunch of rides from your spirited location on Middlefield here at Loma Verde in Palo Alto. And we've even got John Oleery looking into a canopy for our machine and Larry Shapiro is going to get us a feel for what is out there in the way of a car cover. For which we finally got you, Larry, the measurements you need: 20' long, 8' wide, 8' feet tall.

btw: Robbie Benson, a former rugby player who might be playing some Saturday football with me, was also with us the whole day as was Mimi Wolf, a long time Busycle veteran and Busycle tarp repair specialist . And even JohnE Cabrera did ultimately find us, Almost in characteristic fashion, At the end of the day!! Plus, in the email I got from bike commuter Dierdre Macmahon. She remains committed to some day getting a ride on our magic Busycle !!

Do stay tuned for updates and additions to any thing I may have overlooked.

THX 4 all of U!!

9/12 Busycle Pedals to Philz Coffee (new Palo Alto home)

We just heard from the fun Philz Coffee people!! And they want our Busycle at their 3191 Middlefield Ave (@Loma Verde) location here in Palo Alto, CA, until my Eagle ride leaves for Boston next June as per bikeroute.com/HBGR .

We were headed for Mike's Bikes. So THX so much Ken Martin, owner of that fast growing chain. This way he can expand without having to work around us as he was so kindly willing to do. Maybe in the future, we can still stage some rides from their location and that of other interested businesses here in Palo Alto or even other nearby cities for that matter . If you want us to bring the Busycle your way for a special event or just want to base a ride from your place of business, do contact me at hiwheeler@gmail.com or 415-240-4712..

Our 9/12 riders will be rewarded with a shorter ride and a FREE cup of Philz coffee!!

Carl Mueller's Busycle 2.0?

Carl Mueller, owner of Windwrap.com, the bicycle fairing manufacturers up in Eureka, offered to help with any mechanical issues that may be cropping up on our Busycle when we asked for help getting it moved last Friday. And indeed he's the man for the job. Do get a look at what he's running up there in Kinetic Sculpture country. A ten person vehicle, could this be 1n 2.0?

He posted the photos you see here on his Facebook page...

The Busycle is in Big Trouble

The Busycle is in Big Trouble. It got a Tow Warning 68 hours ago. And has to be moved in 4 hours time :( Jerry G, across the street sez we can put it in his driveway until 9/12 when we take it to Mikes Bikes. Who can help for about 10 minutes?

11 AM today - call me for directions. I need at least 8 sets of legs.... 415-606-5043

Here is the Facebook dialogue that resulted:

Virginia Heneghan

:-(

Fri at 7:59am · Delete

Martin Krieg

To ride on 9/12 -http://www.pingg.com/rsvp/

8pvetjnk8gy42g2ss

Fri at 8:10am · Delete

Martin Krieg

11 AM today - call me for directions. I need at least 8 sets of legs.... 415-606-5043

Fri at 8:12am · Delete

Martin Krieg

Ok Virginia - you're excused. It will be towed away by the time U get here from Ireland. Come on Palo Alto Busyclists - who can help??

Fri at 8:32am · Delete

Virginia Heneghan

:-))))) good luck with it.

Fri at 8:35am · Delete

Jeff Moser

Come on, Martin! If you can ride a hi-wheeler over the Sierras and across the NV desert, surely you can tow a little bus with that thing, right? Have an espresso and cowboy up!

Fri at 8:43am · Delete

Carl Mueller

want's to know what is broken on the Busycle? Maybe it (the busycle) would like to move to Eureka Ca. for repairs? I am a builder of Kinetic Sculptures and have both parking room and a shop to perform repairs.

Fri at 11:11am · Delete

Martin Krieg

Disaster averted. Lincoln Evans showed up with a couple friends, Jerry Gras "pedaled" and George Bradshaw and his boyz helped too. A mini party of neighbors and passers by ensued as 20 feet later we covered her up. Roland Hsu got there on time but we were done. Ditto for Steve Branz. This machine creates a lot of excitement!! WoW!!

Fri at 12:23pm · Delete

Martin Krieg

U R too funny Jeff. And U and Carl gotta get down here and ride this very heavy and very slow machine as U smile from ear to ear. And Carl THX 4 the offer. Hmmm, how bout ,aking one of your WindWrap fairings for the Busycle? We really "need" a windshield....

Fri at 12:28pm · Delete

Carl Mueller

is glad to hear that the Buscycle was able to dodge the tow truck for the time being. Next time I am in the bay area I will have to stop int and take a ride. My 4 x 10 Kinetic weighs 1,412 lbs and can easily be pedaled by one person although ten is the intended number of riders. You can see photos of it on my FB page. It is still under construction for the 2010 race here in Humboldt County.

Fri at 1:23pm · Delete

Bus or Motor Home Needed for 7th National Mayors' Ride

Since as per the previous blog post in here, you can see that we lost our sponsor, I've got to go into overdrive to try to pull rabbits out of the proverbial hat. Our first most important need is for a vehicle that at least one other (a driver) can sleep in that is also strong enough to tow the Busycle from San Francisco to Boston. Kitchen, toilet and shower facilities are also a must!  It would be great if we could also sleep a blogger and a publicist! 

Surely there is someone out there with undecided vacation plans who might like to lend us both his or her vehicle and services or has a motor home or bus that is moving very little due to the high  coast of fuel (for which we are building a war chest). And yet there again, there just might be such a truck that needs to be delivered to the east coast and can wait until August 3rd for it to be there.

Help me bring hope to people suffering from head injury of any of life's many other challenges.

As per our 7th annual National Mayors' Ride, we leave in three weeks!! Contact me at 415-240-4712 or hiwheeler@gmail.com 

         THX 4 U!! 

Martin Krieg "Awake Again" Author
http://www.BikeRoute.com/MKRIEG.HTML
'79 & '86 TransAmerica Bike Rides
2009 w/"How America Can Bike & Grow Rich"
Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death Survivor
NBG Founding Director, HiWheel Cyclist

Sponsor Pulls Plug - Help Save Ride to Boston!!

Last week, and, in hindsight I could feel it coming for months because their business was off the mark, the Main Sponsor for my ride pulled the plug. The quarterly payment that I got from them for web work and soon the advertising exposure they would have gotten for helping the two most photographed vehicles in the world get from one coast to the other, fell victim to bad economic times. It was this money that I had planned on using to get me out of the gate come May 3.

Nor can I feel at all mad at them. When the orders were not coming in, they had to figure out some way to keep themselves fed. Nor do I know what more I could have done. I moved forward in good faith finishing my book, learning this backwards HiWheel so I could pedal the mountains, and even though we barely broke even, holding fund raisers so we could maybe actualize some of the bigger dreams I had for this ride.



Instead of using this month of April trying to add a few sponsors so I could buy some needed supplies in addition to the motor home I had planned to rent to blog and stay in touch with Mayor's office from, sag my ride and get the Busycle back to Boston, I am finding myself starting from scratch. Besides dollars, I also lost my sponsor's office support, so I will have to build two crews in three weeks time - one for the road and one for here at home.

Do I crawl in a hole and throw the last six years away? Or do I look for new ways to make all of this real? I suspect that those of you who have read my book, "Awake Again", know the answer. I was up against a lot tougher odds in rebuilding my broken body, mind and the world I had created then. So, just as I got better from my setback by listening for God's voice, I am doing the same thing now. And it does seem that a Bigger Power is saying that I need to come before my community of friends for help. Here is how:

Sponsor a day (or more!) on the road - for $100 you can keep us fed and pay the daily cost of fuel and motor home rental - in exchange you will be listed as a Day Sponsor at the main page for our 7th Annual National Mayors' Ride http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2009 . You will also get free on line copies of "Awake Again" and “How America can Bike and Grow Rich, The National Bicycle Greenway Manifesto”.

Sponsor an NBG Day - at the above link, you will see the 25 cities we are visiting. You can adopt one of them, like Angle Tech Cycles has done for Denver, for $500!

Donate via Payl Pal - to NBG@bikeroute.com (nonprofit ID 770344732)

If you want an even bigger presence at this ride, your business name can be silkscreened on to my helmet visor, front handlebar pack, the side panels of my biking shorts, on my buttpak or on to the side panniers I am thinking about running. Heck you can even sponsor one of the chapters in my on-line book.

Help me make this a people's ride. Contact me at 415-240-4712 or hiwheeler@gmail.com

THX 4 all of U!!

btw: Join the May 3rd festive ride from Palo Alto to San Francisco
btw2: In case U missed it, here is the Palo Alto Weekly article
--
Perfect love drives out fear - John 4:18

Martin Krieg "Awake Again" Author
2009 w/"How America Can Bike & Grow Rich"
http://www.bikeroute.com/HBGR
'79 & '86 TransAmerica Bike Rides
Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death Survivor
NBG Founding Director, HiWheel Cyclist