The Jims (Muellner and Wetherell) and Max Chen arrived at the house I
share here in Santa Cruz with Faye Saunders at 7PM!! WoW. And I do mean
WoW. Huge day for these guys as they left Elliot and Nancy's house
(principals with the Peninsula Parkinson's Foundation) in Los Altos,
after a beautiful dinner and swim the night before to then hit the road
early at 8AM today. From there they took a leisurely ride to the City
Hall reception (they got there early thx to Max's expert route
planning) in San Jose where Faye met them with her digital camera, she
is pictured at the left of this one with her daughter Chloe
http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide/PaloAlto2003/GallMainPAGroup
6.jpg . Faye was also there with pizza from Pizza Lovers restaurant
for when the event was over. And if all that is not enough, not only
did she find time from her high pressure job at Apple Computer to
create the Pizza Lover donation but she also fed all of us, including
Scott Campbell who came over to build the new Backsafer
http://Backsafer.com
bike we are raffling off this Sunday, the great
chicken dinner that we all just enjoyed.
At today's noon time festivities in San Jose, I was talking with Faye
when I heard sirens in the background. And as they got closer, she
exclaimed, "there they are, gotta go!". Click. They next thing I heard
was how incredibly nice everyone was from the police officers that
escorted our riders in to Margie, the vice Mayor's scheduler, to Pat
Dando, the Vice Mayor herself. Pat even spent a good amount of time
telling the riders how happy and proud she was that they had come to
visit San Jose, the city she represented. Pat even talked about how
sup****tive San Jose is of cycling as she then read off a long list of
all the things they had done to make it easier to ride a bike there.
More on all of this excitement soon. But I want next to talk about the
riding that followed.
From San Jose, using Ken Hodor's Silicon Valley to the Sea route,
http://www.geocities.com/kenhodor/svtoseagps.html
, the Jims and Max
then climbed over the Coast Range that separates us from San Jose. And
this was no easy task. Especially on the bikes they were riding! Not a
one of them, two heavy trikes and a BikeE, is a good climbing machine.
While I am impressed as usual with Muellner's prowess, I am awed by
what Parky (Wetherell) did. At 60 year's old and fighting Parkinson's
so hard that his every move is laden with tremor and uncertainty, he
powered thru an ascent that is a worthy challenge to even the most fit
of cyclists. And all of them did it amidst sometimes impatient rush
hour traffic, as the mountain roads they utilized have become an
alternative route to those who live in Santa Cruz and work in San Jose.
Of which there are many such job holders. Awesome and all of us will be
meeting Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly, Councilman Scott Kennedy and
Country Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt tomorrow at noon as this segment of
our relay wraps up at Santa Cruz City Hall!
On another front, Tim Brummer of Lightning Cycles
http://www.lightningbikes.com
, meets San Luis Obispo Mayor Dave Romero
at the same time we meet in Santa Cruz tomorrow - Noon! And what's
exciting is that Tim's company holds the world record for the fastest
TransAm crossing on a bike ever. In 1989 they crossed the US in 5
days!! And the bike he will be riding will be even faster than the one
they used to set the record that may stand for a very longtime
unchallenged. From the San Luis Obispo festivities, he expects to be
in Monterey by tomorrow night where he will rest before he takes part
in Saturday's Monterey National Bicycle Greenway Day!!
In yet moire exciting news, KPIG radio did an on air interview with me
today and in addition to the beautiful program guide that "Connection"
magazine did for our event, the "Good Times" ran a two page story about
our Sunday show as well! They even had photos of both Jim and myself in
there!!
And in closing, if U are new to Santa Cruz and don't know where San
Lorenzo Park is located, THX to Joseph Leight it should be easy to
find. He plans to go out early Sunday morning and populate key
intersections near the park with signage. Big signs! Much of which he
is working on right now!!
So exciting!!
Hope 2 C U Sunday!!
THX 4 U!!
MARTIN KRIEG: "Awake Again" Author c/o BikeRoute.com
79 & 86 TransAms, nonprofit Nat. Bicycle Greenway CEO
Ever wanted anything so bad U were willing to die for it?
Really die? By moving thru clinical death and reversing
paralysis, *I saw God* when I answered that question.
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