2010 Ride

Explore the 2010 ride

“MEETING A REAL ROCKET MAN” (Saturday, October 30, 2010)

Sun, October 31, 2010 1 Comment by tomweis

The morning began with a knock at my door by the Benton County Sheriff’s Department. It was my ride. Deputy Don Munson was there to drive me back to Fowler to pick up my trike. On the way, we got to talking about all the wind farms in the area and he remembered where the wind farm I helped get off the ground years ago was located. Problem was, it was considerably north of Fowler, and I didn’t have the time (or the energy, after last night) to pedal all the way up there and back from Fowler. Without missing a beat, he turned down a side road and headed north. So I got to visit my old wind project, courtesy of the Sheriff’s Department.

Very satisfying to see the physical manifestation of something that seven years ago was just a hope and an idea. Surrounding us were 53 two-megawatt wind turbines generating green energy for Indiana and a providing a new source of income for farmers. Officer Munson is a huge fan of wind power.

Grabbed a sandwich at the local grocery store and headed down the road to Lafayette, where I wanted to visit Purdue University, and hopefully a bike shop to get one of my front tires replaced. Learned that the university was having their annual Purdue Space Day at the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering today, which coincidentally was right where I pulled into campus. Rolled my trike into the building and introduced myself to the organizers, who welcomed the addition of a “rocket trike” to their event. Interesting fact: Purdue boasts the first and last astronauts to walk on the moon. A few minutes later, 600 3rd-8th graders began streaming into the building. Had lots of great interactions with the kids, then was told Tom I-P. Shih, head of the School of Aeronautics and Astonautics, wanted to meet me. This led to a fascinating conversation with Tom, who in turn introduced me to the event’s VIP astronaut speaker.

Astronaut David Wolf is the real rocket man, having logged 168 days, 12 hours, 56 minutes and 04 seconds in space over four separate missions. When I mentioned my trike, he asked if I had had any incidents with it. “Yes, in fact, I crashed it just last night…” which prompted this reply: “always put safety first.” Sound advice, coming from someone whose life literally hangs on that in space. He was curious to see the trike, so I walked him over to it after the event.

By the time I found the bike shop downtown and got the tire changed, it was close to 5:00. Even though I’d only 30 miles logged on the day, decided to play it safe and not push it this time, and grabbed a motel for the night.

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“A CRASH & A SHERIFF DEPUTY’S KINDNESS” (Friday, October 29, 2010)

Sun, October 31, 2010 3 Comments by tomweis

Began the day by getting to drive Matt’s TWIKE around the block. Talk about fun. Test-drive one yourself, and you may never go back to a car.

Then it was back into the cockpit of the rocket trike for what turned out to be an 83-mile ride day. Started with a hearty breakfast in nearby Urbana before heading north towards Fowler, site of the enXco wind project I cut my teeth on when I first joined the wind industry nearly seven years ago. Met Neil Bernstein and his son Daniel on the way out the door, who were real excited about the ride. Thanks for the generous contribution, guys!

Weather now starting to get a little cool, but a beautiful day for riding. Encountered six hawks and two large dogs, as I rode by a farmer’s yard. They were barking with what was could only be described as joy and ran alongside me for a good couple of miles. They’d have gone further, I’m sure, if I hadn’t stopped to let them rest.

Made a side trip down Main Street in Rankin and a little while later, in Hoopeston, where I ran into local Alderman Bill McElhaney and Republican County Clerk candidate Dennis Miller, both big supporters of wind power. Finally crossed the state line into Indiana (one more state down). A short while later, a woman in a van flagged me down. She was a reporter from the Danville Commercial News whose son had just called her saying he had seen me on the road. We did an interview in the parking lot.

http://commercial-news.com/local/x1507931229/Trike-rockets-through-area

Finally spotted a huge wind project on the horizon to the north and made tracks for it. I was soon pedaling through a massive wind project, with hundreds of turbines dotting the landscape, as the sun began to drop. The setting sun, behind all those slowly rotating wind turbines, under a pale blue sky with wispy white clouds turning pastel pink, was a postcard perfect moment (but for the iPhone battery dying at that moment). What happened next was not.

As there were no towns of any size nearby, I had to make Fowler before dark. Missed my target by a few miles, which forced me to ride in the dark. Kids, don’t do this. Knocked on the door of a farmhouse to make sure I was on the right road. I was, so at least that.

By now, it was not only pitch black, but I was riding on a section of newly constructed black asphalt with no painted stripes and no shoulder (ironically built by a wind company), so it was hard to discern where the asphalt ended and a sharp, nasty drop-off began. Got a little too close to the edge at one point and over we went. Fortunately, it was a soft, grassy landing and the trike didn’t roll. Crawled out of the cockpit to survey the damage, fearing the worst. Not a scrape on the trike, which was lying on its side, and just a few small ones on me. A woman (never got her name) who witnessed the accident pulled over to see if I was OK, and was kind enough to slowly drive behind me as I pedaled the last couple of miles safely into town.

Briefly thought about pitching a tent in the town park, but was chilled and still soaking wet from sweating all day, so rolled up to the Sheriff’s Office to ask about other options. The dispatch, Courtney, called around (including to a church) to see if she could find me a bed for the night, but struck out. Finally, they proposed storing my trike, charging the battery up over night, and driving me up the road to the next town where there was a hotel. At this point, that sounded good to me. Before leaving, they loaded me up with Halloween candy and other snacks for the road.

When we got to the hotel, Deputy Jason Dexter asked me to please wait in the car, which I found curious. He came out a few minutes later, handed me my room key with his business card and said, “I really admire what you’re doing. Here’s your room key. Just do me one favor and email me when you arrive in DC.” He had personally picked up the tab for my room! I was flabbergasted. He said another officer would be by in the morning to drive me back to Fowler. Indiana’s Benton County Sheriff’s Department truly personifies the motto “protect and serve.” Thank you, Jason, for your heartwarming generosity.

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“FRIENDS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES” (Thursday, October 28, 2010)

Sun, October 31, 2010 No Comments by tomweis

Spent the morning catching up on blogs and emails, then headed over to the University of Illinois campus in the afternoon to check out the 2009 solar decathalon house.

Recruited Matt Childress to join me after work for a public talk by my old friend John Passacantando (former Executive Director of Greenpeace), who also happened to be in town for Sustainability Week. John gave a great talk, and also pitched my ride and online petition. Afterwards, I showed him the rocket trike and Matt took him for a spin in the TWIKE. Turns out John also loves bikes and actually used to work in a bike shop.

The three of us later hit an Irish pub for some grub and drinks (thanks, John!) to share some stories from the past and lay plans for the future.

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“ELECTRIC CAR SAVES THE DAY” (Wednesday, October 27, 2010)

Sun, October 31, 2010 1 Comment by tomweis

When Kevin pulled up to the driveway, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was expecting something small like a Nissan Leaf. Instead, I was looking at a cross between a silver DeLorean (complete with gull wings) and the Batmobile.

Kevin’s the Team Leader of Illuminati Motor Works, and this was “Seven,” the electric car he and six other team members had spent the past three years building to compete for a $5 million prize at the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition. In June, their homemade, 4 seat, 3155 pound electric vehicle achieved 182 MPGe on a 134-mile run at Michigan International Speedway. Talk about American ingenuity.

So we loaded up the trike, picked up team member, George, and hit the road for Champaign. “Seven” gets 200 miles on a single charge (twice the range of the much-touted Tesla), and I’m happy to report successfully transported 3 adults, a rocket trike, and a trailer 100+ miles to Champaign. This is likely a world record, as none of us has ever heard of an electric car accomplishing such a feat. Whoever thinks electric cars lack for power just needs to ride in one. To demonstrate, Kevin peeled rubber as we headed down the road.

In Champaign, we met up with Matt Childress, who had arranged for our electric vehicles to be displayed on campus as part of University of Illinois’ Sustainability Week. He drove me to campus in his two-seated, fully-electric bike called the TWIKE.

While there, did an interview with Local ABC News affiliate WICD15, which ran a nice piece on their 10:00 news:

http://www.wicd15.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/vid_3271.shtml

Also did an interview local CBS affiliate WCIA3 news:

http://illinoishomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=188726

Then did an interview with Celeste Quinn of Illinois Public Media local NPR affiliate WILL, “A Journey to Promote Green Energy.”

http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/weisafmag1027/

Here WILL provides a close-up tour of the rocket trike’s features:

http://will.uiuc.edu/media/gbiker/index.html

Then rolled downtown and popped into WPGU’s studio.  You can hear the full interview here:

http://the217.com/articles/view/tom_weis_rally_leader_biking_across_america_stops_through_wpgu

Then talked to the Daily Illini:

http://www.dailyillini.com/node/44869

Ended the day by riding around the beautiful campus quad before heading back to Matt’s house to join his family and friends for dinner, where we schemed on ways to mainstream the electric vehicle market.

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“TORNADO WARNINGS & 80 MPH WIND GUSTS” (Tuesday, October 26, 2010)

Sun, October 31, 2010 No Comments by tomweis

As I was preparing to head out this morning for Champaign, via Clinton, got a call from Terri warning me about extreme weather. The news was reporting wind gusts of up to 80 mph for the region (several semis had already been knocked over) and tornado warnings and watches were in effect. No way I was going to chance that and risk shooting through the air like a real rocket. Very disappointed, though, as I had really wanted to present on a panel tomorrow at the University of Illinois’ Sustainability Week. So emailed my regrets and got to work updating my website from my room with a view of a coal plant.

Matt Childress, however, was determined to get me there, and started scheming with colleagues on how to transport me to Champaign in a way that would maintain the integrity of my ride. Turns out one of the other panel speakers lives in Springfield and owns an electric car, which he is offering to use to tow me and my trike over to the university in the morning. What a great analogy for moving forward as a nation: by working together and being creative, we can always find a way.

Sarah Phillips Eccles and her 6-month old daughter Ursula from next door stopped by to offer me breakfast(!). She and her husband Randy had been working the local radio stations on my behalf, which led to a couple of interviews, including with Springfield-based WTAX. Sarah later dropped off some homemade cookies, and shared with me a heartfelt blog she wrote (below). Thanks for everything, guys!

http://www.lifeflipping.net/2010/10/future-is-here.html

Got a call tonight from Matt’s buddy, Kevin Smith, asking about the dimensions of my trike, so he could rig up a special trailer for it (a project that kept him up until 2am). Just before calling it a night, saw an AP article from my friend Paul Alexander on today’s “massive windstorm,” saying “the unusual system mesmerized meteorologists because of its size and because it had barometric pressure similar to a Category 3 hurricane, but with much less destructive power.” Really glad I hunkered down through that. It meant not being able to swing by the Clinton nuclear power plant, which I had hoped to profile tomorrow, but there should be others.

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“PERSONAL APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT” (Monday, October 25, 2010)

Tue, October 26, 2010 2 Comments by tomweis

Tom and Terri both work early, so I had the house to myself (along with their 3 cats and a dog) to get some work done. Spent the morning uploading videos to the website and reviewing President Obama’s speech announcing his run for president. Then headed into the city to find the Old Capitol building. The plan for the day was to shoot a video for the President, see what kind of media coverage I could generate, and make my way east towards Clinton, IL. Got to the Capitol grounds and found the precise location where the President gave his speech, but the grounds were closed. So filmed the video outside the gate (as best I could, with so many people coming up and asking about the trike), making a heartfelt appeal to the President to follow through on the bold and inspiring proclamations he issued in his announcement speech. In case you’re wondering, that little figure over my right shoulder is a balloon Harley Rider Tom & Terri left on my trike this morning.

Later made some media calls. The Illinois Times came out to do an interview and take some shots of the trike.

http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-7927-rocket-trike-stops-in-springfield.html

Also did an interview with local ABC New affiliate WICS. By then, it was getting almost too late to ride, so called Terri and asked if she and Tom would mind a house guest for one more night. Not a problem. Figured I should see Lincoln’s home, since it was just down the street, so rode over there for a quick walk around. Tarried a little too long, though, as the light was already starting to fade.

This meant racing several long miles down city streets as the sky darkened with no back light (it had fallen off as I hurriedly left the house this morning), not totally sure of where I was going and needing to get there fast. Not fun, but I’m thankful for all the drivers who managed to see me and gave me some space on the side of the road. The biggest irony was how happy I was to see those tall smokestacks on the horizon, as it meant I was close to “home.” Was dark when I finally rolled into the driveway, safe and sound. No more night riding, if I can help it.

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“COAL IN MY BACK YARD (CIMBY)” (Sunday, October 24, 2010)

Tue, October 26, 2010 No Comments by tomweis

Visited with lots of people today, so only got in 46 miles, but that’s okay. It’s why I’m riding. Cruising up the frontage rode to Interstate 55 on the way to Springfield, saw a large single wind turbine and rolled down a gravel road to get a closer look. Discovered that the Gob Nob Wind Turbine sits right on top of the former Crown coal mine! Could not have a more fitting site to be generating green energy for the people of Illinois.

Later riding along the shores of Lake Springfield, some members of Brownie Troop #6152 from Rochester, IL shouted out to me as I was pedaling by, so I stopped to talk to them and shared with them what I was doing. They really liked the trike.

A little later, ran into Ric Mari and his family, from Springfield, who shared with me how decades ago, the California community he lived in was going solar. What happened?

Was keeping my eyes on the Dallman coal plant looming over the shores of Lake Springfield, in the hopes of getting up close for a picture. Rode down one street, but it was a dead end. Another was a residential neighborhood with no lakeside access. Saw a couple working in their front yard with Journey blasting on the radio, so rolled up to ask if I could take a picture from their backyard. Tom Hnizodo and Terri Dickson-Hnizdo not only let me take some pics of the plant, but offered me their guest suite for the night. Was later treated to a BBQ dinner with Tom on their back deck, where irony of ironies, we talked about his former job as a Wyoming coal miner, with giant smokestacks belching out emissions not more than 200 yards away. The stories he shared on what it was like mining underground were mesmerizing, and otherworldly. What a mysterious journey life is, made all the more wonderful when you meet people like this.

Later did a little research on the coal plant across the water and learned that the Sierra Club had settled a lawsuit allowing the construction of a new power plant with the lowest pollution rates in the nation; the purchase of 120 MW of wind power; closure of the Lakeside power plant (the #3 dirtiest plant in the country); increasing energy efficiency funding 10-fold; and cleaning up three other coal boilers to the lowest SO2/NOx emission rates for existing boilers nationwide. Better than nothing, for sure, but we don’t need less polluting coal plants in our communities. It’s time to move beyond coal completely. I look forward to visiting Tom and Terri again, not too long from now, when that coal plant stands as a museum for how we used to do things.

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“GREENING THE GRID ONE HOME AT A TIME” (Saturday, October 23, 2010)

Tue, October 26, 2010 No Comments by tomweis

Rode about 10 miles up the Riverfront Bike Path, which was a real treat, where I was met on the trail by local climate activists Tom & Carol Braford, who I had met earlier through the Climate Leadership 2020 Campaign. Took this video crossing the mighty Mississippi River.

Tom’s & Carol’s day jobs entail creating an Ecovillage in St. Louis as a model for the rest of the city, and the nation. They later treated me to breakfast (thanks, guys) at a local Waffle House, where we did some big picture brainstorming on next steps.

Then headed up the road towards Springfield, finding a great bike path (thanks Roger Kramer!) part of the way. Before that, came across this very unique graffiti of a rotating wind turbine next to the highway. Liked it – a lot.

Ran into a fellow recumbent biker, John, who I rode with for a couple of miles and was kind enough to come check on me later as I was starting to lose the light. He told me about a campground that was only 5 miles down the road, so I made tracks for that. On the way, saw a home near Litchfield with a residential wind turbine and solar tracker, so I had to stop. Pedaled down a side road to get to the house and knocked on the door to ask about their setup. Turns out the owner wasn’t home, but his daughter, Kelly Schmidt, and some friends were. Kelly was clearly very knowledgeable about the system, and was happy to give me a quick tour.

Rolled into the campground just before dark, with 69 miles logged on the day. As I’m setting up camp, a guy walked up to me and started asking me about solar power. Wayne Bennett got to talking with me and shared his big idea about solarizing the RV retirement parks in Texas. Hope you do it, Wayne!

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“HALFWAY THERE: PEDALING UNDER THE ST. LOUIS ARCH” (Friday, October 22, 2010)

Tue, October 26, 2010 1 Comment by tomweis

Enjoyed riding through St. Louis this morning. Plenty of back streets to use and traffic not too bad. Got downtown and stopped by the St. Louis Dispatch. All the beat reporters were out on assignment, so pedaled over to the local NBC News affiliate to try my luck there. One security guard wouldn’t let my trike onto the terrace and another practically kicked me out of the lobby (he said network staff would never talk to someone off the street). Went outside and called the news desk upstairs, then spent the better part of the next hour filming a piece for the network. Don’t listen to people who tell you what can’t be done.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=223105

http://www.ksdk.com/life/community/gallerypublic.aspx?plckGalleryID=0426722b-712a-4350-8ab9-862c5829651f

Pedaled down to the gateway arch, which was a thrill. Was welcomed there in style by the lovely Rachel Drochter and Angelina Giannas, who were waiting on a wedding party.

Also want to thank Debbie & Steve for the pics.

Then took the trike under the arch for the ceremonial passage to the east, but had to “Fred Flintsone” my way across, as the chain had come off.

Later found my way to the bike the path, saw a beautiful three-dimensional mural that I had to film, backed my trike off the path to get a better angle and the chain made a loud pop and broke.

As I got out to survey the damage, a guy camping nearby casually walked up to me to ask if I needed some help. That guy is Tom Reese, who is riding (mopeding, actually) with his dog, Daisy, from Spokane, WA and has been in St. Louis for about a week. Tom had not only special tools on his trailer to repair the chain, but spare chain links as well (and used to work at a bike store). About 30 minutes later, I’m back on the path heading north, but not before getting a personal tour of the wall mural from Tom. Thank you so much, friend.

Tom had mentioned a homeless “tent city” right up the path, so when I got there, I pulled in to check it out. A couple of guys walked up to me to check out the trike and told me I was at “Hope City.” What a great name, given the challenges they’re facing. In the fading light, I met “DJ,” who made a powerful appeal for jobs in America to help people get back on their feet. Is it just me, or are others just as outraged to have homeless people living in tent cities in America with no jobs, while wealthy special interests block a green industrial revolution and all the jobs it will create?

By then, it was starting to get dark, so I pulled off the trail into a grove of trees, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Was too tired to unpack everything and put up the tent, so just tossed my bag on the ground. Mistake, as awoke a few hours later to sprinkles. Got up and was preparing to ride in the rain, but it stopped, so grabbed a couple more hours’ sleep. Thanks to fellow biker Curt Gilker for the bike-friendly directions through St. Louis, through which I pedaled a total of 26 miles today.

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“WEBSITE LAUNCHED TODAY!” (Thursday, October 21, 2010)

Tue, October 26, 2010 No Comments by tomweis

Exactly one month after departing Boulder for DC, the ride website finally caught up with me in St. Louis, Missouri. I know many of you have been wondering where I am and how the ride is going. I’ve been just as anxious to share, but ran into a seemingly endless string of challenges getting the ride website up. This has been tougher than the actual pedaling (I’ve felt kind of like “Major Tom” in the classic David Bowie song, Space Oddity: “sitting in my tin can…”). But thanks to Mike Stone’s perseverance and personal commitment, the circuit has been fixed and the “Ride for Renewables” website is finally live. Thanks for sticking with me, Mike. I know this was tough on you as well.

Another down day in St. Louis spent uploading more videos to the ride blog, queuing up the email announcement to friends and colleagues, and responding to my email backlog. That’s all good, but starting to get concerned about the weather, so am hoping for some help posting, linking, blogging, friending, re-tweeting, etc. from friends and colleagues so I can focus on riding.

Want to give a big shout out to my wonderful friend De’Ann Weimer, who generously picked up the tab for the mid-ride national press release distribution, which goes out first thing tomorrow morning. You’re the best, De’Ann! And thank you to everyone else for your patience and ongoing support.

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