Berkeley Mayor, Oakland Vice Mayor to Bike w/Arcata Mayor - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-08-2004, 10:39 AM

For Immediate Release Martin Kreig
June 8, 2004 [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

From Berkeley City Hall at 12 noon on Wed June 9, Berkeley Mayor, Tom
Bates, will pedal a few blocks with popular Arcata Mayor, Bob Ornelas,
who has biked down from his Northern California town to tour the SF Bay
Area in support of the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG). Taking over for
Bates and joining Ornelas on his ride to his next stop, Oakland NBG Day,
will be Car Free Berkeley city councilman, Kriss Worthington and members
of the Berkeley Bicycle Friendly Coalition as well as six turn of the
century HiWheel bicycles. One of the historical bicycles will be ridden
by coma, paralysis and clinical death survivor, "Awake Again" author
and NBG founder, Martin Krieg. Once they reach the Oakland city limits,
Vice Mayor, Nancy Nadel, will join in on her trike.

At Oakland City Hall, Mayor Jerry Brown is still trying to clear his
schedule so he can meet the Mayor and the cyclists to award them with
Oakland's third annual NBG Day proclamation. Like Berkeley, Oakland
remains on the Mayors' Ride tour because of its commitment to bicycling.
And this year
Pasta Cuisine is also showing its support for the two wheel way of
travel by serving free lunch to the riders who have trekked from
Berkeley.

The Mayor's Ride was initiated four years ago as a way to collect
attention and support for the NBG by "Awake Again" author Martin Krieg,
who used the bicycle and his two cross-country cycling trips to overcome
the two-month-long coma, paralysis and clinical death caused by a car
wreck. He has been working on the NBG which is envisioned as a safe
system of interconnected trails and bike friendly roads all across the
United States, since his last bike ride across America in 1986.

The 2004 Mayors' Ride will visit 24 west coast cities, and 41 in all as
the teams converge on Chicago July 30 where they will meet riders
coming in from east coast population centers including Boston,
Pittsburgh and Washington, DC. Before the ride heads east, the west
coast will still be alive with energy. In the days ahead a fleet of
antique Hi Wheel bikes, accompanied by the band, C.A.M. Engine, which
will be preparing population centers along the way for the riders'
arrivals with music, will turn a lot of heads as they ride the American
River from Davis to Folsom collecting four Mayoral endorsements along
the way. Other relay legs throughout the country will find a
coast-to-coast unicyclist and Mayors and former Mayors and council
persons riding relay legs themselves. You can get up close and personal
with Arcata Mayor Bob Ornelas and the rest of the Mayors' Ride at
BikeRoute.com