Chalk Printing Bike to Spray NY, Shop Owner to HiWheel to DC, and..

06-24-2004, 06:45 AM

Just heard from Larry Black, the legendary owner of Mt Airy and College
Park Bicycles out there in the DC area and wow gadzooks, he tells me he
is going to ride the Baltimore to Washington DC relay leg on a Messicek
HiWheel bicycle ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ]!! Soon we
will have his bio up but this well loved bike industry celebrity is
looking for people to join him on his Friday July 2, 44 mile run. If
interested, apply at
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
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Heard also from the amazing Chalk-Printing Bicycle* Man. Here is the
tentative news release Josh Kinberg created that we want to shoot off to
the NY press if we and Josh can get all of this together in time. As per
our exciting schedule [Only registered and activated users can see links. ],
NYC is tomorrow at noon! Yahoooo:
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Taking it to the Streets:
Chalk-Printing Bicycle Spreads the National Bicycle Greenway Gospel

On Friday June 25, 2004, National Bicycle Greenway's annual Mayors' Ride
arrives at City Hall Park in New York City. Joining the ride will be
RoadWriter, a unique, spray-chalk printing bicycle used to spread the
word about National Bicycle Greenway's quest to connect the coasts and
all of the cities in between with a network of bike roads and paths.
RoadWriter's inventor, Joshua Kinberg, a New York based emerging
technology artist, is enthusiastic about participating in the Mayors'
Ride and hopes his invention will help National Bicycle Greenway achieve
its goals. Using an embedded computer to control a series of spray-chalk
aerosol cans, Kinberg's bicycle prints neatly scripted, dot-matrix text
messages behind him as he cruises from one block to the next. "The
effect is similar to skywriting," says Kinberg, "except on the street."
And, like skywriting, the messages have a temporary presence. The chalk
removes easily with water, or safely biodegrades within a few days.

Kinberg hopes his invention will promote the benefits of riding
bicycles. "Bicycles are a safe, healthy, and energy efficient form of
transportation," says Kinberg. "People will look back on the National
Bicycle Greenway as an important American achievement, the same way that
we now view the Transcontinental Railroad, or the Interstate Highway
system." ... [Quote from Martin Krieg]
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When we Hi Wheeled (and unicycled & skated) Davis to Folsom last week,
Mike Damon and Jack Martin were racing back and forth along the trail
keeping the appointments we had made with the Mayor's offices along the
way advised of our progress. When I thanked Jack, the inventor of the
bike mounted hydration system called GOMBer <http://gomb-er.com>, here
is the reply I got yesterday:
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My only worry about the racing around was when it was in the middle of
the urban traffic!

But, doing the stint from discovery park to Folsom
was more of a welcomed challenge for me. I had never ridden the entire
length of the bike trail out of Sacramento before. Doing it at speed,
and in that heat, was great training.

Patrick and Don were great guests. I can see why Patrick is a school
teacher, my kids just loved him. They shrieked with laughter the next
morning when he demonstrated his unicycling skills in the driveway. They
liked Don, also, but he is more reserved and private, so they
respectfully gave him the solitude he needed for his writing.

My daughter Rachel mounted her own bike and "escorted" both Patrick and
Don to the end of our street when they left. My youngest kids were
excited to have guests in the house and were incredulous that these men
would head off on such an adventure as to dare to ride across the entire
country on cycles. My 11 year old, Samuel, likened them to Lewis and
Clark.

I tried to feed and hydrate them as much as possible and offer them
every possible amenity, given their undertaking. But both of them
accepted only modest amounts of anything, displaying the grace of true
gentlemen. They are each welcome back to my home anytime.

I hope the rest of the Mayor's Ride will be a success. Thanks for the
pic slide show
([Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
me=Davis-Folsom2004) in the website. I've viewed it a couple times
already. It's great.