Pedaling for Peace

On April 15, 2012 I started riding my bicycle cross-country from Jacksonville, Florida in voluntary support of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) and the work of author and Peace Leadership Director for the NAPF, Paul K. Chappell. By July 4th, I had covered over 1300 miles to just west of Luling, Texas where a major mechanical failure brought this first stage of my cross-country journey to an end. After storing my bicycle and trailer with my aunt and uncle in Weatherford, Texas, I flew from Dallas to Santa Barbara, California to attend the NAPF First Annual Peace Leadership Summer Workshop. I then lived and worked in Santa Barbara for several more months before I returned to Jacksonville and sold off the rest of my possessions that I could to help fund a continuation of my journey. Starting June 8, 2013 and ending August 9, 2013, I rode from Weatherford, through 400 miles of the central Texas hill country, including Austin, Texas, back to Luling. It was at this point that a friend of mine invited me to work for a brief period in Pennsylvania before flying me back to Santa Barbara where I continued volunteering for the NAPF as well as for the Santa Barbara Bike Coalition. As of August 9th, 2014 I began"Stage III" of my cross-country adventure, this time heading south from Santa Barbara to San Diego and then east to El Paso, TX. It was there that illness, winter weather, and diminishing resources brought that leg of my journey to an end. After staying with another friend in Columbus, GA for several months, I moved "back home" to Kentucky to stay with my dad for a while and build a better "resource base" for future endeavors including review and further tracking and primitive survival skills training at Tom Brown, Jr's Tracker School , and a possible longer tour of the east coast, northern tier, and north west coast back down to Santa Barbara, CA.


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Breaking-in the New Fender Blender Bike Blender from Rock-the-Bike

So this is me on April 1, 2011 (that's right "April Fools" day : )), and I've just finished installing my brand new "Fender Blender Universale" from Rock-the-Bike.  The blender came with the rack (that was well designed to adjust to almost any bike size), removable blender base (so I don't have to ride with it attached to my bike ALL the time), and blender. (I decided to add something to secure the cover by attaching four small bungee cords to a square piece of old bicycle innertube.)

For those keeping track, the "Fender Blender" was a little more expensive than your average blender, coming in at $249.00 plus shipping.  Rock-the-Bike encourages people to use them as educational tools, promoting nutritious smoothie making as well as demonstrating how a common household appliance can be run using human power instead of electric power.  In addition, if you're in a position to sell samples, you can use it as a fundraising tool.

They also offer a chopper/food processor, a dynamo that can generate electrical power, and a spin-art device that can all be run off the same system. (See more here:  http://rockthebike.com/blenders/Universale.)  Since I drink smoothies every day, this was an obvious choice for me to take on my trip.  I'm also looking forward to the opportunity to show it to others wherever that is possible. (And, by the way, if you decide to get one yourself, please contact me.  When I told the folks at Rock-the-Bike what I was going to be doing, they offered me a sales partnership "on the spot."  I don't mind promoting these because I think they are Really Cool, and getting a little "thank you" in return for good advertising suits me just fine! : ))

The rack that the bike is setting on is the lightest and cheapest I could find.  I got it from Amazon for under $20.00.  Admittedly, it's a little shaky, but it held throughout all the smoothie making demonstrations my friend Ilona and I did at the Pedal Pushers Bike Swap at Eastern Market on April 2nd.  In addition, I'm willing to sacrifice a little safety for the weight (under 2 lbs) since the next lightest option would probably be upwards of three times as heavy, and A Lot more expensive!

All-in-all, I'm very satisfied with this set-up and look forward to making lots of Bike Blender Smoothies in the months ahead!