Every Day Adventurers

The Xtracycle platform’s coolest feature, IMHO, is its modularity and ability to customize the platform for specific tasks. Numerous Xtracycle riders have utilized the plug-n-play features of their X’s for years. Wes Trout, an Xtra owner for 3 years, has taken customizing his Xtracycle to an impressive level.

We’ve occasionally interacted via the RootsRadicals Yahoo! Xtracycle user group, but recent record snowfalls and his newest invention, the Snow Plow, caught my eye and I had to get more details on his projects. Read the full interview below about how Wes started his own business, Shifting Gears, catering to the needs of businesses seeking sustainable solutions for their needs, and his perspective on cargo cycling culture.

Wes Trout with his cargo bike snow plow

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Writing from another squat. This one is in Bilbao, Spain. 10 years old and aging gracefully. Kukutza, they call it. Squats really lubricate the Pleasant Revolution. This one has good vibes and confirms a big trend among squats: acrobatic arts facilities. Seems there’s some kind of latent need for modern Western humans to explore limits of human motion. Squats have come to the rescue. Just before we left, I assembled apparati for human flight: sprung gymnastics runway leading to large landing pads and a lovely high-performance springboard dividing the two. I saved this event for the morning of departure to keep the exposure to injurous flight short and to avoid the drinking end of the day. I invited Amanda Mora Jones (amandamora.com) and Paul Freedman (FossilFool.com).

Again: strategy to avoid injury: only those deemed to posses smarts about self-preservation and good coordination were invited. We helped Paul confront his fears about back-flips. Amanda called up some fantastic tumbling skills from her preteen gymnast life. I simply performed long unadulterated “superman” flights, terminated by late somersaults. This session was totally parallel in sensation to moving around Europe by bike: the limits of human motion, thrill of speed, no motor to distract. Graceful exertion with carefully crafted tools begets elation.

Elation? Well, well – how much elation is involved with hauling 190 pounds of gear around Europe with 15 other people? There’s certainly elation at the end of the day. The uphills are a bit of trouble – but I tell ya, low gears (28 teeth in front, 32 in the back) and lots of time allows for any car-navigable hill to be managed by countless mincing pedal strokes. It’s easier than it looks and sounds. A little fitness and a lot of confidence required.

Some of my favorite road tools. (a hint of fetish, to be sure)

The flats are totally breezy. One of my missions in life is to convince people of the tiny difference between hauling no load and hauling a huge load on the flats. The magic of wheels and momentum and the incredible efficiency of the bicycle deliver dividends. The only stipulation is that a huge load requires slooowww acceleration from a stop – beginning with a low gear as described above, then advancing through gear steps, almost one by one, until up to speed. Then – inertia butters your bread! An object in motion tends to stay in motion, especially when wheels, good bearings, and a heavy payload are involved. Non-cyclists can’t seem to imagine how easy this is. Damn shame.

And what about elation on the downhills? For me, with such a load, and such consequential frame-flex, elation is in short supply. I think I’m too spoiled by fine-tuned unburdened Italian racing machines – the kind of equipment that seems to just about react to your thoughts – blurring division between man and machine. My Pleasant Revolution rig is different. Gear must be symmetrically loaded and lashed tight. Headset must be smooth-spinning with NO play. Tires must be round in profile and properly inflated. With these measures, control is retained, but downhills are never approached with wide-eyed abandon. More like wide-eyed caution. The speed wobble demons are always ready to pounce on the disrespectful. Indeed, two of our Revolutionaries have been pounced upon. One, seemingly for a loose load violation, and another for a loose headset. Broken bodies resulted.

Speed wobbles (AKA shimmies) are terrifying and often rapidly escalating. Smooth, soft braking and clenching the frame’s top tube with inner thighs seem to be the only remedies.

So elation comes from cargobike touring indeed, but sometimes it’s subtle or drawn out or simply resultant from reflection. Reflection on life-affirming sustainability. Taken to the next level. This kind of elation leaves stains on the fabric of your soul. Stubborn stains.

{pictures by Paul Freedman}

Congrats to Jason Crane, who’s photo was selected by folks like you as the best Fall Xtracycle photo for 2010. Jason won $50 to the Xtracycle store, which he plans to use to purchase a MagicCarpet to cushion the ride for his passengers this fall. Thanks Jason, and everyone who voted!

Fall Photo Contest Winning Photo by Jason Crane

I’m the executive director of the New York Bicycling Coalition, a statewide advocacy group based in Albany, NY. I also founded RocBike.com, a site primarily for urban utility cyclists. I got my Xtracycle in October 2007 and took it for its maiden voyage on October 6. I named my Xtracycle The Packet Boat because I purchased it using money from a freelance gig as a jazz writer for The (Hilton Head) Island Packet newspaper. My wife also has an Xtracycle. She got hers in 2008. I’ve used mine to cover jazz festivals for my show The Jazz Session, take my kids to school, go grocery shopping, ride to poetry readings, and to ride 45 miles in the Livestrong Philly ride, raising more than $2,000 to fight cancer. We’ve done family camping on our Xtracycles and just generally had a blast.

I took the photo in Albany’s Washington Park, a very picturesque spot in downtown Albany, NY. I actually took the photo in black and white and was about to ride off when I thought, “Maybe I should take a color shot, too.” Then along came the Xtracycle photo contest, and now my kids’ rear ends will be more comfortable thanks to my prize — a new Magic Carpet. Thanks, Xtracycle!

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34,000 kilometers later, RTS reaches the southernmost city in the world

Over three years ago, Goat, Sean and Jacob packed up their adventure gear, their Xtracycles and said goodbye to their families as they headed north to the Arctic Circle. Their destination? Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, at the tip of Tierra del Fuego in South America. Their route? The Continental Divide. The “longest contiguous mountain range in the world” and the source of their journey’s namesake: Riding the Spine.

Shunning pavement at every opportunity, rutted (and sometimes flooded) dirt roads, twisty single track, and abandoned backwoods paths became their routes of choice. Traveling from sea level to mountain tops required a variety of weather gear to fight the blasting sun of the deserts and sub-zero temperatures of the arctic and mountain ridges.

Their stories fill volumes. Here’s just a snippet of their every day adventures:

long the way, they cooked their own food, wild camped most every night, and found themselves looking back on some truly epic moments: being chased by a wolf in Alaska, riding for months in snow/subzero temperatures, getting held at gunpoint by the military during a drug bust in the Copper Canyon, riding down Central America’s tallest peak, sleeping at the base of active volcanos in Costa Rica while monkeys howled into the night, exploring the Cricamola River within the Ngobe-Bugle indigenous reserve, kayaking through the Kuna Yala in Panama all the way to Colombia, dragging their bikes through dangerous landslides in Colombia/Peru, crossing over the White Mountains of the Andes, rafting the Cotahuasi River, facing the intolerable winds of Patagonia, enjoying the classic landscape of the Carretera Austral in Chile, and eventually finding themselves in Tierra del Fuego – the end of the world.

We offer our heartfelt congratulations to these men for their stamina, courage and perseverance. They brought with them not only their open minds, but also their open hearts as they encountered hundreds of cultures differing from ours.

And thanks, also, for testing our our gear, putting it through some of the worst elements on earth and providing us with valuable feedback regarding design, function and form. We enjoyed the letters, photos and visits while you embarked on this amazing journey. You guys are world class Xtracycle Ambassadors.

Welcome home and best of luck on your next every day adventure.

Read more about their epic journey.

RTS reaches their destination, 34,000 km later

We are about two weeks away from granting sponsorships to groups and individuals who applied for our third quarter sponsorship batch.  There is still time to apply at http://www.xtracycle.com/sponsorship/ Have a look below and find a list of the extraordinary folks who received discounted/free Xtracycles in return for their contributions to their communities.

Loaded up and ready to serve - The Burrito Project uses Xtracycles to deliver food to the homeless in and around Fullerton California. Photo courtesy of the Burrito Project.

Groups/Non-Profit Organizations

The Burrito Project – Fullerton, California
http://www.myspace.com/burritoproject

The Burrito Project’s mission is to feed the homeless and less fortunate in the fringes of communities in Orange County. The Burrito Project makes and distributes burritos to individuals weekly. It also distributes clothing and other edible and drinkable products. The Burrito Project continues to build on its relationship with Xtracycle and equip more of its team with Xtracycle Freerads, Surly Big Dummies, and accessories to help with distribution.

People’s Grocery – Oakland, California
http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/

People’s Grocery is on a mission to build a local food system in West Oakland that improves the health and economy of West Oakland.

People’s Grocery is filling in its Urban Agriculture Program with the addition of 2 urban farms in West Oakland (to add to its 2 garden in North Oakland).  People’s Grocery will use Xtracycles to get their youth interns and visiting interns to transport veggie starts and harvested veggies throughout West Oakland by bicycle.

Individuals

Christine Howell – Roanoke, Virginia
http://roanokecarfreewithkids.wordpress.com/

A mother of 2 young children who is running a “car-free” project, using only bike, walking, and mass transit to get about in the city and keeping a blog about it. The sole purpose is to show Roanoke that commuting is a viable transportation alternative for average people, people with families.

Sal Bednarz – Oakland, California
http://www.actualcafe.com/

Sal is opening a bike friendly café down the street from the Xtracycle headquarters called the Actual Café and will use an Xtracycle to become a car-free business owner.  Go Sal!  Xtracycle can’t wait to see Sal make his debut and have a positive effect on our community.

Rob Cooley – Montoursville, Pennsylvania

Professor of anthropology and environmental science, and other sustainability related courses at a Penn State affiliated technical college called Pennsylvania College of Technology located in Williamsport, PA (www.pct.edu).

Professor Cooley wishes to set an example with his students of how to try to effect change at the most basic level, one’s own lifestyle.

Rory Woods – La Plata, Missouri

The Possibility Alliance is a two year old intentional community, situated on 80 acres of rolling prairie and hardwood forest in Northeast Missouri.

Besides serving as an education/skill center and model homestead, the Possibility Alliance is also headquarters of the Superheroes, a bike-powered service group which has biked 14,000 miles in 24 states and 5 countries, providing 55,000 hours of service since 2000. Two rides are planned for this year: Vermont and New Mexico.

Madison Hamann – Louisville, Kentucky

A Marketing Coordinator for a mid-size tech company in New Albany, Indiana who would like to prove to America that the bicycle lifestyle is a possible lifestyle.

Madison will take one month and give up the keys to his car, and live the bike life completely for the entire month.  This includes, work, dates, grocery, hanging out with friends, etc.