Every Day Adventurers

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.

In September of 2008,  just over 120 cyclists set out to ride their bikes for five days and 300 miles to increase awareness for ideas and solutions for renewable energy and global warming.

Thus began the first annual Climate Ride.

Each day they traveled between 45 and 80 miles and each evening heard from a multiple of different speakers, on topics ranging from the  impacts of global warming to the possibilities of renewable energy. “Climate Ride endeavored to show that the bicycle is the ultimate carbon-free machine and a viable form of transportation,” founders, Geraldine Carter and Caeli Quinn spoke of.

The ride raised funds for Clean Air–Cool Planet and Focus the Nation both non profit organizations educating Americans on the importance of renewable energy as well as ways to address climate change.

The event was filmed and photographed by an Xtracycle “carbon free machine“.

Climate Ride - filmed by bike

Riders started in New York city on the first day and pedaled their way towards Washington DC where they ended their ride on the 5th day and converged on the steps at the Capital Building to lobby and encourage our own US reps to start writing some meaningful climate change legislation.

Climate Ride - filmed by bike

The 2009 ride is in the planning stages. If you’re interested in finding out more information or to register for the 2009 Brita Climate Ride, September 26th to 30th, visit www.climateride.org.

Our good friend and Cellist  Ben Sollee is on his way to the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee this week while riding his Xtracycle RADISH and pulling his Cello along side him through the streets of Kentucky to Bonnarro!

Teaming up with OxFam, Topo Ranch and other like minded sponsors, Ben is riding his Radish Xtracycle cargo bicycle on the 10-day music tour to promote OxFam’s efforts to reduce global poverty.

His bike music tour begins on June 4th - and as he makes his way towards Tennessee he’s stopping at eight different locations to play - starting in Kentucky and ending in Tennessee on June 11th.

Ben was named one of National Public Radio’s Top 10 Unknown artists in 2007 and has made a name for himself over the last few years drawing on his Kentucky roots. NPR described his first album, Learning to Bend, as “an inspired collection of acoustic, folk and jazz-flavored songs, filled with hope and the earnest belief that the world is good”.

We feel pretty proud here at the old XC headquarters - that he’s out there riding one of our own. Check him out…