Jeanette Watkins, publicist for Rune Monstad, sent me the following update this weekend on Rune's progress:

"Rune is now in Winnipeg and he has many reporters after him for stories. The Norwegian Club is doing a brunch for him today and the Scandanavian Club is doing a huge event for him this Sunday. He is also going to be in the annual Ice Bike Ride this Sunday, riding just a few km for pleasure only! He battled very high side winds coming into Winnipeg last night, so he is very tired!"

Rune is certainly becoming a sensation in Canada but then again, how often does a Viking ride solo across Canada in winter?

Stay safe, Rune.

Larry

Labels: canada, Rune Monstad, solo bike tour, touring cyclist, Viking Biker, Winnipeg, world tour

by Larry Lagarde

He's been on the road for months but long distance cyclist Terry Hunter finally made it to New Orleans.

I had been wondering if something happened to Terry since speaking with him briefly on Saturday. He was about to cross the Bonnet Carre Spillway just west of New Orleans and I was expecting him to call me when he reached the Mississippi River Trail (MRT). The call never came. (Photo: Larry, Rita & Terry on Airline Drive in Metairie, Louisiana.)

On the way to pick up my 7 year old stepson from school, I called Terry and he answered. It just so happened that he was moments away so I made a quick detour to greet and congratulate him on all the miles he has ridden.

We met in front of a sports bar on Airline Drive across from Zephyr Field. In the bike trailer, Terry's dog (Rita) was sleeping soundly with her paw hanging out. Strapped atop the trailer was a water jug, radio and a spare tire & tube. A fishing pole with a bright orange float protruded up from the rear.

Terry shared that his original bike and trailer were stolen earlier in the bike tour while he was in Monterey, California. He's had a great deal of support from everyday folks along the way, including someone that custom made the heavy duty front fork just for him.

Terry told me that his back was still sore from sleeping last night on the levee. He arrived in Metairie via the MRT which is a smooth, non-motorized, asphalt trail atop the Mississippi River flood control levee. Unfortunately, there are no lodging places along this section of the MRT and Terry did not know how to retrieve my number from his brand new cellphone.

Terry only plans to stay in New Orleans a few days to share his story with local media and meet with staffers at the office of Mayor Nagin. Then, Terry will continue his ride east through other areas devastated by Katrina and beyond, finally ending the Homeless Ride For Southern Grace tour when he hits the east coast in South Carolina.

Labels: bike trip, homelessness, Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi River Trail, Rainbow Scooter, solo bike tour, Terry Hunter

Terry Hunter just emailed me that he's approaching the western outskirts of the New Orleans metro area and should make the city today. He's in LaPlace, Louisiana and riding down the Airline Highway on his tricycle. If possible, I'll meet up with him later this afternoon.

If you're unfamiliar with Terry's story, see my previous posts about him dating from the 31st and 16th of January. He's a homeless guy that has ridden all the way from Oregon to focus attention on Katrina victims and homelessness. It's a touching story.

Labels: bike trip, homelessness, Hurricane Katrina, Rainbow Scooter, solo bike tour, Terry Hunter

Long distance bicyclist Terry Hunter emailed me today that he's biking East out of Baton Rouge and headed for metro New Orleans. Known to friends as Rainbow Scooter, Terry has ridden his old adult tricycle from Oregon for the Homeless Ride For Southern Grace, a tour he took upon himself to raise awareness for Katrina victims and those made homeless by the storm. Here's an excerpt from Terry:

"today i went to to the capital to talk to Mrs Cheryl Shuffield ... (an) aid to governer (Blanco) and director of constitunent services. I am trying to do the news paper and then as i leave WBRZ-TV Chanel 2 will be covering my exit story , will be going down one 90 east."

In addition to Baton Rouge's WBRZ, Baton Rouge's 2 other television stations (NBC affiliate WVLA & WAFB) interviewed Rainbow Scooter yesterday; a variety of additional newspapers and television stations have done the same along the way.

Keep up the great work, Terry. Ride on & be safe.

Labels: bike trip, homelessness, Hurricane Katrina, Rainbow Scooter, solo bike tour, Terry Hunter

Cyclist riding across the USA for Katrina/Rita victims now in Louisiana

Bicycling across the North American continent is an extraordinary task by any measurement; however, there are several cyclists doing so at this moment. On Sunday, I offered an update on Rune Monstad's progress. In a few days, I'll be writing again about a trio cycling from Alaska to the Southern tip of South America called Riding The Spine. Today, I'd like to introduce a cyclist that's ridden 2400 miles to raise awareness for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, particularly those made homeless by the storms; his name is Terry Hunter.

Known to his friends as Rainbow Scooter, in many respects, Terry is off the radar. Homeless for over 20 years, Terry has no permanent address, car or telephone number. During his "Homeless Ride for Southern Grace" bike tour, Terry has camped beside the highway next to his well worn Fisher tricycle and provisions laden bike trailer for 400 or so nights.

For the moment, Terry's in Lafayette, LA. He'll soon be heading to Baton Rouge and then (hopefully) to New Orleans (with bridges still out of service East of the city, bicycling East out of New Orleans is a dicey prospect).

While Terry may not look approachable, he's affable and kind hearted. Few people would take on a cross country ride for homelessness or Katrina victims; however, both are worthy causes and I wish Terry well. Ride on, Rainbow Scooter.

Tour Timeline:
26 Nov 2006: Corpus Christi
29 Nov 2006: Victoria, Texas
28 Dec 2006: Beaumont, Texas

Labels: bike trip, Hurricane Katrina, Rainbow Scooter, solo bike tour, Terry Hunter

Rune Monstad, that intrepid Viking bicycling around the world, is on his way from Calgary, Canada to Medicine Hat (182 miles to the East). It's the dead of winter and the weather's a cool 8°F in Calgary. At least the winds are calm and it's not snowing at the moment (and I was complaining to my wife yesterday about being tired after riding 40 miles on the Aerlite-B folding bike in sunny, 70°F weather).

To date, Rune's bicycled over 6000 miles and had 105 flats. Quite the individualist, Rune's biking without a sag wagon, cell phone, gps or even an avalanche transmitter/receiver beacon so he can be found in an emergency. If something bad happened, it wouldn't be pretty.

182 miles may not sound like much but it is on a bicycle. If Rune does anything over 60 miles, it would be extraordinary but I can think of no better word that describes this cyclist. Frankly, someone should be doing a documentary of this trip because it's so unbelieveable.

Other than the small town of Gleichen, there are few communities where Rune's traveling along the Trans Canada Highway. Most likely, he'll be spending the night in his tent on the roadside, enduring -20°F temperatures. So if you're on the Trans Canada and see a pannier toting cyclist, offer him shelter for a night and let me know how he's doing. It's got to be Rune.

Like most long distance cyclists, Rune's attempting to pare down the weight of his gear. He's looking to replace his tent with something lighter like a solo climber's tent. I'd also like to see him travel with safety gear like a cellphone and beacon to transmit his location. If you can help with items like these, send me an email as I'm attempting to coordinate things for him (he only has sporadic access to the Internet and is pretty wiped out at the end of the day).

Ride on, Rune!

Rune's Blog

My Initial Post About Rune

Labels: Rune Monstad, solo bike tour, touring cyclist, Viking Biker, world tour

By Larry Lagarde

When checking my email on StumbleUpon this morning, I had an email from Paul Sanchez. Paul's doing something truly extraordinary; he's the guy that was recently interviewed on NBC's Today Show while bicycling 10,000 miles around the USA for dyslexia.




The Hole - video powered by Metacafe

Paul's working to raise $1 million to create scholarships for 100 kids with dyslexia in just 33 days. To accomplish this heady goal, he has a series of sub-goals (like appearing on Oprah). I interviewed Paul about his tour around the country and about his project.

The Telephone Interview
Following are the 10 questions I asked Paul over the phone and his responses.

1. Bicycling 10,000 miles is an incredibly hard task; what motivated you to take on such a ride and how did you stay motivated?
I've been cycling since I was a kid and always wanted to bike the USA. I'm into causes and I have attention deficit disorder & dyslexia so helping kids with my condition just made sense.

2. Describe 3 of the most noteworthy experiences on your tour.
When riding through Cleveland, I met a guy with a grandson with dyslexia. He liked what I was doing and took me under his wing. Besides paying for my accommodations and meals there, he shared his rags to riches story with me. I came away with a greater sense of determination to complete the ride back to California. Another noteworthy experience was my appearance on NBC's Today Show. I arrived in New York behind schedule, tired and low on cash to complete the trip. The national TV exposure gave me some funds I vitally needed and pumped me up mentally to continue at a point when I felt like quitting. A third experience was meeting a real estate professional in Baltimore. The funds she contributed for travel expenses were enough to last me all the way to the end.

3. It looks as if you rode on many bike trails; how did you select the route?
70% of the route came from Adventure Cycling great bike route maps and 30% came from other long distance touring cyclists I sought out for routing advice.

4. How's the fund raising drive going; do you think you'll reach your goal of raising $1million?
I do. Thus far, I've raised $4250. That may seem small but a potential donor has been talking to me about contributing the entire amount. I'm pretty confident that it will happen.

5. How are you coming with the other 8 Wishes?
Pretty well. I'm going to the Sundance Film fest in about a week with a film I put together from the videos shot throughout the trip. It's about an hour long.

6. What are your plans after this project?
Things look pretty solid for a major project shortly after this one but I'm waiting to I've made the 8 Wishes before I announce something else.

7. What did you do to plan for the physical stress of the tour?
Believe it or not, the only preparations I did were planning the route and related details on the computer. I rode like three times before the trip. At the start, I weighed about what I am right now - 225 lbs. When I finished, I was down to a lean 189 lbs.

8. What tips can you offer to others looking to make a long distance tour?
On a long distance trip of a week or more, make sure to bring along enough bike shorts so you can stay clean even if unable to shower and wash clothes daily. The last thing you want to do is to get a rash or blister from riding on your rear all day and have it get infected from dirty clothes.

9. Would you do something like this again?
Yes.

10. How old are you now?
30

If you'd like to learn more about Paul Sanchez or help him with his project, visit his website at 8wishes.com for more information.





Paul Sanchez's 8 Wishes Video - 10,000 Miles Around The USA

Labels: 8wishes, charity, dyslexia, epic journey, Paul Sanchez, solo bike tour