Show #68 – December 10, 2011

Guests: Charles Pelkey, Red Kite Prayer & Stefan Walz and Chris Mooney “Tucson Spokes”

December is hurtling along toward the “big” holidays, and the end of another year. Diane has pulled together a couple of early stocking stuffers for Outspoken Cyclist listeners who have been extra good this year (naughty listeners are admonished to do an extra set of intervals before downloading this week’s show).

If you are a long-time reader of VeloNews, the name Charles Pelkey will no doubt be familiar to you. Charles wrote for the “journal of competitive cycling” for 17 years, rising to the post of Senior Technical Editor. Coincidentally, he received a cancer diagnosis on the same day this past July that he and a number of other VeloNews staffers were let go. Charles is now an attorney, and continues to write his Explainer column for Red Kite Prayer, and is undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer. Listen and find out what else Charles is up to these days.

Our second interview this week comes from a place where the sun shines 300 days a year on average: Tucson, Arizona. Stefan Walz and Chris Mooney have written a gorgeous new book called Tucson Spokes. It’s a photo collection about the people who ride bikes in and around Tucson. Sunny, flat, and with easy access to 9,000-foot peaks? You’d ride your bike a lot there, too.