Show #435 – January 12, 2019

Guests: Professor Richard Alley; Professor Roger Gilles

This week, I have two fascinating stories told by two Professors.

While we talk about cycling pretty much exclusively on the show we’re taking an end run around cycling with my first guest and talking about something I believe you will find interesting and important.

Dr. Richard Alley is the Evan Pugh Professor at Penn State. His field is geosciences and our conversation is about the climate – his particular specialty.

More specifically, he is really interested in and both studies and teaches about abrupt climate change and sea level change.

He makes a compelling case for not only what IS happening but what can be done to slow down the inevitable. He’s fun, articulate, and might just make you want to go back to school!

(As an aside: Dr. Alley did a 6-part Prime Time PBS series titled – “Earth – The Operator’s Manual”

Then, we’ll be hearing from Dr. Roger Gilles. Professor Gilles. He teaches writing at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.

Until his wife found an old postcard taped to a wall in a rest room, Dr. Gilles had little interest in cycling per se. BUT, his wife authors children’s books and this postcard showed Tillie Anderson, a woman back in the late 1800’s who was a famous 6-day bicycle racer.

As one strange thing led to another, Roger’s wife found she had way too much material for a children’s book. And so, it fell to Roger to take the project and run with it.

The result? A fascinating look into the world of women racing bicycles in the late 19th Century – “Women on the Move- The Forgotten Era of Women’s Bicycle Racing.”