Show #214 – October 4, 2014

Guests: Rodney Hendrickson; John Schubert; Steve Hampsten

Hey – it’s October! And, if it’s October, it’s also time for Rodney Hendrickson’s “Thriller Ride. The spooky 4-route event takes place next weekend and, as always Rodney has lots of ghoulish things planned for the event.

Then, we take up the continuing story we’ve been covering for most of the summer and now on into the fall.

When Cherokee Schill first moved to Jessamine County in Kentucky, she did so to take a job driving a fork lift. She wanted and needed to support her two teenage children AND she was also 90 pounds overweight.

With little or no money, she couldn’t afford to fix her old car, which had 300,000 miles registering on the odometer. She also couldn’t afford the insurance. She began riding a bike the 18 miles to and from work; and that’s when the real saga begins.

She was given tickets, she has been charged with reckless driving, (in this case riding), and she’s been thrown in jail. In a trial where 4 expert witnesses all agreed that the safest place to ride her bike on US27 – the ONLY route to and from her job – was IN the lane and NOT on the shoulder, the judge disagreed and found her guilty.

Tonight, we talk with one of those expert witnesses. John Schubert has been doing this work for 30 years and he will give us his explanation(s) of what went down at the trial and what he believes SHOULD have gone down.

After our break, we’ll head on out to Seattle to speak with frame designer and builder Steve Hampsten. Most folks think – Hampsten? – must be Andy! But, older brother Steve is no less talented or less fun. The two started out riding together; but, Andy turned pro and Steve went on to become a top level chef. Steve’s explanation of how being a chef is so like being a framebuilder is just the beginning of this delightful conversation.

Show #72 – January 7, 2012

If this post seems a bit too happy for the first week of January, it’s because I’m all jacked up on endorphins from an outside ride on a brilliantly sunny day in northeast Ohio. Now that the disclaimers are out of the way, let’s talk about what’s on the show this week…

Our first guest is a bike commuting evangelist and editor of a great blog on the subject of bicycle commuting. Ted Johnson lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona, and edits CommuteByBike.com. He’s got a great perspective on living car-free, and he has a wonderful story about how running errands on your bike is starting to attract less and less attention (and that’s a good thing).

Last year about this time, we spoke with Rodney Hendrickson, the ride director of The Redbud Ride in London, Kentucky. The 2011 edition of that tour was partially under water, but surprisingly, most people didn’t seem to mind. Rodney’s back on this week’s show to tell us what riders can expect on the 2012 Redbud Ride (and we hope that includes lots of sun).

Finally, we had planned to have John Howard of John Howard Performance Sports on the show to hip us to his latest tips for off-season training. Unfortunately, John had a medical emergency come up at the last minute. We wish John a full and speedy recovery. Instead, Diane stands in for John with a list of his recommendations for maximizing your time during the “indoor season”.