Pedaling for the Planet on One Wheel or Two
The East Bay Bicycle Coalition may have “bicycle” in our name, but we represent all pedal-powered people in the East Bay. One of our awesome members, Jim Sowers of Oakland, gets around on one wheel and will be the first person in the Climate Ride’s 5 year history to tackle the ride on a unicycle. Jim will also be the first person to ride for the EBBC in the New York to Washington DC Climate Ride, coming up September 21 to 25.
Jim has just come back from the North American Unicycle Championship in Pittsburgh, PA, where he placed first with his team in Unicycle Basketball, 2nd in Hockey and 10th overall in the Marathon. This past April he completed 101 hilly East Bay miles on his unicycle in the Fremont Freewheeler’s Primavera Century in just over 10 hours. According to Jim the challenges of riding long distance on one wheel are much the same as on two – nutrition, taking regular short breaks. One advantage of the unicycle is that the upright riding position is more comfortable over the long haul.
Jim’s goal is to get 500 people to donate $10 each to power his ride. Jim DJs for parties locally and keeps his energy up on long rides by blasting the tunes from his unicycle. Each person who donates to his Climate Ride adventure will get a chance to choose a song for his playlist. Click here to go to Jim’s fundraising page to support his ride and add your favorite tune to keep him rolling along on one wheel from New York to Washington DC.
The 2013 NYC-DC Climate Ride is sold out for this September, but it is not too soon to sign up for the 2014 California Climate Ride happening May 17 to 20. We are gearing up for another awesome Climate Ride adventure in 2014 and we want you on our Team EBBC!
By Renee Rivera
Executive Director, East Bay Bicycle Coalition