12,000 Miles Since 2005

[bamabikeguy]

I built my first motorized bike in 2005 after finding Golden Eagle in a Popular Mechanics article and talking to Denis and some of his customers. After 3 newspaper articles ran in nearby towns, I caught the bug and decided to spread the word via small town newspapers.

Using the no longer availabe 25 cc Zenoah/RedMax engine (I still have two Zenoahs, thinking they will be "collectors items" at 240-250 miles per gallon), my first long trip in early 2006 was to Amelia Island Florida and back, over 800 miles. That was a warmup for a 2,000 mile round trip to Denver in May 2006.

Those two trips are where I got my "12 Statelines Crossed" photos.

Picasa Web Albums - Paul - Statelines cr...

Since then, I've stayed under 1,000 miles, up Mt. Cheaha in 14 minutes in fall 2006 (400 miles touring that east Alabama area), round trip to Mobile in Jan. 2007 (700 miles in the roundabout route I took), and a Selma run when Obama and Clinton were there in March 2007 (another 500 miler).

Nowadays I take simple 3 day/500 mile ride-abouts exploring different areas in Alabama, no pressure to make time or miles, plenty of time to talk to folks. I've sold bikes in 16 counties surrounding my area, so usually I get together with a customer and they show me their local sights.

I'm running the Tanaka 33 cc on my red cruiser "Rocinante" now, getting around 160 miles per gallon, and when GEBE finally comes out with the Tanaka 28 cc with it's expected "over 200 mpg" , I'll do another 2-3,000 mile trip, hopefully making a loop up to Minnesota.

[Bikeguy Joe]

You are definitely livin' the dream bama!

[Pablo]

Very cool. I'll bet you have some great stories!

I want to put some miles on and have the time to do it.

[bamabikeguy]

I've tried to tell the public about "how to win the oil war" via newspaper interviews, quit counting after 30 (some sort of Guiness World Record for most stories about the same idiot on the red bike), but at least with MBer's you don't have to explain the "freedom to move" aspect, when I did the Denver trip it was to prove you could see America for $10 a day, and that was back in the $2.50 a gallon days.

But it is the "stoopid" ideas that are the most fun to relate to fellow bike enthusiasts.

For instance, I left Denver at dawn, headed south to Colorado Springs, observing ominous clouds coming over Pikes Peak (more about those clouds later), then east ("next gas station 97 miles")....then south toward La Junta, where I arrived around 5 pm.

I always gassed up and got water before finding my camping spot, sun setting over my shoulder, I headed east toward Lamar.

There was a wildlife refuge on my state of Colorado map. midway to Lamar, that looked good for camping. It was about 2 miles off the highway, and when I pulled onto the 'flatter than a pancake' dirt road, I saw this HUGE prairie dog village on the left.

What the heck, I pulled off the road and start rousting the critters, and within a half mile I have about a hundred of them running out in front of me. At about 15-20 miles per hour, I'm having NO trouble dodging the holes, and I'm laughing and zig zagging all the way to the entrance of the refuge.

On the entrance sign is a big old picture of a rattlesnake and I says to myself "another 90 minutes till sundown, think I'll keep heading east"....but instead of going back on the dirt road, I proceed to see how many prairie dogs I can get stampeding on the way back out to the highway.

At least 500, I was rounding up the leftovers from my first pass thru, and riding this brown wave of barking, mad as tarnation varmits, I'm thinking to myself "Billy the Kid would have done THIS if a only horses legs weren't vulnerable." Some of them were chasing ME, I'm remembering the Ewoks.

So I figure I'm the first person to "do the prairie dog surf", give some wicked ideas to our compadres in the high chapperel.....

[jasonh]

lol. nice story.

So you ride your bike on major interstate highways? I didn't think bikes were allowed on interstates. Interesting.

[bamabikeguy]

Nope, I've never rode on an Interstate. I've crossed over quite a few....

Usually I try and route waaaaaay around metro areas, but there usually are parallel US Highways that I use, or better yet, plain old curvy State roads going in my direction.

Route 66 is a famous US Highway, I was on US 36 through Kansas, which used to be the major road from Indianapolis to Sacramento. US 3 in the Oklahoma panhandle is a calunk calunk culunk concrete highway I used.

There is more history found on the back roads than on the sterile & boring Interstates.

The majority of my rides are on two lanes.

However, during my week stay in Denver my friend drove us through your neck of the woods, to a 2 night concert at State Bridge, on the Colorado River. And I noticed regular bicycles on the interstate from Denver through Vail.

Apparently from the Rockies westward, where sometimes Interstates are the only way through a mountain pass or across a long stretch of desert, bicycles are allowed as a necessity. (That's what I heard anyway, check your local regulations.)

East of the Rockies, no Interstate highway access, but who needs them?

[jasonh]

Ah. I've seen bikers on the Interstate here, but I figured it was just a Colorado thing, since we have more spandex here than an '80s music video.

MB'ing the state routes would be a nice way to see the country.

[MrLarkins]

what is your average cruisin speeds on those treks?

[bamabikeguy]

No matter how I slice it/dice it, I average 25 mph day in day out.

I'm on the road at sunrise, pour it on till around 1 pm when I start looking for the All U Can Eat lunch buffet, then play it by ear. Find a swimming hole, do a newspaper interview, visit Indian tribes (I stopped at 11 tribal offices in Oklahoma). Then I go as long as I want before looking for a spot to camp.

If I need to make up time, I ride to nearly sunset, but if I'm ahead of schedule, I tool around towns, check out museums, talk to the locals.

Neighbors time my bikes at 33-35 on straightaways, but I can consistently carve off 225-250 mile chunks of distance per day. The Florida trial run taught me a few tricks, but here are some of the main ones.

1. Foam grips- when I put an engine on a different model bike, with rubber grips, & do some break-in miles, I'm thankful for that Sun Retro-7 (which has the curviest handlebars all foam lined). Rubber or ribbed grips would rub me wrong, foam grips sells at bike shops for $5.

2. Thumb throttle- I have a heavy oval shaped piece of wire I can slip on the throttle as "cruise control", have both hands free to move around.

3. 12" saddle on a shock absorber seat post.

4. Dependable zip tied wheels, slime tubes/tuffy liners. My last flat was outside El Dorado, Arkansas, caused by the spoke ends rubbing through the little rubber gasket. (who knew??) I carry electric tape, made three rounds inside the wheel over the gasket, and now I do that on every bike I build.

5. NO ETHANOL ever.

[Dave31]

Originally Posted by jasonh

lol. nice story.

So you ride your bike on major interstate highways? I didn't think bikes were allowed on interstates. Interesting.

Riding on Interstate Highways in Colorado
The shoulders of most interstate highways in rural Colorado are open to bicyclists. In a few cases, like I-70 over Vail Pass and through Glenwood Canyon, bicycles are not allowed on the shoulders, but adjacent bike paths exist. Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 is closed to bicycles, so cyclists must climb over Loveland Pass. In metro areas, bicyclists usually are not allowed on the shoulders of Interstates, but alternative routes exist.

Here in AZ it's the same.
For many locations in Arizona, freeways are the only available route for travel. Therefore, bicycle travel on freeways in Arizona is expressly permitted in all locations except for those specifically posted as prohibited to bicycling.

These prohibitions exist only in urban areas or on high-volume interurban routes. Bicycle use on freeways may only be prohibited where an alternate route exists and that alternate route is judged by ADOT to be equal or better for bicycle travel.

On freeways, bicycles must travel on the shoulders, not in the travel lanes. On all other highways, standard lane or shoulder use applies.

Cyclists enter and exit the Interstate system using existing ramps. No special treatment is used at ramps - cyclists watch for traffic as they cross each ramp.

There has been no significant accident problem identified with the use of freeway shoulders by cyclists.

I like riding on the Interstate, you just have to watch out for people trying to Exit. They alway's try to beat you to the exit ramp, and on a MB I dont think they realize just how fast you are going.