Cycling

Bikes, Breaking News, Charitable Giving, Cycling, Madison, Outdoor Recreation / 02.11.2010

[caption id="attachment_4126" align="aligncenter" width="452" caption="Photographs by Clint Thayer www.focalflame.com"][/caption] I confess Phil Liggett was a complete stranger to me. Right up to the moment I shook his hand and began our “interview” I had no idea who he was. I can hear your eyes roll from here. If you follow international cycling the name is undoubtedly familiar. For the last 40 years Liggett, a British sports journalist, has provided commentary and analysis for just about every major bicycle race in the world including and especially the Tour De France. But this I didn’t discover until after a pleasant conversation over a pint of Wisconsin pale ale at the annual Saris Gala in Madison.
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Bikes, Charitable Giving, Cycling, Madison, Outdoor Recreation, philanthropy, Podcast / 13.09.2010

An all inclusive adventure for the disabled only

I’m packing my bags and taking this show on the road. And you’re wondering, so what’s new? James you travel all the time. That’s right. I do. The Joy Trip Project is all about venturing out into the wide world and finding those stories about people who are doing what they can to make a difference, to make the world a better place. But this time, it’s just a bit different. This time, I’m going to Africa. You’ll find out why exactly I’m going intercontinental in an upcoming edition. So stay tuned. But yesterday, and I mean while I’m sorting my socks and underwear I get a text message from my friend adventure filmmaker and a true Joy Tripper Dominic Gill. You’ve met him on the show before. Dom’s from the United Kingdom, the UK. He’s riding his bike across the country from LA to New York on a trip he calls The Dom & Ernie Project. And on my iPhone it says: James we just crossed into Wisconsin. We’ll be in Madison tonight. Believe it or not, I dropped everything. Cleared my schedule and made plans, because Dom and I just had to visit. And for you my loyal listeners I just had to bring you his story. Because Dom’s not just riding across the country, that’s been done to death. Just like before in the last story he’s riding a tandem bicycle and all along the way he’s picking up people, random strangers to come along on the ride. Before when he road 20,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina he’d pick up just about anyone. But this time he’s only bringing along people with a disability. "We had Ryan with traumatic brain injury. Then we had Carlos who is visually impaired. The after that we had two brothers, Warren and Chad Woodbury who had muscular dystrophy," Dominic said. "And then 59-year-old Kelly Lane who has Parkinson’s disease, he jumped on. And then he switched out with Rachel who has Cerebral Palsy and she’s just cycled 250-miles from Minneapolis where she lives to here." These are people with profound disabilities, people who under normal circumstances would never have the opportunity to take part in such an amazing adventure. And yet thanks to the Dom & Ernie Project Dominic and his crew Alonzo and Nadia, these disabled cyclists are getting out and experiencing the world. They’re traveling hundreds of miles in a way they may have never dreamed of before.
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Capital Region Business Journal, Charitable Giving, Cycling, Kids in Nature, Madison, Magazines / 23.08.2010

A corporate training seminar left Maribel Fry in tears. Wiping her eyes, this sales specialist smiled as she watched 14 very happy children ride newly built bicycles around a large conference room of the CUNA Mutual headquarters in Madison. She and 90 of her colleagues from across the country gathered to boost their professional skills while dedicating their efforts to the benefit of area young people from the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. But little did Fry realize that she would get something in return.
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Banff, Breaking News, Charitable Giving, Cycling, Outdoor Recreation, Outdoor Retailer, Summer, Travel / 07.08.2010

Salt Lake City, Utah 6:AM MST The Outdoor Retailer Summer Market ended yesterday, but the journey continues. And in some ways, perhaps it’s finally just getting started.

I'm hitting the road today making my way back across the plains and prairies to Wisconsin. I'm pretty psyched to get moving on several new projects that gained some serious traction over the last few days. So it's good to be heading home. But this morning I woke up to an exciting email that announced the post of a new video from my friend adventure filmmaker Dominic Gill. (Give a listen to my podcast interview with him recorded last year at the Banff Mountain Film Festival>> Take A Seat). He's making his way cross Wyoming and South Dakota on a tandem hybrid up-right recumbent bicycle on course for an incredible experience.  In his first documentary feature Take A Seat, Dom road a tandem bicycle from Alaska to Argentina. For two years on his 22,000-mile trek across two continents he invited total strangers to ride along on the back seat of his bicycle built for two. And as I write this he’s currently cycling across the United States traveling from California to New York on a similar expedition, but this time all of his riding partners are exclusively people with a disability.
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Banff, Breaking News, Cycling, Film preview, Outdoor Recreation, philanthropy / 25.06.2010

My good friend adventure filmmaker Dominic Gill is in a tight spot and he needs your help. Just when he was about to embark upon another epic transcontinental bicycle trip his partner Ernie Greenwald has taken ill. The 76-year-old cancer patient suffered a bout of pneumonia after a round of chemotherapy  and simply can not peddle along the 4,000-mile journey as planned from California to New York. But Dom still hopes to make the ride. And in the classic fashion of his award-winning film of the same title he hopes to find a few people across America to "Take A Seat" and cycle their way across the country in Ernie's place. There's only one catch. You have to be disabled.
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