Day 17: Maple Plane-Hastings

Aug
19
Submitted by XL-Network on Fri, 2011-08-19 03:26

The 'camp ground' from yesterday was not very good. Breakfast was nothing more than a can of soda and a little sweet roll. But some 50 kilometers down the road was our stop at the Freewheel Bike on the Greenway though Minneapolis. There I ate and drank something until the rest arrived (I got there first). The Greenway is a kind of bike highway going straight though town. It used to be a old rail track and that's why there are almost no stop signs on the entire route (except for a few places).

ROAM 2011 - Day 17 (Greenway)

Before I could enter the Greenway I had to cross a golf course. At first my GPS told me to follow the rail track but there was no ridable road, so I searched for one. What seemed to be a park with paths all over the place. It turned out to be a golf course. The roads suddenly ended and I found myself on the fairway and a green. Just keep pedaling and pretend I belonged there.

Cycling though Minneapolis was quite good. The cycle paths were generally good and there were a lot of cyclists (and runners). It looks like a nice city to live with it's hip biking culture.

On the camp ground there was once again no WiFI so no posting blog messages. I did however got to borough Mike's 3G USB stick to Skype with a friend. Those were a good 17 minutes of hearing a familiar voice.

At night there was a gathering of kids (and their parents) to listen to a story from 'reptile man'. He told about lizards, turtles and snakes and had a number of attributes with him. A skeleton of a alligator (head), the shield of a turtle, numerous snake skins, but also live animals. The rattle snake was in a locked box but the boa constrictor was for petting. I even got to use it as a scarf. A beautiful animal, very healthy and all muscle.

ROAM 2011 - Day 17 (snake)

Then it was my turn to talk about Roll over Amierica and velomobiles in general. Having Patrick as my side kick people were getting enthusiastic and asked all kinds of questions. Mostly the standard questions we get on the road (see list below). People also asked if we were riding for charity. That's when I pulled out Ellie the Elephant and told them that I (personally) ride for Villa Joep (a foundation against Neuroblastoma children's cancer). At the end of the presentation (when I showed people the bike up close) someone came up to me and gave me five dollars. There were also two people who knew someone with cancer and wanted to make a donation. I told them about my website and asked them to fill out the form. I do however have to find out how to do international money transfers, but I guess PayPal will do. If you by the way want to make a donation, you still can.

  • Is there a motor inside?
  • How do you steer?
  • How much does it cost? (usually they aim to low)
  • Does it pedal harder than a upright  bike?
  • How fast does it go?
  • What happens when it's raining? (I show them the foam cover)
  • And a flat tire? (changed the inner tube within 5 minutes)
  • What does DHL stand for? (Patrick would say "Damn Happy Legs")