The Outspoken Cyclist – 09/03/2011

If this week’s show was a pannier, we’d be checking the zippers to make sure they weren’t going to suddenly fail and send our gear flying all over the road. Fortunately for you, we’ll pull the good stuff out a little at a time on this podcast, so all you have to do is kick back and enjoy.

A bit of serendipity brought our first guests to us after they contacted Hubbub to have some wheels rebuilt. Lisa and Ryan Secrest are world-touring cyclists whose motto is “No Destination. No Agenda. No Timeline.”, and they mean it. They happened to be off the road in northeast Ohio for several days, and happily made time to drop in to the WJCU studios for a chat.

You may have read about a recent incident in Elizabethton, Tennessee, where a 10-year old girl was riding about a mile to school, was pulled over by police and returned to her home. The police threatened to arrest Teresa Tryon, the girl’s mother on charges of child neglect, if she continued to allow her daughter to ride to school. Diane contacted Pat Clements of Bike-Walk Tennessee, to find out more on this disappointing story, and how the state and national bike advocacy organizations are responding.

In this week’s news, Diane brings us up to date on the Heartland Velo Show, held last weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. Hear me turn green with envy as Diane describes a visit to one of America’s most iconic bicycle shops: The Yellow Jersey in downtown Madison.

And finally (I told you this was a very full show) we catch up with framebuilder and bicycle philanthropist Tim Massengill, way down in Corinth, Texas. Tim owns and operates Massengill Frames, where he builds and repairs both carbon and steel bikes. He is also partnering with Doug Faddick to build and supply bicycles to church pastors in Ukraine.