Fresh from lobbying in Washington for his favorite cause - bicycle transportation to better America - bicycle designer for the common folk Joe Breeze arrives in Philadelphia this weekend to deliver a free presentation on the subject.
The husband and father of a 9-year-old boy, 50-year-old Breeze is a former competitive cycler who has lived all his life in biker-friendly Marin County, Calif.
Girlfriend Yvonne Dennis chatted with him this week:
Q: How was your love for cycling born?
A: I've been riding since I was 5 years old. I suppose in 4th or 5th grade some school friends and I would ride around where I grew up, Mill valley.
My father got me into cycling. He was riding all the time. He even commuted by bicycles in the '50s. He had a sports car business. My father's interest in automobiles was sports cars - light-weight, efficient vehicles so of course a bicycle is that also. I grew up with an idea that you could get places on bikes.
My next oldest brother and I started riding even 100 miles when I was 14. We road up to Lake Tahoe. In fact we were stopped by the California Highway Patrol. They thought we were runaways but they called and found out it was OK for Joey and Richie (15 then) to be out on the highway. That was 1967. Q: Are your wife and son active as well?
A: My wife (Connie) rides a bicycle. I wouldn't call her a cyclist. My son (Tommy) loves bikes. We ride to school just about every day(often on a tandem). And days I am not around, Connie walks with him. He's been doing 10-mile hikes since he was 5 years old.
We hike right out our back door up Mt. Tamalpais. That's kind of the focal point in southern Marin.
Q: OK, so how did you get into bike building?
A: It was pretty simple. A local framebuilder taught me how to build frames. So I built a frame for myself in 1974. I was the guinea pig. (chuckle)
Q: What kinds of bikes are you making now?
A: Town bikes (for relaxed rides around town) are all we're doing. The enthusiasts are 10 persent of the total bike-selling potential. I see our market as the other 90 percent that is not being addressed. We want to make comfortable bikes available to them as a way for them to incorporate exercise into their daily lives in useful ways.
The city of Santa Barbara was our first customer. They bought our green fleet last year - 15 bikes - for the city employees.
Q: What's with the fenders?
A: If you are out there and it happens to rain, this keeps you clean and dry. This is a way to have a more civilized bike. There are fewer excuses with our bikes.
Q: What do your bikes costs and how can people get them?
A: We sell our bikes through bicyle dealers.
They are about $399 to $959.
Q: What do you ride?
A: The one I ride is the Villager (deep blue) - 31 pounds. It's the lightest, fully equipped bike in the world.
Q: Tell us about the National Bike Summit in Washington this past Wednesday through Friday at the Reagan Building in D.C.
A: It is people interested in making bicycling more convenient and safe across Americ A: Nearly 500 people from around the country gathering, from bicycling coalitions and health organizations. Hosted by the League of American Byclists. I have been coming to D.C. since 2000. It's a place to get educated about what people can do to create a safe environment for bicyling and walking - active living is kind of the focus, where you're able to get somewhere under you own power.
Q: What's your mission this year?
A: I'm going to be meeting with Sen. Diane Feinstein's office and Sen. Barbara Bozers office and Rep. Lynne Woolsey. We plan to talk to them about how important bicycling is for the health of our communities - a solution to traffic congestion, the obesity epidemic, etc. With Lynne Woolsey we'll be giving her specifics about what can be done in Marin County. In Marin we're hoping to build a network of separated paths from motor vehicle traffic. We are also working on bike pathways using the old rail corridors to link up cities.
Q: Why is this so important to you?
A: For me the transportation side holds the greatest value. While we get to where we need to go in our busy lives we can be getting healthy, too.
It's the most efficient trans tool ever devised. You can get further down the road per any other mode of transport per calorie expended, by far.
And here's a way that we can make America stronger - reduce our oil consumption, lessen absenteeism at work because people are healthier.
Q: I know you'd like to see a wider segment of society embracing cycling, but is this realistic for the morbidly obese or those with, say, circulation problems?
A: We're getting into a territory where I am not an expert - there are all degrees of course (of fitness). But for many people, whatever they can do to achieve fitness that's going to be a good thing. They might have written themselves off mentally. The stats are astounding - the rapid rise in obesity. But it's well-documented what can be done. How people need to get 30 minutes of exercise a day. I am sure that's a daunting prospect for a lot of people.
... Exercise is always as an add-on to your life. There are some people, yes, who can recreate. They join bicycle clubs, gyms. But a lot of people just don't have time to add on health to their lives so here's a way to get health into your life.
Q: How do you think this country rates in bicycle usage compared to other nations?
A: (According to a recent Rutgers University study), in the United States, probably 1 percent of all trips are by biking. Six percent are by walking. It's not way up there. Canada was less than 10, greater than 5. In China there are a lot of people biking.
Even in affluent countries bicycling can be high - in the Netherlands 30 percent of all trips are by bicycling. Fifteen percent is by walking. You can do more things on a bicycle once you have a good infrastructure for bycling. In Europe bicycling is common.
In the United States it was high before 1890, when automotive developments began. The car came on pretty strong in the 1920s here. In Europe it took longer ... I actually went there in 1971. When I was 16 or 17 I went to Holland. I saw the infrastructure there and I was just blown away. Here were families biking, parents going off to work in suits. There were bicycle interchanges on the freeways. Bicycle lights. It really makes it safe.
Q: What do you think of Philly's bicycle environment?
A: It seems to have a good grid system where you could have alternating streets that could be made safe for bicycling.
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To attend Joe's presentation and reception afterward:
Sunday, March 7, 5 p.m.
Trophy Bikes
3131 Walnut St.
Phone registration (215-222-2020) strongly suggested