Organic Transit visited Portland, Oregon last weekend to demonstrate their ELF electric-assist tricycles, which are pedal powered and solar powered. Brock had a chance to interview company owner and inventor Rob Cotter, Portland resident and ELF enthusiast Lorraine, and long-time ELF believer Ned from upstate New York, and spoke briefly to an Oregonian reporter (who contributed to an article with a photo gallery that Brock appears in).
Visit organictransit.com for more information on these innovative creations.
Steph Routh helps move people from one house to another by bike, and has helped with 61 of them. Now she’s written a book about it! Funded on Kickstarter and alreadylampooned by Bike Snob NYC (there is no greater praise). We talk to her about how it all works.
Fine Print
email us: thesprocketpodcast@gmail.com
twitter: @SprocketPodcast
phone in or SMS: 503-847-9774
web: http://thesprocketpodcast.com
music: Ryan J. Lane (intro & outro) & Hurtbird (headlines)
Thanks to sustaining donor Brian Logan for supporting our show costs
Franklin Jones from b-line Sustainable Urban Delivery comes back to the studio to chat about the new press on his company that was recently in the New York Times as well as his world travels by bike.
Anna Brones is the author of The Culinary Cyclist and runs the websitefoodieunderground.com, and was kind enough to stop by to chat about some of this, including guiding us through a “test kitchen” type of experience. Our topics included:
pinterestfail.com Brock’s shame eating & perilous fast food
making baked eggs in avocados
Anna tells a sad tale of pigeons nesting in her kale plants
bicycles & food transport, bicycling in Paris, and the possibility of a tumblr based on bikes & baguettes.
Our feelings on the television series Portlandia
slowing down our pace of food and keeping it simple Elly Blue Publishing & Taking The Lane and much, much more…
Adam Leyrer from Co-Creative Pruning is truly car-free and runs his arborist business on a fantastic bike trailer from Seattle’s Haulin’ Colin. We discuss becoming an arborist, certification, why no cars, the bike & trailer setup, hand powered tree care, partnership with a beekeeper, and Forest Park Conservancy donations.
Brock is a witness to a hit-and-run, and Aaron attends a bike move and a repair clinic (gallery below). Listeners Marcus & Beth from Chicago are in town and sit in on the taping as well as generously providing our drinks!
Chris & Heidi Hershberger-Esh took the opportunity of being young and in-between life stages to bicycle across the continent at their own pace and choosing their own course. What happens when these two Mennonites expand their commitment to bicycling to a national scale? Lots of fun and practical lessons for life, that’s what. Guest host David Heddy joins us to make the connection and help bring their great journey to the Sprocket’s studios. You can find in-depth writing about the trip atcyclicalsimplicity.com and find out how the experience ends.
Ethan Jewett is one of the masterminds behind the wildly popular Disaster Relief Trials, the event demonstrating the value of cargo bikes in large-scale emergencies for transport of relief supplies and maintaining contact when other modes fail. We are excited to talk with him on the eve of the second event based in Portland this year!
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Listener Dan from Portland released a dystopian novel entitled The LIghtcap and wants us to know about it!
Emily Finch is a success story of transitioning herself and her family from auto-dependent life into simpler transport thanks to the genius of the bicycle – specifically, the bakfiets. Her amazing story has been featured by BikePortland, broadcast to the masses on Ricki Lake’s television program, and also passed around Reddit. Today she shares her story with us!
Ted Beuhler is an innovative man who has given much thought to the art & science of carrying cargo by bike. His collaboration with The ReBuilding Store led to an ongoing effort to combine reuse of building materials with his passion for bicycling known here in Portland as Deconstruction By Bike.
Brock, Aaron & Adele also discuss ice cream snobbery, hemp week, and Pedalpalooza rides (while Brock’s mic shorts out frequently).
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Will Vanlue shares the BTA’s Blueprint for Better Bicycling in Portland.