Melissa spent most of her childhood in Mississippi, where riding a bike allowed adventures outside of her neighborhood.  As she got older and life got busier, she took a hiatus from bike riding – until she moved to Victoria, B.C. without a car.   There she found riding a bike to be often faster than taking public transportation, and a great way to get to hidden beaches.  From that time on she has incorporated cycling into many aspects of her life – mountain biking, going shopping (it limits how much she can buy!), and commuting to work – even in Wyoming winters.  She loves cycling because it’s inexpensive, it feels good, and it makes a desk job much easier to enjoy!

Hannah grew up in rural Vermont, where she learned to ride on dusty country roads. Her bikes were beat-up garage sale finds, but in the mind of a child they became wild stallions, getaway-cars or winged chariots. She still feels that bicycles have the ability to be different things to different people. To some they are a quick trip to work, school, or the grocery store; to racers they are precision machines executing the commands of human muscle; in developing nations bicycles are delivering medicine and water to villagers in need. For so many reasons, Hannah sees cycling as a service to the earth and the community.

Casey grew up mostly in central Connecticut, and she was the absolute last person in her second grade class to learn to ride without training wheels! As an older child, her family often vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard Island, where they camped, and rode bicycles as their main transport. At the time, she hated being forced to pedal all over that island, but now she is very thankful for the experience! It was while living in Boston that Casey finally fell in love with bicycles, by conquering her fear and commuting around the city by bike. Now she is dedicated to riding a bike as her main mode of transportation, (except in Minnesota winters!) and hoping to inspire others to fall in love with bikes as well.

Casey and Hannah studied fine art together at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, and after several artistic collaborations, decided to create Join the Cycle.

 

Chris is Join the Cycle’s adjunct member! He rode with us through California and into Arizona to our 500 mile marker! Now he’s back home in central Illinois, helping us out with promotion and event organization. Chris became involved in cycling after realizing that his busy career in IT had led to a sedentary lifestyle. In late 2006, while on the Internet, he came across a cycling forum that sparked an interest in riding. He has since completed several 5k runs and his first Sprint Triathlon in 08. Chris is now a film/video professional and loves traveling, cooking, music and doing the robot.