FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Cross-Country Cyclists Finish 107 Day Trip with Ice Cream

On Saturday, September 26th, Join the Cycle will celebrate the completion of their journey from Los Angeles to Boston with a party at Ben and Jerry’s on 174 Newbury Street from 12-4pm. The event will feature music by Gentleman Hall, free face painting, and a 50% discount for anyone on a bike. The group asks that cyclists remember their helmets.

Join the Cycle will arrive in Boston the day previous, Friday September 25th, completing the last leg of their mission to promote cycling as healthy, fun, and environmentally-friendly transportation. The group will participate that evening in Critical Mass, which meets the last Friday of every month at 5:30pm in Copley Square.

More information about Join the Cycle’s project is available at:

http://www.jointhecycle.com

Join the Cycle is a group of three Americans who are crossing the country by bicycle to promote biking as a primary mode of transportation. They are not professional athletes or competitors, simply enthusiastic cyclists who believe that biking is good for our health and good for the planet. They want to spread the word.

“We want to inspire others to ride bicycles,” said Casey DePasquale of Join the Cycle. “This project isn’t about collecting money to allow others to protect the environment. We’re asking you to make a positive change in your daily life.” DePasquale and Hannah Hamilton are co-creators of the project, an idea that formed while the two of them were studying together in Boston. They are joined by rider Melissa Thompson.

To help Americans take action, the group has set up a Web site at www.jointhecycle.com to collect pledges from people across the country to try cycling for transportation. “What’s important is for people to take their bicycle use up one notch. Depending on who you are, that ‘notch’ could be big or small, but it creates momentum.” A pledge can be as simple as learning how to ride a bike, to going completely car-free. “We really want to stress that we are average people with casual bike experience. If we can cross the country, you can ride to the office,” says Hamilton.

Join the Cycle believes it’s time for Americans to consider the amount of fuel we use. “Every 10 miles of cycling instead of driving reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 10 pounds. If US citizens increased cycling from 1% of all transportation to just 1.5%, we would save 462 million gallons of fuel” (data courtesy of Bikes Belong). The project is strongly rooted in environmental awareness, which the team approaches with a hopeful attitude.

Join the Cycle’s trek begins June 11th in Los Angeles and concludes in Boston on September 26th. During the 107 day journey, the team will visit 21 major cities across the country. In each city they will give presentations directed towards working adults and schoolchildren. The presentations are meant to inspire people to ride, and inform them of the benefits and environmental impact of bicycling. Join the Cycle’s team members will also participate in local rides and cycling events and team up with cycling clubs across the country. They welcome others to ride with them for small portions of the trip.

 

CONTACT: The cyclists are available for interviews and can be reached through Casey DePasquale’s cell phone 860-716-9877. Ben and Jerry’s on Newbury St: 617-536-5456.

In The News:

Laramie Boomerang: Laramie woman pedaling from L.A. to Boston

By EVE NEWMAN

Boomerang Outdoors Writer
When Melissa Thompson was perusing a biking Web site to brainstorm ideas for a summer bike trip, she had in mind something that might perhaps take her across a single state.

“I was just looking for something interesting to do for a couple of weeks, maybe,” the Laramie resident said.

Instead, an advertisement for an organization called Join the Cycle caught her eye, and she ended up signing on for a 107-day trip that will take her more than 3,500 miles from Los Angeles to Boston. En route she’ll be crossing at least 15 states.

Thompson will join three other cyclists in Los Angeles this weekend, and next week they’ll leave on their cross-country trip, with plans to arrive in Boston on Sept. 26. They’ll be stopping in cities along the way to speak to community groups to promote bicycling. “We want to inspire people to ride their bicycles,” Thompson said.

Join the Cycle was formed this year by friends Casey DePasquale and Hannah Hamilton while living in Boston, and Thompson will be part of the organization’s inaugural ride.

“None us of are extraordinary bicyclists. None of us had ever been on an overnight bike trip before a few weeks ago,” Thompson said. “We’re hoping that people will see that since regular people like us can make it across the country, maybe they can make it to work or to school.”

The riders will be self-supported ¾ carrying all their own gear with them. Their trip will include about two and a half months of riding and about a month staying in cities and meeting with residents. They hope to bring their message to youth groups and high school students as much as possible.

Thompson, who rides her bike around Laramie as often as she can, said the group’s message would have three main components. They’ll tout the environmental benefits of riding, the health benefits and the economic benefits.

According to the advocacy group Bikes Belong, 10 miles of cycling instead of driving saves 10 pounds of carbon emissions. As well, the annual cost of owning a car and driving it about 15,000 miles a year costs up to $14,000, depending on the price of gas. Maintaining a bike costs about $300 a year.

Join the Cycle is selling T-shirts to raise support money, and Thompson said donations are welcome, but once they start riding, the cyclists are hoping to focus their audience on changes they can make in their own lives.

“We want it to be about people being able to make a change by riding their bicycle, instead of spending a lot of money,” she said.
To that end, the cyclists are encouraging people to visit their Web site and make pledges to ride their bikes more.

For more information, visit www.jointhecycle.com.
Eve Newman’s e-mail address is lbedit6@laramieboomerang.com

Team pushes bike travel

Hannah Hamilton showed off her new bike helmet Monday afternoon at Girls Inc., 2811 N. 45th St.

Her old one was smashed when she went over her handlebars on a cross-country trip that she and two friends are making to promote bicycle riding.

Hamilton and her partners, Melissa Thompson and Casey Depasquale, are Join the Cycle — an all-woman cycling team that’s about halfway through a trip from Los Angeles to Boston. They stopped in Omaha on Monday to give a presentation on biking basics and safety. They left June 11, and expect to finish the trip on Sept. 25.

“We’re riding bicycles across the United States to inspire more people to bike for transportation,” Depasquale said. “We stop in cities all across America and give presentations like this to boys and girls clubs and summer camps, and basically try to get the kids excited about biking.”

The team displayed their loaded bicycles, which included first aid kits, bike tools, water, change of clothes and camping equipment, among other accoutrements. They quizzed the girls on bicycle safety and demonstrated how to change a tire.

“(We) basically talk to them about our project and why we want them to bike more,” she added. The group is not out to set any cross-country speed records, either.

“We’re really traveling by bike, we’re not racing,” Despasquale said. “We’re not pushing the athletic side, we’re pushing the travel side.”

The trio took questions from teen girls. Girls Inc. program director Emily Mwaja said she was excited to have the group give its presentation, pointing out that the organization holds a bike rodeo and promotes other biking activities.

“When we’re here, we pull out the bikes,” she said.

The Join the Cycle team is leaving Omaha Tuesday, heading toward Des Moines

More:

Photographer Tim D’Antonio’s shots from the Fort Collins Urban Assault ride

Interview with Keen Footwear’s Mark Cohen

We are ZINKs blog post

Article from The Harlan Tribune, Harlan, Iowa

Artivle from The Sturgis Journal, Sturgis, Michigan

Two sassy knitters, weaverknits and I knit you knot, give us a shout out and make cute bicycle-inspired hats!

Matt Haze tracked us down in Cleveland and created a quick video for HazeTV.

Bike Commuters, a great Chicago-based bike blog, met up with us for an interview.