Coverage update! The BooLander gets a sweet write up in Bicycle Times Magazine
and a beautiful video from KQED Arts:
What’s up bicycle customizers, feast your eyes on the BooLander, the latest custom bike to hit the streets at Rock The Bike.
The BooLander is a vertical tandem (riders are top / bottom versus the more common front / back arrangement) with optional swing-out ‘landers’ or ‘roots’, that stabilize the rig when mounting, dismounting, starting, and stopping.
Read MoreIn summer 2016 we supported and rode with the Pleasant Revolution bike music tour of the West Coast. Here’s an interview in which Kipchoge Spencer, the founder of the Pleasant Revolution, asks RTB’s founder Paul Freedman ( a.k.a. Fossil Fool) about the experience. The photos are Paul’s.
KS: What made you want to join the tour?
PF: I joined the crew on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia—they were already on tour. I met them at the Farmers Market when they were setting up for a Biketopia Music Festival. I stayed with them for two weeks, until Seattle, and then joined them again on the Sonoma coast of California for another stint. I think our biggest day of riding was 50-55 miles approaching Seattle. I felt it on the train ride home, I could barely walk!
I always like combining public transportation with bike touring. To meet up with them the first time, I took Amtrak to Seattle, a ferry to Victoria, B.C. and then biked from there to the Salt Spring ferry. The second time I was able to take a bus from San Francisco to the coast to meet up with them.
The specific technical approach we take at each Pedal Powered Stage event now depends on the size and nature of the audience, the purpose of the event, the nature of the music. Ultimately we strive to provide an eye-opening and inspiring experience to both the audience and musicians. New compromise approaches have allowed us to connect with more and different types of audiences.
Some audiences are physically fit college students. Others are primarily kids. We’ve developed a few different ways to use our own equipment to adapt to different event conditions. If you have an upcoming event please take a look and consider these models.
Purist: All energy used is generated by the pedalers. This approach is simple, electrifying and athletic. Outages are allowed to occur when pedalers don’t respond to low voltage signals from the Pedalometer. To prevent outages, our coaches actively recruit new pedalers and stoke pedalers to pay maximum attention to the Pedalometer and boost their output when it’s low. Even small improvements like raising and lowering the seat for a few riders can make a real difference in total power outputted by a group. If outages happen repeatedly even though the bikes are fully occupied and well adjusted, this is because the system is using more energy than people can reasonably pedal. The tech crew must find ways to add more generator bikes or turn off energy-hogging equipment. Advantages: fun, entertaining, educational, simple. Disadvantages: bands can be interrupted by outages, may require more bikes.
Primed Purist: Like the above, but accepting of the fact that people don’t usually like pedaling before an event begins. What happens before an event? Sound checking of bands, testing our gear. Using batteries to power the sound check we get through it as quickly as possible.
Grid backup: All or some equipment is powered by the grid. Pedalers put energy back into the grid. An “Ahead / Behind” meter shows pedalers whether they are keeping up with the energy use of the system.
Fitness of the audience.
Message v. Music
Read MoreYou’ve gone to great lengths to have an interactive Pedal Power activity at your event, and you want the best results. We’ve found that having a “coach” is essential to having a hit. Once you read all the different things a coach does, you’ll want one too. The person who greets your group as they come up to the bike, who answers their questions, who reassures them that they’ll do fine even if they haven’t been on a bike in a long time, who helps them get on and off, who leads the cheering for them — that’s the coach.
Coaches function as the host, making sure the bike works optimally for each rider and that everyone has a fun and uplifting experience with Pedal Power. You can provide your own coach — it’s not difficult to be a good one. Our trained staff is also available if you want to hire the pros (look under Services to see which activities we can provide a crew for). In the end, it doesn’t matter who supplies the coaches, only that you have one for every rider.
The Benefits of Having a Coach
Having a coach instantly makes your Pedal Power activity a warm and lively attraction. It means you have someone stationed at the activity whose only job is to think about the pedalers — their safety, fun, and learning. That kind of undivided attention means that everyone gets the bike adjusted to fit them well — if the seat is too high, the rider will strain to reach the pedals; if it’s too low, the rider does not get a strong experience of their own muscle power.
Read MoreYou can green your event by renting our Pedal Power gear, reducing your carbon footprint and inspiring people at your event. Pedal Power gives your event attendees a unique experience that they will never forget. Check out all our great Pedal Powered activities for rent, and let’s start talking about your upcoming event.
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