Archive

Watch my segment with Outdoor Wisconsin on Milwaukee Public Television. It begins at minute 9:00, and the crew did a great job filming, interviewing and editing. Thanks!

It was almost a year ago, the crew filmed me riding around Kohler-Andrae State Park for 3 hours. I was getting tired as I was still wearing my winter coat, and was running low on blood sugar. (A “winter coat” is what us Wisconsinites call those 10-20 extra pounds we gain over the holidays.) The interview only lasted about 15 minutes.

Since this filmed I have also ridden a bicycle across Wisconsin, from coast to coast, the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan.

The Making of “Cayendo Hacia Arriba: El Secreto De La Vida”

Here is the fifth and final and my favorite video from my trip to Argentina as the Cultural Ambassador. Here we have the real Ambassador to Argentina, Vilma Martinez, and the Deputy Ambassador, Jefferson Brown, along with the women who made it all happen, Shannon Farrell, Press Attaché, distributing the books to all the kids in 12 schools. The embassy gave away about 2000 books to kids that have never owned a book.

I love minute 1:44. I would have never imagined that my cultural exchange program would involve cheeseheads. The Argentina children called me: “the man with the head of cheese”. Also notable is minute 0:24 which shows the books coming off the printing press.

The Making of “Cayendo Hacia Arriba: El Secreto De La Vida”

I had the time of my life in Argentina as the Cultural Ambassador with the US Department of State. We worked with 12 schools to create the Spanish edition of “Falling Uphill: The Secret of Life”. I visited some underprivileged schools, an orphanage for HIV+ children, bicycled through Buenos Aires in their city “bicicleteada” with the Secretary of Transportation, and much more. Rather than write 10,000 words to describe this honor, perhaps it is easier to just watch the movies of my trip below.

The first video is about my trip the Chaco and Corrientes, back where I got stuck in the mud so long ago. The second video is about the making of the book at a school for deaf children. The third video was one of my favorite days at an extremely poor community know as “Fort Apache”. The fourth video is about the “bicicleteada”. And the last video is a TV interview partially in English.

Here is one of my most popular articles. It appeared in various forms in almost all countries from Argentina all the way up to Canada and about a 1000 people “liked” it.

Viajó por el mundo en bicicleta y halló la felicidad. Meaning: “He traveled the world and found happiness.”

Or read the translated version by Google.

Update: Here is the follow up story on Infobae.com after the publication of the new book illustrated by the local Argentina schools, “Cayendo Hacia Arriba”. Pictured below is Ambassdor Martinez, Press Attaché Shannon Farrell (the woman who made it all happen),  Director Javier Canepa and the professors and staff of Escuela Pública Nro. 3 “Arturo Marasso”, Escuela Nº 26 “Dardo Rocha” and Escuela Nº 13 “Armada Argentina”.

Another one of my favorite stories was this article that originally appeared in the Buenos Aires Herald, titled “Soul Rider“.

World traveler came home to fulfillment — JSOnline

This is a great story about my trip around the world, coming home, and how this all evolved into working with local schools to illustrate children’s books.

Thanks to Laurel Walker for doing such a thorough job, and to help build our local community by spreading change. I also had a big big surprise to see that I made the cover of the online edition. I had many teachers tell me that it was a win for the education system during these troubled times of protests in the State Capitol. Also, see the fun photo gallery by Kristyna Wentz-Graff.

PS. The original full-page story about my trip around the world in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is no longer accessible :(

I had another great interview on WPR’s Larry Meiller program. We talked a little about my trip around the world on a bicycle, and a lot about working with Poplar Creek Elementary school to illustrate the new book Falling Uphill: The Secret of Life. Listen to the interview.

Also Listen to my favorite interview the first time I was on Larry’s show.

Thanks to WPR for helping to sow the seeds of the school book project at many more schools.

• Outdoor Wisconsin (PBS). Coming soon.
• The New York Times and the NYT slide show
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• Santa Maria Times
• The San Diego Tribune
• Korean Daily Economic
• The Milwaukee Journal. (This is one of my favorite favorites; and, unfortunately, this story has just been archived.) However, the follow-up story is currently available. JSOnline.

Unfortunately many of my favorites stories aren’t available, like my story in:

• The Cape Argus, Cape Town South Africa
• Momentum Magazine, Vancouver, Canada
• The San Francisco Examiner
• The Waukesha Freeman.
• And more.

As a post world tour honor, me and my bike got to occupy first, second and third place on the podium at the Downer Classic race at the Tour of America’s Dairyland. I also had the chance to share my story with the crowd.

I’ve always been impressed that many world-class cyclists and teams that don’t qualify for the Tour de France come to Wisconsin for our excellent race series also including Super Week starting soon.

Why are this man’s legs so strong?

Update: My story in the acclaimed Milwaukee Magazine  was on the newsstands in March and was a sweet summary of my trip. Wish I had a professional photographer following me around the world. Can you guess what that white stuff is? BTW, how did I get beat for the cover by a piece of pizza?

Photo courtesy of © Dan Zaitz

I met Stephen Regenold, the Gear Junkie, last summer in Minneapolis. I admire how he turned his love of gadgets into a profitable career, which is essentially the art of creating an adventure in your own backyard. In fact, he just returned from competing in the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race, the “toughest and wildest race on Earth.”

Thanks to the Gear Junkie for featuring my bicycle in his nationally syndicated newspaper column. The story was great. So often journalists get it wrong. Also, it has had a very big impact, much more so than any other story in newspapers, TV or radio. So that’s a testament to the power of a passionate blogger.

Read the story about the The Bike that went Around the World

“Great job yesterday! The anchors loved you, said only good things in the after show meeting.” Michael Dooley, the producer.

Stay tuned, I will post the spot with the teaser of me riding my bicycle into the studio on live TV. It was a very tight turn and I lost my balance and bounced off the wall. (I like to think I used the wall to my advantage.) It was either that or getting snarled in the curtain.

And for the record, Chicago has an amazing Lake Front trail for bicycling.

Or watch the video clip on their website.

As we go through life, we often run into people who leave a mark on us. Some of which make such an impression that it inspires us to try and be better people.  Recently, a few Wigwam employee’s had the pleasure of meeting Scott Stoll, a Milwaukee, WI native. Read the full article.

My latest interview. About 30 seconds per year of my life.

Watch the video. Sometimes the clip gets cut off at the end.

자전거로 나를 세운다

“Falling Uphill” appears to have been transliterated into something like “Adopt me and my bicycle” which is true enough, but is also translated as “Building yourself up with a Bicycle” which probably has a more colloquial meaning in Korean.

I’m also honored to be grouped with what appears to be “The life of Pi” and “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance”.

Here’s a review by one of several newspapers, the Korean Daily Economic, which I translated through Google. Or view it in Korean.

You can also flip through the Korean edition here.

I recently had an interview on a local morning TV show. It was an adventure all by itself. Getting a behind the scenes look at a live TV show. I have a new appreciation for the hosts and producers who were real busy bees behind the scenes. Also, I appreciated that during the commercial breaks, Allison and Molly took a few moments before to warm me up, and a few moments after to thank me.

For the record, I had no idea what they were going to ask me, so I was a bit surprised the interview became so philosophical. Also, not sure why the heck I was filmed sideways….

Watch the broadcast click here.

I also met Adam Ciralsky, the NBC News producer with the new show The Wanted and who also worked on 60 Minutes and the Today Show. I gave him my “elevator speech” and he said my book was interesting enough that he’s going to hand deliver it to the Today Show in New York City this week. That could be my lucky break.