Prospective Riders
RGBG is a rider organized event.
Meeting dates and locations are posted on the home page.
Meeting minutes can be found at www.rgbg.blogspot.com.
We're about to leave, but we're still welcoming riders for part or all of the journey!
Contact:
Elise Cope
123 NE 52nd St
Seattle WA 98105
rgbgseattle@gmail.com
508.317.0647
Please feel free to call with questions!
Current Riders
Jesse Card
Jesse was born in Utah and has lived in the Seattle area most of his life.
What's your favorite bike?: "I only own one bike. I have a fairly
utilitarian view on bikes as transportation. My current bike is a old Specialized Stumpjumper from sometime back in the 80s. I have
previously ridden an old Gary Fischer across country and a Trek 890
the year before, which I miss dearly if only for sentimental attachment to my first "real" bike."
Jesse has ridden cross-country twice with Bike4Peace in '05, and '06
as well as personal trips around the northwest and Utah.
Why are you interested in supporting affordable green housing?:
"I'm trained to be a solar installer and am one of those danged tree
huggers all around. I only hope I can eventually afford a home.
This ride sounded fun and is something I support."
Nova Clawson
Nova lives in a collective house on Beacon Hill in Seattle, Washington. Her favorite bike is her latest project, Mariela the Mixte,
a 1984 Trek 420L. She's an old lugged steel touring bike with a Brooks B17 ladies' saddle, MKS half-clips and an R&E-built wheelset with anodized rims and Phil Woods hubs. Nova's ridden bikes enthusiastically since she was a wee tot, but finally picked up her
first road bike a couple of years ago. Since then she's formed her own "bike gang", started commuting again, and agitated with local
grassroots group SeattleLikesBikes, as well as taught herself basic wrenching and maintenance. "Building affordable housing green is just plain common-sense, particularly as energy costs shoot through the roof. I'd planned on biking
from Seattle to San Francisco by myself this summer anyways, this
way I get to do something for the greater good at the same time."
Elise Cope
Elise moved to Seattle 4 years ago to join Americorps with Habitat for Humanity EKC.
Her favorite bike is her only bike, a japanese road bike made sometime in the 90's,
sturdy-heart-thumping-teal Miada. Prior to organizing RGBG this year, Elise had never riden
further than the Seattle limits, let alone organized a ride to do so.
"After working with Habitat for 2 years as and AC member, and 2 as an employee
I was inspired by the collaboration and possibilties that lie between affordable housing, and green development.
I LOVE biking, I love service learning and I heart sustainablity. This ride is the perfect culmination of what inpires me most in life."
Mike Eader
*What's your favorite bike?:
"Right now the one I have"
*Experience/background with biking:
"Very little experience with biking other then around Seattle. Since the start of 08, I’ve been doing nothing then busing it or biking it everywhere. I would like to take longer bike trips and learn to maintain and fix my own bikes."
*Why are you interested in supporting affordable green housing?:
"Green affordable housing is just one aspect of the environment that I think we need help in. If you have a home that’s green then not only are you helping save on resources (gas, water etc) but also saving yourself money. Which in turn you can put to forth to other aspects of life. I believe that we should, as a species, start living in harmony with nature. Everything else on the planet does. SO since this trip is about helping build homes, using transportation that’s environmentally friendly and having a good time I’m all for it."
*why do you want to bike from Seattle to San Fran to do so?:
"Sounds like a blast! Take a month off to ride and build homes(both of which I don’t do much of) is something new and I would like to try."
Laura Felice
"Seattle has been home for me for almost 7 years now. My favorite mode of transportation as of recently is an aluminum Cannondale I got off Craigslist last spring. Since then I´ve taken some bike repair classes, where I fixed it up and built new wheels for it. I started commuting to work by bike a few days a week about two years ago with the encouragement of a roommate. Since then I have started biking as my main form of transportation, and I love it. I rode Seattle To Portland for the first time last summer, and had a great time. I studied biology and public health at the University of Washington, and am very interested in and concerned about the effects that urban planning and building methods can have on both environment and health. Also, the lack of availability of affordable housing is hardly a new issue, but I feel that it is affecting an increasing number of people at this time, both in Seattle and nationwide. I am excited about the upcoming bike trip from Seattle to San Francisco as a way to support green affordable housing, build connections with others working in this area, and educate myself and others about work that´s being done and should be done in green affordable housing."
Elizabeth Nixon
Liz grew up on the Olympic Peninsula, but has spent the last 4 years of her life in Seattle, studying architecture and the University of Washington.
Her favorite bike is the one she's currently building, a red Surly Crosscheck frame full of Ultegra parts, and other black shiny things. The handlebars will be (according to tradition) bubble gum pink.
She's been biking mostly around the city the last two years as a way of being more mobile without being tied to a car.
She hopes this trip will motivate people to use bicycles as a realistic mode of transportation. She also hopes to promote green building as something that needs to be integral to the built environment.
Her heart is tied to creating a more sustainable way of living, whether it be through transportation choices, building choices, or community development choices. She believes that sustainability comes not only from material usage, but also from social connectedness and awareness. This ride is a way for her not only to promote green development and transportation, but also to help strengthen communities along the way.
Erica Weiland
Erica Weiland has lived in Seattle almost her entire life. She is a dropout from urban planning graduate school who currently works for a wind energy development company and bikes to work every day. In 2006, she beat her previous record of a 15-mile bike trip several times over by training for and participating in the first half of the annual Bike4Peace ride from Everett, WA to Washington D.C.(www.bike4peace.org). "My interest in urban design and sustainability led me to Ride Green Build Green. I believe that the ride is a first, small step in a necessary revolution of our economic and environmental priorities."