Dec. 5

It was snowing this morning when I woke up, but I had something to deliver to a friend in Osage so I took our best-equipped all-weather bike to make the trip.  Turns out that it was no match for wet slush-slop snow.  In the short space of the 12 mile ride the bike gained about 50 lb of water weight, eventually the drivetrain became so clogged with snow that the chain couldn't engage.  This meant I had to walk the last 2 blocks to the shop.  It gave me pause to think about how ill-adapted conventional bikes are to adverse weather.  Otherwise it was a beautiful day to be out.  The traffic was light due to slippery conditions and it was blissfully quiet on the roads.

     Later in the day we opened the shop with about 10 volunteers from the Center for Civic Engagement.   These are students with a service-learning obligation - either for a class assignment or as the result of an infraction. They were an excellent bunch of students and helped us finally get to our goal of 70 bikes rehabbed for the Christian Help toy drive next week.

Nov 30 - Meeting a good friend

Today I was walking along the trail by the riverfront and bumped in to Bill Metzger, an old friend from Confluence, PA.  I first met Bill during the 2004 Mayors' Ride Relay from Washington DC to Pittsburgh.  The ride organizer, Troy Bogdan, had told Bill we'd be coming through and staying the nite.  Bill is a map maker, photographer and magazine illustrator and historian.  His day job is writing for "Railroad' Magazine, but he's also the author of all the Pennsylvania lettered routes for bicycling.  He was out for a ride with his wife Pam, also an avid biker.  Bill has progressive muscle degeneration in his legs, which has meant he has slowly had to go from a bike to a recumbent trike to a hand-trike.  But it hasn't slowed him down any.  He showed me the mileage on his odometer - 12500 miles in the past year or so.  We talked for quite some time about all our various interests and enjoyed the peace and sun by the river.  They get to travel extensively with his job, researching various historic train routes.  A train went by on the other shore while we were talking and he told me what every horn blast signal meant.

Nov 29 - Thanks for everything

Good evening,
I didn't think it would be fair to let Thanksgiving go by without giving thanks to these people and organizations who have been an immeasurable help throughout the year - contributing time, talent, money, passion and inspiration toward making Morgantown's transportation more sustainable.  Please forgive me if I left you out, and don't be too shy to let me know if I forgot to list you.

Businesses
Pathfinder Cycles - James, Gabe, Andy, Andrew, Shane, Steve
Wamsley Cycles - Chip, Colin, Jeremy, Steve, Matt, John
Adventures' Edge - Jan Kieger
These businesses provide us with parts and service throughout the year.  They also offer a 10% discount to our members on regularly-priced merchandise.

Organizations
Morgantown Municipal Bike Board - Frank, Derek, Marilyn, Don and others
Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board - Christian, Jonathan and others
Mountain Line Bus Service - Dave Bruffy and his staff
WVU Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
WVU Transportation Dept - Hugh Kierig
WVU Office of Sustainability - Clement Solomon
WVU Office of Recycling - Barbara
WVU Center for Civic Engagement - Kristi Wood-Turner and staff
BOPARC - Marc Wise and a merry band of office and field staff
Morgantown City Traffic Commission
Morgantown County Commission
Mon County Schools
These organizations are doing the planning, designing, construction and refining of government and institutional facilities to make Morgantown transportation more sustainable.

Individuals
Will Ravenscroft, John Lozier, Chase Hixson, Nancy Scheuerman, Bill Reger-Nash, Councilmembers Don Spencer and Jenny Seline, Mayor Bill, Former Mayor Ron Justice and many more
These individuals have helped in the shop, at events and advocating for transportation that creates better mobility and living quality.  A special thanks to all our members, your dues help provide us with a steady base of funding that supports our activities and advocacy.  Thank you again - and again, and again....

Nov 24 Items for Sale

Good morning,
Throughout the year we tend to accumulate excess items, either from donations or items that are ordered and not needed.  This is the time of year we like to clean house, it has the added benefit of providing us funds to help fix Christmas bikes and support our operating costs at a time of the year when donations are down.  If any of these items are something you need please call 304-276-0213. We also appreciate your donations (bikes, parts, volunteer time or cash) at this busy time of year.  Cash donations can be made through our PayPal link at the website (positivespin.org)
(See updated list at this link)

Nov 22 - Update on Christmas Bike Drive

Thanks to everyone who has donated bikes for the Fall drive to support the Christian Help Toy Drive coming up in December.  We've collected over 200 bikes, 44 of which came in on one day.  We now have about 50 of them ready to send out but hope to rehab at least 20 more to beat last year's contribution of 70 bikes.  If you or your group would like to do a service project please contact us at 304-276-0213 and schedule a time to come in.  This week would be a great time to do it, since it's pretty quiet with students gone home for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Most of the work doesn't require bike skills.  It's mostly cleaning and primping the bikes to make them look like something a kid will be excited to find under their Christmas tree. The final days before Dec 17 will be extremely busy as we give bikes their final check and transport them to the Armory for the event and vehicles will be greatly needed and appreciated.
Also, if you know someone who needs a bike and wouldn't be able to get one otherwise you can contact us also since we have extras.  Thanks again to the entire community for the tremendous support we've received every year - and thanks for relieving traffic in Morgantown by using sustainable transportation.
Nick

Nov 21 - A new appreciation for biking

I've been working with Otho for the past few weeks to help him re-learn how to ride a bike in the face of MS that has been progressing over the past 5 years.  Today we had our third session - in the first he learned to ride and made a few short runs.  Yesterday he got on the bike himself and showed that he could start/stop by himself and turn around in the width of the trail.  Today it was time to really go somewhere.  He rode from the Seneca Center to Star City and back nearly unaided.  I did give him a little push at the end as he got tired toward the end.  However, that doesn't diminish the fact that when he rides he looks as able-bodied as anyone else.  He was jubilant after the ride, talking about the feel of the wind in his face and the sounds around him - all under his own power.  I can't take much credit for his success, he did all the hard work while I just gave a little guidance and encouragement.  I think with more riding he'll get stronger and be able to ride further without help, although he's considering a trike for times when he doesn't have the strength or control to power a bike.  Congratulations Otho!

 

 

Nov 11 - Happy Veterans' Day

It's been a few weeks since the last post. Here's what's happening.
Fall Bike Drive: Anne Mallow and Tau Beta Pi have been doing a great job on publicity and George Lasner and Will Ravenscroft have been picking up bikes as the calls come in. We've collected over 100 bikes so far and are still getting about 15/day. Already 30 bikes are ready to go, but we'd like to beat last year's number of 70. If you or someone you know has bikes to donate please mention us. If you have an organization that needs a service project, contact us and we'll get you in here to clean and repair the donated bikes.

Board Development: Chase Hixson has taken over this activity. We've had 3 meetings to try and elect officers but there haven't been enough attendees to fill the vacancies, leave alone vote. If you or someone you know wants to see less gridlock on Morgantown streets and is willing to serve on the board to make that happen, contact me or Chase via the info@positivespin.org email address.

WVU Multi-modal Center: While I was in the neighborhood this morning I looked in on the bike room to see if it's getting used. There's one bike in there, I addded mine and took the picture that you see above. Security cameras are still awaiting installation, but otherwise everything is ready to use. Try it out!
Nick

Oct 29 - Planning for the city, Working in the country

Good morning,
I'm taking an unofficial retreat for a few days to work from Wadestown so the shop will be closed today and tomorrow (Thursday, Friday). We'll have regular hours on Saturday (1-5pm) and next Monday, Tuesday (1-5) and Wednesday (1-7). Our Fall/Christmas bike drive begins on Sunday in cooperation with Tau Beta Pi. Please consider coming in to help out during our regular hours. If you have a group that wants to help out and you need a different time, contact me by email (info@positivespin.org) and we'll set it up. Currently we have about 15 bikes, and would like to beat last year's number of 70, but we need to start getting bikes quick to get everything done in the next 6 weeks. We've looked into purchasing new bikes - using our regular supplier it would cost $3100 for 20 bikes. If you know of a more affordable source of new bikes please let us know. Even new bikes will require volunteers (to assemble) so the thing we need most it YOU.
Thanks

Oct 28 Riding and Meeting

Good afternoon,
Yesterday after completing repairs for a customer and working with a volunteer we decided to close up shop early and go for a ride in the cool, dry Fall weather. Nancy and Amanda and I rode from Seneca Center to the Uffington Bridge and back at a leisurely pace, visiting with friends we met along the way. There were a lot of them, and I'm pleased to say that many of the bikes they were riding came from Positive Spin. In almost all of the cases the riders would not have been able to get a bike otherwise, and riding has made a big positive change in their lives. In some cases it was for homeless clients of the Bartlett House who can now get to a job or visit friends. Other riders are in the process of recovering from injuries or illness and the bike has accelerated their recovery while giving them a much better feeling about themselves. In every case bikes have meant freedom and self-reliance, and a better sense of self worth for their riders. I hope this will be an encouragement to everyone else to get out and ride more - it certainly was to me.

The board meeting attendance was insufficient to have elections. It has been rescheduled again for next Tuesday at the same time and place. (Tuesday, Nov 3 6:30pm in the Positive Spin shop). Thanks to those who attended - Bill Dodrill, Chase Hixson, John Lozier and myself (Nick Hein). We have a candidate to be the new Executive Director so we need urgently to get a board together who can evaluate and hire him. If you have experience serving on a non-profit board and you would like to see Morgantown transportation change, please come to the next meeting and help us make change for the better.

Oct 28 - WVU Mountaineer Station Updates

Good afternoon,
This morning I stopped at the new Mountaineer Station parking garage and transportation center to see how things were progressing on the bike room and showers. In short, they're ready to use. The picture above shows what the room looks like with 18 hanging hooks along the wall and gym lockers (for storing riding clothes) on the opposite wall. The picture is taken from the back of the room looking toward the entry door. There's still plenty of room for a vending machine to dispense repair parts, and a small work area. The room will be unlocked but monitored with security camerasat all times. Commuters may lock their bike to the rack with their own rack, but may be asked to leave a key at the desk in the event the bike is left unused for too long. There is also an excellent shower and changing room which is also ready to use, with only some trim and finishing details remaining. According to Eric Rosie, facilities manager for the building, commuters will borrow a key for the shower from the desk attendant.

If you currently commute by bike and this facility is convenient for you I'd strongly recommend starting to use it as much and as you can to show that it is needed and appreciated. If you bike commute anywhere to WVU, and if this facility isn't convenient for you, please put a post in the comments. It would be particularly useful if you bike now and have to improvise a storage place. Mentyion which campus you are in and we'll contact the transportation dept to let them know that this facility is needed near you. They are excited about supporting bike commuters.
The only significant amenity left to finish is the outdoor bike parking rack area. This will be on the terrace in the picture below, with a roof covering it.

Board Meeting tonite

Good morning,
It's been a busy few days and I haven't had a chance to post updates. Here's the latest...
Saturday was totally quiet in the shop because of the WVU football game and the chilly Fall weather. In spite of that Jonathan, a high school volunteer, came in to help out along with Don and Will Ravenscroft. We got a few bikes done and then decided to call it a day early. Will took some bikes down to the warehouse and I went to visit with friends.
Monday a customer came in to work on her bike while I hovered around to answer questions. Oso, a young man with MS who had come to us to re-learn how to ride a bike came to see if we could fit him with a bike before the end of the season. Shortly after he left we received a brand new "Jeep" mountain bike, so he'll be coming back today to see that.

I drove with a friend to Cooper's Rock to watch the sunset. It was magnificent and I plan to get back up there on a bike soon to ride the trails. The colors are just about at their peak right now. We watched falling leaves float back up on the updrafts from the sun-heated rocks.

Tonite is our board meeting and elections. Please attend if you can. We want your input in who/how Positive Spin is run, and how we can better serve and support sustainable transportation.

Oct 23 - Working from the farm

Good evening,
Today I'm working from the farm to get some quiet time. After spending most of the day trying to get internet connection, I finally got some work done. Today's job was to convey media materials and contact to Anne Mallow and Will Ravenscroft so they can start the media campaign for the Christmas Bike Drive, supporting Christian Help's Toy Drive Dec 17. You can now find the information on the web page in the "events" panel on the upper right side of the page. The only thing missing is the event planner, which I wasn't able to upload. I'll get it up on the page as soon as I can get through to the web host tech guy (who I hope isn't working this late on a Friday like me).

Thanks to Anne Fallow of TBP and the Industrial Engineering volunteers who came in again faithfully on Thursday to help around the shop. We cleaned out the back closet, fixed up a few more Christmas bikes and then went to Rock Forge neighborhood house to demonstrate the pedal generator to gradeschool-age kids. Looks like we'll be back again soon. It was a hit.

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a regular shop day from 1-5pm. We'll be working on Christmas bikes and trying to get the last customer repairs of the season out while the weather's still good enough to ride in. See you then.
Nick

Oct 21 - Mountaineer Station Opens

On Monday the Mountaineer Station was officially opened to the public in a ribbon-cutting ceremony (picture above-click to enlarge). The facility has a capacity for 500 cars, 28 bikes (18 indoors and 10 outdoors) as well as bus stops and good pedestrian access. There is a spacious shower facility just inside from the bike room. The bike room will have hanging hooks for bike storage (with a lock loop), security cameras monitored 24/7, clothes lockers and a vending machine to supply emergency repair parts and tools. The entry door will remain unlocked at all times, but the cameras should provide an adequate deterrent to theft and vandalism.
The building will also house a commuter student lounge, offices for the parking and traffic management dept of of WVU and a stairway/elevator leading up to the health sciences PRT and campus buildings. It will be possible to bike up from the Van Voorhis level to the HSC buildings, while taking in a beautiful view from the gangway at the top of the stairs. More pictures HERE.

Last nite was our board election meeting. Due to a very low turnout we have rescheduled for next Tuesday Oct 27 at 6:30pm in the shop. Attendance is requested from current and prospective board members.

Oct 18 Update

Good evening,
I missed posting last nite. Here's the latest, starting with this week's events....
Shop hours will be as usual, Mon/Tues/Sat 1-5. Wed 1-7pm
Monday 10-12 am: Grand Opening of Mountaineer Station. Let's fill up the bike room!
Tuesday 6:30 pm: Positive Spin board meeting

Saturday in the shop:
Open shop time was quiet, with just Will, his Dad Don and I working. Mid-afternoon I had to go to Pathfinder for a repair part. When I came in the door on a bike the said I should have driven since they had a bunch of tires and kickstands to give me. I took them anyway, then walked to the restaurant for a Tahini salad. As soon as I walked in the door there Mohammed greeted me saying he had a bike for me to repair and would give me a ride to the shop with my stuff.

We finished off the afternoon without actually finishing any bikes. The ones we worked on still have issues, but they'll be sorted out this week sometime.

I'm also planning to put in an order for parts - mostly tires, wheels and misc items. This will probably go in early this week. Now that the wheel room is complete and we can see what we have, I know what I have to order.

Look for the article in today's Dominion Post paper by Bill Reger-Nash concerning active transportation. There's a good plug for bike commuting.

Tomorrow, bring your bike to the grand opening of the Mountaineer Station. Let's see if the place will really hold as many bikes as they say! I can't wait to find out.
Nick

Oct 16 - Working away

Good morning,
Today I'm telecommuting from my temporary home in Wadestown, WV (Wana actually). It's a pastoral scene on a small subsistence farm run by a young family who have moved here to escape big-city life on Long Island, NY. Under the fall colors there are chickens, geese, ducks, sheep, goats, horses and cows milling around in the chilly dampness. There are 5 kids (a boy and 4 girls) in the family, all wonderfully kind and sweet. For that reason this news story from Texas hit me especially hard when I read it.

I've updated and re-posted our general tri-fold brochure. I've also added a new brochure advertising our services to help other communities set up similar operations to ours. These will be handed out at next weeks Solid Waste Educational Conference.

I'll spend the rest of the day catching up on some administrative and organizational tasks I've been putting off.

Oct 15 - Here Comes the News

The blog now has links to some sustainable transportation advocacy sites that will probably be of interest to Positive Spin followers. The tax receipt form (for donors who want a deduction) has been posted on the site.

If you'd like to subscribe to these blog posts you can do so from the link at the bottom right corner of the blog page (Atom posts). This will put a live link in your browser bookmarks. I also understand you can have these posts sent to you by email. Post a comment if you'd like to learn how (and when I figure it out I'll let you know).

We had a lower turnout than expected for the afternoon volunteer session so Nicki and I spent some time updating the member/donor/volunteer database and doing some odd jobs around the place. Including installing the rest of the hooks in the wheelroom (see picture). We also played with the generator a little more. This thing is cool and easy to make. We can promote it within our mission as it is a good trainer for people just getting in to cycling - as well as recycling bikes, treadmills and training stands. My post on Craigs list hasn't brought anything to us yet, so I'll be going to gyms to see what they do with their worn out treadmills.

Nicki has approached the WVU Environmental Law student group about volunteering, and they are excited about the opportunity. We'll be working on this more in the near future.

Due to the low volunteer turnout we didn't get any bike work done today. There's lots to do, if you're available Saturday please consider coming in to help us out even if it's just a few minutes on the way to the game.

Oct 14 Update

Help Wanted:
We need volunteers for the following tasks to support our Fall membership drive...
Collect names and email addresses of past members, donors, volunteers for new mailing
Write newsletter to include in mailing and membership solicitation
Establish member/donor/volunteer/supporter database
Setup file backup and sharing system for office computers (Rsynch)

Today:
Solid Waste Symposium - Next Monday-Tuesday Oct 19-20 at Waterfront Place. There is a vendor exhibit area which is free to enter so that's where we'll be. Mon Cty Solid Waste has offered to post our flyers at their exhibit area, they'll even print them in color for us, so I'm sending them the materials electronically. Attendance is $150, $300 for a booth. Next year we expect to be asked to give a presentation so attendance will be free.

WE CAN of WVU has officially commissioned us to construct one of our generators for them. I turned in the invoice for last week's loan so the payment should arrive soon. Two more people have asked us to build units for them as well. Today I put out ads on Craigslist for training stands and discarded electric treadmills. If you have one please send it our way. The more recycled stuff we use the easier and cheaper it is to make these things.

I brought the donated laser printer into the office, hooked it up and it works. It's printing fine for now but I'm not sure how much toner is in it so if you have a cartridge laying around for an HP Laser (HP 92A Toner Cartridge, HP C4092A) please bring it by.

Shonda called from the Alliance for Biking and Walking to make sure we still plan on attending the Training Conference in Richmond, VA Nov 13-15. I confirmed that I am, but I'm not sure who else will be going. Any volunteers (where's Billy)? All expenses except meals are paid by scholarship.

On freecycle today there was a woodworking lathe being given away so I picked it up on speculation that we might be able to make generator rollers with it. If not I'll take it home. If anyone has experience using one of these things (or a set of cutting tools) please come by and show us what to do. Special thanks to Steve Knudsen for driving out to River Rd to pick it up.

Last nite's meeting at the Goshen Church for the Ridgedale Elem/Clinton Fire District "Bicycle Skills Clinic" went well. Thanks to Mary Ann for providing transportation to the meeting. My friend Mary Martin was there to represent the cub/boy scouts who will be helping us out. Since we've got plenty of time to plan I've started a project planning worksheet and posted it on the website for everyone to see and edit. (LINK)

Coming up:
Tomorrow I'll be in early to show our pedal generator to Sandy Cress, she wants one for the kids at "Our Studio". I think she'll be impressed with all the recycled content we now have. We've got our usual 6 students from WVU Industrial Engineering, plus Nicki coming to help out. We're looking for work for them to do by then.

Friday the shop will be closed, opening as usual 1pm Saturday. I'll be in about noon to get things ready.

Oct 13 Update

This morning I attended a free sustainability class sponsored by the WV Department of Environmental Protection and Bridgemont Community/Tech College (formerly WVU-Tech) in Montgomery, WV. Materials from the class are posted at the shop for anyone interested. It was a great opportunity to network with other local non-profits for the purpose of sharing our resources and services. Many online and organizational resources are listed in the handout. Most interesting is this Carbon Footprint Calculator.

This afternoon I'm making final contacts with prospective board members to notify them of the election meeting next Tuesday nite. Details and updates will be posted at the link.

I picked up more pulleys for the generators. The best option for rollers right now is to use an Ace Hardware 2" pulley (5/8" bore) and drill it out to fit the 17mm shaft. We've now got 3 pulleys. I'm looking for old training stands for sale to make a new unit. Also old treadmills that we can cannibalize for motors. We're also looking at other options for motors, particularly smaller ones that could be used on the bike for remote use.

I've updated the web page for the Christmas Bike Collection. It now has a (draft) poster for advertising. We are looking for volunteers to help with the publicity at this time. We're also hoping that TBP gets going on it pretty quick.

Tonite I'll be attending an organizing meeting at the Goshen Baptist Church to plan a bicycle rodeo in connection with the Healthy Heads program coming up next May 1 (2010) at the Clinton District Fire Dept. It's not too early to volunteer to help with organization and staffing of this event. Call the shop if you want to help out.

Coming events:
Next week (Mon-Tues Oct 19-20) is the Solid Waste Educational Conference at the Waterfront Place Hotel. I'm planning to attend and MonCo Solid Waste has offered us space in their booth to advertise. There is a charge for admission, I'm waiting to hear back on the exact price. Next year we've been asked to give a presentation so our attendance will be free.

Also next May we'll be working again with the Mon County Child Advocacy Center to host a bike rodeo. That organizational meeting will be next Tuesday.

Oct 12 Update

Happening tomorrow:
I will be at a sustainability class tomorrow from 9am to 1pm, and possibly at an appointment until 2:30. It doesn't look like there is anyone else to run the shop so that's when I'll open.

Today:
Thanks to Amanda for coming to work her regular Monday hours. She went through the list of board member candidates to let them know about the upcoming meeting Next Tuesday Oct 20 at 6:30 pm in the shop. Refreshments will be served.

While Amanda watched the shop I took off to run a couple of errands. First I stopped at Ace Hardware to pick up the pulleys I'd ordered to put on the generator. They seem to work OK, but it looks like they'll wear out the tire too fast. The 3/4" bore size is also slightly too big for the shaft. Tomorrow I'll see what it costs to bore them out, and see if it isn't better to have rollers made from scratch. If anyone reading this has a metal lathe and would like to give a quote on making them please let me know. Also looking for a watt-meter.

This evening I took the bike generator down to Wamsley Cycles to show Chip. If you don't know, Chip fills his Winter hours by repairing exercise equipment including treadmills (where our motor came from). He took a look at our (puny) motor and then took me into the back to look at a REAL treadmill motor. I can see why we're getting these things so cheap! They're still way overbuilt for our (re)purpose though. Voltage is another matter. With a 2" pulley running against a 700c tire we get only 100V no-load, and it dropped down to 60 when powering a drill. This means we're going to have to get a smaller roller somehow to get RPMs up so we have 120v under load. Any ideas are welcome. Turns out 17mm bore pulleys with 1/2x13 tpi threads are pretty rare in anything except treadmill flywheels - which are way too large.

Today was move-in day for the new Mountaineer Station - the multi-modal transportation center (public grand opening next Mon Oct 19). Hugh Kierig was just walking up the drive when I arrived so he gave me the tour of the bike parking facilities. First was the VERY spacious shower room, with room for a changing bench and clothes hooks - everything we recommended. Then we looked at the space for the outdoor racks (10) which will be covered and far enough back under the roof so that bikes are mostly shaded from sun and weather. Finally we made it in to the indoor bike room. Again it looks like everything we recommended has been put in place. A monitored (24/7) security camera has been installed so there is no need for access control on the door. It will be left open at all times (unless there are problems, at which time other options will be considered). There will be hanging racks for 18 bikes (now being installed), plus lockers for storing gym clothes and dress clothes separately. There will be an air compressor just outside the door next to the handicap spaces for inflating tires. In addition I recommend that a vending machine and small work area be provided inside the bike room for emergency repairs, as in the Seattle (and similar) Bikestation. Pictures tomorrow.
Come see the Grand Opening next Monday if you can!

Expenses:
$16 for pulleys a 2" and a 3" with 3/4" bore. We'll be returning them to exchange for the 2" ones with 5/8" bore so we can turn them out to 17mm.

That's all for today.
Nick

Oct 10 Update

Last nite's "Up All Nite" event was a big success. We brought another generator (these things are a cinch to build!) to demonstrate the blender. Students powered 2 lights - a CF and an incandescent - for 30 seconds to get a feel for what it takes to make electricity. There was a waiting line all nite long. We have another generator started based on a commercial training stand. We are looking for something to use for a roller that will fit on the motor shaft (1" - 1/2 x 13tpi for 1 inch and straight 3/4" for the remaining inch. If you have ideas please let us know.

This morning we loaded a truck from "Bikes for the World" in Rockville, MD. Phil Ruth showed up right on time at noon and we spent about 2 hours packing the truck full with all the bikes, parts, tires, etc that we've been saving since the last collection in April. When we got done the truck door was barely able to close. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped sort, pack and load the items.

Now we're getting ready for the Tau Beta Pi bike collection Nov 1-8 and Christian Help Toy Drive on Dec 17. We're looking for volunteers to collect, sort and rehab the bikes. Please come in or call to find out how you can help.

And get out and ride once in a while.
Nick

Oct 9 Up All Night - Pedalling

Happening today:
Tonite - WVU "Up All Night" will be renting our pedal generator for this evening's event. They are paying a (very) generous rental fee in appreciation of the loan. I've reinforced the stand on the old generator, and will try to have another one as well by tonite.
Today I intend to purchase hardware to hang banners on the building, and hardare to finish the second pedal generator. (OTC at Lowe's or similar)
I recommend the purchase of a Canon All-in-one printer from Office Depot. This would provide us with fax, scan, copy and additional printing (all duplex) capability. Final cost would be $100 with tradein of one of our non-working printers. See ad from Sunday paper, or visit officedepot.com:

I will be working on adding items to the Morgantown Year of Active Transport website, under our contract with the city. Simi has sent me her pictures, I've got other links, info, photos and events to add as well.

Today's Events:
Yesterday Anne and her fellow Industrial Engineering students (6-8 of them at various times) spent a few hours in the afternoon and accomplished....
- Reinforcing the pedal generator
- Drilling remaining hook holes in the wheel racks for the wheel room, just need to get the hooks (which I've ordered)
- Vacuum straighten wheel rm, show room, shop
- Scoured the parts room for parts to ship to Cumberland where we'll meet the Bikes for the World truck this Saturday.
I'll be picking up my paycheck today, and repaying the $100 paycheck advance I gave myself a few days ago (as a starvation prevention measure - I promise not to do it again).
John will be turning in approval statements to GMCT for my base salary so it isn't delayed in the future.

At the end of the day Nikki Appleford came in to help out and got all of our tires and wheels, plus a few more last minute items going to Bikes for the World loaded into a truck to take to the ware house. They'll be picked up tomorrow. We're looking for volunteers to help move and load stuff. If you've got time please join us at 145 Clay St in the downtown Morgantown waterfront.

This evening I'll be making a trip to the hardware store to get parts to finish another bike generator (maybe) and for Saturday volunteer jobs.

Coming events:
Tonite - WVU "Up All Night" will be renting our pedal generator for this evening's event. They are paying a (very) generous rental fee. I'll be invoicing them.
Tomorrow - Regular shop time 1-5pm Saturday. I'll be there about noon to get things ready.
John has referred me to a Statewide organization who may ask me to speak at their conference at Stonewall Jackson resort the first week in Nov.
I will be attending the "Alliance for Biking and Walking" training seminar entitled "Winning Campaigns" Nov 13-15.

Bookkeeping:
Amanda came in a few days ago and entered our GMCT transactions into a spreadsheet so we can reconcile the account with GMCT's statement.
I will reconcile the Centra account today, there wasn't much activity on this one. It should go pretty quick.

Finances/purchase:
Our accounts currently contain about $500 GMCT and $800 Centra.
I've made the following recent purchases:
bike hooks for the wheel room ($28 for 50 ordered from ronshomeandhardware.com)
Parallel printer adapter to use with donated laser printer ($27.15 from sewelldirect.com)

March 4 - Newsletter is in the works

Good evening,
Things have been busy at the shop and we're working on a newsletter to let you know more details. We've been gradually working down the pile of donated bikes, many of them still lingering from the Christmas collection. We want to make room to start building floats, bike machines and other chicanery for the "Step it Up" parade. The purpose of the parade is to build excitement in the community to make positive climate change, and tell our lawmakers to enact legislation that protects and improves our environment. If you're in an community or environmental group please consider entering a display or float in the parade. If you know of a youth group that would like to get involved we're looking for kids to enter a bike-decorating contest and show off their work on the parade route.

We'll have another trade-up day on April 28 when kids can trade in their old bike for one that fits their growing body (or changing needs) for a $10 minimum charge. This was a big success for us last year, especially rewarding because we got to teach a couple of kids to ride for the first time. We plan to promote it more widely this year so we'd like to have all the volunteers we can get in the event of a large turnout. Please call the shop if you can volunteer before or during the event.

Don Ravenscroft is putting 2 bikes together to make a 4-wheeled pedal car. This is one of several projects Don has done for the shop, including the pedal generators. At over 80 years old Don is an enjoyable and interesting guy to have around the shop, whether he's sharing his design insights or telling war stories from his time in the Pacific theatre during WWII maintaining B-29 aircraft.

As always volunteers are needed to keep bikes going out to charities, and developing our programs. Call us (276-02130 or just show up during open times if you can help out.

Nick Hein
Director

Feb 3 - Latest News

Just wanted to post a few items of recent news:
Friday Feb. 2 - Critical Mass ride. It was cold, snowing and the roads were sloppy and icy. This is the weather I remember riding in every Winter day when I was a kid in Southern Wisconsin. It made me nostalgic, but I must have been the only one since no one else showed up. Next ride is Mar. 2 and the weather should have a broader appeal. (Saw my son biking to work during the ride - a proud moment!)

Saturday Feb 3. - Tau Beta Pi will be coming to the shop for a workday. We also have members and volunteers expected so it will be a busy time. Always welcome on cold days, to warm the place up. We're working on fixing bikes up for tradeup day (April 28) and regular donation through Christian Help, who have been passing them on to car-free and homeless clients as needed.

Other recent events:
This week we gave bikes to 3 construction workers. One of them brought in an old Huffy full-suspension mountain bike which he claims to have ridden 12,000 miles on - all up and down the East Coast. Appearance of the bike and rider support his claim.

Dave brought in an art-spoked wheel to show off. I'll try to get a picture for the next blog report.

Hanna Wheeler is organizing a "Step-It-Up" parade for Earth Day in April. Details will be up on he website soon, but she'd like to encourage anyone with a bike (or walkers with signs) to join the parade. If you want to build a float or special vehicle (strongly encouraged) start working on it now. The shop will provide surplus parts, bikes, materials and moral support. Thank you Hanna for stepping up to this challenge.

28 Jan Update - After the flood

Good evening,
I thought it would be appropriate to post events since the flood at our shop. The good news is we were back in business the next day, although it took another week for the carpets and walls to dry out. It was a warm and windy week, allowing us to keep the windows open. After it turned cold dehumidifiers were brought in to keep down the dampness. It seems to have worked, although there is still a musty smell when we open the shop after being closed a few days. We don't know if the landlord will remodel (we hope so, since all we would have them do is check the wiring and strip it to bare/painted walls, floor and ceiling). We're looking to clear out as much stuff as possible in case they do. We'd probably have to move out for a few weeks.

We've worked down our pile of strip bikes - the ones that aren't feasible to repair - and are now just fixing bikes up for tradeup day (April 28) and various charities. We have come to an informal agreement with Christian Help in downtown Morgantown. We provide them with bikes for their homeless or car-free clients on a running basis. This gives us an outlet for inexpensive bikes that we couldn't sell and wouldn't be worth shipping overseas.

Several other charities have contacted us with interest in bikes for kids. If you know an agency or needy family that would put a free bike to good use, have them contact us.

Tau Beta Pi will be coming to the shop Feb 7 for a workday.

Our "Safe Routes to Schools" application has been received by WVDOT and is in consideration.

Here's where we can use more volunteers:
Starting unfunded Safe Routes activities
Fixing bikes
Tradeup Day volunteers
Office assistance
Many, many more

Have a great day.
Nick Hein
Director

All's wet that ends well

Good evening,
On Jan 5 at 8:30 am I received a phone call from our landlord at Grand Central Station to say that there had been a water leak in the floors above our shop from a burst pipe and our shop was flooded. The accompanying picture is what greeted us when we opened the door. Thanks to heroic work by the building maintenance crews and a restoration company Positive Spin is back in business - for now. However, in the long term we'll need to vacate the building in the near future to allow replacement of the carpets, sheetrock and ceilings that got saturated and will need to be gutted.

As always, we can use volunteers to help us fix up bikes for local sale and donation. In addition, we're trying to get rid of surplus bikes from an embarassingly successful Christmas collection. If you know of non-profit groups that could use kids' bikes mention our name. We also have parts (pedals, tubes, tires, seats, etc) from our salvage stock.

We also appreciate any and all cash donations as we would like to have money to do any custom remodeling (beyond what the landlord plans) and to build out our new retail location.

We also have inexpensive adult bikes available for sale (donation). Proceeds will support our programs and projects.

Thanks for your continuing support.
Nick Hein, Director

Happy New Year - January1, 2007 update

Welcome to 2007,
I'm guilty again of letting the blog site go while we've worked on projects and programs in the shop. Here's what's happened...

Christmas bikes.
We had extremely good and positive press coverage in November that resulted in more than 200 donated bikes from local residents. 35 of these were repaired in time (and beautiful enough) for the Christian Help Toy Drive Dec. 14. Because this was more bikes than they've ever received they didn't have to be stingy with them. Families were allowed to count them as a small item, so they could get more than one/family. Two bikes went to a family whose house had burned to the ground, with the bikes under the house. I'm told this was a HUGE emotional boost to them.
We also sent 8 bikes to Scott's Run Settlement house with tremendous help from Tau Beta Pi.
We'd also like to thank Tau Beta Pi profusely for paying our shop bill for the repair effort. Thanks to their generosity we were able to buy new tires for the first time ever.

Safe Routes to School
There's a panic afoot on this one. I sent in the "Intent to Apply" form after having prepared it single-handedly. It was accepted and now the big job of preparing the final application (due Jan 15) starts. If you have any interest and experience in grant-writing we could use you. There are only 2 of us working on it now. We'd like another 3.

Generators
We now have parts lined up for making our generator design, all we need are volunteers to build them. We'd like to sell these to raise money for our other programs.

New location
In October BOPARC generously offered us space at the waterfront in a warehouse they are fitting out for various recreational groups. We will continue repairs and classes in our present location but this new space gives us a retail outlet to finance our operations.
With this new space we'll need to raise money to build out and equip it. We're considering a major fundraising event in February and we could use volunteers to help make it happen.
BOPARC will also be operating bike rentals for the trail from this location, with our cooperation.


THANK YOU!!!!
If you've donated bikes, time, money or inspiration this year we owe you a great debt of thanks. You're making a big difference to the citizens, visitors and charities in town with your passion and generosity. This morning the Dominion Post mentioned it specifically in Norm Julian's column. We're looking forward to another big year of making Morgantown ALL its citizens, not just the ones in cars. Wishing a Happy New year to you, your family, friends and your city.

Nick Hein
Director, Positive Spin

Back to School - August 30 Update

Another month has gone by already since the last post. Although things have been quiet on this blog, they've been very busy in the real world. We are in a critical time for any organization when the novelty has worn off, volunteers are called to other worthy groups and students from last year have graduated. It's time to stir up some enthusiasm that will bring in new volunteers, donations and ideas. These things have been trickling in up til now, we could use a flood of all three. Here's what's been happening that can help us.....

In June we shipped 160 bikes to Working Bikes in Chicago. Some were sold to pay for shipping, the rest were shipped to various needy countries worldwide for basic transportation.

In August we finalized our design for a bike generator, and came up with new ideas to use the energy (pumping, grinding, lifting). We have the materials to make a bunch of prototypes, all we need are the volunteers to put them together.

Last Friday and Saturday we supported the Sprint, Splash and Spin mini-triathlon with free bike inspections. We prevented a couple of certain accidents and made the ride more enjoyable (just by pumping up tires and oiling chains mostly) for everyone involved.

Last nite was the inaugural meeting of the Morgantown Bike Board. This board has been convened through the terrific efforts of Suncrest Councilman Don Spencer and is looking for ways to serve Morgantown's pedestrians and cyclists with better transportation corridors, education and advocacy. If you have ideas for the board contact a member via Don.

Tonite we were invited by Tau Beta Pi to share a table at the WVU freshman Engineering fair where we talked about our cooperative Christmas Bike Project. It was a great chance to meet new students who are interested in helping out in the community and learning about sustainable transportation.

We want to reach out in the non-university community as well. It's time to get going on Safe routes to schools but we need a parent volunteer in each school to act as the sparkplug. We can always use more volunteers for collecting and repairing bikes or doing office work around the shop.

We have new business cards and flyers in the shop. If there's a place where you can distribute them please come and get 'em. I can't tell you how many people have told me what a great idea this organization is, but volunteers that put the idea into action and we need more of you.

Thanks.
Nick Hein
Director, Positive Spin
Morgantown, WV

Summer time at Positive Spin

OK, so it's been 2 months now since the last update. Our bikes were well received in Chicago, some were sold at Working Bikes' retail shop to pay for our trip. The rest went all over the country and the world to help most where they would work best. Mountain bikes went to Guatemala, 26" bikes went to Cuba, street bikes went to Ghana. Working Bikes, founded and led by Lee Ravenscroft, does magnificent work in arranging the shipments. They also collect and warehouse most of the bikes themselves, as well as raising money for the shipments by fixing and selling recycled bikes. We're very lucky to be connected with them.

We would like to work further with them on other projects. Of the world's 6 billion people, 4 billion don't have electricity. We've come up with a simple design for a pedaled generator that could bring electricity to remote villages using bike frames and other salvaged parts would otherwise be thrown away.

We are also gearing up to get "Safe Routes to Schools" programs started in Morgantown. We would like to contact at least one parent in each Morgantown school and provide them with the organizing literature and support to teach and inspire kids to get to school under their own power, with the resulting benefits to personal and community health that can result.

All this depends on volunteers however. Now that a new school year is approaching please consider whether you can help us with a donation of bikes, funds or your time to support Morgantown citizens who bike and walk to make the town a better place for people. See the website at www.positivespin.org for all the ways you can help.

13 June Update

I can't believe it's been a month already since the last update, but it's been a busy month. Here's the list of what's happened.

- We were contacted by the new WV Safe Routes to Schools coordinator and have been asked to send an "intent to apply" form to indicate how we would like to spend state transportation funds to get kids going to school under their own power. We are looking for volunteers with grant writing experience to help us fill out this form. We are also beginning to apply to other sources for substantial funding.

- Last weekend we drove to Chicago with 160 of our bikes (plus parts) so they can be distributed to New Orleans and countries around the world that need them for basic transportation. This is how we will probably do all our shipments from now on. There were enough bikes in the shipment that can be sold at Working Bikes' shop to pay for the truck. The rest will go to developing countries in one of the 11 shipping containers that Working Bikes sends out every year. The timing for this shipment worked out perfectly - that same afternoon a truck showed up to take bikes to Guatemala and many of our bikes will go on it. Yesterday (Monday) Working Bikes (and some of our bikes) were featured on a Chicago TV News segment. See it at this link, includes a video link.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=community&id=4266619#

- Shop hours will continue to be 5-7pm Wed and 1-5pm Sat. Other hours by arrangement.

- After getting rid of all those bikes, I got home to hear that there are about 60 more that are being donated whenever we can take them. Please come volunteer this week to help clean up shop and fix these additional bikes.

- We are supporting Boys/Girls club for all their bike needs. We've fixed up 16 bikes and will be providing helmets and instruction for their regular rides. We could use volunteer help with this, if you can help please call the shop phone no. and we'll sign you up.


Thanks
Nick Hein
Director, Positive Spin

14 May update

Here's a photo from our first Mountaineer Mall Bike Rodeo. Kids were invited to bring their bikes decorated for judging, ride through a safety course and listen to talks from Officer Trump of the Morgantown Bike Police Patrol and Nick Hein of Positive Spin. It was a small turnout, but a great success judging from the kids smiles.











Happy Bike Week! To celebrate Positive Spin is selling bike pins for $1/each. These bright and attractive pins are a great way to get others to start seeing bicycles - not just as a fun way to exercise, but as a way out of gridlocked traffic. Proceeds will go to support our bike recycling and Safe Routes to Schools programs.










Preparations are underway for the second annual Bike to Work Day / National Bicycle Greenway Day in Morgantown. See the website for details. If you would like to join us for the ride from Morgantown to Pittsburgh, or any part of it, contact us (see website for contact info).

29 April Update

Good evening,
It's been a while since I updated this blog, but I'll make it worth the wait for you. Today we held our first annual Bike Tradeup Day at the shop. With a minimum of advertising we attracted dozens of attendees and raised over $500. Even bigger than the publicity and fundraising was the experience of seeing people of all ages light up over the chance to ride a bike - some for the first time, and others for the first time since they were young. My favorite person of the day was Sarah, she came to us in the morning with her parents and the bike that she's been riding with training wheels for the last 2 years. She was afraid to ride it because she hadn't learned to balance yet. I showed her Dad how to take off the pedals and teach her how to scoot along by pushing her feet along the ground. She made this into a game of pushing off and seeing how far she could go before putting her feet down. This was automatically teaching her how to catch herself safely to prevent a fall. She picked out a different bike that fits her better and she left with her parents to ride on the rail-trail. They came back a few hours later to show me how she had learned to ride ALL BY HERSELF. Families like Sarah's make this one of the greatest ways to spend volunteer time. Sarah's parents also picked out bikes so they can now all go riding together.

Many other people came in and brought old bikes to donate and trade. We ended up with many more bikes than we started the day with. Special thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the day such a success including Jeremy Alio, Will Ravenscroft, John Lozier, Paul White, John Williams (?) and Joe Sallmen. We also recruited a few new volunteers from the event and we look forward to working with you in the future.

5 March Update

Good evening,
Just returned from DC on Friday night. It was an incredible experience, I would strongly recommend coming along next year to anyone thinking about it. There were 350 other fit and energized cyclists in the room - with a fascinating range of other common interests too. I spent Thursday lobbying on Capitol Hill (just like the defense contractors) as the only delegate from WV. I met with aides from the offices of Mollohan, Rayhall, Byrd and Rockefeller. All were interested in doing what it takes to get more West Virginians off their butts and out of their cars to get some fresh air and exercise while they go to work.

On the other days I saw seminars on liveable cities, trails, safe routes and a zillion other topics. I would like to do a group presentation if there's interest. Email me at info@positivespin.org to give your opinion. More later.

Nick

19 February Update

Thanks to all the many volunteers and MDS student students who came out this week to help out with the Biloxi bikes and program development work. On Wednesday during the shoptime several people came in to work on bikes. In addition, Lee Ravensburger (Director of Working Bikes in Chicago) was in town on his way home from Maya Pedal in Guatemala. He brought with him all the parts necessary to turn any bike into a pedal generator. You should definitely come down to the shop and try it out if you're interested, but basically for $50 worth of parts this is a complete system with battery and inverter that can run any AC appliance up to 120W. We've been running the shop TV and VCR off it to show movies. We also have the other generator that runs the compressor off an exercycle. We're continuing to experiment with variations on both designs. One of the next ones will be a recumbent, much easier to adjust for riders of different size.

We got a few more bikes fixed up for Biloxi on Saturday and it's looks like we've found busloads of drivers going that way over Spring Break. Now we just need to locate a truck and funds to cover expenses. There are 55 bikes ready to roll, another 15 that can be sent as-is and 25 bikes at the Morgantown Police Station that should arrive at the shop this week. Next Saturday maybe our last workshop for these bikes, but we will still collect them until March 10. See the website for this week's shop times. Hope we'll see you there!

Preparations are underway for the League of American Bicyclists' Bike Summit in DC Mar 1-3. We are sending 1 representative, but on Friday Mar 3 there is a bike ride with members of Congress that everyone is invited to join. Sign up at the shop if you are interested in going. We'll try to arrange carpools.

14 February Update

Happy Valentine's Day,
The website is now up, it looks a little rough but we have a WVU student working on getting it polished. At present there is just a front page with no subordinate pages, but these are in work.
On Wednesday night (Feb 15) there will be a shop night from 5-7 pm - I'll try it a little earlier and see if anyone else shows up. If we get good attendance the midweek date will continue. We are now offering memberships to anyone who wants to use the shop for fixing their own bikes. Dues will pay for shop tools. Members receive free access to recycled parts, use of the shop and tools and we are working on discounts with local bike shops. Look for more info in the upcoming newsletter.

We have about 50 bikes ready to go to Biloxi but are still looking for transportation. If you plan on driving South over Spring Break and would like to get free one-way transportation drop me an email at info@positivespin.org. Our police bikes have been delayed - we hope to get them next week.

There are several new articles up at the shop bulletin board about other community bike shops that have sent bikes to the Gulf Coast. Also an article about Plan B which mentions Morgantown having sent bikes - right along with Chicago and Phoenix.

This Saturday the shop will be open 10-5, with public time from 1-5. We will be starting a pedal car restoration project. This pedalcar will be our visual aid for public events at the Mall in April and during May bike month. Come help out if you can.

Thanks!

5 February Update

On Friday we had another Critical Mass ride with about 12 riders, making the rounds of downtown several times before disbanding. The planned movie night at the shop was cancelled due to lack of attendance. Most of the Mass riders had other commitments. This has been postponed to next Friday Feb 11. I will have a better selection of movies then, and photographs to look through as well.

This Saturday we got more bikes fixed up for Biloxi, bringing our total to 45. If we get bikes from the Morgantown police we will still try to get 100 total. Otherwise we'll call it good at 50. We are still looking for transportation to get them to the Gulf Coast. If you know of anyone going that way with truck or trailer space please let us know.

We've had a lot of interest in having a midweek workshop night for members and volunteers to work - many of them leave town on weekends. We'll do our first trial night on Wednesday Feb 8 from 6-8 pm. I'll be managing the shop and Will may try to be there too. After that we are looking for a skilled volunteer to supervise one night during the week. If you can help out please let us know.

Event Summary:
Wed Feb 8 - Open shop 6-8 pm
Fri Feb 10 - Movie night 6-8 pm (no shop work)
Sat Feb 11 - Open shop 1-5pm

Hope to see you at one of these events.

28 January Update

Good evening,
On our last workday for Biloxi bikes we managed to get only a few more bikes out, bringing our total to 35. I would like to see if the local bike shops could repair a few more for us so we can get the total up to 50. I've come across a church in Biloxi and may be able to wrangle something through my local church to get them there.

Our website is down for a few days due to homelessness - the host provider went out of business. A new site has been found and the content is being transferred. It should be up by Friday.

This Friday Feb 3 will be the Critical Mass ride at 5pm in front of the Lair. We're planning a party for afterwards at the shop in Grand Central Station with various fun movies (Human Power and Transportation themes). Hope to see you there.

On Saturday the shop will be open for volunteers who want to help fix up the remaining Biloxi bikes, and members who want to work on their own bikes. The shop doesn't have tools, so you'll need to bring your own. We are selling memberships to raise money to buy tools, once we do we'll offer free classes to members in how to use them properly and you'll basically get access to hundreds of dollars worth of tools for $24/year. Members also get free access to our stock of recycled parts.

We've decided to add morning hours for working on the Biloxi bikes. The schedule is:
9am - 1pm Biloxi Bikes
1pm - 5pm Open shop (bring your own tools, the shop doesn't have any yet)

Hope to see you then.
Nick

Nick

21 January Update

Welcome to new volunteers Jennifer, Jerry and Jeremy who helped us get more of the Biloxi Bikes done this weekend. We'll need lots of help next weekend to get them finished. Please volunteer, especially if you have bike skills. We've got about 25 bikes done toward our goal of 100.

Also next Saturday we've been given the chance to exhibit at the Morgantown Mall Community Service Fair. We'll have a table setup from 10am to 9pm with a display board and brochures to hand out to promote our activities. If you can help staff this table please call Nick at 599-1791. We've received our bike locks and helmets - we'll be publicizing their availability at this event. Even if you can't help at the shop days or events, if you want to volunteer, call or email and we'll find a job for you.

This Wednesday (Jan 25 at 7 am) Nick and John will be giving their Katrina Trip report for the Morgantown North Rotary Club at the WVU alumni center. The presentation will last about 20 minutes.

In February Positive Spin will enter a new phase, shifting from bike collection and donation to education and member service. Look for these events....

Regular Saturday shop times for personal bike repair.

Membership drive.
The benefits of membership will include free use of shop tools and recycled parts (new parts will be offered for sale as available). We will see about getting member discounts at local bike shops.

Monthly membership meetings.
After the Critical Mass meetings (5pm on the first Friday of each month) we'll meet at the shop for a movie or other transportation-themed event.

Beyond that we've begun a full-year calendar with these events tentatively scheduled...
April 15 - Bike Tradeup day
Bring in your old bike to trade in on a new one

March 20 - Earth Day (Monday)
All Day Critical Mass ride. Special Movie night at the shop.

May 7 - Spring Spectacular ride
Traditional opening day of bike season in Morgantown

May 19 - National Bicycle Greenway Day in Morgantown
Be part of scouting a national trail and roadway system across all of America

14 January Update

This was expected to be a big weekend at the shop, with the helmet and lock day planned. On Friday Nick and Will painted the White room, cleared out and mopped the showroom and did other general cleanup and beautification. We didn't get any customers for locks or helmets, but this may have been due to the fact that it snowed all day. Volunteers were there though, so we finished some minor construction projects and started in on the Biloxi bikes. We have completed 20 of them, putting us 20% of the way toward our goal. We have another 40 waiting in the shop for fixup, and 30 coming from the Morgantown police impound lot. If you have more bikes, or know someone who does please get in touch - we'll still take them.

Thanks to Will, Beth, Dan, John and Joe for all their great help and inspiration.

By the way, we now have about 50 helmets available and 40 cable locks on their for whenever we reschedule helmet/lock day. Contact us by phone if you need yours before then. They are available to anyone for a $7 recommended donation (our cost) or free if you received a coupon at the Christian Help Christmas event.

7 January Update

Good evening,
It was a big day at the shop today. On Friday we had the first Critical Mass ride of the year with 5 people showing up. Nearly everyone continued up to the shop afterwards to help get the place spiffed up for this month's big events - the Jan 14 Helmet/Lock day and the Jan 28 Biloxi Bike fixup day (our goal is to have 100 bikes ready to ride and shipped to the Gulf Coast at the end of this month).

This weekend's effort included stripping and recycling old bikes and frames, sheetrock repair, painting, cleaning, reorganizing and craft projects. Thanks to Carmen, Scott, Will, Joe, Tiger Joe, Gibran, Ivan, John and several people who came by to drop off bikes. We put fluorescent bulbs in all the old commercial fixtures so there is light everywhere. As a result we saw that there was dirt and grime everywhere too so we cleaned and vacuumed the whole place. We've hauled the junk out of the office and made it a little more workable. We completely rearranged the parts room to take advantage of the light and space better (next project is to organize the stock). All of the collected Biloxi bikes (about 60 so far) have been reorganized and we're ready for more. About 30 bikes will be coming from the Morgantown Police impound lot this week.

Also this week we'll be publicizing next weekend's helmet/lock day at which we'll offer helmets and locks at discounted prices (anyone who brings in a coupon from the Christian Help event will receive theirs free). We could still use some help with final preparations, if you've got time in the evenings this week please give me a call at 599-1791. Nick

1 Jan. Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2006. Will Ravenscroft, Lee Ravenscroft, their families spent some time this weekend getting the shop fixed up and collecting more bikes for the Hurricane Relief drive. Our goal is to have 100 bikes fixed up and ready to ship by the end of January. We have collected more than 60 bikes so far, not all of which are useable so we still have lots of collecting to do. There will be open shop hours every Saturday 10-4 for anyone who wants to come in and work on the bikes. If there is a time that is better for you call or email and we'll try and accomodate you. January 28 will be our big day and lots of volunteers will be needed that day. Please volunteer generously. Please also ask your friends to donate bikes and financial gifts.

On January 14 we'll be having the helmet and lock day. We've got some helmets and I've ordered more. The locks and cables will be ordered this week. As noted in the previous message, we'll need lots of volunteer help - before and during the event. If you can help give a call or email.

Wishing you peace in your heart, on Earth and all through the year.
Nick Hein
Acting Director.

Dec 19 Update - Last Christmas bikes done

Good evening,
Tonite I went in to the shop to fix up the last 2 bikes of this Christmas season (a Barbie and a Spine Tingler). Thanks to everyone who has helped get the 60+ bikes fixed up for area charities. I made calls to everyplace I knew about and it sounds like all the bikes will find a good home locally. Any that don't will go to New Orleans next month.

Our next task will be organizing a bike day in January to hand out helmets and locks for the kids that got bikes for Christmas. The tentative date is Saturday Jan 14. We'll be looking for lots of volunteers for the day and for a few days before to get the shop cleaned up and looking nice, as this will be kind of a public open house. I'll be gone from Thursday Dec 22 until Jan 3, Will Ravenscroft will be handling things while I'm gone but I'll still answer emails and phone messages periodically.

Thanks!!

Good evening,
We've now finished our Christmas bike workshops and have about 30 bikes ready to go out to area agencies and individuals for last-minute presents. We've also received about 40 helmets in adult, youth and toddler sizes to distribute. If you know a person or agency that can use them please have them contact us. Thanks to John, Will, Joe and area residents who donated bikes today.

Over the next few weeks our efforts will focus on getting out Christmas Cards (volunteers have already received theirs by email), collecting and repairing 100 bikes to send to Biloxi, MS for hurricane relief, renovating the shop and establishing school bike club and Safe Routes to schools programs. We will be posting more workshop times after the first of the year, please volunteer generously.

Wishing you Peace and Goodwill throughout the year,
Nick Hein
Director, Positive Spin
Morgantown, WV

Dec 15 Update. An amazing week!

Good evening,
On Tuesday the Marines showed up to take all of the bikes we'd fixed up for Christian Help to the Armory for their Christmas Store. Reps from 2 other programs also showed up. This week we've donated about 30 bikes (so far) to local agencies that will be distributing them to needy families in the area. We expect to provide more this Saturday. We've also been collecting more bikes and we have a good start on the 100 we'd like to send to the Gulf Coast next month (50 so far) .

We got some great things given to us this week as well.
A cash donation of $230 from the North Morgantown Rotary Club to help our efforts.
Six brand new helmets from the Community Health program at Ruby Hospital
A contact at Ruby Hospital who can help us get more helmets.

We're planning on holding a big event in January (tentatively Sat 1/14) to fit the kids on their new Christmas bikes and helmets. We'll also be collecting and fixing more Katrina bikes and this may be kind of an open house for the general public.

Dec 12 update

Good evening,
Sorry for all the posts but there's a LOT happening and this is a good way for me to get it out, without having to repeat myself. (I just hope someone is reading it). Tonite I joined the Mon River Trails Conservancy (MRTC) for their Holiday Social at Voyager Airport Restaurant. It was primarily a social occaision, and as such we had a great time talking about bike rides and anything else that came up. However, we did get into some substantive discussions about transportation planning and advocacy. I met a member who is willing to hand-deliver a letter to Governor Manchin expressing our wishes to see a Safe Routes to Schools coordinator appointed, and a process established that allows us to get program funding for street/sidewalk/intersection improvements and Safe Routes educational programs.

If anyone is interested in helping me draft this letter please contact me by phone or email. If we get the state moving now we'll be ready to use it next school year. In the mean time we plan to work with local schools and youth groups to establish bike clubs as a means of building our credibility as the bike/ped authorities that can put that money to the best local use.

Before all that, however, we need cash donations. We now have a PayPal link on the website (Thanks Jonathan!). If we can raise $1250 by Christmas it will pay all our debts (for repair parts on bikes we've sent out), buy helmets and locks for donation bikes (both Christmas and Katrina), purchase tools to equip 2 shop benches and leave enough to start planning programs for next year. Help in any way you can and ask your friends to help support our mission too.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) We'll distribute the first of our local Christmas donation bikes to 3 organizations. Thanks to all of you who helped give the gift of fun and transportation to kids and adults - their Christmas will be brighter because of you. In the following days there will be more. If you have more bikes to donate we can still use them.

Thank you.

Dec 10,11 Update

Good evening,
I've just come back from the shop, having finished fixing and sorting bikes for donation this week. We have 17 bikes in childs' sizes (12", 16" and 20" wheels) that I consider nice enough to send to Christian Help and another 4 24" MTBs and 6 adult bikes. I stopped at Wamsleys to check in with them and they have about a dozen bikes that will also go. I hope this is enough for everyone who needs/wants a bike to get one.

Special thanks to this weekends' star volunteer, Joe Salmen, who drove up from Fairmont and spent the whole day Saturday getting bikes cleaned and adjusted. John Lozier came to help at the end of the day too. It's amazing how much a few people can get done. We got about a dozen bikes donated as a result of the newspaper article, most will be usable or strippable for parts. The thing that hasn't gone well is cash donations. Only one bike came with a donation. This leaves us in debt for parts we've already purchased, and with no money to buy shop tools, helmets or locks. If anyone can recommend a source for funding or donations please email me.

I'll be trying our past donors. It will take $1250 to pay for helmets, locks, tools and debts. If we raise more it will go to fixing the Gulf Coast bikes and setting up bike clubs and classes in the local schools (including fixing MTBs to donate to the clubs).

We will have another workshop next weekend and I'll try to get another announcement out for bike collection, but there are still plenty more bikes to work on - and they're the tougher ones.

Dec 9 Update

Yesterday morning, the first article was published in the Dominion Post. I talked to the reporter afterwards and she has promised me there will be more. I'm going to ask for an announcement in the Classifieds for Sunday's paper, since it gets wider distribution. I've already gotten about 10 bikes pledged from this. Donors haven't been stepping up with the $15 donation for helmet/lock sets (yet) so we may have to find some kind of fundraiser for that.

Tonite I was at the shop from 5-8 for the work party, but it was a rather lonely party. I had expected this since students (including my son) are busy preparing for finals and everyone else is getting ready for Christmas. No one has signed up for tomorrow's 10am class, unless I get some interest tonite it will be postponed (probably for next Sat). I got 6 bikes finished (some cleaning/lube may still be required but they are fully functional), bringing us up to about 35 bikes (6 adult, the rest kids). Tomorrow I've got one volunteer coming for certain and 2 more possible. I hope to get more, please volunteer if you can.

We have reps coming from Rock Forge and Salvation Army. The bikes for Christian Help will be picked up Tuesday by the Marines and taken to the Armory for distribution. Right now it looks like we've got about a dozen bikes for them. Wamsley's is working on some more - typically they like to have about 30 bikes for this event.

Last night I attended the Mon River Trails Conservancy meeting to announce our bike collection (some of them weren't aware we exist yet). It was a very helpful meeting as I got some information about the local funding and support sources. I also made contact with some shakers and movers in the cycling community. Afterwards we talked informally over dinner and drinks at Applebee's.

Dec 7 Update

Good evening,
Tonite I met with Evelyn Ryan, a reporter for the Dominion Post, so she could write a story broadcasting our need for Christmas and Katrina bikes. The story should run by this weekend so we should have some more bikes to work on, in addition to about 20 that we already have and another 20 that are coming from the Morgantown Police. Another DP reporter who writes a column on Thursdays will also be advertising our bike collection in tomorrow's paper. In addition, I'll be asking the DP to put an announcement in the classifieds for this weekend where it will get wider exposure.

We got our bank account finalized today, and should be able to start making deposits (withdrawals soon too). I'm in the process of writing down all of our transactions to date for our Treasurer. I would like to set up a way that donors could send money online, if anyone can help me find a way to do this please contact me at 599-1791.

Thanks.

Dec 6 Update

Good evening,
I thought I'd post some news of this week's events.

First the disappointing news. Our grant proposal to the WVU Corporate Citizenship class was not accepted. It was our intent to use this money to purchase tools and begin setting up classes and developing outreach programs for school and youth groups. However, we are pursuing other funding sources and we intend to keep to our goals of service and education.

Now some exciting news. When we did the first Hurricane Bike Collection we were acting on our own. Since that time, communities around the country have gotten together to coordinate collection and transportation to get bikes to those still struggling to get basic transportation in Gulf Coast regions devastated by the storm. And we MADE A DIFFERENCE! I was talking to a woman here in town who has relatives in New Orleans. She went down to visit after the storm (in October) and said that bikes were everywhere! That was the only way to get around dependably. However, hard-hit areas like Biloxi, MS where the storm made landfall still need bikes. The Texas Bike Coalition of Austin, TX is arranging transportation from any place that can fill a freight container (4-500 bikes) to the Gulf Coast. We have announced that we are collecting bikes again (along with the Christmas collection for local charities that has been on-going) and will put our contribution together with Bike Pittsburgh to fill a container, to be sent in January.

And finally we have been offered a deal from major bike suppliers that will allow us to supply helmets and locks for $15/set, so we can send bikes out with these items. We are requesting that this amount be donated with each collected bike, and additional financial donations as well to cover the cost of parts and supplies.

Times and details for this weekend's work sessions (and another intro class) have been posted on the website. Check it out. Please RSVP to me to let me know if/when/how long you'll be coming.

Thanks

Dec 4 updates

Good evening,
This weekend a lot was accomplished with only a few people. We've re-arranged bikes so that all of the finished bikes are in the kitchen where they can be picked up easily, now that they will be going out for delivery soon. After fixing up some bikes and finding a few that (magically) don't need any work we're up to about 35 bikes that are ready to go (or nearly so). The star volunteer for Saturday was Joe Salomon, a co-worker of mine from Fairmont. Joe came early and stayed late cleaning/fixing bikes, moving stuff around and providing good company. Mid-afternoon I went down to Wamsley Cycles for a few minor parts and brought back Chip for a tour of the shop. We also discussed logistics for delivery of bikes to Christian Help. He's got a few bikes he's fixing and I've encouraged him to use our space for storage as he needs it. That's the least we can do for all the encouragment and material support he's given us.

It looks like the date for pickup of the Christian Help bikes will be Dec. 12. We will take the best looking bikes to their event since all the other toys are new-in-box. We have plenty of other places to take the rest of the bikes - the ones that are functional but less cosmetic - as mentioned in the earlier message.

On Sunday I worked by myself and got a few more bikes to add to the pile. I separated out the easy-to-fix bikes from the ones that will be more difficult. There will definitely be some bikes out of the original 75 that won't be fixed up this Christmas. We'll be making a decision on what to do with them, possibly get together with another shop to make an overseas shipment. Also, I'm starting to save the better adult MTBs for donation to school bike clubs.

I'll be scheduling more Christmas donation workshops for next weekend, and the weekend after, see the website for times.

Check out this website - a recent attempt on the 24 hr human-powered distance record
http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/HPVlog/12-02-05.html

Dec 2 updates

Good evening,
I see it's been a few days since I've posted. Bet you'd like to hear what's going on. I've made contact with a few more charities, here's who wants bikes so far:
Christian Help, Rock Forge Neighborhood House, Scott's Run, Salvation Army, Boys/Girls Club. We've been steadily getting more bikes fixed up, currently we're concentrating mostly on kids' bikes (12, 16 and 20 in wheel size) I hope to get through the rest of those tomorrow. We've got a total of 21 bikes fixed up so far.

Check the web page for the schedule of workshop times this weekend. I'll be gone overnite Saturday for a company Christmas Party and I couldn't find a substitute shop manager so the times will be limited. Next weekend will be a busy one though. Please help if you can. I'll be planning another intro 1 hr bike class then too (probably Sat. AM). Email me if you're interested (nick.hein@verizon.net)

Tonite we had a Critical Mass ride around downtown then rode up University Ave. to the shop. Nine intrepid riders showed up for the ride, 5 of whom stayed to work on bikes. We moved a desk into the office area (donated by a Titan engineering company of Fairmont as they move to new offices and new furniture. They were kind enough to donate desks and chairs that they were leaving behind.) Thanks to John Lozier for getting a truck and volunteering to help get it here on the snowiest, coldest, iciest day of the year so far) We finished a couple more kids' bikes and cleared most of the bikes out of the kitchen so we can start staging finished bikes there for deliveries.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped. We'll be mking some announcements in the next few days about a long-term direction that the board is working on. For now I'll say that we're anxious to set up a sustaining operation fixing donation and earn-a-bikes, while we begin to offer programs for the community (classes, outreach, school bike clubs).

Hope to see you at the shop this weekend.
Thanks again to all of you for making this Christmas special for so many people.
Nick
o
\__O
O o