Positive Spin promotes community-friendly transportation (walking, biking, busing and carpools) in Morgantown ,WV. Ask about our youth Bike and Pedestrian safety clinics for schools and community groups. Our instructor is certified by the League of American Bicyclists' for its nation-wide curriculum.
GRANTWRITERS!! We need your help - there are many grant opportunities coming our way but we need people with time and experience to apply for them.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
