An Accomplished Hand-Cyclist

Got to be losing my mind. I thought for sure I mentioned Kelly McCall in one of my posts. Can’t find any mention of her. Kelly pedaled a hand-cycle in the American Lung Association’s Big Ride Across America 2007. You can find her at http://members.cox.net/mclieb/index.mht . My Ride is going to be all of 400 miles. Kelly went a measly 2,500 miles. That's two THOUSAND five hundred miles. I'm beginning to feel a little under whelmed with my goal. Actually, I'm not raising money. It's the message not the distance in my case. Kelly raised over $7,500 dollars for the American Lung Association!

Kelly couldn’t spend a lot of time with the other riders because they were on foot pedaled bikes and the hand pedaled bikes are at a disadvantage. Because she couldn’t keep up, Kelly had to provide her own support vehicle. The Lung Association was reluctant to allow her to participate until she said she would get her own support vehicle. I can understand the reluctance. The Lung Association would be concerned with Kelly’s safety and the Association's budget is small for these fund raising events. Every dollar they spend on the event doesn’t go into research.

Kelly said that the drivers of the cars and trucks sharing the road with her were, for the most part, very polite but there were a few times that she had to “bail” off the road to avoid getting hit. One of the most difficult parts had to be the three flat tires she had on the trip. There was a lot of debris in the bike lanes and road shoulder. I’m impressed with her accomplishment. I don’t have six weeks to travel but, if I find people are paying attention and the Ride is making a difference, I’ll just have to keep going. I’ll head for Washington, DC. We’ll see what happens.

Check out Kelly’s site. She’s quite a lady.

On Track

My friend who works for the Lee County Sheriff’s department said I should call the sheriff’s department to ask about obtaining a permit for the Ride. I’m calling it a Ride for now because I’m not very creative — it’s the best I can do. I called the sheriff’s department this morning and spoke with the desk sergeant. He wasn’t aware of any permit requirements and suggested I call the Florida Highway Patrol. I spoke with a woman at the Florida Highway Patrol who said I wouldn’t need a permit but I couldn’t have an automobile follow closely behind me at a rate of speed slower than the prevailing traffic. It would be considered a hazard.

She also said there might be an ordinance in Lee County that would prevent the use of hand-cycles on bike paths. I thought that was interesting; can’t ride a bike on a bike path. I understand the concern. The hand-cycle is very low and they’re wider than a standard bike. She suggested I call Lee County government and ask about an ordinance then she gave me the number. The woman I spoke with at Lee County government said there’s no such ordinance but I should speak with a particular gentleman in the office to determine if he was aware of any problems I might encounter while cycling through Lee County. I called the gentleman and left him a message. The search continues.

An Update

I've been doing a lot of research on healthcare systems and found some great sites. One in particular had a plethora of unbiased information. I'm finishing that post but the picture you see here really caught my attention. This is a hand pedaled cycle. Okay, it’s a high-tech, racing, hand pedaled cycle. Isn’t it beautiful? This one is a little expensive and not what I'll purchase. It cost $3,600. These cycles aren’t mass produced so the cost is high.

Anyhow, as I mentioned in my last post, the plan is to pedal and walk when I venture out speaking about the need for universal health insurance in the USA. It makes sense to pedal because if I walk every day I'll only get about four to six miles per day. It will take me a week just to get out of Fort Myers. These bikes can travel up to 30 miles per hour. That’s only for a very short distance because it’s all arm strength. The average speed will probably be 12 to 15 miles per hour. At that speed, I can cover some distance.

My youngest daughter and son-in-law said they will pay for a portion of the bike as a corporate sponsor. They own a web based business, miamibeach411.com. Check out the site. The more reasonably priced bikes cost around $2,000. Obviously, I’m going to put some miles on the cycle so I want to make sure I get a good one. The next challenge, after getting the bike, is getting in shape.

I believe an update on the book is called for now. I’m selecting the next five agents to send the query letter to tomorrow. It’s been a week since I sent out the first group of five and no word. I didn’t expect any responses by now but wouldn’t it be exciting to get a phone call in the next few days. I won’t even mind getting a form letter thanking me for my letter but no thanks. There’s a possibility I might get some advice from one of the responders. That would be appreciated.

This week I spoke with a man in town who is a published author. He gave me some suggestions on how to get the book published. He told me about a site called PublishAmerica http://www.publishamerica.com/ . That’s not the path I’ll take at this time but it’s an option. Well time to get back to the other post. See you soon.