Saturday, June 6, 2026 - 26/22 Touring Together

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1. From KPFK in Los Angeles, California, Valley Free Radio in Florence, Massachusetts, WNUC in Detroit, and Biketalk.org worldwide, this is Biketalk.
2. Biketalk.
3. Welcome to Biketalk. I'm Taylor Nichols.
4. And I'm Nick Richard.
5. Hey, Nick.
6. Where are you?
7. I am in Eastern Oregon.
8. A buddy of mine, Mark Gomes, who's a professor at Ithaca College in New York, flew out to meet me in Eugene.
9. And for the last four or five days, we've been riding east across Oregon.
10. And it's absolutely beautiful.
11. I did not know that non-coastal Oregon was as amazing as it is.
12. Mark, I want to hear your perspective of joining a ride like this.
13. You just started a couple, like, what, five days ago.
14. but what is eastern oregon like and what's it like joining uh cross-country bike trip for a week
15. well what you said is right it's nothing like what you think of most people think of when when you
16. say oregon once you get over the mackenzie pass which is 40 miles east of eugene there's a volcanic
17. eruption up there and so it's all lava at the top we rode through this huge field of black lava
18. And then you come down the other side and suddenly you're in Alpine Meadow.
19. And then from then on, it continues into high desert mountains.
20. Yeah.
21. I mean, we were riding on these roads where you could hear a car coming from a mile away.
22. And off to our right, which was our south, there were these snow-capped peaks.
23. And it was absolutely beautiful.
24. And, you know, Mark mentioned McKenzie Pass.
25. we rode over it and the road was closed to cars because they were cutting trees or something
26. and so for about how many like 40 or 50 miles we rode on this road with no cars we were giggling
27. to ourselves well everybody we talked to after that and told the story to their jaws drop right
28. because nobody gets to ride that right without cars it's a very rare privilege and i i might
29. dad it was not hassle-free the odot the oregon department of transportation did hassle us a
30. little bit taylor who'd one of the foreman well it was a foreperson it was a woman with tales of uh
31. of what was it train dream because she was talking about cutting trees and so we just talked our ear
32. off her ear off and she finally led us through she said you know why don't you just wait at the
33. campsite over there until we finish well when will you finish i don't know three and this was
34. one o'clock yeah so we pulled over and we pulled out a bottle of wine and we sat we were prepared
35. to sit for a couple hours right 10 minutes later she tooted her horn and we got through we rode
36. over the pass yeah beautiful it's interesting when you're on a long trip and someone joins you
37. because we are on a little bit of a different schedule mark is a fast rider but a very slow
38. person. I think you should qualify
39. fast rider and slow
40. person. You're a former Boy Scout,
41. okay? So Taylor has
42. his tent and
43. everything rolled and packed by
44. 7 a.m. Now, 8 a.m.
45. Sitting on the picnic table looking at
46. me like a dog waiting to be
47. walked. Let's go. Mark
48. takes his time, but it's been really nice.
49. Mark is an old friend of mine, and we haven't
50. seen each other in a long time, and he made a big effort
51. to come out and join me
52. in Eugene and ride about 400 miles with me. And it's been a real treat. It's a very different
53. experience riding on your own on a long trip or having a good friend with you because we don't
54. ride together all the time I mean we ride and we talk and then you pull ahead a little bit and we separated for maybe an hour or two I carry the beer So he waits for me But it been really nice
55. It's been terrific.
56. First of all, reconnecting with you.
57. Riding in a completely different way than we have ridden in the past.
58. And it's really about like gearing down, enjoying what's around us, enjoying the people that we have bumped into and had the privilege and joy of like speaking with and spending time with.
59. And then the road, dealing with cars and the road and our bikes and all the things that happen.
60. It's a full ecosystem, man.
61. It's beautiful and amazing and scary and all of it.
62. But we have met some great people.
63. And a lot of those great people, Nick, you know, last week the title of the show was Bike People Are the Best.
64. This week I would almost say bike shop people are the best.
65. And bike hostel people are the best.
66. Right. We stopped at a bike store in Sisters, Oregon, called Eurosports, which was really an oasis.
67. And they helped us out a lot. And we got some sound from there.
68. We just came down McKenzie Pass, beautiful 15, 20 mile downhill, you know, no rain, no traffic.
69. And we ended up at Eurosport, one of the sponsors of the road we were just on, I might add, keeping the road adopted and clean.
70. And we walk into Eurosports and it's a beer and bike shop.
71. and I'm talking to...
72. Hey, my name is Jordan.
73. And Jordan, you're the bartender or the mechanic?
74. We're many hats, but more of a bartender than a mechanic, for sure.
75. People told us about Eurosports back in Eugene where my buddy joined me.
76. I started in San Francisco.
77. Tell me what kind of shop you got here, what kind of people you get, all that stuff.
78. Cool, yeah, so we're a local community bike shop.
79. We carry a handful of manufacturers like Specialized, Marin, Envy.
80. We rent bikes, we sell bikes, we service bikes
81. We've got the bar inside
82. We've got food carts outside
83. Do you need a special license for that?
84. In California, I don't think you could do that
85. Oh yeah, we definitely had to get a license for it
86. That's great, and you have a big selection
87. Do you get a lot of people
88. I'm going across the country
89. Do you get a lot of people going across the country?
90. Yeah, we definitely get a lot of Trans Am riders
91. A lot of bike packers
92. Being in Sisters, we're pretty centrally located
93. to a lot of great trails and long trails.
94. Like, you know, there's the Oregon Timber Trail
95. comes right through here.
96. You've got a handful of really, really great routes in the area.
97. And does the new Golden Gravel Trail
98. that Adventure Cycling put out come through here?
99. It's pretty close to here.
100. That's a really good question.
101. I've looked at that,
102. but I can't recall if it comes through Sisters or not.
103. And Sisters is called Sisters
104. because there are three peaks,
105. the three sisters just up the pass from here.
106. Is that right?
107. That's correct. Faith, Hope, and Charity. You saw them from the top of McKenzie Pass.
108. Is that what they're called?
109. Yeah. I'm sure they had indigenous names, but I don't know what those were.
110. What kind of riding do you do?
111. Mostly off-road. Gravel, mountain bike, and bikepacking.
112. Great.
113. Well, it's called Eurosport. It's in the town of Sisters, Oregon.
114. And it's a great, very welcoming shop. No, Mark?
115. Yeah. I'm directing Three Sisters in the Fall.
116. But that's by Anton Chekhov. That's not by Faith, Hope, and Charity.
117. And on that note.
118. Mark, you're a theater director in Ithaca?
119. This fall, I'm doing a Sarah Rural translation of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters.
120. So we walked into Eurosport and Sisters and, you know, I was trying to be clever and I made my silly, well, I'm directing Three Sisters joke.
121. And the guy at the counter, who was wonderful.
122. He was.
123. He did a double take.
124. He looked at me.
125. That's because there are three peaks.
126. Hope, faith and charity.
127. Yeah three mountain peaks right around sisters that are these three sister peaks But I was saying to Taylor that I was having a great idea You know we going to set our three sisters in the 1980s in Russia
128. during the Perestroika-Glasnost period,
129. which is kind of similar to the great shift that happened,
130. that was about to happen in Russia in 1910 when Three Sisters is originally set.
131. But I could see it happening in Mitchell.
132. A family that had moved there and three young women who became, you know,
133. middle-aged women and one not so middle-aged got stuck there and were yearning to get back to
134. Oregon. Yeah. And in fact, Sarah Rule in an interview talked about that and said that she's
135. waiting for somebody to do a middle America, three sisters. I don't know if that's me, but
136. ours is going to be at Ithaca college in the fall. It's going to be a nice take on it.
137. This was a bike shop that had beer. And you mentioned that you were carrying beer.
138. You know, Simon Parker, the English travel writer who we had on the show a couple of times,
139. He always talked about having a beer at the end of a 50, 60 mile ride.
140. And I got to tell you, he was right.
141. It's a good idea.
142. Yeah.
143. I mean, you had a downhill that lasted 20 miles.
144. I was going to say, if you could bottle that downhill, you could put a label on it and
145. sell it.
146. We've had a couple of those.
147. Yeah.
148. We had one coming over the McKenzie Pass and then we had one coming into Mitchell.
149. Yeah.
150. That was like Monument Valley in Utah.
151. Literally, Nick.
152. you wouldn't believe where you were. We were giggling on the way down. There were no cars.
153. And even on the past downhills where there were cars, there aren't that many cars. There were
154. times when it's really a drag. I mean, there were a couple of pickup truck drivers who smoked us,
155. who passed us and hit something in their diesel engine and black smoke came out at us,
156. which always makes you feel very welcome when you get to the next town.
157. Or came a little too close, didn't give us room.
158. A lot of people have been giving us room.
159. They cross the double line to give us space.
160. But every once in a while, you get folks who just hold the line, and sometimes it feels like they get closer to us.
161. Which is just really aggressive and dangerous.
162. Yeah.
163. But we went to another bike store in a little town called Prineville, which is called The Good Bike Company.
164. and they also sold beer and were also very helpful.
165. They told us about this hostel in a little town called Mitchell, Oregon.
166. You know, someone else had mentioned it, I think.
167. And Mitchell is a town of...
168. 266, we thought.
169. That's what it said on the sign outside of town.
170. When we spoke to our host...
171. Jalai.
172. Yes, Jalai.
173. She said it was actually 133.
174. Right.
175. But this is a place, if you're going to travel on the Transamerica route, you must stop at because it was an oasis.
176. They were so welcoming.
177. You rolled your bike right in and put your bike right at the foot of your bed.
178. It was just charming.
179. And this is a short interview with Jalay.
180. In eastern Oregon, there is a spoken hostel, a hostel for bicycle riders.
181. We've been hearing about it for about 500 miles.
182. No, Mark?
183. And Jalae Farrell is the founder, owner, manager, hostess with the mostest.
184. Jalae, this is a precious place.
185. You have these beautiful bunk beds and an outdoor shower and a kitchen, a fully stocked kitchen.
186. Can you tell us a little bit about Spoken Hostel, how you started?
187. It's just fabulous.
188. Yeah.
189. So we started in 2016.
190. We actually started in 2015.
191. If you get back to the point where we had a vision for this tried to buy a building in Mitchell to host a hostel and never could come to an agreement on the price
192. So we came to church here as one last time.
193. So this was a church?
194. This was a church.
195. Ah.
196. And we went to church here.
197. They never said it was their last service.
198. But by the time we had driven back to where we lived outside of Salem, our pastor called us and said, why are you guys in Mitchell?
199. So we unfolded this story of this vision of having a hostel in Mitchell.
200. And he said, wow, what you don't know is I'm going to go close that church tomorrow.
201. So I looked at my husband.
202. I said, that's why we can't buy that building.
203. We could have the church put the spiritual component back in the community and then use that as a ministry of the church to host cyclists and car travelers.
204. And do car travelers come here also?
205. Well, we have been very beautifully adopted by cyclists.
206. But we are actually a traveler hostel.
207. Oh, okay.
208. So spoken isn't necessarily as in spoke of the wheel.
209. It's just in...
210. It's a play on words.
211. It's a spoken word because we're still a church, as well as spokes for bicycles and motorcycles.
212. Right.
213. And you said you're closed in the wintertime.
214. We closed November 1 and opened again March 15th.
215. And so all the business that we do, the hosting that we do, culminates then.
216. And so we pretty much survive on the great donations that people give us throughout the year.
217. And that takes the pressure off a very small congregation, keeps the church open, and gives us the opportunity to serve cyclists on an adventure.
218. Wow, it really is. I mean, it's just so clean and cozy.
219. And, you know, we've been camping and we've been in the rain.
220. And it's like, I think a shower sounds pretty good, no?
221. I walked in the door and I saw the rows of bunk beds beautifully linened, the communal tables and benches, and the piano knocked me out.
222. I hope you're not planning on playing it.
223. Well, they had me at hello.
224. That's right.
225. How many people come a night?
226. And are you ever full?
227. You know, we did not make a reservation.
228. And you got lucky.
229. Yeah, I think so, too.
230. You can get lucky a lot.
231. That's the right way to do it.
232. We can have zero or we can have 20.
233. It just depends.
234. We have camping in the back that we mostly use for overflow.
235. But when word gets out that we have camping, sometimes people just want to camp there.
236. And we've got a group doing that tonight.
237. But we host, on average, probably about five people a night, sometimes more.
238. Sometimes we'll have every bunk, which is 12 bunks full, or we'll just have one person.
239. It just depends on how things are going.
240. July is very, very busy because we have eastbounders and westbounders on the Trans-American Trail.
241. Plus, we're en route for six other routes out here.
242. Oh, wow.
243. So locally, we have a lot of great people that come ride with us.
244. Any hikers?
245. It's not very many hikers.
246. We're not known for hiking out here, although we have extraordinary opportunities for it.
247. It's just not something that—it's building.
248. It's building a reputation, but we haven't actually acquired a reputation for it yet.
249. Well, it's called the Spoken Hostel.
250. It's in Mitchell, Oregon.
251. We saw the sign for Mitchell.
252. Population 266.
253. No, 136.
254. Oh, it's less than 266.
255. So the state is not aware that you've lost 133 people.
256. And what are folks doing in Mitchell?
257. Well, it's either ranching, working for the school, or working for the highway department.
258. So that's really culminates the most of it.
259. We noticed a lot of horse ranches.
260. Yeah.
261. There used to be three different lumber mills here. That lumber mill time is gone. So now it's
262. It's really tourism that gets everybody in town that's got a business into survival mode and thriving.
263. Well, you know, we often talk on the show about how important bike routes are because they bring back a lifeline to communities that have been hit hard by lack of lumber.
264. I'm from Michigan. That happened a lot there.
265. And so bike tourism can be a big economic boom for a small town.
266. There's a Renyon study done by Travel Oregon, and we found that when we were investigating whether or not this would even be a viable option to host cyclists, we found that if we had one quarter of 1%, we would be fine because in our region alone of Eastern Oregon, billions are left by cyclists.
267. Yeah, wow. We love that. That's great. Well, again, it's called the Spoken Hostel. It's in Mitchell, Oregon, right off of what's the highway?
268. Highway 26, which we've been riding on for about 40 miles.
269. And it was not bad traffic.
270. 45.
271. 45.
272. So, well, thank you so much for coming on Bike Talk.
273. But really, thank you for hosting us and all the other cyclists that you've hosted over the years.
274. Well, thank you for the privilege of this option.
275. Thank you very much.
276. I'm so glad you're here.
277. And one of the great things about it, it is pay what you can.
278. they had a full kitchen downstairs that where we could make coffee and breakfast and they had free
279. ice cream and the kitchen was fully stocked right wasn't that just there were utensils there was
280. everything there was peanut butter there was oatmeal there was cereal there were eggs yeah
281. this sounds like a mirage like the yeah yep that's exactly harry potter that you took a train
282. someplace and arrived in this in this house yeah it's amazing pay what you can free ice cream
283. in a place with 133 people.
284. I don't know how that happens.
285. The kindness of Jalay and Patrick,
286. who have the Spoken Hostel,
287. and it's spokenhostel.org,
288. and you can support it,
289. and it's right on the Trans Am.
290. Now we have the news.
291. Great.
292. I'm Stacey with this week's news.
293. Last week, a collision in the Queensborough Bridge bike lane
294. left two people dead,
295. one on a bicycle and the other on an illegal electric scooter.
296. The narrow bike lanes on the bridge
297. are divided only by a painted white line.
298. 12 people have died on e-bikes and scooters in New York City compared to 6 during the same period last year.
299. In the Netherlands, a judge recently ruled on whether mime pedaling counted as truly pedaling an electric bike.
300. Mime pedaling is the act of casually moving the pedals on an e-bike to provide the appearance of pedaling
301. without meaningfully contributing to the mechanical locomotion of the bike.
302. EU law requires that e-bike motors only provide assistance when the rider is pedaling and cut out when the rider ceases to pedal.
303. The strange pedaling motion was explained by the bike's cadence sensor registering pedal motion,
304. which activated the motor despite the pedals not making complete successive 360-degree revolution.
305. Last month, a construction crew hit a pipeline in East LA,
306. which released 2,400 gallons of crude oil into the street and nearby storm drains, prompting a major cleanup operation.
307. The oil ultimately makes its way to the Los Angeles River, affecting the wildlife there.
308. California is a petro-state, producing 120 million barrels annually, or roughly 2% of the nation's output.
309. Three out of five barrels are used for cars.
310. We may think that giant tankers and oil rig disasters are responsible for the majority of oil in our water,
311. but most oil in the sea comes from cars and trucks.
312. Let hope California next governor will help us clean up for good Well Dan Langenkamp has been in the news He been a guest on our show a couple of times and he is not only getting awards but he actually moving the needle in safe streets
313. The Transportation Reauthorization Act, which determines federal spending on transportation
314. for the next five years, now has the Sarah Devin Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety
315. Act in it, which was named for Dan's wife, who was killed in a bike lane.
316. Right.
317. Dan Langekamp, you authored a bill in honor of your wife, Sarah?
318. Well, we worked with members of Congress to create the bill and then push it through.
319. And it's finally going through?
320. It's finally going through.
321. It just passed a really important hurdle, which is passage through committee.
322. It's the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House, not the Senate.
323. but getting it through there is like the first really big hurdle before it goes to the House
324. floor and gets passed there. And then the Senate would have to pass it too. So it seems like
325. that's a lot of steps, but actually this is the biggest one. If it's in here, it's likely going
326. to get passed. You know, in this Congress, the challenge is that there's a real aversion to
327. anything related to bikes and even pedestrian infrastructure. And so the fact that we got it
328. in there is a real testament to the strength of this bill. We fashioned it so that it would be
329. popular with both Democrats and Republicans. We're super happy that the Republican majority
330. actually thought it was good enough that they would put it in this. It's actually part of a
331. package. It's the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act. It's a giant five-year
332. package that does all transportation infrastructure for America. It's like $400, $600 billion.
333. And this got folded into that. Okay. What does it do? It does something really great. It allows
334. states more flexibility when they use federal highway money to build biking and pedestrian
335. infrastructure. So as most people probably could guess, there's a lot of strings attached to
336. federal money. And this basically takes some of those strings away and says, states, you can
337. use this money, more of this money for bike and pet infrastructure. It does another thing,
338. which is that it takes away a requirement for local communities to match federal money when
339. they build bike and pet infrastructure in many cases. And that match has been a huge headache
340. for states all across the country. You know, you'll say you have a little community. They've
341. been divided by a big interstate highway, got a school on one side, you know, housing on the other
342. side, and kids have no way to get across. Well, the communities in the past had to put up 20%
343. of the money to build that thing that they need, like a bridge or an underpass or whatever it is.
344. So now with this bill, they can actually use, they don't have to have that match if the state
345. thinks it's not necessary. So it's the state's decision now. It also does another important
346. thing. It allows communities to use federal money to connect disconnected pieces of bike
347. infrastructure and pet infrastructure. So you've got, as we all know, these bike networks around
348. our country are totally disjointed, which makes it hard for people to use them. I mean, you can
349. imagine if the car infrastructure was all disjointed and you had to drive across people's
350. yards in order to get to work. Nobody would drive. It would be impossible. So this allows you to use
351. federal money to connect stuff And that going to be great It going to really be in many ways a game changer for states Yeah it kind of amazing you were able to include this And how did you make it appeal to Republicans
352. You know, the thing is, like, it really is about saving lives, right?
353. None of us want to have our kids in danger. We want to allow our parents to walk to church.
354. So we really appealed to Republican members based on the concept that we all just want to be safe.
355. And the other thing is this bill will help small communities, rural communities, you know, the kind of community that I was just talking about that might be rural, that might be divided by an interstate highway.
356. You know, these communities need to build this stuff to make them attractive to young families.
357. Right now, a lot of these small towns are getting depopulated because young families don't want to live in them.
358. But if you can build bike paths and you can build walking paths and make the town centers more attractive, people will go there.
359. People will stay.
360. So we really used that kind of logic.
361. And I mean, I have to say, like, you know, my wife's story is awful.
362. You know, she was a young mother, public servant, worked around the world in the most dangerous places like Ukraine, where we had been evacuated from from the war.
363. like Africa, like Haiti, like Iraq.
364. We'd done our service.
365. And here she comes back to our nation's capital
366. and gets run over by a truck on an unsafe road.
367. Actually, it was a bike lane, but it was unsafe.
368. And so I think that really appealed, you know,
369. just like when you have patriots like that,
370. young moms, it really helps persuade people.
371. So Sarah was smiling.
372. I don't know if she's smiling,
373. but was with us as we did this work.
374. Wow. So you talked to a lot of people.
375. We would talk to so many.
376. I mean, we just did meeting after meeting after meeting.
377. We met with hundreds of members of Congress.
378. And so they, you know, crisscrossing Capitol Hill.
379. At first, it was really hard.
380. A lot of Republicans didn't actually want to listen to us.
381. But when they heard our story,
382. they saw that we were really working hard to make this bipartisan.
383. We didn't actually sign on a Democrat until we had a Republican.
384. It's called the Noah's Ark strategy.
385. And it makes sure that your bill is bipartisan through and through.
386. And so we just never let go.
387. And all credit to Sarah's dad.
388. He's a retired three-star admiral who used to be the head of the Navy Reserve.
389. And he was incredibly dogged.
390. And he had good relationships on both sides of the aisle.
391. And we really, really worked those relationships.
392. and it was persuasive in the end.
393. But I honestly, it was a ton of work.
394. But I'm just so happy.
395. We also had help from the League of American Bicyclists
396. who was out there.
397. You know, they have great relations on the Hill
398. and People for Bikes,
399. the big industry advocacy organization.
400. Was there not something about truck sideguards
401. in your original bill?
402. Was that connected?
403. No.
404. I had a demand at my first bike ride, the Ride for Your Life in Washington, that we wanted to get truck sideguards.
405. And so this bill was separate than that.
406. This bill came out of a commitment that first at first Earl Blumenauer and Jamie Raskin came up with.
407. So at the ride, they said, we're going to put legislation in named after Sarah.
408. And it wasn't the sideguards law.
409. It was this law.
410. Well, it's so good.
411. And the transportation reauthorization bill overall seems to have other pluses and other minuses But what do you think of the bill the reauthorization overall Yeah it very much a mixed picture
412. There are some wins that are important in this context
413. with a Republican-dominated Congress,
414. which doesn't look upon spending
415. on bike infrastructure highly.
416. You know, they saved an important program
417. called the Safe Streets for All program.
418. That's a really great program that's giving funds around the country to communities to build stuff.
419. So that's been saved.
420. Other things have been cut.
421. It is bipartisan.
422. It got passed with Democrats voting in favor.
423. The reality of this, if I can just give some analysis, is that the bill as a whole probably won't get passed in this Congress because the Senate probably won't pass a bill.
424. It's tandem bill in the Senate.
425. And that means that this bill will be the basis for a new negotiation in the next Congress after the midterms.
426. But what's good is that things like Sarah's bill, which got in, and Safe Streets for All have been saved.
427. And so those are kind of the basis for the new negotiation that will start.
428. And the Democrats, if they take Congress, will then have leverage to include these things and perhaps even other things to make an even better bill for biking and walking and people that are not in cars.
429. That is great. And I'm so glad that you are tireless in this.
430. I really appreciate your show's interest. I just founded a 501c3 organization called Ride for Your Life. And we are now holding bike rides and walks and rallies in other cities besides Washington. So this year we'll do rides and walks in Boston and in Madison, Wisconsin, and here in D.C.
431. So they're going to do three.
432. And then we're going to hopefully do five next year, bigger and bigger.
433. So, you know, the ride has been essential to getting this bill passed and getting bills
434. passed in Maryland that I've gotten passed.
435. You know, we pair these rides and walks with legislative or policy asks.
436. And those then get care.
437. We carry those through to to passage.
438. And it's a formula that I've seen now really works.
439. You know, hope your listeners know.
440. And if you're interested in holding a ride for your life because you like this formula, like remembering, you know, those that have been lost or injured and you want our country to do better, please get in touch with me.
441. I'm at Dan at RideForYourLife.org.
442. Please check our website out, too.
443. It's RideForYourLife.org.
444. Well, thank you very much, Dan Langenkamp.
445. Thanks so much, Nick.
446. I really appreciate it.
447. Taylor, we got some more encouraging emails for you.
448. Oh, good, because I need it.
449. From Baltimore Fred again, we have Mr. Bicycle Taylor.
450. That's funny.
451. Thank you so much for your first report.
452. We are sorry to hear that those first days were so rough.
453. I guess it is a lot like life.
454. Once again, for whatever it's worth, please remember that we're out here cheering for you.
455. I don't know if that helps, but it is a reality.
456. Even in these first days, you're showing us how to appreciate where you are, what you're experiencing, and especially the people that you meet.
457. Thank you for sharing those experiences with us.
458. Baltimore Fire.
459. That's great.
460. And I must say, I've taken his advice and Brett McGraw's advice.
461. When the hill gets steep, just look down at the road and it looks flat and keep pedaling.
462. And both have served me well.
463. And there's one more from my mom who wrote, you go Taylor. Barbara from NYC cheering you on.
464. Oh, I love that. Tell your mother thank you very much, Nick.
465. a friend of the show.
466. Next, we have another person that you met.
467. Yeah.
468. Erwin is from the Netherlands, and he was going east to west.
469. He started in Washington, D.C.,
470. and he said to us after we finished recording that he has seven kids.
471. And Mark and I laughed and said, that's why you're on this tour.
472. All right, here's Erwin.
473. I met an American.
474. And I was hit by a car.
475. You were hit by a car?
476. Where?
477. Near Hortensville.
478. in Kentucky, I recall.
479. And he told me,
480. just take an American flag.
481. But I didn't feel comfortable at first
482. because I'm Dutch.
483. But, well, I put it on the side.
484. Sure, yeah, it gave you a little room.
485. Yeah.
486. Right.
487. I was hit by a car.
488. The mirror broke.
489. The side mirror broke.
490. And how about you?
491. Did you break?
492. No, just my arm.
493. But it was felt for one day.
494. It was a little bit painful.
495. Did the car knock you down?
496. No.
497. Oh, wow.
498. But it was very close.
499. Yeah.
500. We're traveling east, Holmes Road, just outside of Sisters in Oregon.
501. And we ran into, what's your name?
502. Erwin from the Netherlands.
503. Erwin from the Netherlands, who's traveling west.
504. You started in Washington, D.C.
505. You said, where are you headed?
506. Tonight?
507. Well, just in general.
508. Oh, the end of the Trans-Am is Astoria, Oregon.
509. Right.
510. And from there, I think I hire a car and then go to Seattle, Washington,
511. and then fly back home.
512. Wow.
513. With your bike or are you leaving?
514. With my bike, yeah.
515. When did you start?
516. Yeah.
517. Washington, D.C.
518. When?
519. Oh, when, sorry.
520. By the end of March.
521. Oh, my God.
522. But there was a part of Kansas I skipped.
523. Right.
524. Because there was...
525. I don't blame you.
526. And when you're by yourself, it's not nice.
527. With two or three, it's okay.
528. And there was a warning for thunderstorms, et cetera.
529. And I must be back by mid-June at the end of the month.
530. So I spent one day in Kansas and, well, then I have seen it.
531. And then caught a train or a bus or what?
532. I hired a car.
533. Oh, you just rented a car and then drove and then dropped the car off.
534. Yeah.
535. In Pueblo, Colorado.
536. Sure, yeah, I know Pueblo.
537. Yeah, you know.
538. That's for me the first.
539. But then came the hardest part because it was getting very cold.
540. Yeah, and the Rocky Mountains too, right?
541. Yeah.
542. Yeah.
543. Where did you cross the Rockies?
544. Oh, you go from Pueblo up north.
545. And you ended...
546. Pagosa Springs, maybe?
547. No.
548. Oh, you went up to Missoula?
549. Missoula, yes.
550. Oh, right, okay.
551. Through the Teton Park and Yellowstone Park.
552. Yeah.
553. And from there, from Missoula, you go southwards again to Baker City.
554. Right.
555. That's where we're headed, Baker City and then Missoula.
556. Okay.
557. Yeah.
558. How was Baker City?
559. We were trying to...
560. So I'm going to leave him in Baker.
561. Okay.
562. But I may drive...
563. Yes, I have to get a car.
564. Well, my plan was first to stay for a day rest, but from Baker City to Prairie City was more than 70 miles.
565. And it was very nice weather, but the weather changed from last Monday.
566. It wasn't that nice weather. Tuesday would start raining.
567. Right.
568. So I skipped my rest day and I did a small part two.
569. Right.
570. Some third.
571. Be careful.
572. Well, that's what we're learning is kind of plan around the weather and around those kinds
573. of trucks.
574. Yeah, you have to be very careful.
575. Yeah.
576. I love that you got the American flag on the back of your bike.
577. It's great talking to you.
578. It was great I also am a transplanted American And you know people fly flags for a lot of different reasons Yeah It saving your life That good man Well I going to end this really quick But thanks for coming on Bike Talk and ride safe the rest of the way
579. Thank you very much.
580. Have a good trip.
581. Will do.
582. Okay.
583. Is that your bear spray?
584. As much fun as I'm having on this trip and as much as I'm seeing the road safety issues all across Oregon right now and across Northern California,
585. There is a state of emergency in a lot of our cities.
586. And Jonathan Hale from the People's Vision Zero and Damian Kevitt from SAFE, Streets Are For Everyone, have an open letter to the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, and the city council to acknowledge that we have a state of emergency on our streets.
587. we've been talking on the show about a emergency on the streets of cities like los angeles because
588. of so many people being injured or killed i've been on the road for about two weeks and i can
589. confess that there is a traffic emergency on our roads everywhere today we have jonathan hale who
590. is out of jail joining us, and Damian Kevitt, who I don't think has ever been in jail joining us.
591. Jonathan is from the People's Vision Zero, and he's been painting crosswalks to protect people,
592. and that's what landed him in the clink about a month ago. And Damian, of course, is the founder
593. of SAFE. Streets are for everyone. Nick, let's welcome Damian again and Jonathan again to the
594. show. You guys, what's going on in the streets of our cities? Jonathan, you want to jump in first?
595. It's tough out there, man. It's tough. We have a civic culture that doesn't seem to care too much about protecting life and limb on our roads. For the record, I didn't actually go to jail. I'm fine. I was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for vandalism. The charges were dropped. So I'm good. I have a clean record.
596. I'm glad that you didn't have to go to jail.
597. But yeah, it's tough. We have been trying to get the current administration to do something about traffic violence for months now. And it's unfortunate that, you know, the tactical urbanism painting crosswalks and going viral on social media was the lever that we had to pull.
598. but it's the lever that worked, or at least got our foot in the door. And here we are. So we have
599. been trying to get the mayor's office to recommit to Vision Zero. At the same time, the mayor has
600. personally intervened to delay road safety projects, case in point being Forest Lawn Drive.
601. The mayor personally intervened to order LADOT to stop construction of a project that would have
602. reduced lanes for cars and added a protected bike lane and pedestrian improvements.
603. so that's kind of the situation that we're dealing with. Wow you know I'm glad you mentioned that
604. because I did not know that that is a road I ride on all the time and cars continuously speed 65
605. miles an hour and there's only a little white stripe of paint and Damien if I can bring you in
606. that's close to where you were struck when the van hit you in Griffith Park and got you involved
607. in this movement?
608. Yeah, it's very, very close to home.
609. The ineffectiveness of the current administration
610. cannot be overstated.
611. Just realize we had $4 million of funding
612. for safety improvements in Griffith Park.
613. That was slated to start construction over a year ago And due to bureaucratic processes in the city of Los Angeles that was stopped And finally a year or a year and a half later it was construction was
614. restarted and that those improvements are now finished. But because it was delayed by a year
615. and a half with inflation and additional costs that were added, it ended up costing several
616. hundred thousand dollars more to do those safety improvements than if it done simply a year and a
617. half earlier. And there's not any significant change in the construction other than just it
618. went through bureaucratic red tape that was like, no, we can't do this. We can't make roads safer.
619. And then for the last three years, the mayor of Los Angeles, there's been money sitting there,
620. the money sitting there and it's ready to go. The plans are ready to go for the last three years.
621. All of the community input and community outreach has been done.
622. And the mayor put the kibosh on that over a year ago because the objections of Forest
623. Lawn Cemetery and Mount Sinai Mortuary, they highly objected to having slower, safer roads
624. in front of their areas there.
625. They wanted faster, high-speed roads so that people could get to their cemeteries faster.
626. We in the road safety community, and Johnny, I can feel you about to make the joke yourself there, but we just sort of think that probably they just want more business.
627. They're just trying to drum up more business for their own places there.
628. But truthfully, we have no actual evidence of that.
629. I'm not trying to say that that is true, but it is a little bit of a joke that's going around.
630. They basically objected to this, and the mayor listened to them over the safety of those who most use the roads, the cyclists and the runners and things like that.
631. So we're pretty disappointed. And the stats also show a really horrific picture.
632. And I'm happy to go through those if you want to hear some of those stats.
633. Well, yeah, I think I think it's worth it just for our listeners to know that it's not just a bunch of advocates sitting around talking, saying, God, wouldn't it be nice to have a protected bike lane on this or any stretch of road?
634. but to be able to say this is why this road is broken and is not working effectively for the people who use it.
635. And I think stats help prove that point.
636. Yeah. The one that's the most damning is the fact that for the last three years in a row,
637. there's been more traffic fatalities than homicides in the city of Los Angeles.
638. That number is normally flipped. That's normally there's a lot more homicides.
639. but there's been a lot of effort put into policing and reducing violent crimes,
640. but there's not been any effort put into or relatively little effort put into
641. reducing traffic fatalities. And so you now have this number that's been above
642. the city of Los Angeles. And these stats, by the way, that I'm about to give you are as of the 16th
643. of May, 2026, the city of Los Angeles has a 15% increase in traffic fatalities over this time
644. last year. In South Los Angeles, it's a 61% increase in traffic fatalities over this time
645. last year. It is horrific. First people think, well, of course, the city's broke and we can't
646. do anything about it. It's not true. Yes, the city is broke. There is money sitting there.
647. Forest Lawn Drive, that money sitting there. There's programs that the city could have
648. implemented months or years ago. And either the money's already sitting there or it's tied up
649. red tape or whatever case in point speed safety systems could have been implemented san francisco
650. implemented them over a year ago now they had a 42 drop in fatalities as soon as they implemented them and those speed safety systems would fund road safety That the only thing they allowed to fund with any revenue generated are road safety
651. improvements.
652. Yet we continue to languish in red tape and bureaucratic BS.
653. Jonathan, where do you see this going?
654. You've been able to speak a little bit with the mayor's office.
655. And what are you hearing that are there reasons for not moving forward with safe streets?
656. Because if our sewers were killing 15 percent more people this year than last year, we would do something about it.
657. I mean, a couple of points. I agree with what Damien said.
658. There's an incredible irony with cemeteries opposing road safety projects.
659. And also this idea that the bureaucracy is used to kill projects.
660. It's you say, oh, we need more community outreach. We need to do a redesign.
661. You know, we need we need to consider this and that and that.
662. They want to kill the project by making it so expensive and burdensome that it doesn't happen.
663. Or that the expense becomes a reason to oppose it in the first place.
664. And that goes back to the overarching point, which is that we treat these things as accidents, but they're not accidents.
665. They're the predictable consequences of intentional choices to prioritize cars over human life.
666. So that's what I see as the issue here.
667. It's this cultural apathy towards a very serious problem that is killing Angelenos disproportionately in underrepresented and underserved communities.
668. So, you know, that's that.
669. I did have the chance to meet with the mayor's office.
670. I met with representatives from L.A. DOT in the mayor's office and I met the mayor.
671. I met Karen Bass.
672. This was back in December after I got arrested.
673. And to tell you the truth, it was frustrating because, you know, Karen Bass walked into the room and we were respectful.
674. We were cordial. And she said she was like, hey, thank you so much for your activism.
675. I've been following your work for a long time. And I was like, you're the mayor.
676. You're the you have the power to make this a priority. Right.
677. Like people are dying out there. You know, you could just go and say, like, we care about ending traffic violence.
678. And that would have an impact because people listen to you.
679. You're an authority figure in a position of power.
680. And from that, we've had two.
681. Well, my organization has two goals, and these have been consistent.
682. The first is we want the city to recommit to Vision Zero.
683. We want to see effort to end traffic deaths.
684. And the second is we would like to establish some sort of tactical urbanism program, a
685. volunteer-led program that allows people to make approved changes in their communities
686. under the auspices of like an LADOT engineer or something like that.
687. And we presented a technical plan for how Los Angeles could do that.
688. Wow.
689. It's similar to models that already exist in other cities.
690. For example, Oakland has a tactical urbanism program, and we've received input from them.
691. We've talked to people in Portland.
692. We've talked to people in Nashville.
693. So let me ask you really quick.
694. Like an approved tactical urbanism program allows residents of a neighborhood to go through the proper steps to make their streets safer.
695. They're not just going out there in the middle of the night.
696. They're doing it through the approval of the local DOT or the local street services program.
697. Is that correct?
698. The goal is to make this legitimate.
699. But I will say, like, the point of tactical urbanism isn't that we're going to paint crosswalks at every corner in L.A.
700. Right.
701. It's that this is something that gets people outside and engaged in their community and builds a sense of civic pride.
702. And the other thing is.
703. that we didn't expect something like this to happen overnight.
704. Like we understand that if we are going to do this in LA,
705. it's going to take time.
706. And there's a lot of logistics and bureaucracy that has to move around.
707. But recommitting to vision zero is relatively easy.
708. You know, like, sure, there's some considerations,
709. but what we're asking for is lip service.
710. Basically, we're asking for a cultural shift that prioritizes
711. ending traffic violence.
712. Like we're asking for the mayor to get up on a podium
713. and say she cares about this stuff.
714. Right, right.
715. The mayor's office promised me in writing
716. an executive directive on Vision Zero by early March.
717. And that just didn't happen.
718. And then I've been following up.
719. I've been emailing them saying,
720. hey, I'd like to meet.
721. I would love to see some sort of lip service
722. paid to this idea of ending traffic violence.
723. and a few weeks ago they followed up and they said like we'll uh you know expect something four
724. weeks from today and that you know i just under and it was like the day after the election and
725. so i was like right you guys are you guys are shooting me along i i don't yeah right well we
726. know that vision zero is not just a pie in the sky idea that it actually works haboken new jersey
727. has had zero traffic deaths since they implemented a lot of Vision Zero projects. Helsinki has done
728. the same. Damian, there's an election going on for the mayor of Los Angeles, and Jonathan was able to
729. meet with the mayor and not get any progress. What do you think are the steps that the people that
730. are running for mayor of Los Angeles or other cities can do and say to mobilize the safe street
731. community behind their campaigns. As Johnny said, it starts with the leadership. It starts with
732. simply saying that this is a priority and directing agencies to prioritize and to align
733. on the subject, which is essentially Vision Zero. Vision Zero as a policy structure is an alignment
734. and a prioritization of resources to save lives.
735. Not necessarily just cyclists.
736. We're talking about pedestrians.
737. We're talking about drivers as well.
738. And saving lives of drivers and prevent speeding
739. and distracted driving and things like that.
740. So Vision Zero is a multifaceted thing,
741. and it starts with the leadership.
742. So where we have, for example, New York City,
743. where we've got a new mayor who's very much in the trenches and prioritizing road safety issues.
744. And you see changes because of that, because that leadership. In the city of Los Angeles,
745. Vision Zero as a policy structure officially expired in 2025. That said, in reality,
746. as a policy structure it was gutted in about 2018 2019 And I was there when that started to happen and objected loudly But as a result of that Vision Zero during the time when Vision Zero in the city of Los Angeles was in existence officially
747. which is about 10 years, the number of traffic fatalities increased by about 56%.
748. And it wasn't because that Vision Zero failed, it's because it was gutted. It was practically
749. removed as a policy structure in the city of Los Angeles. So it starts with the leadership. And
750. it's one of the reasons why People's Vision Zero and Streets Are Forever One teamed up
751. on this petition, this open letter to the mayor, to the city of Los Angeles,
752. asking that they declare a state of emergency due to traffic violence in the city of Los Angeles.
753. There's basically several key points. Johnny covered a couple of those points there that are
754. sort of the key elements that we are asking for. But honestly, it's just common sense stuff. It's
755. just do your jobs. Right. You know, it's funny. Normally we say someone who just gave lip service
756. to this idea is not doing enough to promote that idea. But now it sounds like we're asking just for
757. some lip service, even from the top leaders of our cities to just get the word out there that
758. there is a traffic emergency. As sad as that sounds, that we're such a such a low bar, that
759. it's there's such a lack of priority that we're even begging for lip service and we can't even
760. get lip service. You know what I mean? Not that we would all be happy with just lip service,
761. but it would start with that. Right. Damian Kevitt of Safe Street Talk for Everyone, Jonathan Hale
762. from People's Vision Zero. Thank you for bringing this to the forefront that there is a traffic
763. emergency. And again, I've been on the road for two weeks and I'm in Oregon now, and there's a
764. traffic emergency here also. We're on biking on roads that are not safe for anybody except people
765. that are in cars. If we can start it in Los Angeles, New York, hopefully it'll spread to
766. other places. Damien, Jonathan, thanks a lot for coming on Bike Talk. Thank you. We appreciate it.
767. Thanks so much, guys. Good to be here.
768. you know nick i want to introduce one more person that we met on the on the ride and this is a woman
769. k and she did the transamerica ride from coast to coast in 1976 when she was 21 years old and we met
770. her on the route at 71 doing the coast to coast ride again we passed someone on the road and then
771. we met them again at the Spoken Hostel, and it turned out to be Kay, our friend from the road.
772. Kay, this is the second time you've ridden across the country. The first time was in
773. 1976, right? Correct. And you're doing it again 50 years later. 50 years later. I was a 21-year-old
774. college student at that time. So hold it, hold it. 21 plus 50 is? 47. Exactly. Where are you going,
775. and where are you going to?
776. Well, I started at Seaside, Oregon,
777. and I heading back to New Hampshire my home Warner New Hampshire and when I get there I take a break and I still go down to the coast and tip my reel in So is it easier or harder at 71 than it was at 21
778. Or how is it different? Let me ask you that.
779. It's different because I've got the freedom and the time to go where I want and to do as many miles as I feel like I want to do for the day.
780. But you did about 55 today.
781. Around 50, I believe.
782. So it was closer to 50.
783. And I did a 49er the day before.
784. Wow.
785. So.
786. And there were some climbs today.
787. Mark and I were riding and we went over Ochoco Pass, which is not that high, 4,700 feet.
788. It's not that steep, but it is like 15, 20 miles long.
789. Right.
790. And I have no problem.
791. If I feel like I can't make it or I'm going to be a danger to myself for the traffic, I just get off and walk.
792. You know, it's building the upper strength, you know, pushing that bicycle up the road.
793. Sure, get your upper body involved.
794. Right, exactly.
795. And how long do you think the whole trip's going to take you?
796. I expect it's going to be the earliest, the end of August, that I would be back in New Hampshire, more likely the second week of September.
797. Well, this is really a fun place where we're staying tonight. Have you ever stayed here before?
798. No, I have not. This is the first. I mean, when we did it in 76, of course, it was such a big group. We were camping out wherever we could.
799. Well, again, this is the Spoken Hostel, and we met about eight people here.
800. I think you're the only woman.
801. Right.
802. Tonight.
803. Tonight.
804. Yeah.
805. I was going to say, it's my first time here.
806. Right.
807. Not ever.
808. Kay Schuster, the first woman ever.
809. Ever.
810. Right.
811. The only one at this age, you know, a little off-kilter, should I say,
812. who wants to do something like this.
813. And you're not on an e-bike.
814. You're on a regular bike, acoustic bike.
815. Yes.
816. A lot of friends tried to talk me into getting the e-bike,
817. and I just wasn't ready for it.
818. Yeah, yeah, I totally agree.
819. I mean, the e-bike comes in handy, I think,
820. but if you're willing to walk when it's too steep and keep going.
821. Yeah, I'll see you when we get over to Idaho and the Snake River, what I'm thinking.
822. Yeah, well, I was going to ask you, what are you worried about on this trip?
823. Not only being a woman and not only being in your early 70s,
824. but traveling by yourself by bike across the country.
825. Actually, mechanical issues.
826. You know, because, I mean, I know some basics, but there's a bunch of stuff that I would probably need help with.
827. Well, I think it's good if that's the only thing that you're worried about.
828. No, I think as long as you use as much common sense as possible and use caution and don't do foolish things, you know, just because, you know, somebody comes by in a pickup truck and says you want to ride.
829. Right. Right. Does not necessarily mean you're going to do that.
830. Although you have gotten some rides, you said, from some good Samaritans, as did I, I might add.
831. Yeah.
832. The one in particular I absolutely needed when it was pouring rain and my brakes weren't working.
833. It was a middle-aged couple.
834. You know, I felt pretty safe and secure in that situation.
835. Of course.
836. You know, so.
837. I just meant that, you know, bike people are good people.
838. Oh, definitely.
839. That's been the amazing part of this trip so far is that when my pannier, the hook broke on that.
840. I mean, before I knew it, there was Alex from Canada.
841. you know stop by and help me you know he had some better cord rope than what I had and tied it up for me And the ironic thing about that I can tell you exactly the route
842. He was doing some type of loop, and then he was heading back to Canada.
843. I stayed at a warm showers home in Independence,
844. and the people there already knew about me
845. because Alex had been there the night before.
846. Oh, that's great.
847. Well, soon everybody will know about you.
848. Maybe I won't say my address.
849. So when I get back to New Hampshire, I can sleep for a week.
850. You know, in this day and age, you don't need a physical address.
851. You just needed a presence on Instagram.
852. I volunteer for Food for Thought in New Hampshire.
853. We pack up food for kids that need food for the weekends.
854. And, you know, a little bit extra during school vacation.
855. So I put together a website, K-Y Bikes, B-I-K-E-S, for the number four, kids.com.
856. Kbikesforkids.com.
857. And that will take you out to their website, the charity website.
858. And then I've tried to, within my own website, post pictures of the trip and some comments about it.
859. Great.
860. And try to do it with a good sense of humor.
861. Well, you have to mention bike talk and all of that.
862. Bike talk?
863. that's the show that we are recording now oh okay yes well definitely okay thanks a lot for talking
864. with me and it was so fun to run into you again here at the spoken hostel maybe i'll see you on
865. the road down the way we never know sounds good come to new england love that okay great thank
866. you that's the show good show wow it's really fun nick doing the show from the road i gotta tell you
867. Thanks for being open to my change of schedule as we try to get to a campsite and record the show from the road.
868. Yeah, you're in a field right now.
869. We are in a hiker-biker campsite in Austin Junction, Oregon.
870. It's good to meet you, Nick. It's really a pleasure.
871. From the field. You're in the field.
872. This is what a real journalist does.
873. I can see it in the Zoom. Beautiful.
874. He has a couple more days with me and then he's going to fly back to his real life.
875. but we also want to thank dan langenkamp for all the work that he's been doing damian kevitt and
876. jonathan hale and we also want to thank all the people that have opened their hearts to us as
877. we've talked to them on the road you know k and erwin and the guys at ural sports and sisters and
878. the guys at good bike and prineville and they they actually opened their home to us exactly in their
879. hostel yeah at spokenhostel.org and of course we always want to thank our regulars julie richard
880. Josh Haglund, Kevin Burton, Stacey Randecker, Lindsey Sturman, and Kevin Burton.
881. Thanks, Taylor.
882. Ride safe.
883. This episode of Bike Talk is sponsored by the law offices of Pocras and Talos Reyes,
884. with offices in Los Angeles and Bakersfield, and serving all of Southern California.
885. Bike Talk is a project of CRSP and the Los Angeles EcoVillage Institute.
886. And that was Bike Talk.
887. If you have a story, a tip, or a topic, head over to biketalk.org and send us a message.
888. Talk again next week.