MARIN is home to many residents, organizations and businesses who go the extra mile to help others in need.
Marin-based Mike’s Bikes and its workers have been collecting hundreds of used bicycles and donated parts to transport to Botswana, where they will be given to Africans who need them. The bikes are a vital mode of transportation in that part of Africa.
This year, more than 450 donated bikes are bound for people in Ghana, Botswana and Namibia. Mike’s Bikes employees also are making sure that the parts needed to fix the bikes are donated. The company is also helping finance the opening of repair shops and training workers in how to fix the bikes …Â Details
Mill Valley’s Starnes seeing the world with U.S. national team
IT’S SUMMER south of the equator. Warm weather, blue skies and the rolling countryside of scenic New Zealand. Can you even imagine a better place to ride your bike?
Mill Valley’s Alison Starnes is living that dream this week, but, “I don’t think I’ll be taking in the scenery,” she said. “I’ve heard it’s pretty and I have a feeling that I won’t notice.”
Is she crazy, or what? No, just focused. Starnes is in the South Pacific as a member of the United States national team competing in … Details & Pictures
WHEELIE JOURNEY
Kurt Osburn rode a Wheelie on his bicycle from Hollywood, CA (USA) to the Guinness World Records Experience in Orlando, FL. from April 13th to June 25th, 1999. He rode 2,839.6 miles on one wheel setting a new Guinness World Record and becoming the first person in history to ride a bicycle wheelie coast to coast!
Interesting Facts: averaged 50 miles a day with winds in excess of 40 miles per hour, traveled on the 110 Highway, was chased by dogs almost everyday, had 4 flat tires (on the rear tire of course), over 1.8 million pedal revolutions from start to finish.
More than a dozen employees of Mike’s Bikes, the largest independent bicycle retailer on the West Coast, loaded a shipping container Monday with more than 450 bicycles bound for Africa as part of an ongoing campaign to bring a permanent sustainable transportation solution to the troubled continent.
This is the third time the San Rafael-based company, which has eight shops in the Bay Area including downtown San Rafael and Sausalito, has collected used bicycles from its customers to send overseas to Ghana, Botswana and Namibia.
The effort is more than a donation – the company also … Details & Pictures
