In the Spring of 2010, bicycle riders from all over the country will stage a relay race in the 8 western states of California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. Approximately 500 selected bikers will attempt to ride the actual Pony Express Trail as it exists today faster than about 500 veteran horseback Pony Express riders. The 2010 Pony Express Bicycle Challenge authentic head to head relay race is a separate event from the historic Pony Express Reride and will compete day and night until there is a winner. The goal is to ride the roughly 2,000 miles from Sacramento, CA to St. Joseph, Missouri in just 7 days, 16 hours.
Not for 150 years has there gone out across the country an urgent call for ‘wiry 18 year old’ riders. Today, the Pony Express Bicycle Challenge is looking for great young bicycle riders from bike shops, bike clubs, college racing teams, military personnel, noted individuals and racing pros. You need not be an ‘orphan willing to risk death’ to apply.
Horses are clearly favored when climbing and powering through soft soil conditions. Naturally, there are huge advantages horses have over bike riders climbing up the Sierra Nevada range and up the western side of the continental divide. Nevada's 40 mile desert and Utah's Upper Sonoran Desert have hundreds of miles of less famous but no less difficult terrain conditions. The single most advantageous factor for the cyclist is that much of the original trail has become gravel roads and paved highways. Horses must run on roads and are at a disadvantage here. Wind and weather will also be a huge factor. Ultimately, the real ‘horse race’ of this horse race is in the marginal areas of terrain where decades of horsemanship experience may trump technology.
Both racing groups have taken advantage of technology. Horses are bred for better blood lines. Bicycles have drastically improved on the simple concept of two wheels and a frame. We intend to use all types of human-peddled bicycles just as horsemen select from Thoroughbreds, Mustangs, Pintos, and Arabians.
In addition to the 80 lb Mochilla (mail pouch), Pony Express riders will carry 150 years of history as a virtual burden. Bicycles, on the other hand, will carry 150 years of history, literally! Their 20 lbs bicycle mochilla contains all manner of portable digital devices filled with the last 150 years of recorded history, including the genealogies of original riders and their horses.
The Pony Express Bicycle Challenge is a historic moment with public morale riding on it. In truth, the Pony Express Bicycle Challenge itself has little meaning in terms of actual accomplishment. Modern bikes with the best riders could not compete over the original Trail with the motivated horses and horsemen of 150 years ago. Mostly, the country needs to be reminded its own historic struggles as a strength and regain an optimism for the future to build on. Motivated citizens can make the unusual and the seemingly impossible happen. Cross country mail delivered in days instead of weeks by boat: imagine that! Elect a black President: imagine that. Bicycles beating horses at their own game on their own 2,000 mile long turf. Imagine that. What’s' next? Imagine it.
The theme of the challenge is “Men propelling themselves on machines at speeds rivaling horses”. But, man against beast has its own tantalizing appeal. Beyond that, 200 horsemen racing against 500 bicyclists is interesting, competitive and just plain fun. Certainly, competition on the grand stage of the original Pony Express Trail speaks for itself.
The race is on for 2010. The country needs a spark to get going again. This head to head match may light that fire.
West Virginia Honors African-American Athletes!
http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/news/page/6175/
"You know some people them say they can't believe, Jamaica we got a bobsled team!" So went the song f
y featured on this blog, Mrs. Flowers stepped outside of the norm within the African American community and became the first African American to win a Gold Medal at a winter games (2002 Salt Lake City). Great going Vonetta and to all of you Youth in the inner-city, yes your so-called friends are going to make negative statements if you want to do something different like this, but it is up to you NOT TO LISTEN to them and 'Live the dream'.
I was watching the 2008 Olympics on tonight in Beijing and I happened to be watching swimming. I, like many Americans, have been intrigued by the US Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps quest to win 8 Gold Medals in a single Olympics, which would break Mark Spitz's record of 7 in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. During the 3rd leg of the 4*100 Free-Style relay, featuring Michael Phelps as part of the relay team, I saw a dark skinned streak flying through the water for the Americans. As NBC showed a side shot, I realized that there was a black dude swimming for the American Team. I yelled out to my wife, Sister Dale, "Baby, there is a brotha in the water swimming for the Americans!" The Americans SMASHED the French, who had made the statement earlier in the meet that they would CRUSH the Americans in this event.
Before I go any further, I want to point out that Cullen didn't win the Gold Medal alone. He was a part of probably the best 4*100 swimming relay team in sports history as proved by this team of Americans smashing the World Record in this event by over 4 seconds. But the accomplishment is none the less impressive. The first African American Swimmer to win Olympic gold is the man pictured on this post, US Swimmer Cullen Jones. As many of you know, part of the feet I am attempting through this blog is to bring to light some of the amazing accomplishments of African Americans who participate in sports not normally participated in by black folks. Pictured in the right margin of this blog are some of those African American firsts. Cullen gets added now!
If you are wondering why this is such a joyous moment for me, when I was growing up in the 1980's and early 1990's, I lived in a place where there were HUGE stereotypes of black folks. Unfortunately, many of those stereo types didn't come from people of another race, bu
t from the blacks within our community. If you were black, in Waterloo, Iowa when I grew up, if you tried to participate in any other sport besides Basketball,Football,Track and wrestling (in that order), you were considered 'Trying to act white'. Stupid I know. Not many blacks where I come from could swim either. The stereo type in those days was 'Black people can't swim because we can't float.' So basically, when the generation before us gained the right to get into the same swimming pools as whites, my generation succumbed to a racial stereo type that kept us from pursuing greatness in the pool.
Obviously Cullen Jones didn't and now he has the distinction, as a swimmer of African American descent to be the first to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the pool. Keep handlin' your bizness Cullen!
Called by some ‘Soul on Ice’, Mr. Willie O’ree was the 1st African-American player to enter the National Hockey League when he took the ice for the Boston Bruins in 1958.
Like Marshall 'Major' Taylor, he had to contend with racism but he overcame the odds. Like Taylor, one of his wins was snatched from him by the judges awarding the win to one of his well known white rivals during an event. NASCAR did do the right thing a few days later by reversing the decision of the judges after irrefutable evidence of Scott's win. Scott, like Taylor many years before him had to overcome the many obstacles that went along with being the 1st and only black in a major sport to compete. There were racers who wanted him to fail at every turn and even conspired to bring about his failure but he kept on pushing and experienced great success as a stock car driver!
Pioneering blacks in American sports were men of vision and one thing they all shared in common was a love for their chosen sport and the will to succeed despite incredible odds. I marvel at the likes of Tiger Woods, Major Taylor, Wendell Scott, Jack Johnson, Arthur Ashe and others were true visionaries within the black community. After you read this, I want all of you to take a moment to reflect and research the careers of some of the African-American community's greatest and least talked about sports heroes. Without them, the groundwork for the mega sports stars of today would never have been laid and more importantly, the can do attitude of an entire community may never have existed! PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR MORE OF SCOTT'S STORY.
http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Wendell_Scott.htm
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