It's Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look south.  Beaming through the twilight is one of the prettiest things you'll ever see--a tight three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon.  The event is visible from all parts of the world, even from light-polluted cities.  People in New York and Hong Kong will see it just as clearly as astronomers watching from remote mountaintops. Only cloudy weather or a midnight sun (sorry Antarctica!) can spoil the show.

The great conjunction offers something extra to Europeans. For more than an hour on Monday evening, the crescent Moon will actually eclipse Venus. Astronomers call such an event a "lunar occultation." Venus emerging from the dark edge of the Moon is a remarkably beautiful sight.  Sky watchers across Europe will be able to see this happen.

Visit spaceweather.com for photos, webcasts and more information.

Well, the Tour de Livingston was a smash success. We were hoping for 200 riders and wound up with over 300! I spent lots of time over the past few months helping to organize the event and was rewarded with a 100 mile bike ride on the prettiest day this fall! 

 Here's some nice press from the tour:

Cyclists hit area streets, help United Way

 

 

 Brighton's Rob Taylor was among the 320-plus participants in the Tour de Livingston bike ride Saturday. Riders had the chance to tour four 25-mile routes starting and ending at Mt. Brighton Ski Area west of downtown Brighton in a fundraiser for the Livingston County United Way. (Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS)

 

 

Unusually warm weather and scenic fall colors created the perfect setting Saturday for more than 320 cyclists who participated in the first-ever Tour de Livingston bicycle tour.

Put on by the Howell Rotary Club, the tour will benefit the Livingston County United Way. While the final amount designated to the organization will not be determined until later this week, the event brought in an estimated $11,725 in registration fees.

"We had an amazing turnout," said Kim Dane, Rotary president. "We had 231 preregistered bikers for this event. It's unbelievable to us that we had 91 more people register the day of" the event.

The cyclists were able to ride along four 25-mile routes in the county that looped back to Mt. Brighton Ski Area west of downtown Brighton, the tour's starting point, said Rotarian Peter Bowen.

The four loops toured Kensington Metropark and Island Lake Recreation Area; the Hamburg Township area; downtown Howell; and the General Motors Proving Ground in that stretches between Brighton and Milford townships.

"It's been a beautiful day at Mt. Brighton," Dane said.

"Most of the riders have said it's a beautiful countryside. There is color, and it's really pretty," she added.

Brighton-based D&D Bicycle and Fitness was on hand during the event, offering bike repairs and massages to sore riders. Riders were treated to T-shirts, breakfast and dinner.

Visit www.tourdelivingston.org for more information.

Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Alison Bergsieker at (517) 552-2857 or at abergsieker@gannett.com.

 

View article at the Press & Argus Online here.

 I can't retrieve the video so stills will have to do.....

 

Literally.

 

 

 

 

 See the article in large format here.

Tour de Livingston will raise United Way funds

Registration is under way for Livingston County's first charity bicycling event, Tour de Livingston, with proceeds to benefit the Livingston County United Way.

The event will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, starting and ending at Mount Brighton Ski Area, 4141 Bauer Road.

"As a service organization, we really wanted to support the United Way,'' said Kim Dane, president of the Howell Rotary Club, which is organizing the event.

"They help so many organizations throughout Livingston County ... helping more people than we could ourselves.''

Four looped courses will take riders from the popular ski hill in Genoa Township through nearby neighborhoods as they bike 25, 50, 75 or 100 miles. A Family Fun Ride, covering five to eight miles, also will be available.

"We designed it to take place during the peak colors. Riders will see some the prettiest routes in Livingston County and also be supporting a good cause,'' said Peter Bowen, a Howell Rotarian and avid bicyclist.

He, along with cycling partners and fellow Rotarians Jeff Hansen and Jim Gilligan, brought the fundraising idea to the club earlier this year.

"It has been a very successful Rotary fundraiser throughout the United States,'' said Dane, "and since we have the cyclists, and since we have the beautiful countryside ... we thought we'd try something different'' than pancake breakfast fundraisers done in years past.

Former Howell Rotary Club President Ron Hingst, who with Dane and Bowen has planned this event, hopes to register 250 to 350 cyclists for this inaugural ride and raise up to $100,000 for United Way.

Bowen is aiming higher, at 500 riders.

The event is expected to draw cyclists from around the state and is posted on the League of Michigan Bicyclists Web page, at www.lmb.org. Members of cycling clubs in Ann Arbor, Flint and Lansing also are being notified.

Bowen, who has cycled in organized rides for 10 years, is excited about bringing this event to his own backyard. Attending 10 to 12 events each year, Bowen puts a lot of miles on his car getting to the rides.

The closest cycling event to date has been an American Diabetes Association benefit ride, which starts at the nearby Island Lake Recreation Area in Oakland County.

"The benefit of this ride is that it will bring attention to the Livingston County United Way and to their fall campaign,'' Bowen said.

Vendors also will be on site to showcase their cycling gear.

Laurie Humphrey can be reached at lhumphrey@livingstoncommunitynews.com or 810-844-2003.

 

I'm honored to be featured on the Environment Report this week!

The report will be running on Michigan Radio and other affiliate stations this week

and the links on their website will be live then too. Enjoy!

 

The Cleaner Drycleaner

	view slideshow
	Jim Gilligan, president of Snedicor’s Cleaners, made the big switch to liquid silicone (Photo by Kyle Norris)
	There's a push in the dry cleaning industry to become more environmentally friendly. But this change can be a big risk for business owners. Kyle Norris talks to one dry cleaner who has made the change. And he says he's not looked back yet: Snedicor's website GreenEarth Cleaning's website Producer: Kyle Norris Release Date: July 21, 2008 Running Time: 3:19

 

Last summer my friend and cycling partner, Dawn Tomczyk turned me on to trail running and I found it very enjoyable. So when fellow Howell Rotarian Jeff Hansen asked me to run the 2008 North Country Trail Relay with him I said, "Sure!". Jeff and Team Captain Jeff MacGuinness were the only two members returning from last year's Dirt Dawgs team. So this year the team had four new members: Dawn, Sarah, Jessica, and me. NCTR virgins all.

Jeff MacGuinness did a great job as team captain. It was really easy to participate in this event due to Jeff's superb organizational skills. It was nice to meet Jesica and Sarah. They work at Playmakers with Jeff's mom, Cheryl. They're really fast, too!

We camped Friday night at the Bowman Bridge Campground near Baldwin. We had this beautiful, rustic campground on the Pierre Marquette river nearly to ourselves. Even though we were camped only a few hundred yards from the finish line and dinner shelter.

The North Country Trail Relay is a 78 trail run through the Manistee National Forest in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The trail was mostly single track with a few road section trail connectors. Everyone ran 12 - 13 miles (more if they got lost!) in either two or three legs.

As we anxiously waited for Hansen to appear from out of the woods for the last time, we lounged in the shade by the finish line and enjoyed the event provided post race meal.

Bellies full, we walked to the nearest swimming hole on the normally mellow (now at flood stage) Pierre Marquette to wash off the post race patina with prodigious amounts of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap.

Jesica and Sarah had to work the next day so they drove back home. Meanwhile the rest of the team sat around the campfire, enjoying the glow of a tough day on the trail. Soon threatening skies delivered on their promise of wild weather as thunderstorms moved in. That was all it took to get this team into tents and sleeping bags and off to sleep.

On Sunday, Father's Day, morning Jeff Mac whipped up a power breakfast and Jeff H, Dawn, and I were on the road home by 8:30.

Thanks, Dirt Dawgs! I hope to see everyone next year!

Enjoy the show:

Last week I attended Success 2008, a drycleaning conference facilitated by Methods for Management. My primary mode of transportation around San Diego was via a couple of rental bikes. It was cool riding So Cal single track on Wednesday as I explored Mission Trails Regional Park. The park was about a six mile ride northwest of my hotel. On Thursday I toured the city. My daughter, Kylie sent her stuffed leopard, Jezlo with me with instructions to take pictures of her at famous spots around the city. That afternoon I rode back to the bike rental shop and traded the mountain bike for a road bike. This made my morning commute to the conference a speedy one! It was nice riding through Balboa Park at sunrise each morning on my way to the Loews Coronodo, where the conference was located.

 

Enjoy the show:

 

 

 

Success 2006 took place in Adelaide, SA, Australia. I arrived a few days early and and did a three day bush-camping tour of Kangaroo Island: