This week our guests are building bikes that last a long time (out of steel), recycling the bikes that don’t last so long (the carbon fiber ones), and making memories that will last a lifetime (along the Underground Railroad route in Ohio).
Our first guest, Mike Zanconato is a builder of custom steel road and cyclocross frames in rural Massachusetts, and while he became a frame builder almost by accident, it’s no accident that he has a waiting list of eager folks lined up to get one of his gorgeous frames.
After some news and banter, Diane talks with Jim Stike, of Material Innovation Technologies (MIT) in South Carolina. MIT is at the forefront of new programs to recycle scrap and post-consumer carbon fiber, including aircraft skins and bicycle frames. Jim has connected with Trek to re-process about 4,000 pounds of carbon fiber every month, which means it doesn’t end up in a landfill (where it would otherwise take about a million years to decompose).
And we wrap up by catching up with a group of students from the Bronx Lab School who are bicycling their way from Maysville, Kentucky to Oberlin, Ohio this week, along the route of the Underground Railroad. Assisted by their teacher Rachel Apple, and guide Chuck Harmon, these students are discovering things about themselves, and the world around them, all from the saddle of a bicycle.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:13 — 27.1MB)