100K miles on home-made bicycle

[72Twenty]

Sorry, I know this belongs in Sprockets, but it's a good story 'bout a dude here in Laramie...

A bike and a smile is all

BY ERIC BAKER
Boomerang Staff Writer



Shane Dawson doesn’t need a house, a car, a steady job, or even much money. He gets by just fine on his own.

Dawson rides his bicycle to get around and lives with or works for friends as he meanders to different cities. In fact, the gentle cyclist has put over 100,000 miles on his custom-made steel bike, and he doesn’t have plans to stop anytime soon.

“If it ever came down to where I had to worry about money, I’d say ‘forget it’ and become a hobo,” said Dawson.

He likes to travel the world and has toured everywhere from Alaska to South America by bicycle. Yet Dawson realizes that one needs money to travel to these places, and that is why he is in Laramie.

Dawson works and resides at The Pedal House, 207 S. First, for the couple of weeks he is in town, though he has friends everywhere. He prefers to travel to cities where he has lots of friends, but weather also impacts his schedule. He has lived in a tent, a shed, and even a tipi, which is why he migrates south as fall approaches.

But Dawson has known the harsh rebuke of Wyoming winters. He lived for a decade as a ski bum in Jackson, part of the time in a tipi, working odd jobs and skiing in the backcountry during his spare time. While he proved he could live in a cold climate, Dawson doesn’t feel the need to shiver.

Dawson is a handyman, and he claims he can make or fix just about anything with his hands. A high school dropout from Los Angeles, his father taught him how to build things, and he took to it immediately. On some of his bicycle tours, he just fixes bikes as he travels across borders.

“In Central America and Mexico, a lot of communities don’t have money for cars so they have to ride bikes,” said Dawson. “But you’d be surprised how much you can accomplish on a bike. Just riding one has opened up so many doors for me.”

One of Dawson’s inspirations is a 62-year-old German man he calls, “the most traveled person in the world.” In order to earn that moniker, the German has spent 37 years on a bike and gone around the world 11 times.

“This man must visit every province of every country to retain the record with Guinness, and he still sleeps on the ground,” said Dawson. “He does not consider himself a ‘bike guy,’ he just accepts that it is the easiest way to get around in most countries.”

The German received so much notoriety from his travels, he received an offer to ride to Alaska on a tandem recumbent bicycle with a European model. This is another reason Dawson admires him.

Dawson’s love for bicycles began at an early age. He was a professional builder of bike frames for Masi in California, though he doesn’t really care for the bicycling industry now because it has become so commercialized and hyped.

“Everything is geared toward people getting the latest Tour de France bicycle,” said Dawson. “For what most people do on their bike, they don’t need a super-light sporting bike. The industry pushes for lighter bikes but they don’t help most people.”

Dawson is a fan of steel, and still uses it in the bikes he customizes for friends. He can rhapsodize for long spells about how simple, durable, and economical steel is, and he also likes to riff on a number of subjects, as a man his age (47) and experience might.

One of his favorite activities is the annual Rainbow gathering, where up to 30,000 people from all walks of life create their own tribe in a National Forest somewhere.

“The best way to describe it is an international family,” said Dawson. “If aliens landed, they would become a part of the Rainbow. You are known for what you accomplish during your time there, not your status. I really do think a lot of people are afraid to show their freedom.”

The gathering takes place the first week in July, but it takes a month to put up and take down the entire city that is created. Everything from plumbing to waste facilities to eateries pop up during the festivities.

“Working with unsavory types is a challenge,” said Dawson. “Some groups can be hard to understand, but I think that’s why people go to the gatherings — to understand what others experience.”

Shane also worries about the growing affluence of places like China, where consumers are buying more cars as they attain wealth. He believes the bike is so useful that it should be promoted more in other countries.

Dawson leaves Laramie soon for Boulder, where one of his friends from his ski bum days, Joshua Onysko, founded an organic soap company, Pangea. Dawson is helping Pangea build better tools and machines to make money for his next great adventure on a bike: New Zealand.

“Shane is helping to manufacture machines that are not used anywhere else in the world,” said Onysko. “That is why I’m helping him with a grant proposal to the Albright Foundation so that he can travel around the world on his bicycle and help build things for communities.”

Dawson regards the Albright grant as a pipe dream, but he feels he is at an age where he needs to take a chance on grand ideas. He isn’t confident he’ll be able to ride around the world on a bicycle in his fifties.

“When you bicycle, you have a certain amount of energy, and there are times when that next hill or town might as well be a universe away,” said Dawson.

[Foggy_Goggles]

That is kick ass. Totally inspiring.

[cj001f]

Very cool!

I met an Aussie woman in her late 50's/60's this spring who'd spent the past 2 years biking around S. America. Had had her complete bike stolen at least once, pieced one together from local used parts and cleverly applied store bought bits. Stayed at hostels, still enjoyed everything. Very inspiring.

[72Twenty]

“If it ever came down to where I had to worry about money, I’d say ‘forget it’ and become a hobo,” said Dawson.

123456789