Some Tour Divide Questions & Answers with Justin Simoni

via kentsbike.blogspot.com

Kent Petersen aka. Mountain Turtle's interview with Justin Simoni is absolutely the best single interview I've read on the tour divide. Justin attempted to do the whole 2700 mile divide route this year without taking any reroutes / alternates despite record snowfalls and nearly succeeded succombing to a taco'd wheel and shoulder injury only 120 miles from his goal. He was one of the many colorful characters that made the tour divide such an exceptionally great race to follow this year.

One small excerpt: "Q: Did you have any exciting animal encounters?

A: The most exciting animal encounters were the bear prints on the road up Flathead Pass - the first really snowed in pass. There wasn't one part of the track that wasn't covered in them. The forest is so dense up there, that all the animals take to the road to travel themselves. If there wasn't bear prints, there was bear scat, if there wasn't bear scat, there was the scattered plume of some animals fur or feathers from a successful kill. The pattern was sustained through the entire snowed in part. I didn't even have bear mace."

Tilmann Waldthaler, bike touring legend

Nice interview with Tilmann Waldthaler on crazyguyonabike.com. He's done some amazing riding, but he's not the sort of person who you can read about on Wikipedia.

Tilmannhas been touring on a bicycle for 32 years and seen and done things that most people can never imagine. His first trip lasted 4 years and took him from pole to pole between 1977 and 1981. This alone deserves a lot of admiration but that was only the beginning. He's originally from Germany but is now residing Australia. At 68 he's about to embark on Norway to New Zealand tour. He's written several books and done some speaking engagements in several countries. He was gracious enough to answer a few questions for me. I'm not the best interviewer so bear with me, hopefully my interviews will improve with time.

BTW, "he's written several books" is an understatement. As mentioned in the article he's written 17, but they're all in German.

Some choice questions.

Q. Which of your long trips is your favorite and why?

My very first trip from the Antarctica to Spitzbergen in the Arctic, because I see this trip from todays viewpoint as a 4 year apprenticeship on a bike through many cultures and experiences. I had the best chance to get to know myself much better.

Q. What is the one piece of equipment you never expected to need and now will never leave home on a trip without?

The Internet

Q. How did you go about getting sponsorship for your trips?

The first 10years of my biketravels I worked as a qualified pastrychef and as a cook, later I started to work as a photographer and Journo. It was easier as a Journalist to convince people to receive something back from me during and after my trips. As a pastrychef all I could offer my sponsors were maybe some 'strawberry tarts' which didn`t interest most potential sponsors.

Q. What's your favorite adventure book?/ Who, if anyone has influenced you to take up such a lifestyle?

My favourite adventure books are the ones I write myself (17 in all) A very good old friend Jean Pierre Valley has helped me to get going because I bought a bike with his help.

Q. Imagine if the bicycle had never been invented, how do you think your life would have gone differently?

I`d most probably be dead by now!!!

Read the complete interview on crazyguyonabike.com.

You can read more about Tilman on his website.

Thanks to Sean Caffrey of Through the Ringer for the interview.


Arctic 1981

Update: Just to be absolutely clear it was Sean Caffrey of the excellent blog Through the Ringer who interviewed Tilmann not myself. In fact the interview was originally posted to Through the Wringer before they posted it to crazyguyonabike.com where I discovered it.

It seems the use of the word "me" in the parts of the interview I quoted confused a couple people. It happens, most understandable, but I just wanted to make sure that Sean and the excellent blog he writes for get the credit and thanks they deserve so they'll keep going out there and interviewing amazing people and doing whatever else it is they do. Thanks Sean!

Jason Hackenwerth: Balloon Artist

Holy cow, it's been to long since I've watched any Lo-fi St. Louis. His interviews and mini docs (mini-documentaries) with artists are simply wonderful.

From: #232 Jason Hackenwerth: Balloon Artist | LO-FI SAINT LOUIS

I first became aware of Jason Hackenwerth’s amazing balloon sculptures when I did a video about Doc Popular last summer. He was at City Museum creating an enourmous balloon sculpture and in retrospect I was foolish for not stopping to talk to him then. But as luck would have it, Jason came back to St. Louis recently (he is a hometown boy who now resides in NYC) to show some of his work at his Alma Mater, Webster University. I was able to corner him for a few minutes at his opening to ask him some questions. The show closes at the end of this week so catch it if you can. Jason’s web site is here.

Note: Bill seems to have misspelled a url in the original post. The artists official website is jasonhackenwerth.com not jasonhackewerth.com. (He dropped an "n".) I've fixed it in the quoted text above.

Wallstrip Chat - Rocketboom

Interesting interview with Andrew baron and Joanne Colan of Rocketboom. Probably the best interview I've seen with them. Short sweet and to the point. Most interesting moment: Andrew shorts ZeFrank. Still I don't think there's any real anomosity there. It's just showbiz. A little rivalry is good for business.

Watch movie

Original post on February 23, 2007 from YouTube :: Videos by wallstrip: (RSS feed)

(2-23-07) The most successful webshow in the history of our world finally sits down with Rocketboom.com Author: wallstrip Keywords: howardlindzon lindsaycampbell joannecolan joanne andrewbaron rocketboom wallstrip wallstreet money finance cash Added: February 23, 2007

(Via Mefeedia)