Bicycle visionary Joe Breeze's
"Healthy Transportation Choices Now" Speaking Tour
 Mountain biking legend and bicycle visionary Joe Breeze brought his "Bicycling to Healthy Transportation Choices Now" national speaking tour to Northeast cities (Washington DC to Boston) in March 2004, and to Midwest cities (Cleveland to Minneapolis) in April. Joe's presentations provided insights for solving traffic congestion and the obesity epidemic, while encouraging sustainability, active living, safe routes to schools, and community health.
Joe is a lifelong bike commuter and has extensive knowledge of the bicycle's role in American history. In today's America, he said, bike transportation can lead to better personal health, environmental health, and fiscal health.
In his illustrated talk (see excerpts below), Joe reflected on the rich history of the bicycle, a vehicle which he notes is "the most efficient tool of transport ever devised." He gave a lively account of the mountain bike revolution, in which he was a leading player, and revealed the bicycle's promise for transforming our oil-dependent, unhealthy transportation system into one with the option of safe, efficient travel by healthy people living in healthy communities.
Joe Breeze is a charter member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. He is credited with building the first modern mountain bikes. He has appeared on the cover of SMITHSONIAN magazine and has been featured in BICYCLING magazine and other major publications. He was 2003 BRAINy Bicycle Advocate of the Year. A local and national advocate for bicycle transportation, Breeze "rides his talk" each day, using a bicycle as his primary transportation choice.
In open discussions that followed Joe's talk, civic leaders, health advocates, transportation planners, bicycle and pedestrian advocates, school officials and others talked about how to create a healthier transportation environment, now.
Here are a few images from Joe Breeze's talk, "Healthy Transportation Choices Now."
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Descending a rough road near the nation's capital, about 1880. |
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With the advent of the pneumatic-tire safety bike in the 1890s, bicycling's popularity soared. |
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In the 1890s in lower Manhattan there were 80 bike shops within a one-mile radius. In Washington DC there were two patent buildings -- one for bicycles, one for everything else. |
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San Francisco's Great Bicycle Parade and "Good Roads Rally" of 1896 attracted 5000 cyclists and 100,000 spectators. |
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Cardiologist Dr. Paul Dudley White (front row, 2nd from left) rode for health and got President Eisenhower to do the same after Eisenhower suffered a heart attack. The Presidential Physical Fitness Awards soon followed, kindling a new generation's interest in sports and exercise. |
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Joe Breeze in 1977, brazing together one of the first ten Breezer mountain bikes. |
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Joe Breeze riding Breezer #1 to victory at Repack, 1977.
Mountain bikes got a lot of people on bikes and many riders have come to recognize that bikes are a great way to get around. |
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Mr. Breeze goes to Washington.
Local, state and Federal governments are recognizing that bicycling improvements offer one of the best bangs for the buck. |
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In affluent Netherlands, thirty percent of all daily trips are by bike. |
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Bike coalitions are springing up across America to promote bicycling for personal health and healthy communities. |
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To ride for errands and commutes, we need bikes that are equipped for everyday trips. Breezers are ready for errands and commutes, day or evening, wet roads or dry. |
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