Sunday, April 22, 2012
The Countdown Has Begun.....
T-Minus 9 days until our big sendoff! We cant believe that a year and a half has passed since we fist started planning for this grand adventure. We are truly honored by all the support we have received from all of our followers, donors, and sponsors. We hope you all can make it down for our big sendoff on May 1st. We will be leaving in front of the Fitgers Brewery on Superior St in Duluth, MN at 9am. Please come down to wish us off or bike us out of town!
New Duluth News Tribune Article
A new Duluth News Tribune article was written by Sam Cook who mentioned us in the article. The title Scratch the Itch and Go, talks about how springtime evokes a need to travel just like migrating animals. Click the link below to read the article.
Duluth News Tribune Article
KUMD 103.3 Radio Interview
Big thanks to our local radio station KUMD 103.3 for helping us spread our trip through the radio. Click the link below to listen to the entire interview. Thanks again for a great first time radio experience!
Oshawa Cycling Club Newsletter
Oshawa
Cycling Club Newsletter wrote a wonderful plug about our trip. Big
thanks to Richard Oldfield and the rest of the club. Click the link
below to read about their club and our story! Cant wait to meet up with them on our ride!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Our first news interview! Channel 10 WDIO - 4/15/12
A big thanks to Dayna and WDIO News Channel 10! Article below...follow the link to view the video.
VIDEO
Posted at: 04/15/2012 1:07 PM | Updated at: 04/15/2012 10:36 PM
Plenty of folks love to get on their bicycles and ride here and around the Northland, but how about for more than 5,000 miles? That's the goal for two Duluth men as they prepare to trek around the Great Lakes.
Kris McNeal and Zach Chase are about the embark on the biggest trip of their lives. The 2010 UMD graduates are less than three weeks away from traveling around all five of the Great Lakes by bicycle.
They're calling the trip Big Water Bike.
The idea came during a shorter West Coast bike trip in 2007. This time, they said they wanted to take a journey closer to home that brought awareness to the idea of bike touring, high gas prices, and the big blue resource that so many live on.
"Our end goal to create a bond with people living around the Great Lakes, but also with people living away from the Great Lakes," McNeal said.
It's a lofty undertaking that's requiring a ton of planning, training, and securing sponsors. The pair snagged support from local resources like the Brewhouse, Trailfitters and Ski Hut, along with some bigger nods from Keen, O2 Rainwear and Icebreaker.
"Once April hit, it was stopped being, 'It's coming.' It's Oh, it's in three weeks. Are we ready?'" McNeal said, and that's got the nerves setting in.
The more than 5,300 mile trip will take them northward, starting in front of Duluth's Fitger's complex on May 1 with a public send-off at 9:00 a.m. They pair hopes to travel about 60 miles per day and to finish in August.
They'll also be filming the trip as they go to create an educational adventure documentary about the beauty and the livelihood of these freshwater lakes. And they both agree that biking trips aren't for experts only.
"You don't have to be huge into biking, you just have to be big into adventure," Chase said. "We're never going to forget the whole process and we haven't even started yet."
It's a lot of preparation and hear that's left these guys ready to ride. You can follow Big Water Bike on their Facebook blog and get more information on the trip by clicking here.
VIDEO
Duluth Men Prepare for Great Lakes Bike Tour
Posted at: 04/15/2012 1:07 PM | Updated at: 04/15/2012 10:36 PM
By: Dayna Landgrebe
Plenty of folks love to get on their bicycles and ride here and around the Northland, but how about for more than 5,000 miles? That's the goal for two Duluth men as they prepare to trek around the Great Lakes.Kris McNeal and Zach Chase are about the embark on the biggest trip of their lives. The 2010 UMD graduates are less than three weeks away from traveling around all five of the Great Lakes by bicycle.
They're calling the trip Big Water Bike.
The idea came during a shorter West Coast bike trip in 2007. This time, they said they wanted to take a journey closer to home that brought awareness to the idea of bike touring, high gas prices, and the big blue resource that so many live on.
"Our end goal to create a bond with people living around the Great Lakes, but also with people living away from the Great Lakes," McNeal said.
It's a lofty undertaking that's requiring a ton of planning, training, and securing sponsors. The pair snagged support from local resources like the Brewhouse, Trailfitters and Ski Hut, along with some bigger nods from Keen, O2 Rainwear and Icebreaker.
"Once April hit, it was stopped being, 'It's coming.' It's Oh, it's in three weeks. Are we ready?'" McNeal said, and that's got the nerves setting in.
The more than 5,300 mile trip will take them northward, starting in front of Duluth's Fitger's complex on May 1 with a public send-off at 9:00 a.m. They pair hopes to travel about 60 miles per day and to finish in August.
They'll also be filming the trip as they go to create an educational adventure documentary about the beauty and the livelihood of these freshwater lakes. And they both agree that biking trips aren't for experts only.
"You don't have to be huge into biking, you just have to be big into adventure," Chase said. "We're never going to forget the whole process and we haven't even started yet."
It's a lot of preparation and hear that's left these guys ready to ride. You can follow Big Water Bike on their Facebook blog and get more information on the trip by clicking here.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Sarnia, Ontario - The Observer, Around the Great Lakes
Our first article in a Canadian paper - The Observer from Sarnia, Ontario...please read below!
Minnesota cyclists Zach Chase and Kris McNeal will embark on a three-month bike tour around the Great Lakes starting May 1. They are expected to pass through Sarnia around May 22.
"As they reached the top of a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean, cyclists Kris McNeal and Zach Chase started putting the wheels in motion for their next adventure.
This time, the 20-somethings from Minnesota wanted to do a “more professional” ride closer to home. They were in the midst of crossing three western U.S. states.
“As the days went on, we developed the idea and then one day we agreed on (the thought), 'Let's bike around Lake Superior, heck let's bike around all the Great Lakes,'” McNeal recalled.
Four years later, Chase, now 25, and McNeal, 26, will finally embark on their Great Lakes adventure. They will clock more than 8,500 kilometres on their bikes, starting in Duluth, MN. May 1. They will pass through several Quebec and Ontario cities, including Sarnia around May 22.
While Chase and McNeal will be away from family and work for three months, they have received nothing but support about their journey dubbed Big Water Bike.
“Our families are really excited for us,” McNeal said. “We are doing something that hasn't been done before and it is a huge life goal for both of us...”
The pair are forced to travel light with only trailers attached to their bikes. They plan to camp in many state and national parks and document their journey on video cameras.
Vika Films, based out of Duluth, plans to turn the footage into a feature documentary. However, Chase and McNeal won't be followed by a film crew.
“We thought it would be more personal if we did (filming) all ourselves,” McNeal said. “We wanted to learn how to do this right and make an impact. We would love to do this for a living.”
The pair both work at a Duluth restaurant and studied at the University of Minnesota. Chase also just finished a work term with Conservation Corps Minnesota, while McNeal has developed an events program for Just Take Action Inc.
McNeal believes their active lifestyles will help them on their tour. Both have been training at the gym, while Chase is also an avid climber.
When asked how customs will react when they pull up at the border on bikes, McNeal said they haven't given it much thought.
“I suppose we will look quite weird with all of our equipment and cameras,” he said.
The Big Water Bike tour will wrap up back in Duluth Aug. 5. The public is invited to follow their journey online. Visit bigwaterbike.com for a tracker map of their progress."
barbara.simpson@sunmedia.ca
This time, the 20-somethings from Minnesota wanted to do a “more professional” ride closer to home. They were in the midst of crossing three western U.S. states.
“As the days went on, we developed the idea and then one day we agreed on (the thought), 'Let's bike around Lake Superior, heck let's bike around all the Great Lakes,'” McNeal recalled.
Four years later, Chase, now 25, and McNeal, 26, will finally embark on their Great Lakes adventure. They will clock more than 8,500 kilometres on their bikes, starting in Duluth, MN. May 1. They will pass through several Quebec and Ontario cities, including Sarnia around May 22.
While Chase and McNeal will be away from family and work for three months, they have received nothing but support about their journey dubbed Big Water Bike.
“Our families are really excited for us,” McNeal said. “We are doing something that hasn't been done before and it is a huge life goal for both of us...”
The pair are forced to travel light with only trailers attached to their bikes. They plan to camp in many state and national parks and document their journey on video cameras.
Vika Films, based out of Duluth, plans to turn the footage into a feature documentary. However, Chase and McNeal won't be followed by a film crew.
“We thought it would be more personal if we did (filming) all ourselves,” McNeal said. “We wanted to learn how to do this right and make an impact. We would love to do this for a living.”
The pair both work at a Duluth restaurant and studied at the University of Minnesota. Chase also just finished a work term with Conservation Corps Minnesota, while McNeal has developed an events program for Just Take Action Inc.
McNeal believes their active lifestyles will help them on their tour. Both have been training at the gym, while Chase is also an avid climber.
When asked how customs will react when they pull up at the border on bikes, McNeal said they haven't given it much thought.
“I suppose we will look quite weird with all of our equipment and cameras,” he said.
The Big Water Bike tour will wrap up back in Duluth Aug. 5. The public is invited to follow their journey online. Visit bigwaterbike.com for a tracker map of their progress."
barbara.simpson@sunmedia.ca
Friday, March 23, 2012
UMD Statesman Article
Duluth alumni prepare for Great Lakes tour
BY AARON SWANSONswan1114@d.umn.edu
Kris McNeal and Zach Chase both graduated from UMD in 2010, McNeal with a degree in life science education and outdoor education, and Chase with a BA in Fine Arts with emphasis on digital arts and photography.
Chase and McNeal met in 2007 through the school’s ultimate frisbee club and bonded over their mutual interest in adventure and the outdoors. McNeal had been planning a bike trip from Seattle down to the Mexican border during the summer of 2008, Chase decided to join him in the quest, and the rest is history.
It was while on this trip that plans for the Great Lakes tour began to form.
“We wanted to try something new that no one had done before, but that we could do back home,” McNeal said.
They returned home after their successful west coast trip but plans for the grand tour around the Great Lakes began to fade.
“You’ve got school, work, life, and you lose track of your dreams,” McNeal said.
But in November 2010 after they had both graduated, Chase gave McNeal a call and said, “Let’s do this.” It was then that their trip finally began to take form: 5,300 miles, 97 days, two countries, and eight states, following the coastlines whenever possible with only what they can pull behind a bicycle.
Chase designed their logo and website, bigwaterbike.com, to promote the trip, and they both began to look for sponsors.
“It was really slow at first, but then sponsors just kept going up exponentially,” McNeal said.
Local businesses like Ski Hut gave them discounts on bikes and free lessons on bike repair, Trailfitters provided the camping gear, and the Sierra Club gave them money for a camera. Fitger’s is also a sponsor of the trip.
Chase and McNeal plan to shoot a feature-length documentary on the trip to bring awareness to the Great Lakes region, and connect people that live around the lakes to others around the world.
“We didn’t want to just do it for ourselves this time, we wanted to share it,” Chase said.
They hope that if the film is a success, then it will open doors for similar opportunities in the future.
A trip like this one involves a lot of preparation. McNeal has had plenty of practice with this. For his outdoor education degree he was required to plan and manage many large events. He started Earth Club at UMD as a freshman, and helped start the Respect Your Mother Earth Festival in Duluth. Now he works as an event planner at Fitger’s and has been using his organizational skills to make sure the Big Water Bike trip is a success.
McNeal and Chase celebrate their achievement after bike riding all the way to the Mexico/U.S. border.
“Most of the trip is planning, and then you get to enjoy it as long as it’s planned well,” McNeal said.
Now that many of the sponsors are in place and their gear is all in order, Chase and McNeal are drumming up support from the community.
“We’re trying to get as many people down here to bike us out of town as possible,” McNeal said.
Mayor Don Ness has pledged to bike them out of town, and they invite everyone to join them May 1 at 9 a.m. for their big send off in front of the Fitger’s building. They encourage anyone to bring their bikes and follow them out of town as far as they’re willing to go. You might even make it into the documentary. You can also like them on Facebook to follow their adventure this summer, and their website, bigwaterbike.com, will have a GPS tracker allowing us to see exactly how far along they are at any given time.
Chase and McNeal will be the first people to bike the coastlines of all the Great Lakes in a single trip. They both feel a special connection to the Duluth area and Lake Superior, and they hope that this trip, along with their documentary, will bring awareness to the beauty of the Great Lakes around the nation and the world. If all goes well, they plan to be back in Duluth Aug. 5, finishing the trip in front of the Fitger’s building on Superior Street with a story to tell.
“The great thing about bike touring is that you learn as you go, and it’s never what you expect it to be,” Chase said.
A big thanks to Aaron Swanson for writing the article!
Here is the link to the article on the Statesman site
Statesman Article
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