About Bike For Obama
What is Bike For Obama?
Bike For Obama is a 8 month, 9,000 mile bike ride to each of the lower 48 states in support of President Obama’s re-election campaign. I will be canvassing neighborhoods, helping with phone banks, fundraising, and doing just about anything to help re-elect the President along the way. I will be spending as many nights as possible with local Democrats along the way and telling their stories as I go.
Who is doing the ride?
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Ellery Althaus
Lead Rider I am an experienced cycle tourer and dedicated Democrat, born and raised in North Truro, Massachusetts, I have traveled extensively and have a degree in History from the University of Massachusetts. In 2009 Levi Bridges and myself organized and rode a 10,000 mile bicycle trip from Vladivostok, Russia to Porto, Portugal. You can see the website for this trip here. While doing that ride I realized that bike touring was such a great way of connecting with people that it could be more than just an adventure, it could be a way of getting involved as well. Besides myself, I encourage anyone who can to come out and ride with me, be it for a day, a week or even a month. The more people riding with me, the more successful Bike For Obama can be at helping the President. |
What can you do to help?
The best thing you can do is get involved with the Obama Campaign and your local Democrats, even in the bluest of states there is still important work to be done. If you want to help Bike For Obama specifically, I am always looking for a helping hand, be it a couch to sleep on somewhere down the road, a donation to Barack Obama’s re-election campaign via my grassroots fundraising page, or just following me on Facebook or Twitter @BikeforObama
Why Bike For Obama?
About 8 years ago, during the 2004 Presidential Elections, I took a month long bus trip around the United States. Everyone warned me before I went that the Greyhound bus would be a truly eye opening experience to put it politely. Every trip I've ever taken people feel the need to warn me about, which I guess, is how I know that I am going to the right places. The bus trip didn't need the warning anymore than any other trip I've ever taken did, the seats were cramped, nights on the bus restless, and the coffee very watery, but I was in my element. I loved being taken off the bus at four am while the bus was cleaned and the driver changed, or two hours later when the lights went on to announce a smoke break in Eugene, Oregon. The passengers slowly grew together, especially after a few days on the bus. On one bus ride I took some of the teenagers on board got so silly and goofy that they proclaimed themselves to be part of the "Greyhound Gang" decking themselves out the next day in Greyhound Gear that they bought at the bus station's "Gift Shop". By the end of that ride I was even sorry to see some of the people go.
Then came election night and the second heartbreaking political defeat of my lifetime, first Al Gore and now John Kerry, neither for any reason that I could understand. Naively I remember thinking that somehow a bus going around the country campaigning for someone as reasonable as Senator Kerry could have made a difference, that maybe the right people stopping in towns all across the country could make people see their mistake in voting for George W. Bush. I told a few people, who laughed it off, I forgot about it and pursued my own adventures four years.
In 2008 I was deep into pursuing my own dream, a 10,000 mile bicycle trip across Asia and Europe. I was planning it during Barack Obama's Campaign and taking off on it just a month into his Presidency. Leaving Logan Airport in February of 2009 I was sad not only to leave my family and friends, but also to miss newly inaugurated President Obama's first year in office. I thought to myself, "With Obama in office America can only become greater. He is willing to compromise with Republicans, wants to help the middle class and will always keep a watchful eye on those less fortunate." I was simply jealous that I wouldn't be able to see him go to work.
I returned home almost a year later on January 4th 2010. The bicycle trip had of course changed my life. Again, people had warned me that it would be so dangerous, that I might not come back, that bears, bandits, and black ice all awaited me in Russia and Europe. It wasn't like that though; the people in each town we visited were generous to a fault, inspired by our trip and anxious to take us in for the night. People wanted to hear our stories, look through our photos and above all FEED us. It was not only the most fun I'd ever had it was also the most connected I'd ever felt with people and communities.
But when I came back, I realized that I should have been warning people in America of the dangers THEY would face. That they shouldn't expect politics to be any easier than a bicycle trip, there would be storms, sick days and flat tires. That you can't fall into pessimism and cynicism, otherwise it will overwhelm you and end your progress altogether. I arrived home to everyone badmouthing the President, one side calling him weak and ineffectual and the other side calling him a communist and questioning his citizenship. The Republicans I could understand, they had lost and were doing anything and everything they could to undermine President Obama, saying the most obvious lies. But it was shocking to me to watch our side, to be so enthusiastic 2 years ago for the President and to give up on him so easily, it made me think that the Republicans really had won. I'm not against criticism, most definitely for it, but President Obama never seemed to get a fair trial in the court of public opinion, once one person called Obama ineffective everyone jumped on board, the perfect scapegoat to avoid talking about the real problems in Washington D.C. Republicans capitalized on Democrats pessimism and disappointment and the next thing we knew the whole political conversation in Washington took on a decidedly Republican tone. We gave them the opportunity to say no to everything because we had ceased to support the yes.
I began thinking about Bike For Obama then, not with the naive plan to change Republicans minds, that no longer seemed reasonable, but to inspire Democrats, make them remember why Barack Obama got their vote initially and why he deserves it again. To get the Democrats back out on the streets canvasing, calling and volunteering to bring President Obama back to the White House. We need to regain that enthusiasm and sense of commitment that we had in 2008, when people weren't just voting for Change, they were willing to work for it. Riding a bicycle for 8 months, from March 17th to Election Day November 6, volunteering in each state, Bike For Obama hopes to remind Democrats of their part.
Then came election night and the second heartbreaking political defeat of my lifetime, first Al Gore and now John Kerry, neither for any reason that I could understand. Naively I remember thinking that somehow a bus going around the country campaigning for someone as reasonable as Senator Kerry could have made a difference, that maybe the right people stopping in towns all across the country could make people see their mistake in voting for George W. Bush. I told a few people, who laughed it off, I forgot about it and pursued my own adventures four years.
In 2008 I was deep into pursuing my own dream, a 10,000 mile bicycle trip across Asia and Europe. I was planning it during Barack Obama's Campaign and taking off on it just a month into his Presidency. Leaving Logan Airport in February of 2009 I was sad not only to leave my family and friends, but also to miss newly inaugurated President Obama's first year in office. I thought to myself, "With Obama in office America can only become greater. He is willing to compromise with Republicans, wants to help the middle class and will always keep a watchful eye on those less fortunate." I was simply jealous that I wouldn't be able to see him go to work.
I returned home almost a year later on January 4th 2010. The bicycle trip had of course changed my life. Again, people had warned me that it would be so dangerous, that I might not come back, that bears, bandits, and black ice all awaited me in Russia and Europe. It wasn't like that though; the people in each town we visited were generous to a fault, inspired by our trip and anxious to take us in for the night. People wanted to hear our stories, look through our photos and above all FEED us. It was not only the most fun I'd ever had it was also the most connected I'd ever felt with people and communities.
But when I came back, I realized that I should have been warning people in America of the dangers THEY would face. That they shouldn't expect politics to be any easier than a bicycle trip, there would be storms, sick days and flat tires. That you can't fall into pessimism and cynicism, otherwise it will overwhelm you and end your progress altogether. I arrived home to everyone badmouthing the President, one side calling him weak and ineffectual and the other side calling him a communist and questioning his citizenship. The Republicans I could understand, they had lost and were doing anything and everything they could to undermine President Obama, saying the most obvious lies. But it was shocking to me to watch our side, to be so enthusiastic 2 years ago for the President and to give up on him so easily, it made me think that the Republicans really had won. I'm not against criticism, most definitely for it, but President Obama never seemed to get a fair trial in the court of public opinion, once one person called Obama ineffective everyone jumped on board, the perfect scapegoat to avoid talking about the real problems in Washington D.C. Republicans capitalized on Democrats pessimism and disappointment and the next thing we knew the whole political conversation in Washington took on a decidedly Republican tone. We gave them the opportunity to say no to everything because we had ceased to support the yes.
I began thinking about Bike For Obama then, not with the naive plan to change Republicans minds, that no longer seemed reasonable, but to inspire Democrats, make them remember why Barack Obama got their vote initially and why he deserves it again. To get the Democrats back out on the streets canvasing, calling and volunteering to bring President Obama back to the White House. We need to regain that enthusiasm and sense of commitment that we had in 2008, when people weren't just voting for Change, they were willing to work for it. Riding a bicycle for 8 months, from March 17th to Election Day November 6, volunteering in each state, Bike For Obama hopes to remind Democrats of their part.
