Cyclists on zero-emissions tour ride

While the world's best bike riders compete this month in the Tour de France, a pair of men rolled through the Mid-Valley on Wednesday on what could be called a Tour de Freeway.

Or, given the bare bones approach, a Tour de Frugal. Considering the trip's philosophy, perhaps the Tour de Free of Emissions.

But James Kaelan and Miles Kittredge, childhood friends from Loomis who are making a five-week bike trip from Los Angeles to Seattle, said just the adventure of the open road was reason enough.

"Our goal was just to live in the actualized world," said Kaelan, 26, a writer who lives in Los Angeles. "No sleeping inside, no cars, no TV, no phones, no computers."

For Kaelan, the trip is a novel kind of tour for his novel, "We're Getting On," which documents the devolution of a group of people to scavenging for food in a remote part of Nevada.

Because the book strongly argues for reducing carbon emissions, Kaelan applied the book's philosophy to his biking trip. Kittredge, a filmmaker, came along to document the process, and eventually make it into a stand-alone film.

Beginning Wednesday in Sacramento, by mid-afternoon they were pedaling up Highway 70 a few miles south of Olivehurst.

"We were kind of dreading this part, but it's great," Kaelan said, "We've got a really nice tailwind."

The two road bikes Kaelan and Kittredge are using are packed with tents, sleeping bags, vegan energy bars, a few changes of clothes and some reading material. At night, the men stay at the homes of friends, or organic, sustainable farmers.

Among the stressful moments, Kaelan recalled, with relief, getting through Devil's Slide, a treacherous portion of Highway 1 near Half Moon Bay on the Pacific coast.

"It's windy, it's uphill, it's curvy," he said. "You're sort of near death the whole time."

They've also had two flat

tires, and twice — once by a Yuba County sheriff's deputy — local law enforcement shooed them from riding on a highway shoulder.

Riding four to eight hours a day, Kittredge said the idea is to allow whatever happens to happen, and record it.

"I try to do my best, and sometimes I have to run ahead of him and then film him coming," Kittredge said. He's mounted a camera on his bike's handlebars, and sometimes he'll film as he rides.

Wednesday, the stopover was at Godfrey Family Farms east of Marysville, where the Godfreys' children enthusiastically led Kaelan on a tour of their pigs, burro, geese, rabbits and quail.

"We try and if we're staying with people, we just do what they do," Kaelan said, recording the farm tour with a flip camcorder before a meal of pesto chicken, goat stew, potatoes and peach cobbler. "But this is the best, on a farm."

Rose Godfrey, who writes about farming and home schooling for the Appeal-Democrat, said she can appreciate the duo's spirit.

"Normally, we're up for any crazy thing that comes along," she said when they asked if they could camp at the farm. "Before we had kids, we talked about riding cross country."

Today, Kittredge and Kaelan head north again, for Chico. The goal is Seattle on Aug. 14, but whether the tour ends then is something still to be determined.

"I'm not sure I'll want to stop," is how Kittredge puts it. "The only restriction every day is just getting to the next place," Kaelan said. "I've never had just one task before."