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Lou
Title: The Backseat Driver
Location: Minneapolis, MN 
About Me:
“Mock not the fallen, for slippery is the road ahead of you.”
Addicted to cycling
I’ve gone months even years, without a drink of alcohol or a smoke without feeling the slightest pull from nicotine.
Then I got a bike, a bicycle that is!
Having riding dreams didn’t alarm me, but drooling over $4,000 (read expensive) carbon-made bicycles at the cycle shop one Saturday afternoon, did it.
The craving was intense. So was the sensation that I’d never have enough. In cycle shops, I was surrounded by similarly obsessed people. And if it wasn’t a new bike these people wanted, it was a beer.
Does the effect of beer and bikes have something in common?
This got me curious!
So began the search…
Cycling, as any other form of vigorous exercise changes brain chemistry, they say, look up wikipedia if you like.
It triggers human growth hormone in the brain because it burns belly fat, adds muscle fiber, and increases brain volume. This is a good thing. The only bad thing is overdoing it, just like anything else!
Too much of something good is too much!
Then again, it’s easier to walk a away from a habit than an addiction.
Although I know my bike is nowhere near as strong as, let’s say, cocaine, I still feel like an addict when I walk through a bike shop.
So, for now, I’ll try to stay out of bike shops—until after my daily bike ride, rain, snow, or shine, that is.
Well, if they say compulsive shopping is an addiction, why not cycling?
All the best,
Lou
——————–The BICYCLE can be our vehicle to COMPASSION
Riding your bike in peak rush hour traffic when a truck ahead spills a load on the street.
Traffic stops, the truck stops and the driver gets out to reclaim his spilled cargo.
Do you?
A) Stop and wait with the rest of traffic wishing this guy would hurry up and get his freakin' stuff out of your way?
B) Zip on by weaving through traffic because you can?
or C) Stop, get off your bike, and help the driver reload so everyone can get going a little faster and so the driver can feel a little less lame?
Me and two other cyclists helped clean up the mess. (This happened a while back)
No motorists helped, even though they were the ones inconvenienced by the mess.
We cyclists could have kept going no problem.
We drive or ride through life worried about our own deadlines.
When we're faced with a difficult situation on the road, how often do we put ourselves in the other person's place?
There's another perspective here - the other person's.
Cyclists complain about motorists and motorists complain about cyclists.
What else is new?
Often than not seems to be forgotten on our roads: our fast-paced culture…
…where ”me” matters most…
…rewards competition over compassion.
Every story has at least two sides.
Meet me at Starbucks
STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
between 8th Street and 9th Street on Nicollet Mall…
…in downtown Minneapolis.
There's lots of lights, lots of people, lots of space…
…in short… It's a safe place!
I'll be wearing a dark blue baseball cap with a NEON ORANGE logo
THE NORTH FACE
You can't miss the NEON ORANGE (The North Face)…
…LOGO on the baseball cap!
GAIAns… 
Leave me a time to meet @ livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com
If you decide that we are not on the same wavelength…
We go our separate ways… No hard feelings!
Connecting with others on the road as fellow humans can give rise to everyday acts of kindness.
According to the Dalai Lama,
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
Riding a bike is like doing a DANCE; 
…words are rarely spoken but much is said.
The way we ride our bikes is our strongest voice.
The BICYCLE can be our vehicle to COMPASSION.
All the best,
Lou
——————–
IMAGINE A WORLD
Imagine a world in which cyclists…
…were cared for by a cyclist community…
…that understood their basic needs.
Our families love us…
…the best they can!
But any cyclist will respect OUR DREAMS…
…more easily than our family!
By forming a partnership,
…we are re-writing the rules…
…about being a cyclist.
Let's meet at the big GREEN
Starbucks Coffee Shop
between 8th Street and 9th Street on Nicollet Mall…
…in downtown Minneapolis.
There's lots of lights, lots of people, lots of space…
…in short… It's a safe place!
I'll be wearing a dark blue baseball cap with a NEON ORANGE logo
THE NORTH FACE
You can't miss the NEON ORANGE (The North Face)…
…LOGO on the baseball cap!
Leave me a time to meet 
%livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com
Martin Luther King Jr. may have died on 04/04/1968
But THE DREAM LIVES ON
If you decide that we are not on the same wavelength…
We go our separate ways… No hard feelings! 
Go ahead TRUST NATURE !
RISE to the occasion!
…and start taking small steps toward your goal TODAY!
All the best,
Lou
——————–
Green At Last! Green At Last! Thank God Almighty we're Green…
…at Last!
For our generation, the big question to the generation before us was:
“How could good people be so prejudiced against BLACKS?”
”Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Martin Luther King Jr. from his ”I HAVE A DREAM” speech
I'm convinced that when our kids are fifty, and they look back at us,
they are going to ask:
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”
You were the richest country in the world.
You had the technology to really make a difference on things like
GLOBAL WARMING.
Why didn't you do something?
What were you doing?
Let's meet at the big GREEN
STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
between 8th Street and 9th Street on Nicollet Mall…
…in downtown Minneapolis.
There's lots of lights, lots of people, lots of space…
…in short… It's a safe place!
I'll be wearing a dark blue baseball cap with a NEON ORANGE logo
THE NORTH FACE
You can't miss the NEON ORANGE (The North Face)…
…LOGO on the baseball cap!
Leave me a time to meet
livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com
Martin Luther King Jr. may have died on 04/04/1968
But THE DREAM LIVES ON
If you decide that we are not on the same wavelength…
We go our separate ways… No hard feelings!
Go ahead TRUST NATURE !
RISE to the occasion!
…and start taking small steps toward your goal TODAY!
All the best,
Lou
—————————–
SUSTAINABILITY
(Definition)
Meeting humanity's needs without harming the future of others.
Cycling activism is about campaigning to get cycling into mainstream.
The end-result is a greatly improved quality of life for everyone.
Having MORE CYCLISTS on the road is a worthy goal!
Go ahead… Make a plan… Set your goal…
…and start taking the first small steps towards your new goal today!!!
You have to start somewhere…
So let's be friends on GAIA, so we can help each other.
All the best,
Lou
Give a bike a fish s/he will ride for a day…
Show a bike how to fish s/he will ride forever.
Are you a Cyclist in the Making?
DID YOU KNOW?
The bicycle is the most energy-efficient mode of transportation!
- to cycle 1 mile (1.6 Km) burns 35 calories
- to walk 1 mile burns 100 calories
- a car engine burns 1,860 calories per 1 mile
The average motorist spends 4 hours a day…
…either driving, maintaining, or earning the money for a car.
America spends 1 billion hours a year stuck in traffic…
…wasting 2 billion gallons of gas at a cost of $10 to $30 billion dollars.
Mountain Bikes gives access to places thought impossible to ride.
Bikes in general continue to make a vital improvement to the quality of our life.
SIGN ME UP…
I'm a cyclist in the making.
———————————–
THE SURE THING
TAKE A QUIZ:
- Are you a cautious person?
- When it's time to change, do you make endless preparation and check out
the opinion of others on each action? - Do you find yourself pushed around or rushed around more than you would?
- Do you hang on to things too long…even bad things… like bad relationships?
- Do you complain that there's no time to do what you want?
- Do you watch other people's lives as though they were a spectator sport?
- Do you often think about changing your life, but never get past daydreaming about it?
If you checked off YES 3 or more times, you're playing with FIRE
Safety is riskier than you realize!!!
You must go after your wish!
As soon as you start to pursue a DREAM
…your life wakes up and everything has meaning!
It doesn't really matter what the outcome is!
You've got to regain some meaningful direction if your life is to be exciting!
When you're playing TOO SAFE, you're taking the biggest risk of your life!
SO WHAT'S BEEN STOPPING YOU?
Let's meet so you can decide for yourself if this is a SURE THING?
STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
between 8th Street and 9th Street on Nicollet Mall…
…in downtown Minneapolis.
There's lots of lights, lots of people, lots of space…
…in short… It's a safe place!
I'll be wearing a dark blue baseball cap with a NEON ORANGE logo
THE NORTH FACE
You can't miss the NEON ORANGE (The North Face)…
…LOGO on the baseball cap!
Leave me a time to meet 
livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com
If you decide that we are not on the same wavelength…
We go our separate ways… No hard feelings! 
Go ahead do the SURE THING!
All the best,
Lou
———————————–
TRUST NATURE… all good work is a partnership between U & nature
TRUST NATURE…
All good work is a partnership between you and nature.
…a partnership in which one inspires the other…
Can you say: ”YOGA meets CYCLING !”
A very fine cook once said to me:
”My secret is that I let the food tell me what to do. I don't plan ahead.
I just go to the market to see what's fresh.
I come home and lay everything on the kitchen table and I look at it and try to imagine what it can be.
The spices, the timing, the pots and pans are more or less, beyond my choosing.
Then I do what I have to do.”
A sculptor working with stone knows that the stone has its own rules and the sculptor must obey them, learning, bit by bit, what the stones requires.
But without the sculptor the stone will stay forever a block of stone.
The two are engaged in a delicate partnership to create a statue.
All good work is a partnership between you and nature.
Partnership will end your feeling of isolation!
As any deep-sea diver will tell you, when you are in the sea, you are never alone.
Let's meet so you can decide for yourself if you can TRUST NATURE?
STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
between 8th Street and 9th Street on Nicollet Mall…
…in downtown Minneapolis.
There's lots of lights, lots of people, lots of space…
…in short… It's a safe place!
I'll be wearing a dark blue baseball cap with a NEON ORANGE logo
THE NORTH FACE
You can't miss the NEON ORANGE (The North Face)…
…LOGO on the baseball cap!
Leave me a time to meet
livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com
If you decide that we are not on the same wavelength…
We go our separate ways… No hard feelings!
Go ahead TRUST NATURE !
…and start taking small steps toward your goal TODAY!
All the best,
Lou
The Birds and the Bees.Bee enters the flower…CROSS-POLLINATOR?
THE CROSS POLLINATOR…
…creates a SPACE on which people (read GAIAns) can plant ideas!
…plant ideas!
Like a flowing river,
the mud settles,
the dead leaves go to sea;
little by little,
the river becomes clean and pure!
A Cross-Pollinator explores other people and cultures, then translates those findings and revelations to fit the unique needs of your own culture (can you say the GAIAn culture).
The Cross-Pollinator draws associations and connections between seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts to break new ground.
With a wide set of interests, curiosity, and an aptitude for learning and teaching, the Cross-Pollinator brings in big ideas from the outside world to enliven GAIAns.
Cross-Pollinators can often be identified by their open mindedness, diligent note-taking, tendency to think in metaphors, and ability to reap inspiration.
A virtual gathering like the GAIA community is like turning-off the TV's sound and watching for body language.
It's a universal language without words.
Virtual gathering gives everyone a chance to meet and greet each other.
Is this enough?
…or should we take it one step further GAIAns?
STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
between 8th Street and 9th Street on Nicollet Mall…
…in downtown Minneapolis.
There's lots of lights, lots of people, lots of space…
…in short… It's a safe place!
I'll be wearing a dark blue baseball cap with a NEON ORANGE logo
THE NORTH FACE
You can't miss the NEON ORANGE (The North Face)…
…LOGO on the baseball cap!
GAIAns…
Leave me a time to meet @ livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com
If you decide that we are not on the same wavelength…
We go our separate ways… No hard feelings!
Go ahead Cross-Pollinator. Make a plan…
…and start taking small steps toward your goal TODAY!
All the best,
Lou
———————————–
GO AHEAD. Make a plan …take small steps toward your goal TODAY!
THE HURDLER
Everyone has one, two, three, or often more obstacles…
Let's break it down…
82% of communication is non-verbal
18% is verbal
Let's break it down even further…
Communication is:
55 % body language
38% voice
7% words
Let's meet so you can decide for yourself if this is just another ”hurdle.”
STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
between 8th Street and 9th Street on Nicollet Mall…
…in downtown Minneapolis.
There's lots of lights, lots of people, lots of space…
…in short… It's a safe place!
I'll be wearing a dark blue baseball cap with NEON ORANGE writing!
THE NORTH FACE
You can't miss me with the NEON ORANGE (The North Face)…
…writtenon the baseball cap!
GAIAns…
Leave me a time to meet @ livethedream68@yahoo.com">livethedream68@yahoo.com
If you decide that we are not on the same wavelength…
We go our separate ways… No hard feelings!
The Hurdler knows that the path is strewn with obstacles…
…and develops a knack for overcoming roadblocks.
Perseverance pays off… Believe me!
An energetic hurdler is always willing to bend the rules.
“Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” - William Shakespeare
Are you a Hurdler?
Go ahead. Make a plan. Set your goal…
…and start taking small steps toward your goal today!
All the best,
Lou
———————–
The Futurist - Let's work together
THE FUTURIST
If I knew something about tomorrow… 
…what would I do differently today???
WHATEVER YOU DO TODAY,
…be the best at what you can do today!
When we do the best we can today…
…we can make a better tomorrow!
“The best way to predict the FUTURE is to invent it!”
So, let's work together, 
and let Lou be your FRIEND.
Why you may ask?
Because you're my FRIEND.
And the whole reason people have FRIENDS is to have fun.
All the best,
Lou
Member Since: Thursday, February 28 2008
Last Visit: Today.
Profile Viewed: 1541 times (last viewed less than a minute ago)
