Rotary Meeting April 9th

Announcements and Reminders

The district conference is coming up.  Go to district website to purchase tickets

Dr. Art reminded us about the Human Race  May 5th deadline. Make checks out to Human Race.

Doug announced InterAct fundraising dinner on Saturday April 25th.

The board has voted for to purchase a scoreboard for the gymnasium at New Brighton Middle School as well as a plaque for community room. We hope to have the ability to use the room for functions.

Laura reminded us of the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration on April 30th. Sign up by next week!

The saddest announcement was that our beloved Rachel has a new position and will no longer be able to serve as president or remain in the club.  We will miss her so much!! Al DeCamera will take over as president two months earlier.

Our speaker today was Craig Calfee. Originally from New England, Craig left school early and embarked on year long journey thru Europe and Africa. He was one of the first to use carbon fiber to make a bicycle. He was discovered by Greg LeMans who, while at the height of his career, bought Craig’s American made carbon bikes. He now  makes roadbikes,  adventure bikes,  on and off road, and is a leader in tandem design. He currently employs 35 people in La Selva Beach and is a leading supplier of custom made bicycles.

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Craig invented the bamboo bicycle in 1995 while searching for an idea for a trade show. They are crash tolerant and have been used for racing, even the Hawaii Iron Man Triathlon.

However Craig really wanted to introduce the bamboo bike to Africa. He started  in Ghana as a bike culture already existed there and then went  into Uganda and Zambia  in 2007 as well as the Congo. Columbia University funded his first efforts. He taught local craftspeople how to the bikes them using local bamboo, finding that women were better at building bikes than men.

People took a while to be convinced bikes would work but Craig got out into the community and marketed them.  He now sells bamboo bikes here, suitable for the Western and European market. More are sold in Europe than US.  They are very beautiful, decorated in various ways, some with horn handlebars.

The real shift has been in the Congo where the bamboo bike is used as a cargo bike. It has great traction in sandy terrain and in the Congo, roads are very poor. People found they could carry much greater loads on fat tires and could deliver twice as much produce in half the time.  Craig will take a second trip to Congo this June to follow-up on this project .

Craig finished his talk by showing us an interesting video about Muslim women in  Qatar in full burkah making bikes. They had to get a special permit so women could actually ride the bikes! Among Craig’s future plans is one to make an electric powered bike that will also act as a generator (pedal generator). Windmill people or electric people should contact him if they wish to help!!