Interviews so far

Friday, April 1st in Tulsa World newspaper in "Scenes" section
http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=425&articleid=20100401_43_D1_AriGol918408&archive=yes

Going for gold
Ari Gold bikes the globe to better himself

Ari Gold is riding his bicycle around the world. SHERRY BROWN / Tulsa World

By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
Published: 4/1/2010 2:27 AM
Last Modified: 4/1/2010 9:37 AM

To read Ari Gold’s blog, visit tulsaworld.com/arigold.

The name of Ari Gold's blog is "Chasing Sanity." It's a good title for a 48-year-old Las Vegas man bent on riding his mountain bike around the world — or at least to New Zealand.

As Gold wrote on his blog, he's "seeking better ways of living, doing and being than I know."

Seven months into his trek, Gold has biked some 2,500 miles away from his former life in Las Vegas, where the unemployed electronic technician literally left everything behind, including his wife of 16 years. "The marriage didn't fall apart all at once; it had never fallen together," Gold summed up while seated in the shade of BlueJackalope Grocery & Coffee near downtown Tulsa.

Pedal backward in time to September 2009 and you'd find Gold selling everything he owned for between $200 and $300 in cash.

Then he bought everything he would need to survive on the road. For instance, the U.S. Army National Guard and Air Force veteran purchased a military-grade sleeping bag and durable food items, such as olive oil and peanut butter.

"You need three different kinds of food to keep your body going: Protein, carbohydrates and fats," Gold explained. "Olive oil is one of the best fats. Olive oil is also good for hand lotion, a moisturizer, suntan lotion and it's good for your hair."

Basically,
Gold said, if an item, like his bulky laptop, was on his bike to handle a task, "It better be (darn) good at doing it."

Before he left Las Vegas, Gold didn't think "Where could I go," but, rather, "Where do I want to go?" The world seemed like a nice place.

From Las Vegas, Gold made stops in Utah, New Mexico and Texas before arriving in Tulsa. Often, he stays in one place anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. And he gets by with help from strangers, who quickly become friends, and food stamps.

Along the way, Gold has picked up little lessons, like if someone wants a fine meal in Santa Fe, one need only head to St. Elizabeth Shelter, where gourmet restaurants sometimes donate food. "It's absolutely the best food in probably Santa Fe," said the gangly 6-foot-2 traveler, who weighs about 200 pounds.

Gold arrived in Tulsa on March 25. While here, he stayed with a woman open to housing transients. He also traded bikes with Tulsan Paul Tay, a 47-year-old consultant in human-powered vehicles.

"It's a great thing," Tay said of Gold's adventure. "Anytime we get a world traveler on two wheels, I'm all about it. I'll do anything to help him out."

As for Gold actually accomplishing his goal, Tay said, "Oh yeah. He's very resourceful from what I can tell."

Early Wednesday afternoon, Gold planned on heading onto Springfield, Mo. Once he eventually pedals out of the U.S., he'll bike through Canada before finding his way to Europe.

"I'm stopping off definitely in the UK," Gold said. "Seeing the castles, seeing the museums, seeing the places of worship, experiencing all the culture I can possibly soak up in every community."

Though Gold likes to avoid big cities, he aims to make it to Rome to see the Vatican and the Louvre Museum in Paris.

"I've got to go," Gold said, "and that means I've got to put up with huge cities, huge amounts of traffic, and people who are afraid of strangers."

As Gold continues his global odyssey, he'll someday stop pedaling away from his old life in order to find his new one. Maybe he'll settle down in New Zealand, or maybe in his favorite city along the way. All Gold knows is that his final destination will be his "place in the sun."

Matt Gleason 581-8473
matt.gleason@tulsaworld.com


Thursday, March 25th
http://vellochris.blogspot.com/
http://adaeveningnews.com/local/x58342345/Man-rides-around-the-world

Seminole Producer newspaper got a picture of me yesterday. My blogspot is enough for them.

I am in the office of the... what town is this... Bristow Record after an extensive interview with... Kala Grace Varner. I am impressed by the small town reporters I met along my way.

<b>KNTU - North Texas University interview with Monique Byrd</b>

What a PIA it was to figure out how to combine a few pictures with my audio interview into a 'video'! Learning can be painful. (Whoo, there's a lot of definitions for PIA, what a Pain In the Ass that was!)

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="https://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=https://vid824.photobucket.com/albums/zz165/biketoaustralia/My%20Journey/Globaltravelervideo_0001.flv">

Bike Denton with Howard Draper
http://bikedenton.wordpress.com/
The interview is getting pushed down the page as more news comes in.
<b>
Ari Gold – Biking around the world
February 26, 2010 in Denton, Texas</b>

Three weeks ago, in Austin, I was volunteer working for the Yellow Bike Project community bike shop. They have an amazing new facility, and I had a great time working hard with great folks. One of the folks I met is Ari Gold, and when I asked him if he lived in Austin, he replied “No. I’m riding my bike around the world.”

Ari has a blog called BikeToAustralia where you can follow his travels, and I’ve already gone back and read the whole thing, and it’s fascinating. The following quote sums up the question most people ask him, why he’s riding around the world:
I want MEMORIES worth living for when all I have are memories. I want to experience other ways of life I greatly enjoy but barely know about. The museums, architecture, food, music, accents, clothing, belief systems, societies and interactions of people all fascinate me and excite my curiosity
I told Ari to look us up if he came through Denton, and he did exactly that. After a perilous trip through Dallas’ sprawl, he made it here, safe and sound. After staying at my house for the last couple nights, he’ll be moving on to work at the Ponder Acres organic farm just west of Denton.
If you’d like to get in touch with Ari to offer him work, hospitality, or conversation, you can reach him at bike2australia [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk. He takes Paypal through his blog to help fund his 5 year world tour, and frankly, he could use some nicer components on his ailing bicycle. I’ll be giving him some parts that I have, and hopefully he’ll leave Denton on a better ride than he arrived on.
Ari is a gracious, hard working houseguest, and I wouldn’t hesitate to give him
shelter again.

<b>Interview with Jon Dohrer of the Madill Record in Madill, Oklahoma</b>
They sent me a PDF file of the interview. I will wrestle with what to do with it.
http://madillrecord.net/