By David Kupfer

The Pleasant Revolution is all about promotion, promotion of adventure, person to person cultural exchanges, bicycle values, freedoms found by biking, bike powered music, backwoods California rock and roll. So many kids and adults were and are inspired by the music and the message and the mission that is impossible to calculate the impact the tour has been having. As oil resources dwindle and prices head upward it is important to have a visual reminder that there are alternatives to be found from the fossil fuelishness that modern technological society has passed onto us.

I found the Pleasant Revolution to be beset with magic, providence, serendipity, and kismet. Atypical of most travel agendas, there is not an extremely structured schedule to the journey until of course gigs and performances are set up, but these are never firm until the band arrives into town. Because of this the route is always varied and full of surprises and curves in the road. Wherever we go, we bring the energy, inspiration, and enthusiasm of the music and proactive purpose of the tour with us. Manifesting the destiny tends to be an ongoing theme.

After biking down from Mazatlan, Bear Dyken, his partner Somer Moon (both of Clan Dyken), and I united with the Pleasant Revolution in the sunny beachside coastal town of Sayulita, where the band had numerous gigs in local restaurants and cafes. As has been the case at all subsequent venues, they were well received and embraced by the community. Sayulita is a small town 40 miles from Puerto Vallarta that has a pedestrian, peaceful vibration to it. A surfer town, it unfortunately has been discovered by wealthy westerners, and the cost of real estate and a decent latte has skyrocketed. On the positive side, the streets are now paved and there are a lot of dining choices. As well, the town has a certain international feel. The band played at Cafe Biciclette and an Italian Pizza house, as well as on the town’s central plaza. We enjoyed the hospitality of the Canadian Vincent, who let us stay at his father’s villa in nearby San Pancho, and Natalie, proprietor of Pachamama, a jewelery and clothing store just next to the beach. Above her store, she has a magnificent place overlooking the ocean that provided us with ample space to regroup. Dante and Toby borrowed surfboards and enjoyed the waves. On Friday, January 25, we all departed this glorious beach town for the road and the mountains to the east.

We were joined by Chaba, an LA-born Mexican, who with his dreads, didgerdidoo and hippie free spirited tendencies was an excellent candidate to sign on to team Pleasant Revolution. Avoiding the main highway, we rounded Punta Mita where there is an incredible real estate boom occuring, and we are not talking low income housing, but rather upper end Four Seasons Hotel/Jack Nicklaus Golf Course/Gated luxery estates. The beach was fenced off for miles and miles. Rounding the point, Puerto Vallarta came into view, with its beach front condos, high rises and smog, and there was a collective sigh that we were all close to an urban jungle. Fortunately, we avoided the heart of PV and just north of the city trekked inland toward the town of San Jose. Kipchoge had an Xtracycle board meeting and for nearly three hours was on his cell phone while we all biked together through the throngs of commute buses, vans and cars heading out of the expanse of Puerto Vallarta and into the surrounding villages.

Our troup arrived into San Jose del Valle as the sun was setting. While several of us explored camping options, the locals were entertained by Joey’s drumming on his kit attached to his handlebars and Toby’s juggling and hackey sack abilities. Bear pulled out his guitar and played a few tunes as well. After a dinner of high quality street tacos, we were led by a local kid to a soccer field where we spent the night. The next morning we awoke before dawn and began biking east. Because a bridge was out east of San Juan del Abajo, we had to backtrack a little and then take some quite pastoral country roads through many farm fields, including some acreage of corn farmed by Monsanto. This rural dirt road route was a sharp contrast from the congested, exhaust laden main highway we were on the previous day outside of Puerto Vallarta. A local stopped me and offered me a slice of his breakfast, watermelon. His grandkids laughed uncontrollably when I told him the troup’s goal was Chiapas (still a couple thousand miles south). We continued on country roads until we came to our lunch stop, the small town of Las Palmas. We kicked back for a siesta in the town square, napping on bits of lawn between the rose bushes and trees. Items like fresh pineapple, watermelon, mangos, and avocados were consumed and are plentiful in this region.

I should note that we have learned about Mexico’s many challenges related to political corruption, growth, pollution, education, mental and physical health of its people. (Obesity rates are now just as high as in the US and the average diet seems to contain a lot of sugar, empty carbs, and coca cola) But shining above all of these issues is the heart of the Mexicans and time after time we have been touched by the positive spirit of generosity, goodwill, and sharing. Our appreciation of these characteristics and the deep sense of family and community have been deepened by our time off the beaten track hanging with the common people.

After our lunch of fruit, bread and ice cream bars in Los Palmas, we continued to gain serious elevation, heading into the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains where gold was discovered centuries ago. As we went up and up, the sun was rapidly falling and we faced uncertain camping options. The route we had chosen was a recently completed highway that was not frequented by large trucks nor many drivers between PV and points east. The golden positive orb that surrounds the Pleasant Revolution again deliverred us from an uncertain fate when a man in a new large truck with two women drove up to us and invited us to his country ranch house to stay the night. It turns out Hector was responsible for the road we were on. As a civil engineer, he helped to design it. He owned an old miner’s inn as a country place only 100 feet from Rio San Sebastian that was easily able to house us all, plus he had just purchased 5 watermelons and many pounds of farm raised tilapia fish which he proceeded to fry up. We were so taken with the magic of meeting him and his place that was an ecological preserve that we took him up on his offer to stay over a day and explore the river San Sebastian and surrounding lands. The next day was spent hiking along the river, rehearsing, enjoying the pristine nature of the region, cooking, and preparing for the inevitable climb into the mountains.

Next morning pre dawn we got up and thereafter took off, heading up into the steep mountains. It was obvious why it took such a long time before a major road was put through these mountains–much rock and earth materials remained adjcent to the road that was in fact still being worked on. Sweat was pouring out of us so we took a midday break in the small roadside town of La Estancia. After a mini siesta we continued our journey upward, past the turnoff for San Sebastian and up, up, up thousands of feet to the pass. We were blessed by several clean springs along the way that allowed us to refresh ourselves and cool off. So steep was the road that Kipchoge said that even in his lowest gear he had to standup to pedal, a first for the journey. Understand too that some of us had loads on our bikes in excess of 150 pounds. When the summit was finally ascended there was much celebration and ceremony. The immediate downhill thereafter was one of the more notably glorious glides experienced by the bikers. Easing through a pine forest with barely any traffic, we rolled into a high elevation agriculture valley that reminded me of the Capay Valley near Sacramento. Extremely pituresque, very out of the way, we sped through toward the valley’s edge to the small, attractive town of Mascota, where after pizza, we settled down for the night in the city park.

It is safe to say that had we not slept in that park and were woken up by Pilgrims walking to a special celebration in nearby Talpa, we may never have diverted our journey to the very beautiful and out of the way town of Talpa de Allende. But I am getting ahead of myself. The next day in Mascota, we hung out in the town square making music and a scene which is the natural tendency of this group. We were joined there by writer Jamie Vlajos who had just flown in from Oakland and taxi’d up from Guadalajara for a 4 day stay with us in order to write a piece for Stanford’s alumni magazine. Back to the Pilgrims, it turned out that every year around Mardi Gras there is a pilgrimage of devotees to the Catholic faith to the small town of Talpa to celebrate the anniversary of a miracle from 400 years ago when a wooden statue of the virgin mary was miraculously repaired after a strike of lightening. Go figure. Today it represents a good time for pagans and Catholics alike. People come to test their faith by making a long journey by foot and others use it as a fine occasion to party.

We chose to journey on our bikes on the Pilgrim’s path, which had its drawbacks due to the steep terrain and the rutted road. However it was away from the road and cars, a feature that appealed to the group. Unfortunately, Joey’s xtracycle frame broke during this bit of the journey, finally succumbing to thousands of miles of on and off-road cello and gear hauling. Fortunately, Dante’s extremely useful abilities were called into action and he used a horseshoe that he had found earlier in the journey, breaking it into parts and shoving two broken off horseshoe ends inside the hollow frame. Because the horseshoe was arched, it would not come out. He complemented that with a strap tied around whole thing keep it from sliding out and two little hose clamps. (Fixed via welds the following day in Talpa by a father and son team who worked toether reparing it for the sum of 50 pesos, about five dollars.) This delay both allowed for some to take a swim in the reservoir and a night out camping in the forested woods along the Pilgrim path next to a fresh orange juice stand run by an elderly couple who were enchanted by our presence and entertained well into the night as a consequence of Kipchoge, Eco, Bear, Toby pulling their guitars out and playing a wide variety of tunes. This sort of spontaneous musical outpouring is what the journey is made of, and it served to inspire the passing Pilgrims who were headed on to Talpa for the festivities.

We came to learn that Pilgrims don’t necessarily sleep so late into the night and in the early hours of the morning some folks came by the juice (and now hot tea) stand; talking loudly and occasionally blowing off a bottle rocket or M-80 explosion, their passing was impossible to ignore. What loud explosions in the middle of the night have to do with a Pilgrim’s trek we were not so sure of, but needless to say, when we got up the next morning we were greeted by even more Pilgrims heading to Talpa. We headed in the same direction after breakfast, making a steep ascension after rejoining the concrete highway before a grand 600 ft plunge into the valley where Talpa is located. Heading into the center of town we passed a parade of folks in traditional garb with a band parading into the town square. This being an out of the way town and obscure little religious festival, with only several exceptions, we were the only white people in town. Shortly after we arrived there was a true battle of the bands with several Banda bands playing simultaneously for hours and hours.

The GinjaNinja Talpa town square performance began at 1030 p.m. By the time the Ginjer Ninjas started up, the last two remaining bands were a bit weary. Gradually, the crowds from the other two bands made their way over to the bike powered performance. By 11:00 p.m. the plaza had only the not so average white band performing playing to 300 mostly young people from the town. Most pilgrims had gone back to their hotels by then. The band played on until midnight, when the local police gently pushed their way to the front of the crowd. The cops were mellow, I even ended up playing a little frisbee with the guy in charge. He was a jovial sort of fellow. Throughout Mexico there are police walking around fondling their guns and machine guns. It is a macho police state sort of thing. But the cops in Talpa were cool. And the band definitely made a splash. The next night, February 1, the band played a private party with a local Talpa rock band, Kinder, opening. They played an awesome cover of Pink Floyd’s “Hey Teacher…”

Leaving Talpa February 2, we had to backtrack to the main highway, but because of the extremely steep nature of the road and the blazing heat, we all hitch hiked to the top of the mountain pass. 12 people plus bikes loaded with instruments, speakers, and equipment hitching a ride might seem daunting, but it took just about an hour for all of us to get rides the three kilometers to the road’s highest point. In fact a police truck carried the last of us, proving that public service comes in many forms. Our biking that day was highlighted by a roadside lunch that featured dried venison for all the meat eaters. I am certain this journey would not be possible were it not for all the roadside fruit sellers and al fresco diners. The fresh homemade tortillas we enjoyed were indescribably tasty, and the families that run these enterprises are kind and hospitable.

That night we had a camp out that featured a spontaneous sing along whose theme was the journey of the Pleasant Revolution. There is something magic about being on the road with a bunch of talented, creative, funny musical types. Needless to say there were some memorable lines and phrasing. Regretably none were memorable enough for me to recollect them at this time. The next day was another travel day, with the group staggered out on the highway. Everyone was pacing themselves, enjoying the glorious downhill runs and steadily pedaling up the mountain slopes. That night we ran out of steam in a small town that had a resident provide us his farmyard for camping. We resolved for the following day to put the pedal to the metal and try to make it to the hot springs beyond Tala that were 30 kilometers outside of Guadalajara. The next morning we awoke predawn to frosty ice on our sleeping bags. It has not rained on this journey since the revolution arrived in Mexico, but this surely was the coldest morning we had experienced. After sucking down some cowboy coffee and a little breakfast, we were on our way.

This was a 77k day to Las Tortugas Hot Springs, and the troupe was stoked with the idea of soaking in hot water, so as we passed through the town of Ameca, we stopped only for some fresh watermelon and pineapple and jicima. Just outside town several of us stopped at a bus stop and a little fire had been built by some folks in a car who gave us some tortillas, tomatoes, eggs, and coal. Just because they wanted to. Again, the kindness of strangers in Mexico. We had to ponder if a band of 12 Mexicans were biking through Northern California, would they be made as welcome and be gifted as we have been?

After getting back on the roadway—which started to narrow, prompting the group to bunch up for safety and security—we were joined by the film crew the tour had stumbled upon in Todos Santos. Sergio Morkin is an Argentinian and he directed the award winning documentary “Oscar” about a Buenes Aires grafitti artist. He filmed 300 hours for that effort, editing it down to one hour. So Sergio has been almost ever present since then, capturing our soaks in the hot springs, biking into Guadalajara, concerts, midnight bike rides, why he even filmed me waking up at my campsite at the hot springs. Paparazi wherever you turn on the Pleasant Revolution. His film crew, Oscar and Eric Ruiz, are providing all the backup support with sound, driving, and lighting. Note that even with the van trailing us, Kipchoge does not give up his 60 pound speaker he is carrying on his bike. In fact he is so principled he will not allow the filmmaker to carry any of the supplies needed for the tour, and has demanded that that Sergio travel with his camera by bike with the Pleasant Revolution for at least a week.

The hot springs were not your typical. For one, it was a hot river, not a spring per se. We didn’t find the source, it was reportedly 5k upstream. Also, when we arrived late Sunday, hundreds of cars were leaving, creating a virtual dust storm welcome for us. We didn’t care, as having biked 77 kilometers, we were so zonked out that a little dust was not going to slow us. Because the springs are just a half hour from the thriving metropolis of 4 million Guadalarans, they suffer from a bit of overuse. And trash. did I mention trash yet on this blog? Mexico has a lot of trash. We picked up a lot of trash while we were there. I myself stumbled on a used disposable diaper at the river’s edge just after we arrived. There was trash in the river. Not your typical hot spring. Despite that, we stayed an extra day there and relaxed and soaked and played music and attracted attention.

Attracting attention tends to be what the Pleasant Revolution does well. And whether it’s the pedal powered sound system or the long distance bike journey or the funny looking Xtracycle adorned bikes or the folding solar panels, all these things attract attention to issues, concerns, and solutions that get to the heart of the Pleasant Revolution’s purpose.

February 5 we entered Guadalajara from the east, past fenced and guarded upscale housing divisions, through an industrial area and into the heart of the city. We received a police escort for the final few miles. The band made the scene in the city, performing in several coffeehouses, bars, public parks and organic restaurants. Very well received by audiences, the Ginjer Ninjas also enjoyed a flurry of media attention. There were photos and articles in several local papers, radio interviews on the University’s radio station, and Kipchoge was interviewed on a popular television show as well. For me the highlight was the big bike ride we took with 300 other bikers, a Critical Mass sort of display that has happened for the past 36 weeks on wednesday nights 11:00 pm. The only problem is that as a public demonstration, it sort of fails as at that hour no one is out to see all the bikers. But progress for bikers rights is slowly being made.

8 am on Sunday the 10th of February we all went biking with the Mayor of Guadalajara. He was up early that morning to commemorate a new park that had opened next to the bike boulevard that happens once a week. There are 15 kilometers on 3 main boulevards in the City that from 8 am to 2 pm on sundays are open to bikes exclusively. This has turned these major roads into veritable bike freeways. Unfortunately, that is about it when it comes to bike paths in the town. There are 4 million people and 1.3 million cars in Guadalajara, with 300 new cars added onto the roads EVERY DAY! We found biking in the city to be a bit dangerous with no paths to be found anywhere, and the subway (which has just one line) does not allow you to take your bike aboard. So in the midst of conversing and biking with the the bike aware Mayor, Kipchoge was able to appeal to him to consider being involved in a meeting of Mexican Mayors K is organizing to further bike resources in cities in the nation. Kipchoge also sucessfully connected the local bike advocates up directly in person during the bike ride, and the activists were quite grateful as they has been trying to meet up with the Mayor for months and months to discuss issues related to bike paths and resources. The Mayor did have a good sense as to innovative bike programs in Bogota and Portland, OR the latter being a sister city for Guadalajara. However, the town has a long way to go before it could be classified as a Green City, as water quality is quite bad, as are air quality, traffic, and urban reforestation. In addition the green belt on the west side of the city is being parceled off into high end housing subdivisions.

We found one of the headquarters of green activism to be a fine small restaurant coffeehouse local organic food cafe gallery called La Selva Cafe. The place was teaming with Guadalajaran bike activists when the band played there after the bike ride with the Mayor. It is owned and run by Etienne von Bertrab who is an eco activist as well as a professor in political ecology at the Jesuit College in town. He was quite generous with the band who ended up performing for nearly 4 hours in total, including great performances by Somer, Tobin, and Cello Joe. After 5 performances in 5 days, last week the band took a well deserved break and rehearsal time to work in the new bass player.

The Pleasant Revolution is now off to Mexico City. I have had to return to California for pressing family reasons and Bear Dyken and Somer Moon have left the tour as has Laura the radio journalist. The good band news is that drummer Brock was able to talk his old band buddy bassist from Florida Jared into joining the Pleasant Revolution, and this talented musician hit the ground running last weekend immediately after arriving. And the good bike news is that current Mexico City government, headed up by Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has shown admirable leadership in beginning to transform Mexico City into a more hospitable environment for bicyclists and public transport riders. Late last month, Tanya Muller, director of urban reforestation, parks and bike paths for the mayor’s office, announced that the city government has committed to build 186 miles (300 kilometers) of bike paths, or ciclovías, complemented by weekly street closings to vehicle traffic (not unlike what Guadalajara does), by 2012. It’s an ambitious goal, and the city will have to build 37 miles (50 km) of paths every year for the next five years. The city will also construct a series of bike parking lots, watched by security guards, adjacent to Metro station hubs and in the financial district. This is the model that other cities in Mexico will hopefully be held to, efforts to improve the sustainability of the cities and the quality of life of their inhabitants so that they goes back to being more human, rather then auto friendly. And that is, to be sure, a theme of the Pleasant Revolution.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Bicycles, Calendar, Eating, Enviro, Green Business, Green Living, Music, Shows, Songs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.