[NEohioPAL] Cleveland Cyclist rides the US!

[Jamey Mixson]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 28, 2010
Contacts:
Tracie Mixson @ 216-258-4147 mixsontd at gmail.com 
Jamey Mixson @ 216-258-4148 Jamey at ridejameyride.com mixsonfj at gmail.com 
 
On August 28, 2010 Jamey Mixson embarked on a cross country bike adventure alone. Leaving from Cleveland, Ohio’s Burke Lakefront Airport at 10AM while waving tearfully goodbye to his wife, Tracie Mixson, daughters, and a small Army of amazingly supportive friends. Travelling on a Carbon-fiber road bike with a trailer attached to the rear wheel, Mixson has planned for a sparse life over the next month. Within the trailer are his laptop, a digital camera, an HD video camera, 3 cycling outfits, one pair of jeans, 2 t-shirts, sandals, and a pair of sweat pants. Given the intensity of the journey, Mixson felt little need to carry fluff. 
 
Riding roughly 2500 miles from Cleveland, OH to Manhattan Beach, CA over a 35 days period is daunting. Mixson trained aggressively for 6 months for this. His workout included biking over 500 miles per week, isometric strength training, P90X, running hills with phone books on his back in a backpack, and car pushing (manually pushing a car from one end of a block to another). Mixson has been cycling for 25 years to include a few professional races but for the most part he is a self-proclaimed road warrior.  Mixson will be journalizing the adventure with an online blog and recording video footage day by day as he approaches Manhattan Beach, CA. This adventure “may” be the first documented of an African American riding a bike across the country. 
 
The overall goal of the ride is to raise awareness for Youth Literacy and Childhood Obesity. Both are major plagues to the growth and success of our youth. Mixson is quoted in saying: “We need smarter and healthier children, period”. However simplistic, it does speak to the tone of the day.
 
Mixson has little expectation of thousands of people biking across the country. Yet, it is his belief, his hope that more people will get out of the house, log off the computer, and do something. “Be engaged”, says Mixson. In regards to Childhood Obesity, Mixson is aligning himself with First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative. “The work I am doing is to support Misses Obama’s Executive orders down here on the ground. We need us to help us”. 
 
Results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress tell us that more than one-third of 4th graders (and an even higher number of our at-risk students) read so poorly they cannot complete their schoolwork successfully. Sixty-nine percent of 8th grade students fall below the proficient level in their ability to comprehend the meaning of text at their grade level.  www.nifl.gov/publications 
 
Sponsored by his own means Mixson is taking his fight to the streets, literally. “I’m putting my body against everything nature will throw my way for causes bigger than anything I can do myself”. Donations, sponsorship, riders that want to meet Mixson along the way can reach him @ www.ridejameyride.com
www.facebook.com (Jamey Mixson)
www.twitter.com/ridejameyride
 
One man making a way, one pedal rotation at a time. 
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