Bits and Bikes

By Wendee Shinsato

COURTESY YALE BANNER Ethan Gelber, ES '88, founder of BikeAbout

"A long, long time ago on a continent far, far away, in a small southern town on the edge of a vast expanse of desert, a small group of 'rebel' Berbers once lived at one with the Force of nature and in peace with their surroundings. That is...until a series of 'imperial' forces swept through their lands and subjected them to the control of superior external forces.... Our story finds Corinne 'Luke,' Padraic 'R2D2' and Ethan 'C3P0' on a trip through strange lands in search of the mercenary cyclist andrEa 'Han Solo' and her trusty, grunting, pedaling companion, Anthony 'Chewy.'"

Does this sound familiar to you? No, it's not a new version of Star Wars. It's a journal entry from Ethan Gelber, ES '88. Gelber, along with four other cyclists, is currently on the first-ever "wired" bicycle trip to circumnavigate the Mediterranean. The five form the expedition team for BikeAbout, a non-profit organization with a stated mission of "specializing in Internet adventures and the improved use of technology in all learning environments." At each stop of the journey, the cyclists visit local schools and cultural sites, take pictures and short video clips, record some phrases in the local language, and write entries in their journals. All of this information is transmitted to the Internet on a nearly daily basis and is accessible to schoolchildren (and everyone else) around the world for no charge.

A burrito-induced epiphany

Gelber first came up with the idea for BikeAbout over two years ago while eating in a Mexican restaurant. One of his friends mentioned a bicycle trip around the Mediterranean, and, as Gelber said, "It was not something I had ever considered, but it became something I could not get out of my mind. Ever since, I have worked with incredible people to make this an unbelievable reality."

Gelber has managed to find an expedition team who not only have an impressive array of skills, including expertise in archaeology, history, culture, education, and art, but who also share the love and respect for cycling. Although bikes may not cover as much ground as cars, as one team member said in an article from Freedom, "We decided to use bikes and not cars as our mode of transportation because we would proceed slowly and ecologically, using only the strength of our legs. We advance slowly in order to be able to talk to people and get to know them better." The use of bikes in this trip follows naturally from Gelber's natural athleticism—he ran in two New York marathons before the age of fifteen and set out on his first solo cycling trip at the age of fifteen.

The project utilizes a perfect combination of Gelber's skills. After graduating from Yale, Gelber earned a masters degree in international affairs at Columbia University, taught at an alternative high school in New York City, and co-directed a tourist company in Europe. He currently writes for Absolute Scratch, a theatrical collaboration that he helped launch and is a translator/playwright-in-residence for the Artaban Theatre Company in New York. He hopes to write about his Mediterranean experiences as well. "Since I'm a writer, I want to be able to come back and write about it [the trip], be able to understand what the Mediterranean cultures are," he said. Gelber said that his studies have "always been geared toward the value of culture and education in international relations."

Although the choice of the Mediterranean might seem arbitrary to some, to Gelber it was a natural place for his journey to start, since it is the area of the world that he knows best. He was a co-director of Marble Travel, a European culturally-based bicycle tourism company based in France, and he has also guided bicycle tours all over Europe. In his travels and work in Europe, he has made many friends and contacts in the Mediterranean area. Also, "geopolitically speaking, both in terms of past historical relevance and present value, there are few places on this earth that are more enticing," Gelber said. "Three continents, the three great Western monotheistic religions, the cradle of civilization.... It's all in the biggest little part of the world called the Mediterranean."

With the idea in mind, Gelber had to spend two years writing letters and making phone calls to find sponsors and raise enough money to make the trip. Although it took some time to solicit any positive responses, Gelber continued in his efforts because "being able to give kids the tools that they need for growing and learning is as rewarding personally as anything that I do for myself," he said. He finally found support from the Foundation for the Progress of Humanity and Computer Curriculum Corporation (CCC) , and BikeAbout was on its way to becoming a reality. CCC collaborated with BikeAbout to develop an interactive World Wide Web educational project based on the BikeAbout journey. This page provides curriculum activities for classes as well as opportunities for students from around the world to chat with each other and with the explorers themselves.

BikeAbout's own web page was not created by Gelber, who admits that he is not particularly skilled with computers. Support for the web page came from Elizabeth Guffey, DC '87, owner of the Daedalus Design Group. Guffey became involved in BikeAbout because, as she told The New York Times, "As I talked to Ethan about his vision and helped him develop a plan for using the Internet to meet his goals, I came to see this as a way to reaffirm what is best about the Internet." Guffey currently maintains the BikeAbout web page as its webmaster.

An emphasis on intercultural exchange

COURTESY BIKEABOUT.ORG Padraic Kennedy, one of BikeAbout's cyclists, in a Yugoslavia marketplace

BikeAbout is not the only organization that specializes in "virtual expeditions" for classrooms. Other non-profit organizations include MayaQuest and GlobaLearn, both of which have already completed at least one journey and have plans for others to come. What makes BikeAbout different from these other expeditions? Gelber said that it is the "scale and scope of what we are doing. We are passing through more than 20 different cultures and covering more ground over a greater amount of time."

BikeAbout also places more emphasis on intercultural exchange than many of the other similar programs. For this purpose, the BikeAbout site is currently offered in six different languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Croatian, French and Arabic) and Gelber is looking for people to translate the site into other languages as well.

BikeAbout members visit local schools and try to explore communities while accompanied by teachers and children. At each stop, BikeAbout cyclists also look into the local cycling chapters in the interest of participating in cycling events and safety and maintenance clinics. BikeAbout members also try to meet with local dignitaries, such as Dr. El Yaziji, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport in Palestine.

The cyclists even hook up to a local Internet server in each country rather than using satellite connections. "We prefer to use local ISPs [Internet Service Providers] to prove that all of the technology we are using is available to everyone, and more and more so as costs are reduced and materials are more readily available," Gelber said.

Although using local ISPs makes it harder for the team to relay back their information, it also allows them to deal with the local telephone companies and Internet providers, and to have more personal communications. Both MayaQuest and GlobaLearn use satellite communications rather than local servers. Through their actions, the BikeAbout members uphold their slogan that "the more people know about one another, the less inclined they will be to fight.... In other words, anger and xenophobia stem from ignorance more than from a genuine dislike of the way others live their lives. And so BikeAbout labors to improve all possibilities for cultural and informational exchange."

'We are operating on credit and a dream.'

So far in the journey, BikeAbout has visited sixty youth and cultural centers in over fifty communities, carried out twelve live chat sessions with teachers and students worldwide, and filed more than eighty log entries along with pictures and sound files. Their site gets about 80,000 hits a month and the cyclists are now traversing their fifteenth country, Albania. It seems that Gelber's dream of studying and sharing the Mediterranean culture has come true.

However, the BikeAbout expedition is still unfinished; and as the riders enter the last few months of their journey, they are nearing the end of their original funding. The group needs about $25,000 more to complete the trip in some modicum of comfort. "Even now we are running on empty and have had to reduce the size of the cycling team," Gelber said. Still, BikeAbout intends to finish this trip. Gelber said that "from here on out, we are operating on credit and a dream and hoping that someone will step forward with the money we need to finish."

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