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Life is a Journey

OCTOBER 29, 2007
The opening is reception is April 18 2008
Life is truly a journey and mine seems to be ever continuing, simply taking me along for the ride. My brother, myself and a dear friend John Tetz have just been given a museum show, to display some of our handmade machines, and art.
My brother and I have been tinkering with HPV’S (Human Powered Vehicles) now for about sixteen years; it’s been an all-consuming passion. Human power combined with a most irreverent take towards bicycle. You must remember the basic diamond shape bike has not changed much in some one hundred years. Tom is a lawyer by trade and is very good with gears and making things work, sort of the motor guy. I am pretty good at welding and making shapes and shells, as well as the company test pilot.
Twenty years of tinkering with human power
 John Tetz is http://www.recumbents.com/mars/projects.html our role model, he has een making things all his life. Now a retired engineer who worked at Bell Labs for some thirty years, He thinks nothing of spending six months on a scale mechanical drawing, then taking another year to build it piece by piece. John was involved in the first transistors, and satellites recon photos, he is very bright, and has hands of gold he can weld or lathe just about anything. John calculated that his ex wife produced forty-five watts of ambient heat when in bed, he actually did the math. I suggested that he get a monkey, I got him to laugh. John has had a big impact on both are life’s, live simply, think green, and have some real adventure now and then. Johns art evolves letter, he spent ten years exploring the letter O, this has evolved over the years to letter forms cut and glued to carved elliptical forms and shapes and are made into mobiles.
John Tetz in his art studio,note the mobiles above. All metal work is done in his attic workshop
   We have had a lot of fun both building and riding in these machines. We have become sort of the town eccentrics I guess. But with sweet crude oil not hitting one hundred dollars a barrel, there seems to be a little more interest, in a machine that can get twenty-five miles to a banana. Oil is a non- renewable energy folks, which, means we should start thinking of renewable alternatives fast. An HPV for 5-10 mile local hops is ideal, and it’s not just about gas and leaving a carbon footprint. Getting around the neighborhood
Using human power makes you feel good, and it’s a cheap way to say fit. The riding has greatly improved my creative flow that oxygenated blood does wonders for the old grey matter.
The Old Tiki Streamliner,now somewhat retired
Just completed "Surf Beach Delux" the book is out!
 As for being green, well we hardly ever use the car, all local hops are done with various machine’s depending on the mission and weather conditions. All our bike parts are found and recycled, bearings are store bought. We do not use the cloths dryer rather then burn gas we use a cloths line (they smell better). The house is kept rather cool in winter this is two fold one we like it cooler, and second since we ride all winter it keeps us conditioned to the cold. We have substituted down sleeping bags for sheets on the beds, sleeping bags are much more efficient at holding body heart, and we sleep much deeper when the house is cool. Trying to live creatively and green is actually fun.
 Surf Beach my current work is the columniation of these influences put into the from a fantasy appearing in book form
http://www.lulu.com/content/1261129 Zen, recycling and hotrods. Not sure if the book is even finished, but I need to move on. A place where thinking young and getting old is no sin.


© 2024 Chris Spollen