[flyingdog]

You know how we all have (usually obscure) roaming thoughts streaming thru our heads. Well, I had one of those moments. And...zeroed in on a particular time back in the mid-80's. I remembered sitting in my living room watching the evening news. A very short blurb came up showing a reporter interviewing a fella crossing the US on his bicycle. While it seemed this wasn't that big of a deal, at the moment. Until it was pointed out that he was doing this feat..sitting backwards! And..more astonishing, I recognized the building they were standing in-front of. Better yet..it was in my town. So, being as inquisitive as I am, I hustled off to this local K-Mart. There he was. A tall, lanky black fella. Standing there by-himself, I walked up and started yakk'n with him. Dangit..now this is where my thoughts ended as I can't remember anymore of this encounter, other than his name was "Wrong-Way Wooden" (or something like that) and he needed a patch kit. Interesting what the idle mind comes up with.

[IanHighfield]

flyingdog: I have not searched yet, but I've heard of this bloke and it would not surprise me to find him on Youtube or some such site. I think this man is in his 50s today and still riding in similar manner for fundraisers and appearance fees.

[flyingdog]

I tried a few searches, too. Came up..ziltch. Probably way off on the name.

[flyingdog]

Best I've been able to come up with so far, is he goes by the moniker of "Wrong Way Wooten". Possible Tom Wooten. Read a few blurbs of people meeting him at various times.

[BlazingPedals]

I vaguely remember hearing about that. He sat backwards, on the handlebars. At the time I though it was about 2 steps dumber than riding across the continent on a unicycle (which would take a while but might actually be fun.) I never heard if he made it or not.

[flyingdog]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v502/VicG/Wrong%20Way%20Wooten/WrongWayWooten2.jpg?t=1250291149

[chh55]

Wow! That's what internet is good for! The guy is(was) built! And his bike is packed! Did he use mirrors or how did he ride?

[flyingdog]

The only article I've come up with, so far:

Round and Round We Go (updated) — Your Mileage May Vary

I'm trying to look into some of the old newspaper archives. Seeing if I can find any news of those times. It was on the old television show "Real People", where I first heard of Wrong Way, a few weeks before I actually meet him. What always amazed me was his equipment alone totaled #300+. Add to that I'm sure the bike in the 30lbs range, plus the rider. All this would be quite a feat in itself, but riding backwards with no unusual mods..OMG!!

[BlazingPedals]

Wow! That's not the guy I remembered hearing about; the one I'd heard of was riding on a bare bike.

[flyingdog]

Well.....That's better than riding a "bike bare"!