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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!!
