Wheeled Migration

Meet Mat Jacobs.

Mat is Wheeled Migration’s brand manager.
All our flashy design stuff- that’s Mat’s work.

Mat and his partner Alex work for ID International. If you’re going to break into a  market, or keep innovative with your brand- go with these pro’s.

They have us over to cook up marketing campaigns, design new ride materials, and keep WM lookin’ snappy.

We appreciate ID International’s sponsorship and helping us down the road. Thanks guys.

This week Wheeled Migration packed its bags and moved out of downtown Chico.

Bike tours and dubstep don’t mix.

So we moved into Brads house.

Ryan got a new desk.

Our break room is incredible.

We got guard dawgs.

And we’ve been doin’ pretty great ever since.

Stop by and visit sometime, we’ll take you on a bike ride.

Spring is popping and blossoming everywhere in Chico!

WM on the other hand has been tucked up inside warming by the glow of our monitors. We’ve been hard at work developing the backside of Wheeled Migration and preparing to roll out a new spread of tours and events for this summer and into the future times.

We recently sat down together and decided we’re going to give the Wheeled Migration everything we’ve got. A huge deal for us as friends! So we’ve got an investment meeting, some flashy documents, and a sea of spreadsheets that have turned our wildest dreams into ones and zeros.

SO just for the most obsessed fans of how a “bicycle touring company” is created, we’ll be sharing our guts on the WM blog for the next week or so. Enjoy! Build your own! Be the first one on your block to host your own Wheeled Migration to a WM event!

So yep, we’re changing our tune and growing up. We want to keep singing with you so send us suggestions, dreams, and please let us know what you think of our changes on the WM Facebook page.

See you on a bike!

I hope everyone has a vision for Wheeled Migration.

It feels intuitive that everyone in the ride has an idea of how they can help see the experience next time. Maybe that means taking three friends and assembling a crew of zero waste riders and diverting the environmental impact of a bicycle tour.

Could be you’re budding or blooming with entrepreneurial glitz, what about riding to network or showcase a product? Need a beta tester or an audience of friendly strangers?

This is my vision for Wheeled Migration. A hands-on, heart pounding, ever shifting social happening. I envision a bicycle tour where everyone comes carrying more than their gear. A place where people feel activated by the chance to share and learn.

Maybe you’re an oil painter riding for days to the botanical garden you’ve read about for years, or an architect waking up at a tree house community, or sipping from the headwaters of your local river beside a farmer and an activist.

Whatever you dream to create out here, have it!

There are three kinds of meetings:

Information. This is a meeting where attendees are informed about what is happening (with or without their blessing). While there may be a facade of conversation, it’s primarily designed to inform.
Discussion. This is a meeting where the leader actually wants feedback or direction or connections. You can use this meeting to come up with an action plan, or develop a new idea, for example.
Permission. This is a meeting where the other side is supposed to say yes but has the power to say no.

So what happens at a WM meeting?

This:

The important thing to know about Wheeled Migration is that our plan allows whatever happens to happen. WM is built on a question mark. We believe the journey is our lesson and weather we are in the office or in the saddle what matters is not were we end up- but how we arrive.

So we laugh a lot. We get tangential about headwind and what makes a world class garden salad. Splashes of wine decorate our meeting minutes as we pare dreams and sculpt ideas into what becomes
a breeze in your hair.

We like the 80/20 ratio. Most WM meetings are 80% and laughter 20% work. After all, we’re not building hospitals here- we’re in the memory making business. Our feeling is that so long as we create experiences that blow our minds, you’re gonna have a good time too.

We’ve decided to post some of the finer moments of Wheeled Migration’s meeting minutes for your enjoyment and our humility. Enjoy!

from 10.18.08

What We Learned:

• We like bikes.
• R & Q’s Certificate: “all about piss and blood”
• Something about digging it up and smelling it
• Lisa has a lot to do
• Still like bikes…
• …And Chinese food

from 12.10.08

WM ‘09 tour unlikely

• cycle touring is RISK LADEN
• INSURANCE  - asses to be covered
• insurance to be investigated further – business plan development, contingency plans, insure on ride by ride basis?
• planning timeline kinda tight – Earth Island Institute, marketing, insurance, sponsorships, oh my!

Alternative to WM ‘09 tour

• use season to route tours
• do smaller local tours
• build background- sponsorships
• develop business plan, marketing strategy
• use season to develop team strategy, training, inventory development

Create Regional tours

• 2-3 day tours related to a cause
• Possible partnering w/ continuing education
• Avalon to Coast loop proposed
• Sites Reservoir tour proposed
• use TRAC to develop new tour ideas

Develop WM individual Positions

• WM staff to develop positions for themselves on TRAC
• due by 1/8/9 meeting

CLOSE WITH DUBSTEP DANCE PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

from 1.21.09

Food: Milk and cookies… and Snugglers!

Closing Dance!

from 1.28.09

Attendees: R! (Pranqster), Q? (Boont Amber), L!! (Stella Artois), B!? (Racer 5 IPA)

NO OPENER- B&L talked about Euro beer, Q showed up last (did not ride a bike)

SHORT RIDE IDEAS

Interpretive Tour: Brad’s Chico Dirt Ride

• Proposed ride to go through Cyclocross trails at Lindo Channel, roads and/or Lower Park dirt out to 5 mile, dirt trails to Sycamore Creek and Wildwood Lane, dirt trails north from Upper Park along Sycamore Creek, bike path to airport, paved/dirt paths in developing area at airport.

• does this appeal to anyone? Most likely to ride: dirt nerds, polo kids, Lisa (she likes everything)

(TAPAS!)

• Q suggests an ecotalk by local econerd to educate riders about local ecology
• Will be a good exercise in small events for WM

Interpretive Tour: Ryan Libre Photo Ride

• more formal setting
• ride with gear and photograph local area
• learn about photography from a REAL PHOTOGRAPHER

from 2.19.09

Closing Dance!

Wintertime.
All up in my cogs- you keep me flossin.
A white rag sacrifice / a kiss of greezy love.
Your spit and tears gummy my breaks- I whip my steed with white lighting.
A cascade of slush. A speckled grill. A soggy curling wool.
Winter me all day in this saddle wintertime.

One cup of coffee to dust off the past, one blueberry croissant to find the future, and one dear Lisa Kieran to perk Wheeled Migration back into action.

We are opening to another season and a new chapter of WM!

In planning a bicycle tour, the greatest unknowns are those you meet along the way.
I do hope to see you on a bike