Judah Schiller crossed bay in about 45 minutes on floating bicycle

Photo: Aiko Agency:

Decades ago, comedian Jeff Foxworthy made a name for himself with his tag line jokes ending in the phrase “you just might be a redneck”. He later explained that at the heart of being a redneck is the skill of improvising and creating what are colloquially referred to as “poor man’s solutions”.

In comes 41-year-old Judah Schiller of Mill Valley who crossed the East Bay in roughly 45 minutes using his redneck pontoon boat which is powered by a bicycle. So confident was Schiller of the contraption that he did not wear a life jacket as he peddled alongside the Richardson Bay Bridge this past September 27.

The brain child was the result of a conversation he had with a friend last year when he expressed a desire to bicycle across the bay. Since that time, he uncovered an invention by an Italian designer dating back to 1997. The invention allows inflatable pontoons to be fastened to a bicycle via a series of connectors. He also had to modify the kit as bicycle designs have changed substantially since 1997. Schiller is now looking to launch a business that sells the kits for those wanting to ride on water.

Schiller thought it’d be great “if you could just ride down to the water, click into something and then ride across,” he said.
“It’d be nice if there was a bike lane across the Bay Bridge,” Schiller said.

On The Web:
Marin County man pedals across the bay on floating bicycle
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24500814/marin-county-man-pedals-across-bay-floating-bicycle