Living Car Free - celebrities, musicians and professional athletes...

I was watching some crap on tv called "MTV Cribs" and started to think if there is any celebrity or pro athlete that is car free or car-lite. These people on this show love to show off their cars that cost as much as an entire house, sometimes more. Not that I'm envious or anything like that. I was just curious if any had bikes. Maybe some musicians are car free/ car-lite. And having a limo driver parade you around town doesn't count. Feel free to comment.

During the Cincinnati Bengals football game yesterday, a linebacker named Dhani Jones (#57) had a big sack in the first half that forced a fumble... and then the tv crew showed some footage of him riding to the stadium (on the morning of the game) on his bicycle! :) He even had a messenger bag on his back and he was wearing green socks. They said he is a very "unassuming" guy.

I've been trying to search the bikeforums to see if anyone has posted about Dhani before, but the search function doesn't seem to be working for me today. Here are a couple of articles about him that I've found elsewhere:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/bengals/2007/11/25/ddn112607arch.html

http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?showtopic=38719

He sounds like quite an interesting character. From nfl.com:


"Here comes Dhani Jones, the ‘Green Linebacker.’" -- Rich Eisen on Bengals LB Dhani Jones, who had one sack and a forced fumble against the Titans. Prior to the game, Jones was filmed riding a bike to the game.

And some selected quotes from the links above:


CINCINNATI — He stressed it gets him where he needs to be.

Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones was talking about his bike — the one parked next to his dressing stall — but he could just as well have meant his blitz.

The guy who arrived at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday in knee-high, lime green socks, canvas shoes and riding a bicycle — just as he does every day since he has no car in Cincinnati — arrived in the middle of Vince Young's back early in the second quarter, thanks to a blind-side assault on the unsuspecting Tennessee quarterback.



He lives in a downtown Cincinnati hotel. He spends hours studying film at the stadium and he rides that fixed-gear Surly bicycle around town.

"Yeah, it's a racing bike," he said, "but it's better known now because bike messengers use it."

And that makes it perfect for him. He's delivering his own message this season.



He's content to ride his fixed-gear bicycle around town, a freewheeling contraption that once dominated racing at velodromes, and he'll think nothing about hanging out at the University of Cincinnati's bike shop, or riding across the People Bridge, or stopping by Newport on the Levee, or heading to what he calls the waterfront.



[Jones] is a member of The Climate Project, and was invited to Nashville, Tenn., to be trained by Gore in what has been described as "an intensive tutorial about issues surrounding global warming."

Once known as the NFL's "Renaissance Man," Dhani Jones, who has taken a class from Al Gore and ribbing from Stephen Colbert, has opted for a more pedestrian role in Cincinnati as he tries to rewrite the book on himself.

He's become one of those invisible yet invaluable 9-to-5 handymen plucked from the NFL yellow pages known as the waiver wire and charged with helping plug the leaks of a roster spewing injury. Sleeping in a hotel but living at Paul Brown Stadium, spurning his car for a Fixie, eschewing the mike to get to know the mike backer, Jones has immersed himself in football and little else since arriving from the San Diego beaches 55 days ago.

On a show called "Rides" that use to be on Spike, they had an episode where they checked out Moby's pad and the host went on a bicycle ride with Moby through New York City.

-Nate

There's a thread about Dhani in the SS/FG forum.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=365151

I was watching some crap on tv called "MTV Cribs" and started to think if there is any celebrity or pro athlete that is car free or car-lite. These people on this show love to show off their cars that cost as much as an entire house, sometimes more. Not that I'm envious or anything like that. I was just curious if any had bikes. Maybe some musicians are car free/ car-lite. And having a limo driver parade you around town doesn't count. Feel free to comment.

Your post reminds me of this article I ran across a few months back: http://www.observer.com/2007/spokes-models

I don't think she claims to be car-free, but I recently viewed this video featuring super-model, Genevieve Lake. She gives a nice plug for cycling in one of the videos on this website.
http://www.cyclehero.com/
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2134/2064056049_1fa34426be_o.jpg

I was watching some crap on tv called "MTV Cribs" and started to think if there is any celebrity or pro athlete that is car free or car-lite. These people on this show love to show off their cars that cost as much as an entire house, sometimes more. Not that I'm envious or anything like that. I was just curious if any had bikes. Maybe some musicians are car free/ car-lite. And having a limo driver parade you around town doesn't count. Feel free to comment.

I've posted before about the late conductor Georg Tintner, who was car-lite most of his life. Here's a biography I found online:

Tintner was born in 1917 in Vienna. He started playing piano as a
six-year-old and was
conducting his own compositions for the Vienna Boys Choir at age
nine.

He was persecuted as a Jew by the Nazis in the days before World War
II and barely
escaped with his life.

He has extensive conducting credits in Australia and New Zealand as
well as Vienna,
Scotland, Ireland, Hong Kong and other places, and has been accepted
into the Order of
Canada.

He conducted the Nova Scotia Symphony Orchestra between 1987 and 1994
and was also
known as an avid cyclist and vegetarian.

Tintner was awarded the $25,000 Portia White prize recognizing
cultural and artistic
excellence in March. He received it with the following words: "(I am)
a strange person
indeed, who rides a bicycle and doesn't believe in luxuries of any
king and who eats grass . . .
and yet you welcomed me."

(Halifax Daily News)r © The Canadian Press, 1999

lebron james owns cannondale.

lebron james owns cannondale.

He is a part owner. Is there any sign he uses his bike as anything other than exercise?

Unfortunately this thread reminds me of those chess articles that parade names of celebrities, some long dead and others B-list at most, who play chess. There's an air of desperation about them; they scream, "look how mainstream we are, even famous people play chess!" Well, if it's mainstream, you don't need to scream about who plays it. Same with car-lite. This thread is a sign we 'haven't arrived' yet.

Ed Begley, Jr. Serious about being off the grid. http://www.edbegley.com/environment/
As is Bill Ny
Kristin Scott Thomas drives an electric car.
Colin Farrell (http://defamer.com/hollywood/lindsay-lohan/hollywood-privacywatch-colin-farrell-pedals-in-the-valley-190545.php) bikes.
Ditto for Brad Pitt (owns a Calfee Bamboo)
Robin Williams, Keifer Sutherland, etc.
Some of hollywood bikes.

I would totally, totally watch Cribs if they walked out to some celeb's garage and it was just floor-to-ceiling beautiful bikes. And they walked around and commented on each one, like, "Yeah, this is the Stingray I rode to my first day of 7th grade...."

Ed Begley, Jr. Serious about being off the grid. http://www.edbegley.com/environment/

Ed Begley's my hero. He's been involved with conservation way before it became trendy with the Hollywood crowd. He shows up around LA giving talks and contributing to worthwhile causes (and riding his bike to the events) Not sure what's up with his new line of cleaning products, though.

Daryl Hannah's pretty cool, too.

Rudy Giuliani is car-free I think.

David Byrne in on board: http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/ta-rides-with-penalosa-david-byrne/

I like to watch Cribs for decorating ideas like the checkered flag floor and the garage that looks like a pit stop for the Z06 Corvette, great idea as an $80,000 car needs a nice garage.

^ Don't forget the marble monogram in your foyer.

^ Don't forget the marble monogram in your foyer.

Absolutely and the Built in baroque that is as big as a large SUV! I also need a special place to hang all of the bikes.

Unfortunately this thread reminds me of those chess articles that parade names of celebrities, some long dead and others B-list at most, who play chess. There's an air of desperation about them; they scream, "look how mainstream we are, even famous people play chess!" Well, if it's mainstream, you don't need to scream about who plays it. Same with car-lite. This thread is a sign we 'haven't arrived' yet.

I was think the same thing.... however, one of the best things about cycling is that you never want to arrive. :rolleyes:



Rudy Giuliani is car-free I think.
Who is Rudy Giuliani?

Ralph Nader