If you’ve got the grease to get down with these mobilized biker babes, it’s probably because you’ve got the stamina of a triathlete, the social connectivity of a human Facebook, and the radical yet peace-loving heart of Mahatma Gandhi.

Fortunately for me, I’ve been lucky enough to make it onto Shawna’s radar for years and only now do I finally understand what the whole “Bitches on Bikes” business is all about.

Here they are, in their own words, Shawna Seldon, Senior Vice President of The Rosen Group and Vanessa Liberati, Founder and Executive Director of the Gitana Rosa Gallery, two self-proclaimed benevolent “bitches” pedaling their way to a better world.

GA: Shawna, this is really unusual. PR people aren’t necessarily the ones being in the spotlight but in this case, PR is news because of you.  I mean, how did you find yourself in this position of riding 300 miles down to DC?

SS: Well, you know I hardly would like to think of myself in the spotlight but I’ve been working in the environmental world for several years now and I’ve moved in that direction because it’s something that I care about, I can wake up in the morning and feel good about the work that I’m doing.  So my clients include the International Fund for Animal Welfare and also American Wind Energy Association.  When I got the call from Randy Swisher asking if I wanted to join the Windpower Pedelers Team I had to say yes, I had to find a way, I had to join the team.  Number one, I care about this planet and I feel like we have to do everything possible to protect it.  Also, because I love to ride my bike!  I’ve always wanted to do a multiple day tour.  Another tour that I do a lot is the MS Ride, I’ve done that for several years, I’m actually a team leader on that ride which is coming up in October.  For the last couple of years we’ve had the “Bitches on Bikes” bike team event so this year when this opportunity came around, of course I had to join the team, of course I had to raise money to be on the team and of course I have to do a benefit party.  What better way than to make this the latest installment of the Bitches on Bikes parties so here we are!

GA: Where’s the party?

SS: It’s at The Eldridge in New York City on Thursday, August 20th.

GA: Let me back you up a little bit.  What’s the story of the Climate Ride?

SS: Well basically, the Climate Ride, this is it’s second year, very very young, very very new.  It is a 300 mile ride as you were mentioning earlier from from New York City to Washington DC.  When we arrive in Washington DC, we will go and we will talk to our Congressmen and tell them that this matters to us, we want you to do everything possible in Congress whether it’s pass(ing) the Climate Bill, whether it’s mak(ing) the renewable (electricity) standard stronger, they can work on the transmission issues here in the United States; there are so many things that have to happen and it starts with us but they are the ones who need to make our voices heard and we are riding from New York City to Washington DC to tell them that.

GA: So this is a show of solidarity.  How many riders do you think are gonna be in the ride total?

SS: There will be a total of 300 riders and there are 40 spaces left so Rich, we do hope you’ll be joining us.

GA: Vanessa, let me turn to you for a minute because I’m curious as to your involvement in this.  Are you one of the riders?

VL: Yes, I am one of the riders.  I just joined a few days ago thanks to Shawna.

GA: Are you prepared for this?

VL: I am preparing for this… one is never be prepared.

GA: What are you doing to prepare?

VL: Well, I’m riding every day.  I usually ride my bike everywhere but I’m now actually training so I’m committing to at least 10-15 miles a day to really prepare myself for 60 plus miles a day of a 4 or 5 day ride.

GA: Can you tell me more about how your organization is involved in this?

VL: Actually, my gallery was founded by myself in November of 2006.  I sort of billed myself as a “green gallery” where we donate 15% of our sales to environmental non-profits.  I’ve always been a big advocate of saving our planet since youth with recycling and really reusing everyday items that are discarded.  A lot of my artists do use recycled and discarded items in part of their artwork but also, if they do not, they are very big advocates of sustainable lifestyles.  We recycle and do the best that we can to sort of promote the eco-lifestyle.  As far as my gallery’s concerned, we built it all on found and recycled materials.  So I’m a big bike rider and Shawna and I have biked loads of places so I thought, well, why not?

GA: Your organization has some art work in an auction at the event.  Can you tell us a little bit about that?

VL: Yeah, actually there’s gonna be about nine artists.  We’re auctioning off some repurposed jewelery and we will also be showcasing some new and emerging artists who will showcase a little bit of artwork concerning climate change, for example, the Carolina parrot which is an extinct animal in the Audobon Society right now and also Susie Q who’s an artist who donates artwork to the Nature Conservancy.

GA: I can tell you guys are committed and I think that this paradigm shift is totally necessary and I think that this act of solidarity and protest is  pretty well guided and pretty well directed.  So, just getting back to you Shawna a little more about what do we expect to see out of this?  What are some of the components of the ride that make it resonate more in this world, in this sort of protest/green movement?  I know that each rider has to come up with a certain amount of money, so that’s cool, I know that there are some donations coming in.  It just seems like this is promoting health, it’s promoting well being… what are some of the things that are really making this event stand out?

SS: Well, it will be 300 riders; that’s not a very big ride actually.  So these people are leaders in the environmental industry, they are thought leaders, they’re making a difference whether it’s science or policy but also, one of the really cool things is that every night at the end of the ride we get to hear some of the thought leaders explain to us what the latest is that’s going on in the industry.  This money that we are raising is actually going to go towards three foundations or organizations: One is Focus the Nation which is an organization that’s focused on climate change that helps young people connect with their Congressman and they’re actually the people that are going to help us connect with our Congressmen when we get to Washington DC.  Another organization is Rails to Trails which is an organizations that is taking miles of unused railways and turning them into trails where people can be healthier, they can be more active.  [The third organization being endorsed is Clean Air-Cool Planet.]

GA: These are abandoned railways.

VL: Abandoned railways, yeah, where people can actually bike and hike and walk and it goes throughout states counties, and actually across the nation.

SS: Which is definitely something I feel very strongly about, getting out into the great outdoors.

VL: And it’s very difficult to bike on streets that don’t have a specific bike path and so to use something that is no longer useful and to make it to use, that’s something we can really focus the nation on.

SS: Let’s not forget that Brita is the title sponsor of this whole thing.

GA: Woah! Yeah, let’s talk about that for a second.  Do we know the numbers on that?  I mean, cause related title sponsorships like this, number one, makes the brand, like their name, go in every publication, I mean they get the benefit of whatever they’re looking to get out of this “campaign.” Do we know the ratio of money that goes to the cause… I mean, I guess it all goes to the cause but do you know what the capacity of that is?

SS: I honestly am not involved on that kind of level and I don’t know but I do have to say, what a perfect fit; and I’m not saying this because I’m their publicist, although I wish I was, but I’m not their publicist but I can’t think of a better fit for a ride for a sponsor because it drives me nuts these days.  I mean, I was “the person,” I was the person who every day would buy a bottle of water, two bottles of water or more…

GA: Tap water.  Duh!  Just drink that.

VL: New York City tap water is the best!

GA: So, just to kinda wrap up, how can we get we get more information and where should we go?  How can we donate?

SS: For more information, go to ClimateRide.org.  You can look up the Wind Power Pedelars page and you can donate to our team.

GA: Do it!

SS: And send in your vote for Rich joining out team as well.  So September 26th through the 30th we’ll be riding, Wind Power Pedelars, check out ClimateRide.org, look up Wind Power Pedelars whether it’s $5 or $500, any penny counts.  We’ve gotta make it, we all have to make it to $2400.  We’re asking everyone to take a moment, log on and drop us a line.  Don’t buy water bottles for five days and give us $5 for that little piece of advice.

GA: Make one tiny sacrifice to save quite a few million tons of carbon emissions.  This is a real, real deal and we’re not just sitting around, we’re mobilizing on this, okay, this is a real ride.  Our guests have been Shawna Seldon, she’s the Senior Vice President of the Rosen Group and Vanessa Liberati, Founder and Executive Director of the Gitana Rosa Gallery, both riders, both committed, I’m Rich Awn, you’re listening to Green Air.

Photos courtesy of xtracycleinc, peteryan.com, Mono Recalcitrante