Anti-Nuclear Weapons Activists, Cyclists Ride from Washington DC to New York to Support Nonproliferation

April 20, 2015

Bike Away the Atomic Bomb, an awareness-raising bike ride sponsored by The ATOM Project and promoting Global Wave 2015, will start with a “Wave Goodbye to Nuclear Weapons” rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 21 and end in front of the United Nations on April 24. The event is a joint effort by The ATOM Project, Mayors for Peace and Bike for Peace.

Tore Nærland, co-founder of Bike for Peace and promoter of peace and nuclear disarmament since 1977; Thore Vestby, Mayor of Frogn, Norway, vice president of Mayors for Peace and a member of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament; Frank Tomlinson, vice president of Bike for Peace; Svein Arne Jerstad, Mayor of Kvinesdal; and Ann Suellentrop, an anti-nuclear activist from Kansas City, are going to ride from Washington D.C. to New York to draw attention to the worldwide threat of nuclear weapons and to call on governments at the conference to agree to the end of nuclear testing and the abolishment of nuclear weapons altogether. Olympic gold medalist Vladimir Smirnov and members of the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club, will join them for parts of the ride.

Karipbek Kuyukov, honorary ambassador of The ATOM Project, is a victim of the 40 years of nuclear testing conducted at the now-closed Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan. He was born without arms, but expresses his creativity through painting with his mouth and feet. Kuyukov has campaigned against nuclear testing around the world for decades and is now calling on global citizens to sign The ATOM Project petition to ban nuclear testing for good. Kuyukov, along with Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the U.S. Kairat Umarov, will be attending events in support of Bike Away the Atomic Bomb.

The campaign will start from Capitol Hill at 10:30 a.m. on April 21. The starting ceremony will include speeches by politicians, athletes and other cyclists, as well as a photo session and interviews with mass media. The riders will first head toward the White House and the Lincoln Memorial on their way to Bethesda, Maryland. The Potomac Pedalers Touring Club and Kazakh Olympic gold medalist Vladimir Smirnov will take part in the initial leg of the journey. The riders plan to reach Baltimore at 4 p.m. on the same day and visit Centennial Park, where local cyclists will join the team and will bike with it to City Hall.

On April 22, the team will leave from City Hall at 9 a.m. Together with local bicyclists and official representatives from Baltimore, it will bike 20 kilometers toward Philadelphia, then on to Wilmington, DE, to visit Wilmington University and Harvey Zendt, a local activist involved with Mayors for Peace.

The team will reach New York on April 24. They plan to ride from Overpeck County Park, cross the George Washington bridge into Manhattan and then bike towards the United Nations building via Central Park. Upon completing the ride, the team will be received with an event at Kazakhstan’s mission to the UN.