Eight feet in the air… On a big wheel.
That's the main mode of transportation for one Davis man. You may have seen Martin Kreig on the UC Davis bike path. He rides an old fashion "high wheeler" also known as a Penny-Farthing bike.
It's a unique sight but, the riders back story is bigger than his wheel.
"I was in a coma for two months I was clinically dead. Bikes saved by life." Kreig said.
The 63 year-old was in a car wreck when he was 23. Injuries left him immobile for years.
To gain his strength back Kreig started biking. He became an avid cyclist and has biked across the country twice. Once in 1979 and then again in 1986.
"I am looking to create a coast to coast bike highway called the national bicycle highway." Kreig said.
For more than three decades, Kreig has been trying to gain support to build a bike path from San Francisco to DC. He hoped to gain notoriety on a third cross country trip riding his 1897 Eagle high wheel bike.
"It was crazy," Kreig recalled. "I also had some mechanical issues."
Those mechanical issues were due to a car accident in Utah that unfortunately ended the trip. But, the biker hasn't given up. That's why he moved to Davis where the high wheelers is a familiar symbol.
"Not everyone can ride a high wheeler," Kreigs said. "If I can do this I can get the National Bicycle Greenway done."
Mastering the high wheeler is Kreigs way of raising the bar higher. Maybe with his big wheel he can pave a path for an entire nation.