ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 28, 1996 TAG: 9605280070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: MAC DANIEL LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
It began for George Tatum in an infectious dream.
Lying in a hospital bed, falling in and out of sleep with a debilitating bout of mononucleosis, Tatum dreamed of biking and sailing.
The two dreams later gelled into one - a cloudy vision of cycling on water.
``They all mixed together,'' Tatum said. ``It was a strange dream that combined my two loves. But I wasn't riding a boat on the water. I was riding my actual bike on the water.''
When he awoke, he wrote it all down.
On Sunday, his dream became a reality. The 29-year-old Tatum, an English teacher for the Roanoke city schools, pedaled his patent-pending Peedobike out of Rudee Inlet to the sea.
Made up of 26 feet of sewage tubing, a plastic prop, a bow made of pine from an abandoned home, a Cannondale road bike and a simple gear transmission from a conveyor belt, Tatum's Peedobike may be the first water bike to ever employ the balance of cycling with hydrodynamics.
A patent request was filed last Tuesday. It should take about six months to find out what precedent, if any, Tatum may have set.
The patent was filed with help from Dave Littel, a 32-year-old Virginia Beach attorney and Tatum's longtime friend. They met 10 years ago while working as security guards at Busch Gardens.
Since the early 1800s, thousands of inventors have tried to create the perfect water bike. Most attempts, however, resulted in whirligigs weighing hundreds of pounds and gearing mechanisms that make Mack trucks look tame.
Thus far, Littel said, no one has fluidly combined the two principles - the power and balance of a bicycle that rides on water.
After his stay in the hospital, Tatum continued to dream. He saw himself riding a tube on the water. From that, while conscious, he thought of a fin that rides below water and is attached to the bike's handlebars - the Peedobike's balance mechanism.
He thought about attaching a rear rudder to the brake cables for tight turns. And the transmission was easy, though Tatum could only afford to buy one part at a time.
For buoyancy as the bike floats, Tatum designed two water wings that spread out from the tube with the help of elastic cords. While pedaling, the water wings are retracted. Boat bumpers were the perfect solution. He attached sailing cleats to his bike to hold the line.
When the bike tips over, the wings spread out for stability. Tatum crawls on the tube, remounts the bike, begins pedaling and retracts the wings.
He built numerous models, made detailed drawings and called Littel constantly. He had a powerful drive to build his dream.
Everyone, of course, said it wouldn't work - except Littel.
``I had to listen to him long enough,'' Littel said. ``After a while, I guess he explained it often enough for me to understand.''
Starting without even a drill, Tatum began gathering materials. The 26-foot tube wouldn't fit in Tatum's basement and had to be constructed in pieces. He ruined his wife's coffee table and initially had to use wood glue because he couldn't afford epoxy.
The tube was built long for speed, much like a rowing shell. And because the tube is shaped much like a torpedo, the name - Peedobike - was born.
Tatum had tested his contraption on calm lakes around Roanoke, overtaking canoes, kayaks and even sailboats. This weekend's seaward journey, however, was the culmination of those tests.
``Dave, I'm real nervous,'' said Tatum as he came out of a local restaurant in his riding garb - bike pants, shirt, shoes and a life vest. ``This is a big moment. This kind of makes my whole dream come true. It was here, on the sea. So this will be it.''
The start of the journey was smooth on the calm surface of the inlet. But as Tatum rode out into breaking waves churned by a steady easterly head wind, the bike toppled just outside the protective inlet jetty. Tatum got back on the bike and pedaled towards his distant destination, the 15th Street pier.
A surfing contest at the Second Street beach was about to begin another round when the announcer warned the surfers ``we've got, what, a Jet Ski out there?'' The announcer was wrong. It was Tatum.
Tatum fell numerous times, a victim of rough seas more than rough design. On a nearby beach, Littel began taking off his shoes and his watch, preparing to swim in long pants a good 200 yards to his friend.
Finally, after about his 10th fall, Tatum began to pedal his way back into the inlet. Littel put his shoes back on.
Back at the inlet, as $70-an-hour Jet Skis roared nearby, a self-propelled Tatum was far from dejected.
``I'm a little disappointed,'' he said, while pedaling in short circles around a dock. ``But I'm almost confident that with an 18-inch fiberglass hull, I could have kept up with those surfers. I'm sure of it. I'm absolutely sure of it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP George Tatum of Roanoke pedals around Lucas Creek toby CNBdemonstrate his invention that's awaiting a U.S. patent. Tatum calls
his single-hull vessel a "Peedobike."