The MRA story so far...

I have always been into the idea of DIY.  Unfortunately, being a member of the computer games/ services economy, I have been raised baring few practical skills.  I was asked to try and build a series of pedal power generators for the 2007 2Morrow Park Sideshow for the Peats Ridge Festival purely because I expressed a dream of doing so.  
I worked hard on getting some second hand bikes (from the Bike Ecology Centre) looking real good - one was painted like a candy cane.  Then I set about building the generators by enlisting the help of a team of people with various skills that I didn't have such as welding, construction and understanding electricity.  After weeks of researching, planning, painting and collecting materials, I hadn't got anywhere near creating electricity.  I still couldn't grasp the concept of volts, watts and amps no matter how many times I read the water pipe analogy.
So with less than two weeks to go, I prayed for rain.
And it rained, and rained and rained.... and the festival was cancelled, letting me off the hook of bringing about a miracle.
The topic rested for a number of years until, yet again, I was keen to get into Peats Ridge.  I built my first pedal power generator for the 2009 Bohemian Love Theatre as part of the Festival.  I used a heavy iron exercise bike, a rusty old ford laser alternator and some bits of sticky tape and wire.  The power generated from it was only DC and after some crunchy pedaling I was able to electrify a rear car light.  This simple achievement was a massive step forward, though it was only a fraction of where I wanted to go.  I had some fun with it at the festival but wanted something more engaging and effective in powering everyday objects.
In 2010 my friend Meegan introduced me to Adams and Barbora from the Magnificent Revolution in the UK.  They were building generators that could power appliances, PAs and Cinema rigs - very clever.  
Meegan and I chipped in to buy one of their generators - CE Standardisd, professionally welded and most of all, effective in creating real current - AC and DC.  They sent us over the components and through skype they instructed us to build it.  Here is a video of my friend George pedalling on our first MRA generator, powering his guitar amp and having a jolly good time"

(or I will when I get decent internet - i promise)

Since then we have used the Single Bike Generator at:

• The Wickham World Cup 2010 to power the PA (hot chips were given to people who pedaled for 5 minutes or more)
• Climate Action Newcastle's Smart Energy Expo 2011
• The Newcastle Green's Election Night Party, which in 2011 coincided with Earth Hour