At a small cafe in Randolph, Wis., James Tinjum found himself surrounded by a dozen rapt diners, intrigued by the dedicated cyclist on a mission to promote wind energy.

“The biggest surprise is people I’ve talked to in Wisconsin really aren’t aware of the benefits and challenges of wind energy,” said Tinjum, an associate professor at UW Madison’s Department of Engineering Professional Development. “A 90-year-old lady in a convenience store stopped and talked with me for 25 minutes, just fascinated about what I’m doing.”

The 47-year-old eco-conscious engineer has spent the past two weeks biking 1,100 miles across Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, passing 47 wind energy sites along the way, and will have biked a total of 1,250 miles by the time he returns to Madison this evening. Tinjum uses his bike as his primary source of transportation, putting in up to 100 miles in an average week. His “Bike the Wind” tour will be his longest trip in 20 years, requiring up to 75 miles a day.