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NEW YORK CITY REPORT Sep 21 - Oct 13, 2006
Gal in NYC 2006 Photo Gallery Rides, architecture, Soho Apple store movie showings of the Route 66 by Bicycle movie.
Can you stand any more photos of NY folding funsters?
BF Club of NY social amble to the Little Red Light house. There's even a Moulton and a big wheel bike in there!
Rubbing rubber with NY traffic. My NY stint began in a most auspicious manner. Somewhere on 39th St, after leaving Grand Central Station, I came to a screeching halt. To my left rear, a car had lightly sandwiched my left rear TravelTrailer wheel under a tire. Dang it, why did I gift my trailer flag to Lon Haldeman back in Wisconsin? I gave the driver a polite both hands pushing air signal, and he inched back, causing a cacophany of tooting behind him. Moral: wave the flag!
This is probably the fourth time I'd been to NY, and every time I come here I have a blast. This time, I had two 'Made on a Mac' presentations set up at the Soho Apple Store theater, showing my Route66 by Bicycle and 16,000 Feet on a FridayDVD movies. The theme of the talks were slanted towards 'Digital Camera Movie Making with a Mac' rather than 'cycling' although there was plenty of interest in both, especially as Theater coordinator Frank Bonomo had designated it a 'bike friendly event'. Translation - we were permitted to shlep our bikes, folding and otherwise, upstairs to the slick theater. For a brief moment my Bike Friday eclipsed the latest iPod incarnation. But only for a moment ...
Chelsea: Coolcat Central. New York is so expensive that I could not stay here for more than a few exhalations if not for the generosity of my homestay hosts. This year, a Bike Friday Club of NY member again allowed me to encroach on his immaculately appointed bachelor pad groaning with architecture tomes, an accommodation arrangement that challenges the foulest of weather friendships. However, he informed me that a squadron of nieces and nephews regularly touches down on his landing pad. He lives in fashionable Chelsea, where men are buff, anything goes on the arts front, and people walk little designer dogs on the cobbled pavement - there's even little doggy-treats dispensers mounted on some gateposts. He doesn't even own a Bike Friday, but as a Moulton and Brompton owner, qualifies on wheel circumference.
Sashaying the sashay. What do you do off a Friday in NY, that you don't do in granola bar Eugene, Oregon? Visit cooler-than-thou boutiques called Balenciaga, clearly designed as an architectural statement. My architect and I admired and intellectualized the chic minimalism/industrialism of this arty concrete cave, the odd $250 glove casually strewn on a plinth to remind you it was a clothing store. The attendants looked like something out of Bladerunner meets Burberry and left us well alone. They probably had x-ray vision for reading my credit card balance through my backpack. This would have to top Jeffrey's, a place we swanned into last year, appropriately underdressed.
When I am on the road I enter the lives of my hosts, fitting in with their shticks. Our next stop was an architectural lighting show. I swanned around making like a Mies and found a light I particularly liked - a triage of pastel colored, silicon fallopian tubes which you could twist and tie in all kinds of anatomically-incorrect contortions. The price of one fallopian tube? $300. I guess I'll just stick to my LED bike light with a sock over it.
There's a reason why New Yorkers don't cook. I had the dubious honor of christening my host's stove. This is New York, you eat out. Stoves never get turned on and are often storage units for wine. However, groceries are so expensive, and I soon realized why. NY has mom and pop stores - there's simply no room for soulless big box retailers - and there's a price for it. A $1.50 carton of of soymilk was $3.00 here. If you want to save money you're probably better off ignoring your shopping list and springing for a gyros at the local greasy spoon.
Bike Friday Club of NY rides. There's over sixty people in the BF club of NYwhich seems to stir only when I land in town to guilt them into getting together and riding. Jim Mallard led a nice little spin to the li'l Red Lighthouse, followed by flesh of dead animal at the Dinosaur BBQ. David led a fantastic and fully commented Harlem Architectural tour, which he may be coerced into running again if more than one person turns up next time. I rode with the New York Cycle Club and met BF customer Colleen McGuire of www.cyclegreece.gr. There are several midweek rides for retirees and trust fund babies, and this one went to Piermont, over the George Washington Bridge and out along a wonderful trail called River Road on the New Jersey side. Beware: the head is a sign telling you that you must have 24" wheels or greater - obviously trying to dissuade rollerbladers and BMXers - and Bike Friday folk!
2x Bike Friday owner Hilge Hurford came from her 'breakfast with the president of Botswana' to take me on a fabulous ride through Staten Island, Liberty State Park and Jersey City, which she promises she'll lead again if you join the club and ask her to. She says she's been bailed up in the lobby of her upper east side penthouse for bringing her Friday in. 'They let babies in strollers in, they can let me and my bike in too!' she said, shoulder charging the lobby Nazi, and as she towers above most mortals I wouldn't dare argue with her. Here, here Hilge!
Come out and show yourself! While lunching with Alan Fine, a Dahon riding screen writing IT guru, someone left a nice note on my bicycle. Thank you ... it made my day!
Other Friday folk I met were the Yemen on a Friday couple Candida and Jan; 6'5" Nic Mancello, who bought a Pocket Llama to 'liberate himself from the NY Subway'; Dr Steven Chang, looking straight out of Grey's Anatomy, who found several occasions to leave the operating table to meet and make merry with the Gal, and our NY dealer David Lam of Bfold Bicycles. David's tiny store is open at the very customer friendly hours of 3pm-8pm Tue to Sunday. While there, I met Steve McMaster of BikeTV bought a Pocket Tourist for his gal. Come drinketh of the Kool Aid!
Old friends in new places. One of the highlights of my dilettantish working life was a period working as a copywriter and creative director for Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising. And one of the highlights of my NY stay was a rendezvous with two favorite Aussies. One was my first mentor back in Australia, George Betsis, and the other was a dear pal Rodd Chant, who has reached the dizzying pinnacle of success in the advertising world, being head honcho of FCB. Now all of us will be crawling to him for a job. You don't get paid the big bucks in NY for catnapping, however - Rodd and George were so busy I only got to meet them for just 15 minutes of famine - I didn't even get to eat breakfast. I hope I'll not have to wait another seven years to see them again ...
More NY shenanigans. The Top of the Rock(efeller) tower offers a blustery view of Manhatten and many go up for the sunset. However, at $17 a piece I suspect Hayley Chang's suggestion was better - go to the top of the Peninsula Hotel, buy a $17 cocktail if you must, and get the view for, ahem, free ...
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CONNECTICUT Aug 29 - Sep 12, 2007
John Whitton-Bria with his NYT Style section article about folding bikes. He was the official tester, and not at all biased, no...
Gal in Connecticut 2006 Photo Gallery Some of the best scenic and hilly riding you could wish for; Route66 @ Appalachian Mtn Club
Riding in the land of Newman O's TWO YEARS ago I spoke at the Appalachian Mountain Club in Westport, CT, on my The Handsomest Man in Cuba book tour. This year I was invited back to show my Route 66 by Bicycle movie at their Bethel meeting plcae, and spend more time in this area. Well, I am obliged to gush - the biking is spectacular. As the artist currently known as John Whitton-Bria said, 'it's all just NICE.' He took me on a wooded, winding and wending ride, past jaw dropping ye olde real estate, moody beaches and romantic seaside shacks ... and some decent hills to keep you in shape. We dined with BF owners the Rothschilds in a swank Indian Restaurant in New Canaan. It was the first and probably last time I will experience $25 chicken korma.
Speaking of restaurants, we did not spot Paul Newman, despite Eleanor claiming that she runs into him all the time at the fish counter. I am told the famous couple are opening a restaurant where Paul will actually greet diners. I understand he's very nice, so I cannot imagine they'll be installing a pay-as-you-genuflect electronic autograph dispenser at the cashier's.
Globe-Pequot. My Cuba book will be published in Spring 2007 by Globe-Pequot, and I was privileged to have the Marketing Director Chris Grimm actually show up at my AMC talk. Now there's a man that goes out of his way to do a great job and my name is not even Grisham nine times removed. He's crewed RAAM, which speaks volumes. Afterwards, a group of us went out to shoot the chilly breeze in the only pub open in Bethel. We all remarked how rare it was to have 4 single adults in their 40's spontaneously convene with the kind of connection that single, adventurous misfits (SAMs) share. A life of pedaling slightly uphill, with no one in front to fixate on, and no-one behind to bring up the rear. The exception being happily married Heidi, who was able to stay out all night so qualified as an honorary SAM. She has since burst out and bought a road bike and now feels no guilt about pedaling away from soccer mom convos now and then. I think we've unleashed a monster ...
Thank you the AMC's David Roberts (an Appalachian alumnus in his own right) and to my hosts Eleanor Sasso and Heidi and Daryl Hawk, for whisking me away to their gingerbread bungalows and adopting me for a little while ...
For my NY stay, thank you to my host David Holowka, the Bike Friday Club of NY and Apple Store Soho's Frank Bonomo.
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UPSTATE NEW YORK Sep 12-20, Oct 5-10, '07
Spectacular Ithaca: a good reason to go ride with the new Bike Friday Club of Ithaca
Gal in Westchester 2006 Photo Gallery Reunited with PACTOUR Route66 pals for good food and great scenery
Gal in Ithaca 2006 Photo Gallery Ithaca is shale and waterfall central! Plus a sustainable Housing Bike Tour
Bike Friday Club of Ithaca A great excuse to go upstate and ride
The gorgeous gorges of Ithaca Just take a look a the photo gallery. Ithaca is the spectacular result of glacier activity and the site of Cornell University. My hosts were Bike Friday Club of Ithaca leader Andrejs and Diana Ozolins. Ithaca would appear to be an idyllic place to study the splitting of the atom et al, but apparently it has a darker side which someone felt obliged to share:
Leaping into gorges -- well, it does happen now and again. Most of the falls and deaths aren't suicide, though. One gruesome incident about two years ago was when two guys were jogging on a sidewalk next to a gorge. They were new to Ithaca, I guess. There was a low fence between the sidewalk and gorge, and the jogger suddenly decided to leap to the other side of the fence -- apparently thinking he would just resume his stride on the other side. So, he was a gonner, to the horrified disbelief of his jogging partner.
Last spring, a woman was killed when she wandered out past the warning signs under Taughannock Falls (the tall, thin falls). A huge chunk of rock detached from the cliff and fell on her. But in any serious examination of the issue, the biggest problem is that airhead students get themselves into stupid danger and then the rescue workers are obliged to get hurt extricating them. This has happened a number of times, including deaths of rescuers. So, the authorities are pretty strict and unsympathetic when they catch people where they're not supposed to be.
There have been studies of stress in higher education, and Cornell ranks pretty high along with Yale, Princeton, Harvard in pushing young people to the limits of endurance. These institutions do have more suicides than other, more average settings ...
The Ithaca Eco Village Andrejs co-led a bike tour of a co-housing village where neighbors presumeably talk to each other as well as share the winter veggies. Then it was onto a wind generator and a straw bale house. Take a look at the photo gallery. I am already dreaming about this kind of life in Hawaii... assuming the shelves don't rattle too much.
Westchester County. I homestayed here with Rosemary and 10,000 miles-this-year Jim Meyers who I met on the Route 66 expedition. They invited me to a fabulous wine dinner at the reputed Peter Pratt's. This is something I have not done since hosting my own Grange-Hermitage-infused (Aussies will know what that means) birthday party in a swank restaurant almost 20 years ago, when my once-was and I were living high on the hog as Oracle consultants downunder. Jim is a fabulous cook and wino so I knew I was in for a treat. The theme at Pratt's was 'wines of Burgundy' with poison supplied by Suburbanwines.com, a misnomer if there ever was one. I was informed that the opening sips started at $40 a bottle and went up to the mid 00's. I did not dare mention that I don't really drink, but during the rounds of the introductions, simply stated my occupation as 'being at the right place and the right time.' Sit down at the table with us and enjoy a virtual tasting tour of the what we nibble and sipped that night.
My 'Shot of Irony' is entitled Sleepy Hollow. However, there are some beautiful pockets in urban NY, like Treman Reserve near the Meyers' house. Just ask locals like Jim, who ride a bike.
The other event I squeezed in here was the Westchester Golden Apple Century. This $28 event was one of the most well planned I'd even encountered - 25/50/75/100/125 mile routes, great food and a fabulous several course meal at the end with ROASTED MEDITERANNEAN VEGETABLE HOAGIES among other things at the end. I hope to give a presentation to this club in 2007.
There was a lot of interest in my Pro Petite especially due to my technique for doing centuries (not). I reproduce it here. Try it - you'll like it!
HOW TO DO CENTURIES (NOT) by The Galfromdownunder
 I DON'T do centuries. I find lotsa miles boring. I generally do the middling option - 50-60. Even on PACTOUR events (but for that, I am always working in some capacity so can usually wag out and save face). My technique for a) getting fit and b) meeting almost everyone at some point and c) getting back early enough to still have most of the day at my disposal - is to only do the 50-60 option. The drill: leave earlyish but nor real early. Hammer with the fast guys as they catch you, drop back after a while, take a rest, mingle and chat with who comes along. Wait for the next fast group. Repeat until you are at the back, by which time you have arrived in early enough, you've had several good hard sprints which are better than one long middling slog (according to Fred Matheny of www.roadbikerider.com), you've said hi to most and here's the crazy part - they all think you're fast! I had several guys pass me after a 36 mph stretch saying 'hey, you're doing great!'. Because you're actually 'speeding up' to meet the fast guys, rather than expecting them to slow down to meet you, you don't frustrate well meaning friends who might feel obliged to hang with you. This, BTW, does great things for the sales of Bike Fridays - judging from the attention I got at the rest stops and at the finish ... - The Gal |
Thank you to my hosts Andrejs and Diana Ozolins and Rose and Jim Meyers for their Upstate NY hospitality.
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NEW JERSEY Oct 13-16, 2006
It's a moooooooovie ... (click to see it)
Gal in Central Jersey 2006 Photo Gallery A visit to the Martian Landing Site!
YouTube Movie Clip: Martian Landing Ride - they lived to tell the tale!
Bike Friday Club of New Jersey
Bike Friday Club of Central Jersey
A visit to a Martian Landing Site And so to Central Jersey, where I did my Route 66 shtick for the Central Jersey Bike club thanks to my host, BF Club of Central Jersey leader Ben Blum. The BF Club of New Jersey leader Dave Porter surprised us by coming 60 miles to join the fun. Such is the Force of the Fold. We visited Grove's Mill, the place where the War of the Worlds radio broadcast convinced a nation that the Martians had landed, sparking off riots and suicides. Feel the mayhem ... click on the YouTube clip below!
Thank you to Ben Blum for coming in to NY fetching me, organizing my CJBC talk and then putting me on a train to Boston!
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BOSTON Oct 17-25, 2006
Telecommuting the Bike Friday way - arrival at the Millers, my hosts in Natick, MA
Gal in Boston Photo Gallery Film Fest, Cambridge, and the 'shot that was heard around the world'.
AND SO to Boston. Instead of taking the famous $15 Fung Wah chicken bus from Chinatown to Chinatown, I splurged. A $78 one way Amtrak ticket from Metropark NJ had me zipping along in AC/DC luxury, meaning I had an electrical outlet to plug in my laptop and watch the seminal 'My Architect' on DVD. It is in these moments you appreciate such simple things as a This is a wonderful, heart massaging movie, and a fitting reprise to my NY stay with my architect host Dave. With tears streaming down my face, matching those rolling off the windows, I, my bagged Friday and suitcase trailer rolled into the Back Bay station. There, I met my host and urban planning sage David Loutzenheizer for a rainy 6 mile pedal to his house in Cambridge.
My week here was jam packed. First, the Moving Together Conference, an annual brouhaha of transportation and urban planning glimmerati. Next year I hope to give a talk on the perfect folding bike to use with Mass Transit. Not any particular bike mind you, just the perfect one ...
BBFF '06. Next, was the Boston Bike Film Festival, a local event where my Route 66 by Bicycle movie was shared. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the 44-min cut down DVD to play, so folks had to suffer through the 54-min commemorative edition with me up in the wings hitting the skip button to keep it within the time slot. Oh well, I had my 15 nanoseconds of fame last year. I met the tireless BBFF Director Cat Bryant and Ciclismo Classico's Lauren Hefferon after talking to these gals on email for months spanning into years. Lauren has just become a Bike Friday owner. Mamma mia, how much easier it will be for her to shlep her bike back and forth from Italia to Boston!
Cambridge is a wonderful place to live and ride. A kind of Disneyworld of academia, parks, quirky business and wonderful architecture, ranging from regal to darn quaint. Like Cornell in Ithaca (see ITHACA in this report), it made me wish I was smart enough to go study something. The Head of the Charles Regatta was in full swing, reminding me of when I was determined to become and Olympic single sculler downunder. Only when I realized I was always going to be beaten by longer limbed women in my height-weight division, did I hang my oars up. No, being a cox was NOT an option - it does nothing for your thighs or cardio vascular system ...
Noodling to Natick. Finally, I packed my suitcase trailer for the 17 mile fall-colored pedal out to Natick, out west, for my final east coast talk. But not before my hosts Dick and Jill Miller took me to the venerable Building #19 1/5, a closeout store with the most brazen marketing message around: "Welcome to our humble store - we've got a lot to be humble about!' Inside I found our gourmet dinner for the evening - a packet of whole wheat pasta and a bottle of Emeril's Kick it up Vodka sauce all for less than a dollar total. It's not all dollar stuff - there's a corner for designer clothing once destined for Balenciagas in New York, now languishing here in the concrete and fluorescent lit ambience of Building 19 (and 1/5). We're talking $350 leather and cashmere threads marked down to $50. If you find stuff cheaper elsewhere they give you 'an el cheapo bottle of champagne'. As an advertising person, I admire the consistency of their message, right down to the story-covered paper cups that talk about their mission to 'liberate polystyrene'.
The presentation, for Massbike, Charles River Wheelman and whoever happened to not trash my email bleat, went well. I think I might have even converted some die hard albeit more secure big wheelers to considering a Friday.
For my swansong the Millers took me on a cultural and literary tour including Henry David Thoreau's replica house at Walden Pond, Louisa May Alcott's house, and the route of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, where the American Revolution began in 1775 (viz, "the shot heard 'round the world'). Wiki explanation.
Dick informed me that Thoreau, for all his romanticizing about the unfettered life, actually ate most nights at his folks house. Huh. I wonder how different his writings would have been if he'd been stuck with my little tin stove on the side of a freezing hill, or been assaulted by a crazy in Cuba, or living out of my Ortleib panniers for three months. A little more jaundiced and therefore eminently unsaleable like mine, perhaps ...
Thank you to my hosts David Loutzenheizer and Trina Chang, Dick and Jill Miller, the LAB's John Allen for championing my event.
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Now it's back to the Bike Friday factory in Eugene, Oregon to make it look like I actually have a day job rather than a 24/7 occupation, then Hawaii and Australia. Keep an eye here for news from that neck of the bulldozed woods, and feel to write to me via my blog.
I hope to see you in March 2007 for the Bike Friday Arizona Desert Camp. Get packing - we have a video that tells you how.
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OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST
Buy the Route66 DVD from Bike FridayRead the full montymedia about it at www.bikefriday.com/route66
Gal in the Midwest Wisconsin and Chicago
Gal Across America still on her transcontinental telecommute
Bike Friday Clubs Check out the action in the above areas!
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Permalink: http://www.bikefriday.com/eastcoast or http://www.galfromdownunder.com/eastcoast