A Few Bike Friends

Lovely Violet Ruschak wearing my cap at the Park Slope Farmers Market:

Shirley Leong - a coworker and friend poses with her vintage "Pony" folder:

Saleen and Aseer on their custom choppers. I saw them riding through the neighborhood yesterday - and riding em' right! They were doing a nice slow cruise, which seems like exactly what those bikes are for. I chased them down and stopped them to ask for a picture. Nice meeting you both!
This picture isn't exactly in line with the title of the post - but I suddenly noticed this on the side of a building in Williamsburg. Either it has been there forever and I am sadly oblivious to my surroundings, or it is new. Anyone know what this is about - hopefully, not pizza.

JUST MISSED....

...owning an Alex Singer bicycle. Well - by about 50 years..but still. My parents were visiting for the weekend and my mom got to looking at my The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles book.

She saw an Alex Singer in the book and said that she had one just like it when she was little. Her neighbor in Jacksonville, Florida had given it to her. The woman's husband had brought it back with him from Europe and the woman never rode it. My mom and her family thought it was made by the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Mom said that she rode it all over the place - it was black with shiny silver fenders.
I stopped by Cycles Alex Singer while in Paris. I got to talk to Mr. Csuka a little bit and spent about an hour oggling the beauties in the window.

Touring Trip - MY FIRST!

I don't speak much French...in fact, I would characterize the amount of French I speak as "damned little". But this didn't stop me from having a great trip. First off, the French have a completely undeserved reputation for being rude. Everyone I met was helpful, friendly, and polite. "Please" and "Thank you" go a long way, it seems.
The first few days of the trip were spent riding around Paris and taking in the sights. The only musuems I went into were the Picasso Museum - which was incredible - and something described in the guidebook as a "museum of curiosities located in the basement of the Marquis de Sade's old house. I was game! Turned out to be a kiddie magic show and collection of old wind-up toys, both of which were pretty fun. I ran into an old magician friend, Max, in the Marquis' place.

As it turns out, a few people I know (loosely) were in Paris at the same time. We didn't run into each other, but an on-line discussion about Parisian bike culture followed. Along the lines of "there is no bike culture here - but everyone rides bikes". I think what everyone was trying to say was that there is no bike subculture in Paris - cycling is just part of the normal culture and has absolutley no outlaw cachet.

After riding in the city I made a few day trips/multi-day trips to Fontainbleu, Compiegne, Chantilly, Auvers sur Oise and a scattering of little towns in between those points. Riding through the French countryside was pretty much just like I imagined.