Road Tripping on a Specialized Tarmac

I took my first ride yesterday on my so-righteously-sweet Specialized Tarmac in preparation for the Brita Climate Ride starting this Saturday. When I took it in to be tuned up the technicians at my local bike shop here in Brooklyn were visibly envious and very stoked for me that I get to ride it. There’s an increasingly influential biking community in NYC which has made massive gains in getting bike lanes marked on streets throughout the city, which of course makes riding safer and more comfortable. I randomly met one of the biking community’s leaders last week while in my chiropractor’s office, which would seem odd save for the fact that I’ve also recently met an executive from Whole Foods, a co-founder of a new raw foods company called gRAWnola and a woman who had just spent 8 days tripping her face off while chilling with a Shaman in the Amazonian rainforest all while being adjusted on one of Dr. Adam Lamb’s two tables. The man has quite a following and has even been known to adjust a few road weary rock stars when they hobble into town. But back to bikes. Apparently, word quite literally on the street is that NYC is close to implementing a public bicycle ride share program similar to Smart Bike DC which was launched in downtown Washington DC this past spring and modeled on the successful bike share programs underway in cities like Paris, Lyon, Brussels, and Barcelona.

Specialized also sent me all of my gear for our 5-day, 320-mile bike ride so I’m feeling significantly more confident as I get ready to join serious bike riders from organizations like Rails To Trails which is also a sponsor of the event. The event’s co-founders are amongst other things former bike guides for Backroads, so camping aside (which is just about totally not my preferred way to hang out in nature), I’m anticipating an incredibly fun adventure.

-- Josh