Last NYC Bike Commute

These are the official last commute to work in New York City commute pics. Ever.
This wasn't my official last day of work, because on thad day, I wore flare jeans and felt too dangerous to take pics (in case the flares caught in the chain b/c I just half-assed tight rolled them.)

The X over the bike is where the DOT is changing the paint to make the 72nd street transverse in Central Park 2-way. Hooray!

There will probably be a few more NYC bike rides, but no more to my NYC job!

Summer Saturdays are for Living

I had a big, Saturday lady-date with Malaika. We met at Minetta Tavern. She's always wanted to go, and I'm doing all this NYC Bucket List stuff since we're leaving in a few weeks.

Minetta Tavern is old and cute. We had big fat, juicy burgers.




I lied- Minetta wasn't exactly on my NYC Bucket List, but I got the idea when Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls tweeted that their new, summer 2012 location is across the street from Minetta Tavern, and I was interested because of that Fran Lebowitz: Public Speaking documentary I saw on HBO.

What a convenient, wonderful meal plan? I thought. Malaika signed on without hesitation.

And Sno-Balls came after burgers because we are geniuses.


Half pear - half peaches & cream


Then, we biked up 6th Ave... 

...And got rained on a little. 
But we arrived at our third destination - The Museum of Modern Art, to catch one last intriguing glimpse of the Cindy Sherman retrospective. 

We both left feeling full and inspired. Good Saturday!

Biggest Monday

Monday was HUGE for two reasons.

1. I was filmed for a reality show. Not some bug-eating-fear-factor crap either, but a pilot for a show about Girls who ride Bikes in NYC.

2. I saw My President, Barack Obama in the flesh, up-close for the first time.

This is what I looked like for both events:


Filming was fun, but it rained on us and my 20 minute commute was 2 hours because we would do stuff over and over and they would shoot me from different angles. There was also a still-photo photo shoot in the middle. Some neighborhoodies have stopped me to ask what this film crew was all about. That's fun.
I hope the show gets picked-up by a network.

Here's Dom, who accompanied me on my ride to work until we got totally rained out, the cameras were in danger, and we parted ways.


This is what the marquee looked like on the New Amsterdam Theatre for the blessed event of the evening:


I can't even explain how good my seat was. It was on the aisle, about 15 rows back and the dudes in front of me got up during the good stuff so my view was so clear, I could tell you what Barack's tie pattern was like. It was dreamy.

Sure, I rode an overnight bus to his Inauguration but I was soooo farrrr awaaaayyy then. It was more about the solidarity and magic of the day. For all my life I can say "I was there!" Millions of people on the National Mall and you could hear a pin drop. But that's an old story not totally related to this big Monday I had.

I'm so glad I went to all of these events.

The Bike Ladies Picnic was Rad

Everyone was really cute, really cool and everyone already rode bikes so it was just a good old, lady biker jam session on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Rad, I tell you!

I'm really tired but I wanted to digest what I feel was a great success and a very nice time - My Bike Month event - the Ladies Brown Bag Bike Brunch Picnic. (Back in the cold of winter, I was invited to a TA bike month planning event and I was compelled to host a little something-something and this was my event.) I had such a nice time and I'm so thrilled with the awesome ladies who turned up. Thank you! We have a wonderful community of stylish ladies on bikes. I'm so proud of us. 

I was really busy talking and listening and eating things so I didn't get the most thorough pics but I stole Malaika's pics, per usual.



Malaika and I were hanging out for a little bit after the event, and I realized how amazingly coordinated she was today - Helmet looks fab with dress. She's the best.


I wanted to have something so the ladies could find me, so I went to Party City and got a dozen balloons. It was fucking insane riding with a dozen balloons. The wind was hearty today and the wind resistance of riding a bicycle made this really exciting in the obnoxious way, but man, they looked cute, and I think they were awesome for my visibility going down the street.



After balloons, I went to pick-up cupcakes. When I came out, Ethan Hawke was on his cell phone in the bike lane. He totally watched me balance a huge bag of cupcakes on the left handlebar and wrangling a dozen balloons kind-of behind me (so I could try to see) with my right hand. Luckily, I wasn't going far in this precarious arrangement. I'm not looking for boys, but I'm pretty sure Ethan Hawke was impressed with what a boss I am.

I loved everyone who came out today and they were all cool ladies who I'd love to see again.


Everyone who attended already had bikes and rode in either Manhattan or Brooklyn or Queens regularly. Some were daily commuters. Some were getting started in commuting. Nobody was a scaredy cat - everyone seemed confident about riding. We talked accessories, cargo and helmet hair.

Oh! I loved how most everyone showed-up in a helmet. Safe chic, baby!

Amanda is such an awesome girl. I've met her before and I enjoy her through many internet outlets, especially the tweeter. She's floral everything and a faux chanel fanny that I'm quite envious of.


Totally unrelated to the topic at hand, but really cool and we were excited was a plane flew over and spelled-out a marriage proposal in smoke letters or whatever-you-call that stuff.

Christine Hall will u marry me? We hope/imagine she said yes. We couldn't readily locate her from our post.

I made it home with just two balloons, a lot of string and shreds. It was all good riding home with just two. That's probably my max.


I want to say again, THANK YOU to everyone who attended. I feel so happy that we have such a nice community of stylish ladies on bicycles- Seriously, everyone looked so stylish. Made me so proud and happy!  We should have organized and had a little photo shoot, but we were so busy talking and talking.

Chantal, Gabrielle, Krista, Jen, Amanda, Adrienne, Malaika, and Gigi, Thanks for making the afternoon so great! 

Bill!

I've had a lot of Bill Cunningham sightings. I think I know where he lives, I definitely know where he goes to work and I've seen him several times on my bicycle commute.
I see him on streets in the 50's near 6th and 7th Aves. most often. 

This is what I was wearing today - I think my purple ($20 Bisou Bisou at JCP) pants caught his eye. He certainly caught mine is his blue jacket but I didn't make eye contact as I know he's all about the candid.



To my knowledge, this evening he took my photo for the third time.

First time: Gay Pride Parade 2011
2nd: 5 boro bike tour right after I snapped him
3rd time: This evening along 6th ave. near 48th

My previous two pics totally went in the garbage. I hope one day they put all of his photos online like the Patrick McMullan website and we can buy them.

Either way, it was very exciting in that just seeing him is a celebrity sighting in itself and the exciting fantasy of showing up in On The Street in the NYTimes is fun. Here's to hoping the third time is the charm!

Yes, of course I'll be buying the paper this weekend. 

5Boro Bike Tour Review

This video is dedicated to my friend Malaika. 

5 Boro Bike Tour Review from JPH on Vimeo.

I hated the tour for myself, but I loved it for the tourists. It was neat at times to see the skyline from different angles and ride on safe, car-free streets.

I think I just don't like bike tours, but I love summer streets.
Summer Streets is a more ideal scene for me. 

It did freak me out a tiny bit to be so far south of the State of Liberty on my bike.

This is me in Staten Island. Normal clothes. It was not difficult.


The real highlight of my day was taking this pic of Bill Cunningham. I should have just gone back to bed right after this.


I was really miserable on the tour though, as in, mental anguish. I thought it would be more social for me. It was sad and lonely and everyone's faux Tour de France get-ups made me grossed-out, as in, how did I get myself mixed-up in this?!

Someone said to me at the end, "god bless you, you don't have bike shorts" and I was like "I am fine. You didn't have to wear that." -A sexy beer gut and full spandex.


People said "I can't believe you did this without any gears on that bike!" and again, I was really irritated and could barely respond with "I'm fine. This was just fine. " I was advised that the entire 40 mile tour is very flat and slow, and it was, and I was totally prepared. Seriously, my strapless bra to avoid tan lines was the most uncomfortable element of my day. I never had to get off and walk my bike. Please. 


I also saw someone in clip-in pedals fall smooth over before the tour even started, so I'm sure all the people who buy that stuff feel the need to justify those purchases by breaking it all out big-time for every event possible.

I'm happy to be home here!


This is a 5 Boro Bike Tour Bike - Single speed, coaster brakes, panniers to hold snacks & sunscreen, handbag up-front to hold wallet, camera, phone.


Glad I raised money for Planned Parenthood through my fundraiser. Glad I saw Lindsey's new bicycle.

Over and out! 


5/15/12 Update: I got a bunch of angry feedback on this post. This is "The Julie Blog" not the "Angry Anonymous Jerks" blog. This blog is about my opinions and life experiences. 
Click away if you don't like it. 

Big Bike Weekend!

It's a Big Bike Weekend! It's finally 5 Boro Bike Tour Weekend!
I made my fundraising goal and I'm ready to do the ride. I've never been on the Staten Island Ferry before, and I'm excited to get to bike on the FDR.

Friday I'm running errands (picking up my team Planned Parenthood t-shirt race package and my tour race package) and going to the Expo. I'm going to be in the Momentum Mag Fashion Show which happens on Saturday at 11am and 3pm. I'll be tweeting @Juleskills and Instagramming it up, I'm sure.

In honor of Bike Month I made a video of some of my commute - the peaceful, pretty part in Central Park and then the wild part in Times Square. I sped it way up and the sound is yucky, so mute it. The visuals are plenty.


Super-speed bike to work from JPH on Vimeo.
This is my ride from Central Park to work (missing the part of my neighborhood, maybe another time) through Times Square to Garment Dist. into the building where I work.

I sped it way up to make it fit in under 2 minutes.


Have a wonderful weekend wherever you are! Happy Cindo de Mayo and Happy Birthday to my friend Meghan! 

Bike Month is Every Month

A while back, when I went to this Bike Month planning meeting at TA headquarters, there was brief discussion of how Bike Month would become obsolete as Every Month is Bike Month. Every day is bike to work day. 

Strategy: Bare legs dry off quickly. They do. 

Thank goodness, because May 1st was a little sprinkly.


Trusty bandana to soak up some rain.




It's all good if you don't get rain in your eyeball to ruin your makeup, no taxis splash you, and it's not too cold. It was a great success!

5 Minutes of Nonsense

This video is me rambling about my adventures last Thursday night. The night I met Velouria.

All my cameras were broken so I made this video diary. I felt embarrassed about it, but now the embarrassment has expired and I can post it here.

There are no outrageous squeals or curse words but forgive my sniffles and nose-wiping.

Untitled from JPH on Vimeo.


At the end I talk about the dress I'm wearing to my Bike Month Picnic which matches the flyer.
I didn't do that on purpose. 

Ape Hangers

Malaika and I went to the bike show today, and all I wanna do is talk about how freaking awesome and rad ape hangers are.


These awesome dudes with the rad little bikes weren't even inside they show, they were just hanging on the sidewalk out front at a moment when we popped out.


THANK GOODNESS WE POPPED OUT AT THIS EXACT TIME SO WE GOT TO SEE THEM AND SIT ON THEIR RAD LITTLE SHINY, MAGICAL BIKES!




So those little magical bikes aren't super accessible and who can polish all that crap anyway, so thank gosh for Play Date Bike Club! I want this bike so bad.

That's the bike I'm sitting on with my mouth agog with love in the first photo. That is a full-grown lady banana seat and giant tall handlebars.

Their website link takes a while to load but here you go.

Me and Malaika had such a big day, I should write a totally different post to address the bigness.

Week in review

I didn’t post a blog message all week. I’m a little sick, a little busy, and I broke all my compact cameras. I even joined the cool kids club by getting a monster crack across the face of my iPhone. Rock! -Dropped it on a rock in Central Park.

Let me re-cap this work week.

Monday: Blew off an after-work event I wanted to go to to come home and prepare my survivalist backpack for the hair show. I packed kind bars and coconut water and sensible shoes because being dropped off at the Javits Center is like being dropped off in a no-man’s land.

Tuesday: Rise and shine very early. 7am call-time. Hair show was interesting. I liked learning about how important teaching is to the salon owner who I participated with. Here’s a doodle of what the presentation looked like: 

And here’s the most transformative before & after- I love this!
It takes a village of Japanese hair stylists and a makeup artist. 
And this is after the presentation and when I finally got home. Wavy. 


Wednesday: Was feeling very sickly, so I took myself straight home, riding the bicycle very slowly, and put myself to bed at 8:45pm. You can count on me to do that once a week. I schedule “Go Home” on my Google calendar. No events allowed. I also had an “off night” in college where I stayed home or just went to the library and didn’t do any extra curriculars. Not even shopping is allowed. Designated homebody time.

Thursday: Still feeling sickly, misty day, found out Lovely Bicycle was going to this party at Adeline. Exchanged some DM’s over twitter. Had to meet her, so I went to the party. It’s Lovely to meet Lovely Bicycle’s Velouria!

And yes- it's beyond flattering that she had on one of my necklaces. 

Friday: Went straight home. Fixed fat-hell pasta, drank a hot toddy to soothe my throat and took a benadryl and fell asleep at 8pm. Yes- 8pm on a Friday in NYC. I ball so hard.

I have a new pocket camera while my other one will surely be shipped off for ages being assessed and repaired. This weekend I’ll be back to my old tricks.

Bike Events

I established a date for my Bike Month event so long ago... now it's almost a month away! I'm excited to meet those of you who are going to attend. 

Event Info Here

And to remind you, I encourage ladies who are just thinking about it to attend. You do not need to be an active bicycle rider to do this.
Think of it like an interest group. You're interested in joining a gang... just kidding! Or am I? 

Another cool #BikeNYC development: Bike Trains. If you feel empowered riding in a small group or like to learn from other bikers first-hand I recommend you look into this. Kim B. brought this to my attention and I trust her judgement as she is a safe & stylish lady biker. 

Bike Train info here! 

I probably won't be participating in a bike train on my own since I run an extremely tight schedule of procrastinating as long as possible- usually playing with makeup and accessories- in the morning and screeching into the sign-in sheet at my office by 9am. 

Obey!

If she isn't animated, click here.  This is the 1st Avenue bike lane at 20th street. 

GW Bridge & Craftacular Times

I've got to thank Malaika for inviting me to ride over the George Washington Bridge to make my Spoked competition map look good. As of tonight, I'm the only competitor who took it to the Dirty Jersey level. 

That's my hot pink line jutting out to the left at the top of the island.

Me and Malaika did not get the memo that everyone on the GW Bridge would be fully decked out in spandex effects. But we still enjoyed the weather and had a nice time. 

We went to this little park on the New Jersey side and sat on historic artifacts. 

We rode back over the bridge, had lunch at the Boat Basin Cafe, which was pleasantly affordable, then almost went to the big make-up tradeshow but it was sold out, so we just headed to the BUST Craftacular.  

We bought some treats and I shopped Brooklyn Charm. 

Then we headed to our own homes for serious afternoon naps. Good Lady Biker times. Thanks for hanging with me!