The Big Apple Goes Dutch—on Vanmoof Bikes

Robert Moses loved the car, the bus, and the train.  As the city planner for New York City he personally transformed the Big Apple with new highways and train routes.  Brooklyn residents particularly dislike the legacy of Mr. Moses, many blame him for the loss of their beloved Dodgers to Los Angeles.  The Dodgers wanted a new stadium in the 1950s but the site team owner Walter O’Malley selected was favored by Moses as a location for future parking garage.   Moses told O’Malley to move to Queens.  O’Malley instead moved to LA and the rest is history.  Moses moved parts of New York’s five boroughs around like pieces on a kid’s board game.  He was trying to find better routes for the automobile at the expense of people, homes, businesses and the Dodgers (and the New York Giants).  Critics said Moses loved the car and hated people.  Moses’s highways are still there but New York’s boroughs are welcoming more and more bikes.  All the way back in 1994 the city created the Bicycle Network Development Plan with ridership and bike lanes in New York growing each year.  Switching from a car to a bike saves the motorist on average $1,100 each year in New York City.  Bikes shops and bike commuters are aplenty.      

Ride Brooklyn is a pretty funky bike shop with two locations in Brooklyn, on Bergen Street in Park Slope and on North 7^th Street in Williamsburg.  The shop offers 14 brands for sale in a variety of set-ups from kids to BMX to road to commuter.  They have all the usual suspects: Schwinn, Raleigh, Diamondbank and more.  One brand is relatively new and it really intrigues the SBT crew.  It is Vanmoof Bikes.  

Vanmoof was created in 2009 by Dutch brothers Taco and Teirs Carlier.  The company’s design team is led by Sjoerd Smit and Smit has experimented with a variety of unique bike accessories and styles.  One example is the self-locking bike.  Locks are hidden inside the frame, they slide out when you need them.  

Mr. Smit’s latest creation is a wild take on the “Oma” style of bike.  Oma, in Dutch, refers to bikes that would be ridden by a grandmother.  They are old lady bikes.  They are simple, sturdy, and leisurely.  Smit is only 31 but has been an industrial designer for over ten years.  The guy understands design and functionality.  He has completely re-imagined the Grandma Bike and they are selling well in New York City of all places, the city designed for the car.   For New Yorkers, Vanmoofs are hip.

Smit brought a study of Formula One racing to bicycle design.  He noticed how race teams are constantly refining their machines in order to be faster, more efficient, better.  Smit’s bike is noted for the perfect adherence to geometry.  The top tube is stretched and thick.  Headlights and brake lights are built right into the tube and they are pedal-powered. The bike is all aluminum, chosen because Smith likes the glistening quality of the metal.  The bikes are not painted--Smit doesn’t want to ruin the natural shine of aluminum.  The machine comes with a kickstand of all things (we love kickstands and have blogged about their usefulness).  The chain locks in place when not in use to combat theft.  The handlebars are angled back for comfort and the brakes are at the pedal.  Color-coded fenders keep the urban muck and grime at bay while protecting your dry cleaning bill.   The bike is a remarkable blend of innovation and simplicity.  It may just revolutionize the commuter bike industry.

The machines are made in Taiwan, the world’s foremost bike building country and each one sells for about $750.  Even Robert Moses would appreciate the ingenuity of Vanmoof Bikes.  

While we are on the subject of NYC, check out this cool event coming to the Big Apple, http://www.bikenewyork.org/ride/five-boro-bike-tour.  We have a fun video of a Vanmoof ride through New York City on our website at www.stickybottleteam.net.

Mont Blanc--World's Deadliest Mountain

Mont Blanc in the French Alps is the highest peak in Europe.  It is also the deadliest mountain, according to researchers, on earth.  For many years Mont Blanc has had the highest annual death rate for climbers trying to reach its peak.  Experienced climbing companies blame a rather laissez-faire attitude by Mont Blanc tour operators when it comes to educating climbers on the risks and safety precautions prior to ascent.   It is widely accepted by most European climbers that you have the possibility of dying when climbing Mont Blanc and that is the level to which people are prepared to go up its slopes.  In 2008, 58 climbers were killed climbing Mont Blanc alone compared to 25 people killed while climbing all of America’s mountains in the same year.  Some climbers want Mont Blanc and other Euro Mountain adventure providers to develop an American-style system that only allows climbers who have reached certain skill levels to climb some of the more treacherous peaks.  Today anyone, including people with no training and little skill, is permitted to climb Mont Blanc.

The mountain is the main thoroughfare between Italy and the rest of Europe and travel was made much easier with the seven-mile Mont Blanc Tunnel, completed in 1957.  In 1999 the tunnel was the scene of a catastrophic fire that killed 39 people.  The fire, began and fueled by a burning truckload of margarine, spread rapidly with the help of ventilation and soaring heat.  The tunnel was closed for the next three years so an investigation, fire suppression and accident prevention measures could be installed.  The most anyone served in jail for the disaster was six months.  

In 1946 an American B-17 Flying Fortress in flight from Italy to England slammed into Mont Blanc killing all on board.  The flight, made at night was done in a sky black as pitch.  The pilot simply never saw Mont Blanc.  A few months later in 1947 a team scaled Mont Blanc and found some of the crew’s remains.  The remains were flown to America and buried in a single grave in Arlington National Cemetery.  Last fall, the remains of the aircraft’s radioman were identified.  Those remains were of Polish-born Zoltan J. Dobovich who enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a teenager and was sent to Europe.  He served with the 15^th Troop Carrier Squadron.  The day after Christmas this past year Sgt. Dobovich was laid to rest in a veteran’s cemetery outside of his home city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  

Mont Blanc and the surrounding region offer breathtaking views of cascading waterfalls and flower-filled meadows.  Small villages and isolated chalets seem to cling to the steep slopes.  The rugged Trient Gorge offers unique twists and winds along rocky cliffs.  Countless tunnels and avalanche shelters dot the landscape.  The descent from the peak provides rich, dark-green forests, eventually reaching the gently rolling hillsides of the Rhône Valley. Once flat again, the neatly laid out vineyards of Martigny offer solitude.  And so it is with nature: sometimes fury, sometimes serenity.  Mont Blanc is true to nature.  

Look for references to Mont Blanc during this year’s Tour de France.  As always, we ask that you visit our website www.stickybottleteam.net, we have some cool news coming from Baltimore under Random Thoughts.

A view from the valley

Tunnel Entrance

A Bike Ride of Europe Without Leaving North America

Samuel de Champlain docked his ship at remote outpost along the St. Lawrence River and ventured ashore to scout the location.  The year was 1608.  He noted an abundance of fur animals (a necessity considering the year-round cold temperatures) and ordered that a fur trading site be constructed.  Champlain later boarded his ship and would become the first person to explore the Great Lakes.  As the years went on the tiny fur trading post became Quebec City and Champlain returned as the regional Governor and remained in that position until his death in 1635.  Quebec City continued to grow through the centuries but not much changed which has resulted in the city being the only large metropolitan area in North American to be named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

   

A bike ride of Quebec City charms even the most hardcore cyclist with some of the most beautiful architecture on the globe.   The form is predominantly Nouvelle France, an architectural style that originated in France (how novel) and is noted for its strength and snow carrying ability.  The design was popular among Quebec City builders not so much out of style but out of necessity.  In 1640 a conflagration swept across the city fueled by the original wooden settlements wiping out nearly all previous structures.  The town forefathers assembled and decreed that all new construction would be of stone and be two stories high with a metal roof angled at no less than 52 degrees.  This new Quebec City would be fire proof, strong and able to withstand the chronic snowfalls.  

Begin your bike ride on Rue de Petit Champlain, what may be the thinnest road in North America. Depending on the roadway’s width, and local police, you may have to walk your machine in some sections but it is the true heart of Quebec City.  Rue de Petit Champlain is located in Lower Town (Quebec is separated by the St. Lawrence River and thus has created a Lower Town and likewise Upper Town) and is like stepping back in time to old Europe.

In Upper Town bike riders will pass the stunning Chateau Frontenac Hotel and Maison Jacquet, the oldest residence in Quebec City built in 1765.  Today the structure is the Aux Anciens Canadiens Restaurant.  

Most prominent in Upper Town is the great fortress of La Citadelle.  Walls and the fortress dominate the Upper Town as the British built huge stone fortifications in 1759 to keep the French at bay.  Staying in Upper Town riders can soak in the opulence of Basilica Notre Dame, the oldest parish in Canada built in 1633.  Remodeled in 1925, the church is resplendent with a stained glass exterior and an interior of shiny gold.  Take your French dictionary as 95% of the population speaks French.  

Quebec City, due to its geographic and topographic nature challenges riders with climbs but rewards them with breathtaking views and fast descents.  

Visit www.bonjourquebec.com for more information.  Our website www.stickybottleteam.net has a travel video of Quebec City.  

Hotel Frontenac

One of the four gates along the wall

Basilica Notre Dame

Don't Mess With a Texas Bike Ride

Bernardo Galvez was an American patriot.  Only he wasn’t an American.  He was Spanish.  Part of a connected military family from Spain, Galves had earned a certain level of distinction during a brief war Spain fought with Portugal.  Following the war the Spanish government sent him to New Spain, today Mexico, as the colonial governor.  Later he was moved to France and there he learned to speak French which proved necessary when his superiors moved him again, this time to the new American territory of Louisiana.  Originally a French conquest in the New World, the French ceded control of Louisiana to Spain following the failed French and Indian War.  Later, while serving as the governor of the Louisiana Territory he led local forces against the British during the American Revolution.  

In 1781, Galvez spearheaded a small army of American and Spanish soldiers in a dash across the colonial Deep South driving the British eastward, concluding with a victory at the Battle of Pensacola that effectively drove the British from Florida.  A brave and excellent fighter Galvez’s career was marked by near mortal escapes from battle and serious wounds.   General George Washington personally thanked Galvez for his service.  He later returned to New Spain and held the title of viceroy until his death.  Following his burial the new United States remembered the life of Galvez by naming a Texas port town for him, henceforth known as Galveston.  

Galveston grew quickly thanks to the bounty of riches provided by the Gulf of Mexico.  But what the gulf gave it also took away as a major hurricane came ashore in 1900 that literally wiped out the city of Galveston.  To this day the storm ranks as the largest natural disaster ever to hit America--over 8,000 Galveston residents lost their lives.   The city healed and was rebuilt.  Following some rather dark history that saw Galveston fall to the seedy ills of gambling, sex and crime the city was able to reinvent itself as a tourist destination.  

With the proximity of the Gulf and year round temperatures averaging 70 degrees Galveston is embraced as a place to visit and to live.   Galveston is noted for a remarkable engineering achievement, the seawall.  Built by the US Army Corps of Engineers following the 1900 hurricane the seawall is 10 miles long and 17 feet high.  It has been breached by high water only once (Hurricane Ike in 2008) since construction was completed in 1904.   The seawall (pictured, from a 1908 postcard) is on the National Register of Historic Places.  

The seawall offers a great bike ride. Along the route (with extensions the ride is 17 miles one way) riders have unobstructed views of the Gulf of Mexico and a near constant breeze.  The seawall does have some pedestrians to dodge but no vehicle traffic.  Once the seawall has been conquered, try the rest of town. Galveston has a series of distinct historic districts, suited to riders of all levels.  The flatness of Galveston is perfect for thin wheel sprinters and casual cruisers on the fat tire machines.  Parking can be found at either end of the seawall and at parts long the route.  Visit www.galveston.com/biking for more information.

We have a video of the seawall on our website at www.stickybottleteam.net.