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Round*Up 2004: Clockwise from left: The folding fraternity at Trophy; Musical Folders; USPro race start; a cop with a cause; the art of bike parts; Bf Club of Boston leader Anna Kleinfeldt COMPACT CINEMA: You'll need something like Quicktime to view these. The fastest folding Friday in the east (1.4 Mb) Ride to the Manayunk wall (1.7 Mb) Trackside at the USPro Race (2.4 Mb) Bike cop demonstrates the moves (1.3 Mb) BF owner David Seidman praises Philly (824 kb) A snippet of Philly nightlife (488 kb) Q: WHEN DOES A FOLDING BICYCLE get to ride in the slipstream of the USPRO Cycling Championship? A: When it's Round*Up 2004! For the second year in a row, the exuberant proponent of all things pedalable, portable and packable, Mike McGettigan, hosted his Round*Up Folder Festival at his newly-located Walnut St store, Trophy Bikes, Philadelphia. Subtitled "Exploring the Compact Bicycle Universe", Round*Up is a weekend of folding frolics where compact bike afficionados can meet like wheel-sizes and shoot the breeze with industry reps. This year, the event coincided with the USPRO Cycling Championship, "336 miles of twists, turns and speeding straightaways attended by 750,000 onlookers" said the program blurb. There appeared to be around 20 teams of 8 riders in the male race. The women's equivalent was not listed at all in the program - seemingly a bit remiss in this day and age of rampant equality ... But first, let's get back to Trophy Bikes where the real action was unfolding... On Friday, Mike led the flotilla of folders milling outside his storefront on a ride across the river to the Manayunk Wall, a 17% hill climb in a once-was-dowdy-now-is-cool part of town called ... you guess it, Manayunk. Truthfully, the Wall was neither that steep nor long, but I understand the USPro racers had to attack it an obscene number of times. Several little wheels climbed it with consummate ease - see the movie clip. Musical Folders was a delight: everyone headed down to the covered carpark and rode a lap on a folder, then moved to the next folder ... there were Bromptons, Bike Fridays, Birdys, Dahons, Moultons, Swifts, Breezers, an Airframe ... I missed seeing the Strida, the beige art-bike I would hang on my wall if I had one since I am too small to actually ride it. One member brought a hand scale to weigh the bikes. My Pocket Rocket Pro Petite weighed in the lightest that day, at a shade over 18 lbs. The Swift entered the Time Trial with the rider dressed in full tuxedo and did a pretty respectable time. McGettigan suggested that for next year, he'd like to see a bunch of folders partake, heading off one after the other in the time trial for maximum effect. Bike Friday owners in the Philly area: if you're interested for same time next year, contact Mike at Trophy Bikes, mcget@aol.com! Compact Seminars: There were two sets of lectures held in the rarified and erudite atmosphere of the neighboring university. First up was the gentle genius Doug Milliken, whose Moulton "Streamliners" set bicycle speed records during the late 1980s. He was accompanied by the motor on that machine, Jim Glover, who set a speed record for upright bicycle that still stands today! Intriguing was Prof. Karl Ulrich, inventor of the minimalist Xootr Scooter who asserted that for the distance of a mile, his tiny platform spinning on two personal-pizza-sized disks was the fastest way to get from a to b. "When I was at college I noticed I'd always be walking between the farthest points of the university, from the Engineering faculty to the Business faculty, so I spent most of that walk figuring out how to make it faster." Karl predicts the future of 1-mile-plus travel will be a bicycle without a seat - perhaps noting that many Americans are so busy they can barely take a moment to sit down. Len Rubin was back with his super Bromptons, having survived a disastrous fire that took everything he owned - everything except the most important things: his family and his Brompton. He is a walking, talking example of survival of the fittest. Peter Reich, a real nice guy, talked about the Swift, a simple design like the Bike Friday that goes fast, very fast. And later, Steve Bilenky demonstrated how to break down a full size-bike using S&S couplers and pack it into a suitcase that I managed to squeeze into for the cameras. S&S is certainly an elegant solution for those who simply must have their big wheeler with them. As one Bike Friday owner said, "When I don't want to be bothered by anyone I ride my big wheel bike." Andy the Scottish trailer maven was back promoting his BikeBox trailers. As an antidote to all the ti-tech-talk I did an impromptu lecture entitled "It's Not About The Fold" where I talked about the engines that power the 11,000+ Bike Fridays scattered all over the planet. One of the examples I quoted Pastor Alden Ho, who uses his Friday as a prop for his sermons. Unbeknownst to me, this caused some agitation among the Jewish majority, who probably thought I was trying to convert them in my small-wheel synagogue. I found Pastor Ho's use of the Bike Friday interesting and charming. Read it and decide for yourself. In the evening I got to see a bit of Philly nightlife thanks to Crusoe owner Lye Kok, who took me to a lounge bar called the White Dog, a very cozy place where one could wine and snack til 2am. I was even so bold as to take Birdy Rep David Black there on the following night ... Birdy's cavorting with Bike Fridays? People will start to talk ... Many BF owners came to partake or just stop by: Al Gilens, celebrating 70 years of wisdom, helped us out with his Pocket Rocket Pro as a part of the BF team for the day. Bike Friday Club of Boston leader Anna Kleinfeldt rode 2 hours to hang out with us. Anne Marie Vasallo tantalized me with a promised photo op of herself doing her famous handstands-around-the-world feat on her Bike Friday. David Seidman is about to ride east-west across America on this Pocket Rocket. Mark Shea,former bike messenger, folds his modified Bike Friday Metro faster than Hanz (if you can believe that), and challenges anyone who thinks the Bike Friday fold is not as slick as others to watch him in action (see movie clip). "I fold it all the time," he said, collapsing it like a mini-umbrella while squeezing into the elevator. Philly is a quirky place: as the first capital of the USA it abounds with commanding colosseum-like edifices and stately 10 bedroom houses, yet my host Gihon Jordan took me to a community garden where you could rent a plot and grow your own mesclun lettuce ... very Eugene ... Gihon (pronounced guy-on) is a fascinating individual, an authority on transport and bicycle activism, who's authored numerous papers and books on the subject - as well as traveled extensively in tough places like Senegal on a bike - type his name in Google and see what you get. He and his fiance Susan plan to buy a pair of Pocket Llamas for expedition travel. "Everyone I talked to said the Bike Friday is the best bike they've every owned," he said. I feel if we can convince this man we can sell a Bike Friday to Lance ... UPDATE: Sadly, Gihon passed away in 2008. Jeff Linder threatened to bring Pocket Rocket Pro owner Phil Liggett by the store but clearly the hob-nobbing on the hill proved too alluring. Next year, Phil! Philly is a curious mixture of hippiedom and conservatism. Having spent the last 3 years in the predominantly white Northwest, it was interesting to visit a place with a large black population, and hear about the undercurrent of tension the city has. I was in a cab on the way to the airport when my Indian driver politely bleeped the car in front. A black woman yelled constantly at him from her vehicle despite his pleas that 'it was not for you, it was for the other car'. He got out of the cab and things escalated. A black man approached and shouted "You can't talk to her like that!" In another incident, my black taxi driver and a white woman in a convertible nearly came to blows - and it wasn't the black taxi driver flexing the bicep either. I blame the automobile for exchanges like this. Not once did I feel remotely inclined to yell at the Bromptons and Dahons fore and aft of me as we meandered along the cyclepath. Spread the little wheeled word! On Saturday evening I attended an art exhibition by the Neighborhood Bike Works project, which gets Philly kids off the street and into bikes,getting their hands greasy learning how to restore them. There was a neat piece using a wide seat and dropbars to resemble a bull's head. See the slide show for more examples. Then followed my Mexico by Friday slide show of around 200 images at Fergies pub. You can read about The Handsomest Man in Mexico in that 19-chapter bedtime story... Finally, the USPRO race: we headed down to the main drag and watched an almost comical preamble of support vehicles whizzing by with the mass of bicycles on their tail like a swarm of killer bees. David Seidman took me up to Lemon Hill, where the crowd watches the competitors whiz up the hill. The rider that dropped off the back of the entire group was roundly cheered - this is, after all, the land of 'hey, nice try.' I ran into the famous John Dowlin, bicycle activist, who promised to set me up to give a Handsomest Man in Cuba slide show and talk in September. Stay tuned ... and see him in action at the inaugural Round*Up 2003 here. Thanks Michael, for yet another great Round*Up in Philadelphia, Birthplace of Liberty, home of the Tunafish Hoagie and the place where David Bowie recorded "Golden Years" - to quote you! . See you all next year - including you, Phil Liggett! Read about the inaugural Round*Up here |
