Velouria Captures A Working Girl

About two weeks ago, "Velouria" of Lovely Bicycle! fame came to town for the New Amsterdam Bike Show.  She stayed at my (very) humble abode.  Between all of our commitments and appointments, she still managed to photograph me and my bikes.  And, oh, yeah, we got a ride in together.

One shot actually is a pretty fair representation of me going to work on a brisk day.  

I was thinking of that day's "shoot" as I pedaled to work today.  As it was a good bit warmer, I wasn't wearing that jacket.  Also, since I didn't have any meetings, I was dressed a little more casually:  a light blue cotton skirt, flats, a tank top and a three-quarter-sleeve cardigan.  But, yes, I was riding Vera, exactly as you see her in that photo.

You can find that photo, and others, on her Flickr stream. I'm thinking of using at least one or two of them in the banner of this blog.

The Ride Ends With A Light Show

I've long felt that one of the nicest ways to end a long bike ride is with a boat ride.  That's one of the reasons I pedal across the George Washington Bridge, and down the Jersey Palisades, Jersey City and Bayonne to Staten Island, where I hop on the ferry.



When I first started to ride, I was cursing myself for not getting on my bike until well into the afternoon.  But the weather had turned from briskly to pleasantly cool, and rays of sunshine were peeking through clouds that blanketed the sky but didn't really threaten rain.  The last few miles of my bike ride, and the one on the ferry, turned into a light show:

What The Doctor Prescribed

If you're younger than I am, you may not have heard of him. But he may be, at least indirectly, one of the reasons you're on your bike now.

Dr. Paul Dudley White became President Dwight D. Eisenhower's personal physician after the Commander-In-Chief suffered a heart attack late in his first term.  At that time, few American adults rode bicycles, and the economy and landscape of the Unites States were increasingly shaped by the automobile.  

Today medical authorities cite Dr. White as the founder of preventative cardiology.  As a young doctor, he co-authored, along with Dr. Roger I. Lee, his first scientific paper.  It was about the coagulation of blood. Drs. White and Lee would develop a method, still in use today, for calculating the speed of blood coagulation.  Their studies in this area were very important in helping to understand the causes of heart disease.

He identified, or helped to identify, various heart and heartbeat irregularities for which doctors routinely test today.  Another result of his work was his establishing links between lifestyle and heart health.  At a time when part of the "American Dream" meant becoming more sedentary, he encouraged people to exercise; as convenience and "junk" foods were becoming more widely available, he promoted diets based mainly on lean meat, fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

Dr. White was also instrumental in having some of the first bike lanes built in American cities since the turn of the 20th Century.  Here he is, riding with Chicago's then-Mayor Richard Daley at the opening of that city's first lane: