The Face That Rode A Thousand Miles

 Rosalind Yalow’s Orthodox Jewish parents tried to stop her from majoring in physics. Why? “No man will want to marry you.”

Well, she not only majored in physics, she used it to advance the state of health-care technology. That she did by co-developing radio-immunossay, which uses radioactive isotopes to quickly and precisely measure concentrations of hormones, vitamins and other substances that are part of, or end up in, human bodies.

For that, in 1977 she became the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in medicine.  Oh, and she married, had children—and kept a kosher home.

I mention that because throughout the history of bicycling, various actual and self-proclaimed authorities have tried to discourage women from cycling on the grounds that it will make us unattractive and less desirable to men and, therefore, unable to have children.

As an example, serious medical professionals and scientists in the 1890s—during the peak of the first Bike Boom— warned of the “dangers” of women and girls developing “bicycle face.”

I wonder whether I ever developed it. Hmm…Maybe that’s why I don’t have a man—never mind that I haven’t been looking for one!

The Mainstream Media Is Catching Up—To Me

 You don’t have to follow the news on NPR, CNN, CSNBC, PBS or Faux.  Or, for that matter, in the online versions of Time, the Atlantic, the New York or L.A. Times, the Wall Street Journal or, for that matter, any other publication.

You see, I am ahead of the mainstream media.  I have posted about a phenomenon that, today, about half of this nation’s newspapers are reporting.  Actually, they’ve not reporting it:  They’re running a syndicated Associated Press column.

And what is that big story on which they’ve finally caught up to my reporting?  It’s the post-pandemic bike bust.

To be fair, that story mentions something that I don’t think I said much about: The bust is hurting (or destroying) small, family- or enthusiast-owned shops, often in rural or inner-city areas, to a much greater degree than the bigger shops in suburban and affluent urban centers.  And it has led to another trend that disturbs me.

I will call it the “Starbucks-ization” of the retail bike industry. Increasing numbers of bike shops are, in effect, franchises or branches of chains, just like that coffee shop you love to hate (but where you sit with a laptop and a latté). According to the article, around 1000 bike shops in the US are owned by either Specialized or Trek.

In theory, that trend should benefit customers because it eliminates the middle-person. But has it? While prices for bikes, parts and accessories have come down from their Pandemic-boom and -shortage highs, they’re still well above pre-pandemic levels, even when adjusted for inflation.

Maybe this is the New Yorker in me talking, but I don’t believe that those companies (or Giant or Cannondale) have the cyclist in mind when they take over, or drive out, smaller shops.  If anything, I think they’re doing what Schwinn tried to do during the ‘70’s North American Bike Boom and the two decades leading up to it: They tried to control inventories and markets, just as McDonald’s and Walmart do in their individual restaurants and stores.

When my conspiracy theory, I mean prediction, comes to fruition I won’t say, “I told you so!” I promise! But just remember that you read it here first.😏

Ghost Ride

 As I ride around New York City, I sometimes see “ghosts.”

Now, before you assume that I’m going insane, I am—at least in the opinion of some people—already there. Seriously, though, among the “ghosts” I see are buildings that are vacant or being used for entirely different purposes than the ones for which they were intended.

Also, there are what Esther Crain, the author of Ephemeral New York (one of my favorite blogs) calls “ghost” signs.  They usually were painted on the sides of buildings to advertise some business or another.  As often as not, that establishment is long gone. I found an exception just a few blocks from my new apartment:

Tierney Auto Body works is still in the same location but the sign has to be at least 40 years old:  The lower part of the sign (not visible in the photo) gives the telephone number—without an area code. Until 1984, all five boroughs of New York City were covered by the 212 Area Code.  But as fax machines and, later, cell phones become more common, the 212 area code was running out of phone numbers and new area codes were added. It then became necessary to dial an area code when calling within New York City.

While riding the other day, I discovered another “ghost” sign that dates from around the same time, or earlier:

Prospect Hospital, its name barely visible at the top of the sign, closed in 1985. That sign, like the one for Tierney, gives a phone number without an area code.

Another thing I found interesting is the sign’s proclamation that “alcoholism is a treatable disease.” Although researchers and doctors had been saying as much since the 1930s (when, incidentally, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded) that idea started to displace, in public perception, the old notion that alcoholism is a moral failing during the 1960s.

Speaking of the 1960s:  By that time, artists and intellectuals who were associated with the later part of the Harlem Renaissance had moved to East Elmhurst and Jamaica in Queens or (as in the case of John Coltrane) to Long Island. But during the Renaissance, theaters for movies, plays, vaudeville and other kinds of shows and exhibits flourished in Harlem. The “ghost” of one “shadows” a building that now serves as a church on 145th Street:

So, if nothing else, my bike trips show that you don’t have to be Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze or Whoopi Goldberg to see “ghosts” during your ride!