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Want to work in food? You can spend thousands of hours, dollars and brain cells going to culinary school, only to discover you'd rather be on THIS side of the swinging door. Or, you can hustle yo'self a gig as a prep chef, a "try before you buy" if you will. Here's my blow-by-blanch account of going from waitressing to commis-cheffing and back to being an appreciative diner.  The action takes place in a far, far west corner of a kitchen in Ireland...   More tasty reading: "Doing the Dishes in County Kerry" Part 2 My Cheap'n'Choosy food blog One wonders in this place Why anyone is left in Dublin, or London, or Paris Where it would be better, one would think To live in a tent or hut With this magnificent sea and sky And to breathe this wonderful air Which is like wine in one's teeth John Millington Synge From the wall at the Barracks History Centre, Cahirsiveen, West Ireland ~~~ "YE

Is my face red ... SPINNING instructor Anthony Musemici says you don't need a long and winding road to get a pretty decent hill, interval, sprint, and endurance training  on a bike. ... now add a bit of yoga to the mix and what do you get? SpinYoga! A perfectly Peaceful Warrior pose at the free  Chelsea Piers "Yoga On the Pier" classes, Aug 2010. I just completed a 9 hour Spinning Instructor Orientation at New York Sports Clubs. Now, what is a seasoned cyclist like the Galfromdownunder doing riding a bike that doesn't go anywhere? As one participant confessed in the pre-course stairwell speeches ('cos you get fitter riding the stairs than the elevator): "I was a bit cynical about it all until I tried it." Ah yes, one winter in NYC where biking through a bunch of snow isn't appealing, and I discovered, thanks to a two-month intro membership at the Equinox gym down the road and some guest passes from the stunning Chelsea Piers across the r

  The cool turquoise and sand colorway flyovers of Albuquerque I've just spend an intense week in Albuquerque jam-packed with stuff centered around the fine work of the LAB (League of American Bicyclists) - and in 100+ degree heat...    ... surrounded by Adobe, the concrete, not the software kind:   Learned how to ride a bike at the LAB Traffic Skills 101 course and LCI (League Certified Instructor) Seminar:   Yikes! Preston Tyree tries to teach me the life-saving Instant (Counter) Turn Watch a movie explaining this Proving to ourselves that a bike can lean right over in the Instant Turn and still have traction Because if I'd studied this course earlier and learned the mantra: BICYCLISTS FARE BEST WHEN THEY ACT AND ARE TREATED AS DRIVERS OF VEHICLES ... I would not have been doored the week before in NYC:   Thursday: Ride and cocktail reception, featuring a ceremonial guard (is that what you call it?), mariachi band and exhibiting the Giant Halfway folder donated f

... with a little help from our Friday friends NEW YORK CITY-- by Lynette Chiang, Bike Friday Customer Evangelist This story reproduced from the Bike Friday blog The BMW Building: a naked Brompton gets the nod ... will a fully clothed tikit also? About this experiment See all the videos at once Photo Gallery OFFICE BUILDINGS Below is a list of buildings with an insider who has offered to let me put the tikit to the test, and if we proceed, the results. Missing information means the appointment is yet to be confirmed. Please email lynettec@bikefriday.com to supply more information or help with the test by offering your building. See the blue box on page 1 for the test procedure. UPTOWN SUCCESS! BMW Building, 555 W57th @ 11 Ave, NY | View clip Date of trial: Wed Dec 5, 2007, 5pm Insider: DH, Bike Friday Club of NY member, owns 2 folding bikes and a recumbent Type of building: Secure office building Known policy/insider statement: "Th

Reproduced from the Bike Friday blog ' Patience' , one of two lions guarding the the Beaux-arts building of the NY Public Library, says it's only a matter of time before folders may cross its threshold ... The Green Building logo proudly etched on the doors of 7 World Trade Center where, despite assurances, my unfolded bicycle was roundly rejected - remember, if the bike folds, fold it, if it doesn't - get one that does.  "The tikit experiment is terrific. What a fantastic baseline to judge accessibility by. I've never heard of anyone doing a survey like this - people have counted bike racks but not access to safe storage. A bit of Michael Moore to rally round. It gives me encouragement to try the same thing in Ithaca - where enlightened talk is cheap." - Andrejs O, BF Club of Ithaca . "I just watched the office building clips. I think taken as a whole they give a nice sense that the only "issues" with riding a bike to work are mo

This is a re-post of a trip review written for Bike Friday and Ciclismo Classico. Ciao tutti! Ready for a truly stellar, fully escorted bicycle tour of Italia? One that comes standard with stupendously good food, spectacular walled cities, a panoramic pedal through the Appenines with several challenging climbs into a luxury 4-star hotel bed? Put another way, if you're over pulling rocks from under your Thermorest, scrubbing congealed oatmeal from your MSR stove, and standing on traffic islands with a fragmented map flapping in your face, welcome to touring the Ciclismo Classico way. I was privileged to review one of the company's most popular tours:  Bike Across Italy . Spanning 'the mid-calf to the mid-shin' of the boot of Italy over ten days, this moderately challenging tour takes in the regions of La Marche, Umbria, Tuscany and Lazio, starting in Fano on Adriatic sea and ending in Porto Ecole on the Mediterranean. The average mileage is about 50 gradually