NY Tiimes article on biking

From the NY Times of Nov 8, 2005
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Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS
Michael de Jong wants you to take your bike to the plane.

It might seem like a loopy proposition, but Mr. de Jong, a Dutch-born
millionaire, real estate developer and cycling maniac, is on a worldwide
crusade to get industrialized man out of his car and onto the saddle seat.
One prong of that mission is to convince otherwise sensible people that
taking two wheels to the airport and back is less daunting than it seems.
Cyclists, after all, never get stuck on the Van Wyck Expressway, and they do
not have to lug their baggage quite as far as they would if they took the
subway to the AirTrain.

As part of his pedal-power mission, Mr. de Jong promotes a 100-day bike race
across Africa, sponsors bike ownership in the developing world and invents
whimsical biking accouterments, among them a traffic-parting air horn and a
tent that overnight travelers can suspend from the trees.

"Imagine how much better the world would be if more people rode bicycles,"
he said with the dead-on earnestness of someone who regularly cycles from
Cairo to Johannesburg and Paris to Geneva.

But Mr. de Jong does more than take absurdly long cycling trips across large
continents. Since 1995, when he gave up driving after a devastating car
accident, he has used his custom-built folding bicycle to get to and from
airports in 30 cities around the world, including New Delhi, London, Lagos
and Rio de Janeiro. Once he finds the most sensible route, he posts it on
the Internet for others to follow. In most cases, he said, biking from the
airport to a city center is faster than traveling by car or taking public
transportation.

Last month he arrived in New York to chart the best path from Kennedy and La
Guardia Airports and somehow persuaded this reporter to join him on his
odyssey.

It was, for the most part, a fairly breezy journey - that is, if one
overlooks the homicidal drivers and the plumes of exhaust. But perhaps most
startling was that the rides, done at a comfortable pace, were accomplished
in no more time than it would take by train, or by car during rush hour,
which for Kennedy Airport, at least, tends to be all the time.

From the Empire State Building to La Guardia, the trip took 25 minutes. From
Terminal One at Kennedy to City Hall, it was just under an hour, including
bathroom breaks and a critical stop at Junior's in Downtown Brooklyn. The
routes were plotted with maps, and a hand-held global positioning device
helped guide the way.

As for baggage, Mr. de Jong has a pair of sacks that he can clip to the
sides of his beat-up bike; they have enough space for essential items one
would take on an average weeklong vacation. Unless you are taking your bike
with you, a decent lock is required to tether your transportation to a pole
or fence at the airport. As for other essential gear, like helmets, he goes
without.

"If I want to die, that should be my choice," said Mr. de Jong, 40, a
swashbuckling vegetarian who intends to remain a lifelong bachelor. The most
daunting part of each journey involved navigating the narrow airport loop
roads, which were clearly not designed with cyclists in mind.

Along the way, there were plenty of tire-swallowing drainage grates and the
occasional obstacle course of hubcaps, broken glass and squashed rodents.
For the most part, though, the routes went through a vibrant landscape of
immigrant enclaves, the gentrifying precincts of East New York and
Bedford-Stuyvesant and the endless tracts of modest attached houses.

The path to La Guardia, through sections of Astoria and Jackson Heights, was
far more pleasant than the trip from Kennedy, which was dominated by the
sanitation depots of Jamaica, the industrialized swaths of South Ozone Park
and a dreary blur of car repair shops on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The
reward for such unsightliness was the tree-shaded brownstones of Fort Greene
and an exhilarating final push over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Mr. de Jong is not easily ruffled. When the operator of a cargo van leaned
on his horn to protest the slowpokes in his way, Mr. de Jong smiled. "I
think people who don't like bicycles behave that way because they don't feel
free inside," he said. "Cyclists represent freedom."

Not all New Yorkers were so impatient. Any time he stopped to consult his
map, strangers would amble up to offer assistance. "I'm amazed how friendly
New Yorkers are," said Mr. de Jong, who has homes in Toronto, Amsterdam and
Belize, where he owns a beachfront, eco-friendly resort.

The scion of a Dutch art-dealing family that was instrumental in promoting
Impressionist painters, Mr. de Jong eventually carved out his own niche as a
New Age adventurer and entrepreneur. He nearly succeeded in becoming
Africa's first bike manufacturer, but balked when his negotiating partner,
the son of Kenya's president, demanded a bribe, he said.

The biking bug struck him early. By the time he was in high school, he was
riding 10 miles each way to school, no big deal in flat, bike-happy Holland.
But Mr. de Jong became a vehement cycling advocate a decade ago, when the
car he was driving in Barbados was struck head-on by a bus. The accident
left his girlfriend paralyzed, put another friend in a coma for five months,
and left him with a dozen broken bones. Once recovered, he sold his cars and
vowed never to drive again.

Biking on one of his seven bicycles is also therapeutic for Mr. de Jong, who
cannot sit for very long and walks with some difficulty. "The only time I
don't feel pain is when I'm riding," he said, showing off some of his scars.
His latest project, an eight-day race through the jungles and mountains of
Belize, begins in January

Last week, on his way to La Guardia, Mr. de Jong extolled the virtues of
pedal-power as he flew past motorists stuck in afternoon gridlock. The
advantages were apparent for all to see, but there was one small drawback.

As he arrived at the check-in counter, having stashed his bicycle in a
roll-on suitcase, Mr. de Jong was emitting the sweaty funk of, well, a
long-distance cyclist. Mr. de Jong smiled and shrugged when the subject was
raised. "It doesn't bother me," he said just before boarding his plane.
"Let's hope it doesn't bother the guy sitting next to me."

Very neat!

Thanks for sharing

Bill wrote:
From the NY Times of Nov 8, 2005
----------------------------------------
Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS

"If I want to die, that should be my choice," said Mr. de Jong, 40, a
swashbuckling vegetarian who intends to remain a lifelong bachelor.

My heart breaks as I read this line.

EFR
Ile de France

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
Bill wrote:
From the NY Times of Nov 8, 2005
----------------------------------------
Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS

"If I want to die, that should be my choice," said Mr. de Jong, 40, a
swashbuckling vegetarian who intends to remain a lifelong bachelor.

My heart breaks as I read this line.

Why?

"Bill" wrote ...
From the NY Times of Nov 8, 2005
----------------------------------------
Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS
Michael de Jong wants you to take your bike to the plane.

snip

But Mr. de Jong does more than take absurdly long cycling trips across
large
continents. Since 1995, when he gave up driving after a devastating car
accident, he has used his custom-built folding bicycle to get to and from
airports in 30 cities around the world, including New Delhi, London, Lagos
and Rio de Janeiro. Once he finds the most sensible route, he posts it on
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the Internet for others to follow. In most cases, he said, biking from the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
airport to a city center is faster than traveling by car or taking public
transportation.
snip

URL?

I cycled to and from London Heathrow to start and end my Scotland tour in
May 04, and to and from Gatwick for my England/Wales/Ireland tour in 2000. I
have to agree with the man, cycling to and from the airport is definitely
the most enjoyable way I've found to start and end a plane journey.
--
mark

Bill Sornson wrote:
Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
Bill wrote:
From the NY Times of Nov 8, 2005
----------------------------------------
Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS

"If I want to die, that should be my choice," said Mr. de Jong, 40, a
swashbuckling vegetarian who intends to remain a lifelong bachelor.

My heart breaks as I read this line.

Why?

Hopefully, because it's based on the false assumption that cycling is
dangerous.

Hopefully.

- Frank Krygowski

I have wondered about all the businessmen and others who where suits
and commute to work in Holland. Don't they smell the rest of the day?

wrote ...
I have wondered about all the businessmen and others who where suits
and commute to work in Holland. Don't they smell the rest of the day?


AIUI, the average commute in the Netherlands is not nearly as long as in
most industrial countries, the terrain is pretty flat, and the average cycle
commuter in the Netherlands doesn't move all that fast. My experience
(limited, long ago) is that the climate is not extremely warm and humid, so
sweating profusely is not the problem it is in, say, the Washington, D.C.
metro area.

It's pretty easy to duck into a toilet, wipe down the sweaty areas with a
damp washcloth, and rinse out the washcloth when you arrive at work. I break
up my work day with a short run pretty frequently, and that's exactly what I
do.
--
mark

wrote:
I have wondered about all the businessmen and others who where suits
and commute to work in Holland. Don't they smell the rest of the day?

Most Europeans and North Americans have differing ideas about hygiene.
I won't argue who is correct but behavior is definitely different. Kind
of like looking at soap or perfume as the first line solution.

mark wrote:
.. I
have to agree with the man, cycling to and from the airport is definitely
the most enjoyable way I've found to start and end a plane journey.

That has to be the case since once you get to the airport check in and
the air travel itself is now about as much fun as a colonoscopy.