by Larry Lagarde

Today, yet another blog (Carfree Blogosphere) posted a book review of former Talking Head David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries. The post didn't have any comments so I figured I'd contribute a small nugget pertaining to David's book signing tour. Here's my note:

A friend of mine attended David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries book signing in Portland, Oregon and told me that it did not go to plan.

The agenda called for a variety of local speakers to introduce themselves and for David Byrne to do a question and answer session at the end of the event. Unfortunately, some of the locals went way over on their speaking time. David waited tactfully but by the time the local speakers stopped blathering, it was beyond the time that had been allotted for the event. So David Byrne stood up, thanked everyone for coming and walked out.

Portland is an awesome cycling town (one of my favorites); however, if there is a Bicycle Diaries Part II, don't be surprised if David Byrne has something to say about pretentious local bicycling enthusiasts.

Another review I read today was Sprocketboy's take on Colin & Julie Angus' newly published "Rowed Trip". Long time RideTHISbike.com readers may recall a series of posts I did of this self propelled, folding bike & kayak adventure from the UK to the Middle East. Colin and Julie got their Montague folding bikes from me so I followed their progress quite closely.

For the record, the bikes performed flawlessly, pulling the kayaks and gear faithfully over a variety of hauls; yet, stowing small enough to be squeezed into the very tiny cargo holds on each kayak. Once the duo reached Turkey, they shipped the kayaks home and pedaled the rest of the way into Syria.

Labels: Bicycle-Diaries, David-Byrne, Rowed-Trip