Coffee, bikes and the media

MSNBC: “Growing number of bike cafés gear up to serve cyclists


Happy National Coffee Day

This is the second bike-related story I’ve helped travel writer Tanya Mohn with, but most of my help came from you all. I asked via Twitter for recommendations on bike shops that also double as coffee shops. Several people mentioned Bicycle Mojo Cafe and Velo Rouge Cafe in San Francisco, along with Rob Vandermark’s Ride Studio Café in Lexington, Mass. I also told Tanya about the coffee shop at Mellow Johnny’s along with a couple of other shops, but those didn’t make the cut.

One person I know who’s crazy about coffee and bikes is Kristin in San Francisco, so I put her in touch with the writer. And when Tanya asked the history of bike cafés, the immediately thought of David Herlihy. He literally wrote the book on cycling history, after all.

When Tanya asked for a location where a Seattle-based photographer could visit, I turned to Twitter again. Five or six people recommended R+E Cycles, so there you go. You all made the story possible.


Coffee & Bikes

Tanya’s a pleasure to work with. I’ve been interviewed by other journalists and some of them do a real hatchet job with my quotes. I don’t believe they’re being deliberately belligerent in a “60 Minutes” fashion — I realize I’m not the best communicator and I don’t always understand that my basic assumptions on how the world operates aren’t universal. Tanya understands that as well and goes that extra mile to fact check and ensure that her writing accurately reflects my thoughts.

Photos by Richard Masoner from the Orbea Bike Shop in Taipei, Taiwan. The ladies are Alicia Hopkins (a researcher at the National Insitutes of Health) and Kate Lacroix (a freespirited world traveler)..

5 Comments

  1. Great story, Richard….thanks for letting me know about it. I just finished checking it out.

    Darryl

  2. I’m a little bit disappointed Juan Peloton in Austin didn’t get mentioned, but oh well. Maybe you can do a survey of bike shop cafes there at your blog 🙂

  3. Yeah, I mentioned our love of Juan Pelota in my comment to the story. It’s our family favorite.

    Darryl

  4. Simon’s Bike and Brew in Plainfield, CT is another welcome bike cafe; check them out at bikect.com

    Here in Monterey County, while we don’t have official bike cafes–yet!–we do have great java spots giving discounts to cyclists on Thursdays thru the HER Helmet Thursdays project. See @herhelmetthurs or http://www.herhelmetthursdays.org for details, and if you’re looking for coffee, don’t miss Carmel Coffee and East Village Coffee Lounge.

  5. I believe it’s “Mojo Bicycle Cafe” not “Bicycle Mojo Cafe.” I believe I’ve set foot in nearly all the establishments mentioned in the article. Ahhh, coffee and bikes. Nothing goes together quite as well. Except perhaps burritos.

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