New Spokesman at The NYTimes

before hitting the road
on two wheels

The paper's City Room Blog launched Spokes today. This new feature will regularly cover a wide range of topics about biking in The Big Apple. Today's post, by Sean Patrick Farrell, celebrates spring by highlighting the growing popularity of biking as an alternative means of transport. Although new bike sales have yet to respond to the rising costs of gas and mass transit, New Yorkers have been

...clearly dragging their old steeds out of storage and getting them tuned up. Some of these bikes seem to date to the late 1970s, and there was even a run on that era’s 27-inch tires, a size that has not been seen on new makes since the Carter administration.

Farrell then describes the options for getting all those beaters up and rolling. He suggests online resources for finding bike repair shops but warns that the warmer weather will inevitably lengthen repair and tuneup times. For the congenitally impatient there are numerous bike repair classes, covering everything from fixing flat tires to full tuneups. The post is direct and conversational. I wish Farrell luck and applaud The NYTimes' initiative.