Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
So I didn't take my surgeon's suggestion right away, though I did go out and get a sta-
tionary bike and for a couple of years worked up a daily sweat pedaling in the direc-
tion of the television set. Eventually I went to work for a magazine that was supposed
to celebrate the active lifestyle—you've never heard of it, it didn't last long—and one of
the articles we ran was about a new kind of bicycle, known as the city bike, that was
designed with wide tires and straight-across handlebars for riding in an urban setting.
A cousin of the mountain bike, which was just being developed at the time, it was an
antecedent to the so-called hybrids—crosses between road and off-road bikes—that are
all over the place now, as well as the bike I'm riding across the country. Figuring it was
about time I took my doctor's advice, especially if I could be on the cutting edge of recre-
ation at the same time, I bought one, for about $300, pretty expensive in 1984. It was so
unusual-looking in the time and place that I remember often being stopped for a traffic
light and being stared at or asked about it, as if I were wearing a fashion by a bold new
designer.
