BSNYC Interview: Great NYC Commuter Race Champion Jamie Favaro

As I reported yesterday, I was handily defeated in the Great NYC Commuter race. (A race, I might add, to which I was not only at least 10 minutes late, but which I wasn't even technically in.) Well, every defeat has a silver lining, and in this case that lining came in the form of an interview with the winner, Jamie Favaro. While my interview was simply a thinly-veiled attempt to understand her so that I might use that understanding to defeat her at some future date, it turns out it also offers a unique, inspirational, and at times explicit adult glimpse into the mind of a champion. And yes, this is a real interview. Enjoy, and ride safe this weekend.

--BSNYC

Do you usually commute by bicycle, and if so from where to where?

Lower East Side to Washington Heights, 181st baby. Can I take this opportunity to say that rollerbladers are annoying and they should all be shot? Or kept in cages. Their legspan is oppressive and their legs should be clipped. (Except of course the Gotham Girls, they're more than okay in my book.)

Besides commuting, what kind of riding do you like to do?

I enjoy riding around in the Giant Bicycle Vulva Taxi. It's kind of my home away from home.

How were you chosen as the cyclist for this race?

My best buddy Rachael alerted TA to my speed and agility on two wheels. After that it was multiple time-trials. And I had to beat some guy wearing a beanie at checkers.

You beat someone who took the subway and someone who drove a car. Does the word "sandbagger" mean anything to you?

Not to me, but I think April got a little sandbagged with the bus/subway combo. I fell in love with her when she politely commented that the subway "If you see something say something" alert was "Very helpful".

If you had known that you were competing against me too, would you have ridden any differently?

Yeah, I would have probably been really distracted - you're a pretty attractive fellow.

Please describe your preparation for this race. Did you train? What did you have for breakfast? Any music to get you psyched up?

I did a hefty amount of carbo-loading... and I put the songs 'Calabria' and 'Lollipop' on repeat.

(A true champion, Jamie sports road rash as a badge of honor.)

Please describe the race-winning machine. Any unusual equipment choices specific to the course, a la Paris-Roubaix?

I'm partial to late 70's Raleigh Grand Prix's... but for the race I pulled out the big guns... but kind of like BSNYC, she's anonymous.

What was your route?

To achieve my 16 minute victory I took a speed boat (thanks TA!) from Brooklyn to Manhattan. I'm a big girl, the steep incline of the Manhattan Bridge kills me.

I have to ask this because your fans want to know: single or attached?

Single. Although I have a rather extensive relationship with my bike... I mean my bike(s). I rank them like a harem, depending on what 'shape' they're in. I'm kind of the Don Juan of my own bicycle village.

If you could have chosen any person, living or dead, to greet you at the finish line, who would that person have been?

Bruce Smolka, but only if he's wearing pink pasties and holding a bottle of lube.

Will Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White stop at nothing in his relentless quest for power and glory?

I don't think so. When he learned that I biked into oncoming traffic once (okay, a couple) times, spit in a cabby's passenger side window (for cutting me off- TOTALLY acceptable), and stopped at Time's Up! he started calling his people. I thought he was going to have me 'knocked off'.

Was that a chopper following you?

Yeah. Oddly, TA highlights the carbon footprint made by each mode of transportation in the race but does not mention the carbon footprint of the chopper that hovered over the race for an hour to get 4 seconds of footage. Oh Fox, if you're okay by Dick Cheney, you're okay by me.

Did you see "Black Snake Moan," and if so was it better than you expected?

Much better- after all everything IS hotter down south.

Describe your ideal day on a bike:

All I know is that it doesn't include any type of stopping or waiting.