Friday, May 30, 2008

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.

62 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice! First and second in one day!

Anonymous said...

Basso!

Anonymous said...

PODIUM!

Anonymous said...

Great Friday surprise...many thanks

Anonymous said...

I was going to do the whole "podium" bullshit but I would rather give the thumbs to the combination of twice-today posting and good subject matter.

Oh, I guess I did do the "podium" thing. Damn...

Anonymous said...

after all the snobbish disdain for people using bikes to hook up and now look.

...hypocrite.

Pascii said...

Has Jamie just become NYC's most eligible bachelorette?

Anonymous said...

Great interview RTMS - Devoted fans, for more on Jamie: http://tinyurl.com/2q9j9y

Cameron said...

2 top 10s in one day SWEET!

LK said...

Yes, Jamie is very cute, but will one of you wrenchs out there please level her saddle?

bikesgonewild said...

..."i enjoy riding around in the 'giant bicycle vulva taxi'...it's kind of my home away from home"...hmmm, now is that a subtle indication of what kinda 'bike' path jamie likes to do her sweating on...or a simple reference back to her original humble beginnings...

...wags & pundits want to know...

Anonymous said...

Can anyone make sense of this? Does this guy want to trade this crappy bike for a bag of weed?

http://denver.craigslist.org/bik/701173198.html

marypoppins said...

super two update in a day, not a good days racing for me but the blog a good read!

Matt said...

RTMS,

1 man 2 posts 1 day, how do you do it!?! My nipples throb and ache in anticipation of your shameless self promoting shark jumping finale!

Anonymous said...

BSNYC -- now that was a great interview.

Bruce Smolka in pasties with a bottle of lube.... Brilliant!

But boy am I gonna be peeved if that image gets stuck in my mind. Eeeeewwww.

I predict Jamie can deliver a huge demographic during the all important internet sweeps week.

Book her for a return interview before Bicycling starts throwing Benjamins and Primal jerseys at her.

Anonymous said...

Forgot to ask the most importnt question:

"Have you ever changed a guy's tire under the Brooklyn Bridge?"

Anonymous said...

Now mind you, I actually like big coochie lips. However, isn't that thing in danger of spontaneously taking flight on windy days?

Unknown said...

Thanks for the Friday double dose of awesome, BSNYC/RTMS/CLY.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for being off topic. I’ve just read your whole archive. I’m addicted. I have to confess: cycling in europe is kind of unsatisfying. Nothing worth to write about. Maybe I have to move to Berlin, the German hipster-fixie-capital. I’m well prepared, I own allredy a fixie, sadly with brakes an without any upgrades.

Two extra points for Kaspar Hauser and Werner Herzog.

morgan said...

Someone (a young, trendy, attractive woman, nonetheless; you old hound) openly knows your identity now, Snob? Do you know what this means?

Screwed man, you're done for.

Now if I could only figure out who you really are? Was that you, Emmanual?

Brian Kunz said...

No helmet??

ErikCrapton said...

That vage thing ... is that Jabba the Hut's mistress?

BrooklynMachineWorks said...

Jamie, you're famous!
You know your bike wouldn't have been as fast without a certain Korean's gentle touch.

RMM said...

http://www.bikesnobnyc.com/

Is this another indication that the shark has been jumped?

Anonymous said...

I want to know how someone convinced my bicycle hating ex girlfriend to be dragged around as the "Vulva bike"

Anonymous said...

off topic but apparently u locks can be NJS certified....

cgi.ebay.com/Palmy-Key-Bike-U-Lock-Yellow-ALUMINIUM-Japanese-NJS_W0QQitemZ280230386235QQihZ018QQcategoryZ58100QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Anonymous said...

HOT!

bikesgonewild said...

...ok...now where's that andypandy, 'the eddy merckx of cheese research'...here's a yahoo news headline...

..."french monks use cheese by-product to cut energy costs"...i'm not even gonna read the article...i'm just gonna be comforted by the warm cheesy thoughts it inspires...

...but i do wonder if yer in on this ???...

Anonymous said...

goose update. several sighted and heard today! safe until next year's slaughter you bastards. for now, get yer milkin gloves on!! yeehaw. sweet goose cheese by friday.

Anonymous said...

Busy in the lab brewing up mould permutations on camembert cheese hosts, and watching Viking movies. Seems like the relative humidity round here lately would be conducive to the Penicillium roqueforti and Geotrichum candidum strains. Struggling on the milk origins however.

Todd Colby said...

Cobble Hill!

Anonymous said...

Andy Pandy-

Between the flippin' 75% humidity and the mold count in the gazillions, not much to do but experiment in permutations. When I was walking back from the store today, I saw some guy riding in a sleeveless jersey. Yeah, it must be summer.

BGW-I think I saw Alberto flip off Padraig today.

bikesgonewild said...

...& saying deservedly over his shoulder "back to the beaches, beatches" ???...

...also, that was a real yahoo headline today about monks & cheese...

Anonymous said...

Not every guy can pull off head to toe pink. Did you see the pink & white Trek bike? I think he may have rode it to sign in today.

Did you actually read the article yet? Give me the Cliff Notes version.

bikesgonewild said...

...pink shoes...pink bike...
...da da dee...da da dee da da da da...
...everybody's cheering for a pink dressed man
...
...w/ apologies to zz top...

...re: the monks n' cheese thing, now i got nothing...i saw the headline, thought about andypandy but was gonna read it later & now, after a serious-ass search, i got nothing...

...honest, i really did see it...now yer gonna think i'm crazy...OK, crazier...

tuppercole said...

Frilly,
AndyPandy clearly said Mould. I think he's just sitting around with old Bob, munching on cheese, watching this
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052365/

smartypants said...

Psh. The Great American Bicycle Making Company has nothing on Planet X's all pink TT bike!

smartypants said...

I jumped the gun. this is a much better photo. . .

Anonymous said...

Now that's pink.

I love it!

AC's bike kind of reminded me of a pink and white schwinn I had when I was just a wee lass. Except he didn't have the vinyl streamers on his handlebars. So, I guess it really wasn't that special after all.

smartypants said...

Seriously. I hear that Cervelo's next attempt at the P3 will include handlebar streamers. Something about the vortex they create about 64 mph.

And why not, when you can now get grown-up Spokey Dokes to make you go faster.

TRANS-PORT+STATION said...

yes most bikers are jealous of inline skaters (rollerbladers sic.) but i forgive you because you have to carry around those 100 lb locks. Or is that jewelry. If you know your bike/skate
race history;the last challenge the bikers chickenedout after they realized the inline racer
could beat them off the line for over a hundred meters. Downers grove a few years ago. Wanna race - any time any where. Mercury

Anonymous said...

Jamie looks hard. In that 1st pic, it looks like someone is attempting to strike her with a sheet of plywood, and she's not even flinching...just has what seems to be a "cone of smugness" projecting in front of her to destroy the aforementioned plywood...wow...

smartypants said...

trans 12:00:

A mouse sitting on a skateboard with a bottle rocket up his ass would probably be faster than me on my bike for at least 100 meters, but that does not imply jealousy.

Any time, anywhere you say? Ok, meet me on the left coast and we'll race to the right coast. The record for doing that on inline skates is in the neighborhood of 70 days, while plenty of people have done it on a bike in under 2 weeks.

Just sayin'.

Anonymous said...

I submit that BSNYC is Jamie and that the interview was a bold and clever ploy to throw his readers off track. Consider her witty responses--very much in the BSNYC vein.

Anonymous said...

It ain't pretty, although it might be cozy in winter:

Pedicab

Anonymous said...

Oh, Jamie Favaro...you're funny AND hot and you love to ride bicycles. Is there a more perfect woman out there?!?

TRANS-PORT+STATION said...

smartypants did challenge me and no it will not take me two weeks to get there I'll put my racing blades in my back pack and take it on the plane( try that with your lock) - and meet ya at the airport JFK june 4 Virgin America flt # 316 will race you to dtown bklyn Peace

Anonymous said...

road rash on girls is sexy, if not particularly healthy.

Anonymous said...

My brain hurts! The jarring juxtaposition of this post and this one referenced above conjures visions of some unholy mating and bizarre mutant offspring. Thank goodness they're on opposite sides of the planet, or we'd have to expand the meaning of the term "fixed" when used in the context of bicycles!

Anonymous said...

thanks bike snob for this interview! it's often tiring being a woman around all the macho-ness that is much of the biking world, and being graded in it. kudos for having a serious--and by serious I mean genuine--post with a female cyclist.

el7osiny said...

Thank you for the wonderful effort

إني تذكـرت والذكرى مؤرقـة * مجـداً تلـيدا بأيـدينا أضعـناه
أنَّى اتجهتَ للإسـلام في بـلـدٍ * تجْده كالطيرِ مقصـوصًا جناحـاه
كـم صرفتنا يـدٌ كنـا نـصرفها * وبات يـملكنا شعب مـلكناه
بالله سل خلف
بحر الروم عن عرب *

بالأمس كانوا هنا واليوم قد تاهوا
وانزل دمشق وسائل صخر مسجدها * عمن بناه لعل الـصخر ينعـاه
هذى معـالم خرس كـل واحـدة * منهن قامت خطيبـا فاغرا فـاه
الله يعلم ما قلبت سـيرتهم يومـا * وأخطـأ دمـع الـعين مـجراه
يا من يرى عمـراتكسوه بردته * الزيت أدمٌ لـه والكـوخ مـأواه
يهتز كسـرى على كرسيه فرقـا * من خوفه ، وملوك الروم تخشـاه
يا رب فابعث لنا من مثلهم نفـرا * يشـيدون لـنا مـجدا أضعنـاه

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Best regards, Ashley

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