On Two Wheels With David Byrne - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

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On Two Wheels With David Byrne

It is a crisp fall day, and David Byrne is worried about helmet hair. Pedaling up the Hudson River bike path, helmetless, the former Talking Heads frontman keeps a leisurely pace as his large brown eyes dart about and take in the world slipping past. He has agreed to let me tag along during his morning commute north from Canal Street to Midtown. Though he is lanky, there is a graceful flow to his movements, born of more than 30 years and many miles riding here and abroad.

Mr. Byrne was recently back from a publicity tour in Austin, Tex., and Seattle to promoting his new book, “Bicycle Diaries” (Viking), which chronicles his experiences and musings bicycling not just in New York City, but also in the world’s great metropolises, including Berlin, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Manila, Sydney and London. While on tour last year, bikes were always close at hand. “We had seven bikes on the road with us,” Mr. Byrne said. “They would fold up and go into the luggage compartment of the bus.”

Mr. Byrne said he began riding in the 1970s, mostly around the Lower East Side, when “there was nobody over there but drug dealers and drug buyers.” Since then, his passion for bicycling has blossomed, as has his interest in the city’s urban renewal.

Mr. Byrne commutes along the Hudson River bike ...

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