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The Galfromdownunder at large, which might be anywhere including the 7-Eleven round the corner or somewhere in Peru ... in this case, Campeche, Mexico, 2004.
The Galfromdownunder according to CustomerEvanglists.com
Bicycle adventurette, author, and Bike Friday Customer Evangelist, Lynette Chiang started out as 'the Bike Friday customer that almost wasn't'. Here's how she joined the Friday family in Eugene, Oregon, by way of Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Costa Rica, Cuba .... read all about it at her website, www.galfromdownunder.com
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I am the proud owner of just one Bike Friday: a my personal Pocket Crusoe.
I'm humbled by Friday folk who've 'drunk the Kool-Aid', owning as many as two Fridays (a weekend), three (a long weekend) or even four (a month of Fridays). That's typically a Friday for touring, another for racing, perhaps a tandem because 'people who play together, stay together', and in advanced cases of rabidity, a recumbent and even a "fixie" - all in the same closet.
Long term travel has made a minimalist of me. I've also been car-free for over ten years. My Bike Friday is my limo, my U-haul and my trusty traveling companion, all folded up in one.
The Galfromdownunder Friday. My personal Friday takes me around the block, around the world, and everywhere in between. It's light, sized to my 5' nothing frame, with an enormous gear range - low enough to climb the hilly dirt roads of Vermont when I pulled a 40 lb well-stuffed TravelTrailer on my Handsomest Man in Cuba book tour, and high enough to make fast guys wonder how I manage to hang in their draft.
For raelly cranking, I borrow a Pocket Rocket Pro Petite from the showroom. I've been tempted many times to adopt it for good, but then, what would a travelin' gal do with two Fridays?
The customer that almost wasn't. In 1996 when I first inspected a Bike Friday in Melbourne, Australia, I was suffering from recurring bouts of mid-life and had decided to drop out for a year. My first career had been in computing (left brain), my second, in advertising (right brain). I was ready for 'no-brain'.
My first reaction on seeing a Friday was the classic 'that's too weird!' This might have ended this story, had my Tina Turner-lovin' mother not drummed into us, 'better to be looked over than overlooked.'
My second reaction was the equally classic 'but don't you have to pedal more?' No more, I learned, than a wristwatch struggles to tell the same time as a grandfather clock (it's all in the gearing. Would you buy a bike you had to pedal more? Neither would I!)
I was the original 'prospect from hell'. I wanted the 'Air' of the Air Friday, with the 'Tour' of the New World Tourist, together in the one bike. This was to be the Air Glide, but alas, it was still on the drawing board. I badgered my Bike Friday Sales Expert with my Lego mentality ('can't you just stick a wider fork on the Air Friday?'). This led to a very sincere letter from Bike Friday, apologizing because they felt they could not give me the bike I wanted just yet. Yes, there are some poeple who just shouldn't have a Bike Friday ...
Well!
A sure way to make a sale is to tell a customer no. I ordered an Air Friday.
Bike Friday co-founder and designer Hanz Scholz delivered it to me personally Downunder, at the inaugural Australian Bike Friday Club gathering. One day, I'll do a stint at the Bike Friday factory I thought.
Seven years and several thousand miles later, here I am.
 My first Friday ... with funny handlebar extensions a friend and later-Friday owner Carl Hemmings fabricated for me. Shot on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, on my maiden End to End Great Britain voyage Better than bars, ballroom dancing, bingo ... It was on my maiden voyage, cycling End to End of Great Britain, when I discovered I'd bought more than a mere a travel bike. I'd bought a ticket to one of the best social clubs that will have you as a member. I was constantly stopped and invited to linger, laugh and lodge with complete strangers, many of whom became friends for life. My 'weird' Bike Friday brought precisely the kinds of people I wanted more of in my life: people who zag when others zig. |
But like Lance says, it's not about the bike. I bragged to anyone who'd listen how my Bike Friday got me, a former travelphobe with an appalling sense of direction, from the bottom of Britain to the top. Someone said, isn't it the other way around .... you got your bike there? In a world where the modern media gives women a hard time over their physicality, I suddenly had new respect for my body.
I then tackled Ireland, Costa Rica, Cuba and a good chink of Central America, working as an adwriter for Saatchi & Saatchi, a failed waitress, a trainee chef, cook and manager of a Costa Rican hotel, and generally 'trying new things for oversize'. In 2001, I finally decided to leave the jungle of Costa Rica and join Bike Friday.
Who me, brave?. The most common thing people accuse me of is undue bravery approaching that of this gal. Put it this way: 99% of folks on this planet are like you and I. They're kinda nice, they're living their living their lives as best they can, if you thought too hard about anything, you wouldn't go outside your front door, would you now? In any case, to stay stuck in a situation that is not serving you, whether its a job, marriage or geoghraphic coordinate ... now that takes real courage, and the makers of anti-depressants and other mind altering meds just love it.
'Whoever does it, gets to decide' is the unwritten corporate credo at Bike Friday. You're given tools and trust to turn your 2-D ideas into 3-D reality, just like the Scholz Bros do. I'm to blame for the Bike Friday Headbadge, the Jersey, the What Do You Do On a Friday? campaign, the Bike Friday Clubs and off-beat projects like the Lovemarks win. I even wrote a book about my Cuba bike tour and made a DVD movie. At Bike Friday, you get to do and decide. Just don't ask me to weld a fork.
Shooting movies with a simple digital camera stuck in your jersey pocket - minimalism is my thing. Lima, Peru, on the Highest Paved Road expedition, 2004. Photo by Glenn Martin.
The Evangelist at large. Armed with a simple digital camera, a laptop and my bike, I travel Bike Friday world providing a 'mini travel channel' on the Bike Friday website. Mexico, Peru (with RAAM champ Lon Haldeman), New York (where I was interviewed by Forbes), and Hawaii have all featured in my recent filming and writing.
Right now, I'm on a transcontinental telecommite, homestaying with Bike Friday customers - that's called drinking the Kool-Aid Plus!
It's all about the fold. Which brings me to the Bike Friday community. Bike Friday Clubs www.bikefriday.com/clubs are loose-knit groups of Friday owners scattered around the world for you to meet, ride and do coffee with when you're in the area. For someday-Bike Friday owners they're a great place to ask hard questions and get a test ride. All bicycles are welcome, Bike Friday is an inclusive community. And if you'd like to start a club in your area ... please do!
What Do You Do On a Friday? The Bike Friday website is brimming with tales and technical articles about life on a Friday. I'd love to share your stories and photos with the community via the web, our Travel Story of the Month e-newsletter, www.bikefriday.com/bf/stories and the quarterly Foldable Flyer www.foldableflyer.com. Please email your adventures to bfclubs@bikefriday.com
Around the block, around the world. But you don't have to be ride end to end of a continent, or pedal 2000 miles to the Arctic Circle like the Adams family, or bike the World's Highest Paved Road with RAAM legend Lon Haldeman, or be famous like The Voice of the Tour de France Phil Liggett, or defend the World's Most Travel Man by Bicycle Record by as Heinz Stucke and other famous Fridays ... you can simply tool around the block on a Friday, and chances are, you'll be stopped, quizzed, and you'll make a new friend.
To quote a customer, "when I don't want anyone to talk to me I ride my regular bike and sure enough, no-one talks to me. When I ride my Bike Friday, everyone talks to me."
Welcome to the Bike Friday community.
RELATED LINKS
Bike Friday is a Lovemark The Gal told Richard to enter this contest or else ...
Customer Evangelism is a 24/7 job The most fun you can have in and out of the saddle
CustomerEvangelists.com Evangelist of the Month The Gal is a legend in this website's lunchtime, up there with Guy Kawasaki, Meg Whitman of ebay, Steve Jobs and former NY Mayor Guliani. Thankfully, her head still fits in a size XS helmet.