Hammer Down Reads: Motorcycling

Classic Indian Motorcycles, Anthony Butera, (b.20th C.), Watercolor . Fine Art. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 23 Jul 2016.
http://quest.eb.com/search/107_3352538/1/107_3352538/cite

Motorcycles! They have long captured the American imagination, since the first motorcycle appeared in the 1800s to the days of Easy Rider and beyond. Are you a follower of motorcycle trends? Were you an avid watcher of Sons of Anarchy? Do you own your own chopper or would you consider renting one for a motorcycle tour? Do you belong to a motorcycle riding group, like the Rarebreed Chapter of the Iron Order MC or the Duke City Motorcyclists? Do you like to watch motorcycle road racing? Did you catch the Motor Maids convention in Santa Fe last month? We confess that we're no experts, but we have compiled a list of books from the library catalog motorcycle enthusiasts might enjoy - some history, a couple of guides, and some travelogues.

Harley-Davidson: The Complete History by Darwin Holmstrom

Born to Be Wild: The Rise of the American Motorcyclist by Randy D. McBee 

Motorcycling the Right Way by Ken Condon 

Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws: My Infiltration of America's Deadliest Biker Gangs by Charles Falco with Kerrie Droban

From Boneshakers to Choppers: The Rip-Roaring History of Motorcycles by Lisa Smedman [eAudiobook]

Shifting Gears at 50: A Motorcycling Guide for New & Returning Riders by Philip Buonpastore  [eBook] 

Good Vibrations: Coast to Coast by Harley by Tom Cunliffe   [eBook] 

Mastering the Ride: More Proficient Motorcycling by David L. Hough

Roadshow: Landscape With Drums - A Concert Tour By Motorcycle by Neil Peart [eBook]

Motorcycling Alabama: 50 Ride Loops Through the Heart of Dixie by David Haynes
[eBook]

Hottest Motorcycles by Bob Woods [eAudiobook]

Prodigal Father, Pagan Son: Growing Up Inside the Dangerous World of the Pagans Motorcycle Club by Anthony "LT" Menginie and Kerrie Droban

American Outlaw by Jesse James with Sam Benjamin

Tea Time With Terrorists: A Motorcycle Journey Into the Heart of Sri Lanka's Civil War by Mark Stephen Meadows [eBook]

African Brew Ha-Ha: A Motorcycle Quest from Lancashire to Cape Town by Alan Whelan [eBook]

Ridin' High, Livin' Free: Hell-Raising Motorcycle Stories by Ralph "Sonny" Barger with Keith and Kent Zimmerman [eBook] 

Long Way Down: An Epic Journey By Motorcycle From Scotland to South Africa by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman 

Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well by David L. Hough

American Biker [videorecording (DVD)] 

If you are going to start riding a motorcycle, don't forget safety! Visit MVD Express or the New Mexico Motorcycle Safety Program for tips about learning to ride, improving your skills, and information about getting your license. Or, is a scooter more your speed? Because you can rent one of those too.

Two-Wheeled Travel

This summer, NPR is approaching travel in a different way:

Who needs destinations? This summer, we're focusing on the journey. All these books — some old, some new — will transport you: by train, plane, car, bike, boat, foot, city transit, horse, balloon, rocket ship, time machine, and even the odd giant peach. Bon voyage! (Taxes and fees not included).*

We have taken the liberty of compiling some of their recommended two-wheeled titles for you here, along with a few of our own - as a nod to the ongoing Tour de France - but check the links below for more!

Adults

The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance by David V. Herlihy

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne

Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride by Peter Zheutlin

French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France by Tim Moore [eAudiobook]

Life is a Wheel: Love, Death, Etc., and a Bike Ride Across America by Bruce Weber

The Land of Second Chances: The Impossible Rise of Rwanda's Cycling Team by Tim Lewis

Archangel: Fiction by Andrea Barrett

It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels by Robert Penn

Svetat e golyam i spasenie debne otvsyakade = The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner [DVD]  


Kids

The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes

Wheels of Change : How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy

Tillie the Terrible Swede: How One Woman, a Sewing Needle, and a Bicycle Changed History by Sue Stauffacher 


Links

Book Your Trip: Tales of Two-Wheeled Travel - A Literary List to Cycle Through*

Vroom, Vroom, Hmmmm: Motorcycles at Literary Metaphor

Public Transport: Your Ticket to Adventure

Consider, if you will, travel by public transport - buses, trains, subway. There used to be a kind of romance attached even to these most prosaic, everyday types of travel - think of Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable in It Happened One Night or Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest, or Duke Ellington's signature tune "Take the 'A' Train".  Let's take a trip through the library catalog and attempt to rediscover some of the glamour of public transit, or at least find some interesting transport-related titles.

Subway

The Subway Chronicles: Scenes from Life in New York edited by Jacquelin Cangro

The Subway Pictures by Peter Peter

Subway Style: 100 Years of Architecture & Design in the New York City Subway by New York Transit Museum

Underground, Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube by Andrew Martin [eBook only in our catalog]

Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile by Taras Grescoe

Paris by Metro: An Underground History by Arnold Delaney

Métro Stop Paris: An Underground History of the City of Light by Gregor Dallas

London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd

Also consider the movie Kontroll: "The Budapest subway system, the world's second oldest, is a dark, labyrinthine netherworld as vast and various as the city above it. The beleaguered ticket inspectors or 'controllers', assigned in teams to various sections of the system, have the thankless job to ensure that no passengers ride without paying. This is their story."


Bus

Riding the Bus With My Sister: A True Life Journey by Rachel Simon

The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck

A Bus of My Own by Jim Lehrer

The Lilac Bus by Maeve Binchy

Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel by Jeffrey Tayler

Lox, Stocks, and Backstage Broadway: Iconic Trades of New York City by Nancy Groce

Fiveways by Ian Commins [eBook only in our catalog]

Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Raymond Arsenault

Also consider the movies Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe and Exils: "A young couple, both of Arabic descent, leave Paris with no money, jobs, or connections, and travel to their ancestral home of Algeria. In search of re-connecting to their roots, they cross three countries by foot, bus, train, and hitched rides."

Trains

A Memory of Trains: The Boll Weevil and Others text and photographs by Louis D. Rubin, Jr.

Blood, Iron, & Gold: How the Railroads Transformed the World by Christian Wolmar

Trains of the Old West by Brian Solomon

A Field Guide to Trains of North America by Gerald L. Foster

Luxury Trains: From the Orient Express to the TGV by George Behrend

The Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

Mr. Pullman's Elegant Palace Car: The Railway Carriage that Established a New Dimension of Luxury and Entered the National Lexicon as a Symbol of Splendor by Lucius Beebe

Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed the Ocean by Les Standiford

Train Time: Railroads and the Imminent Reshaping of the United States Landscape by John R. Stilgoe

The Blackpool Highflyer by Andrew Martin

Don't miss the DVD Great Trains of America:  Eastern Railroading & Western Railroading  and the Great American Scenic Railroads and Colorado Steam DVD sets.  Also consider Tickets - "An elderly businessman finds solace and a new insight into life when he meets a younger woman, who then arranges his train ticket after his flight is canceled. A young man is torn between an older woman who controls him and a younger one that attracts him. And three Scottish youths on their way to the football match of their dreams are forced to open their eyes and see the bigger picture. In each case, the train journey changes the course of the all their lives" - and I Wish: "Twelve-year-old Koichi, separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, begins to believe that Japan's new bullet train service will create a miracle when the first trains pass each other at top speed, and enlists a group of friends on an improbable mission."


Links of Interest

Criterion Collection: Road Trip Movies

10 Things You May Not Know about London's Underground

Balloon Fiesta 2012: Blaze a Trail

This year's Balloon Fiesta started on October 6th and runs through October 14th - so if somehow you forgot about it this year (though that's hard to do with a skyline full of balloons, I25 backed up at the exit for Balloon Fiesta Park, & chase crews darting about the place), there's still time to check out some of the action! & for those of you who are struggling to make it to a Mass Ascension at 7 am, there's always...the library!  Here's a little bit of Balloon Fiesta that you can take home with you to enjoy, at least for a 3 week check-out!

The World Comes to Albuquerque: Celebrating 40 years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta by Kim Vesely

Albuquerque: Where the World Celebrates Ballooning by Q13-KRQE TV ; in association with Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Special Shape Rodeo: Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta by Jean-Michel Bertrand

Looks like Special Collections has Flying Franks, Floating Fish: The Odd October Skies of Albuquerque - A Loving Tribute to Photographing Twenty Years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Special Shaped Balloons by Kim Alaburda on display, so you'll have to go there to see a copy!

For kids:

The Elephants in the Land of Enchantment by Beverly Eschberger

Pop Flop's Great Balloon Ride by Nancy Abruzzo


For general items about hot air balloons (not just about the Balloon Fiesta!), try a subject search of "Ballooning" or "Hot Air Balloons".


Links:

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta homepage

Daily Event Schedule

Albuquerque Balloon Museum

ABQ Ride: Your Ticket to Summer Fun!

There are 40 bus routes in Albuquerque.  How many have you ridden?

I am a big fan of the public transport & hope to take some bus rides rides around our fair city myself this summer (I'll be the one at the bus stop with the parasol to protect my delicate skin, plugged in to my iPod & reading a book).

I was checking in with ABQ Ride to start the arduous process of consulting the system map to find my routes, when I discovered this neat new (to me) service called Plan Your Ride!  It's super easy to use- just enter your starting location & your destination; indicate the desired date and time of arrival or departure; & click on the "Get Trip Plan" and get ready to ride.  For "origin" & "destination", you can even choose landmarks such as high schools, libraries, shopping centers & Rail Runner stations, instead of putting in a physical address.  Alternatively, you could just check a list of popular Albuquerque destinations, from CNM campuses to the VA Hospital to the Albuquerque Aquarium, to see which bus routes serve your destination.

Also, did you know that you can plan a trip on ABQ Ride via Google Maps by simply going to maps.google.com and selecting "Get Directions"? The public transit link is shown each time driving directions are requested by the viewer who may not be aware that transit is even an option. For those using a smartphone, you can download the latest version of Google Maps for free from your respective app store or access it in your mobile browser. A link to Google Maps can also be found on www.myabqride.com.

Not convinced that riding the bus is worth it?  Try ABQ Ride's Albuquerque Commute Calculator & learn how much commuting is costing you a month.  You can compare that with the cost for bus fares & passes here.  You could also be eligible for a Student Bus Pass or Honored Citizen Discount. Also, the Summer Fun Bus Pass entitles students ages 10 - 18 to unlimited bus rides from May 1st - Aug. 31 for only $13.

Looking forward to some late night fun? From June 4th to September 25th, Rapid After Dark (Red Line Only) runs along the Red Line every Friday and Saturday night from 9:00 p.m. until 2:30 a.m.

Don't forget the Park & Ride option!

ADA-certified riders can take advantage of the SunVan, ABQ Ride's paratransit service, provides accessible transportation to persons residing in or visiting the metro area whose impairment makes it impossible to ride the fixed route service. ABQ Ride Paratransit provides curb-to-curb service to and from any address in Albuquerque and most of Bernalillo County.

Last year in May, ABQ Ride had a Strive Not to Drive event.  During this week, ABQ Ride encouraged the public to minimize the driving of single occupancy vehicles and experience the benefits and opportunities of alternative modes of transportation, emphasizing a different mode each day, from carpooling to biking. Watch for it this year!  There probably will be more prize giveaways!