Jesus Christ, not only does Jeff Mapes spend years traveling the world to write a book about bike culture, but then his book Pedaling Revolution gets showcased in the New York Times with a review by David Byrne. GAAHHH he could do nothing to make me more jealous.

Byrne writes that, like Mapes, he's been joined in the bikes lanes by a much more diverse crowd in recent years - biking isn't just for athletes and messengers anymore. But, Byrne continues:

The revolution isn’t here just yet. Hedge fund managers and General Motors executives aren’t riding to work (though don’t laugh, they will), and this book is not likely to reach beyond the already converted, which includes me, other cycling advocates, and people in the city-planning and transportation universe. But the book is useful — for those of us who occasionally find ourselves on the defensive, Mapes provides names, dates, facts and figures.

I felt much the same way about Mapes' book. Here in Portland, the book is preaching to the choir. But it's full of handy validating facts and anecdotes to help bike evangelists intelligently spread the word nationally.

Coincidentally, David Byrne is going to be in Portland during our biggest bike festival of the year, PedalPalooza, for a concert at the Schnitz. His show is the same day as the Celebrate Waterbreak ride... which means Portland is pregnant with the potential to view both David Byrne on a bike and the nation's first birth-by-bike in ONE CRAZY AFTERNOON. Please, David Byrne, make our (my) dreams come true.